If you are like me, you cannot bear the thought that some day after you are gone, your wife or kids will sell your card collection to a dealer -- probably for less than half of what it is worth -- and your collection, which includes cards you have had since childhood, dissipates into insignificance. This is the reason for the American Baseball Card Museum -- a place for collectors to preserve their collections for history, and for the public and scholars to enjoy the collections and learn about baseball's place in American culture and history.

Because I am an estate planning lawyer, I cannot disregard the income tax benefits of charitable deductions. (See our analysis of how donating your cards to the museum compares to your other options of what to do with your collection.) A donor of tangible personal property, such as a baseball card, may deduct only his cost basis, unless the charity will use the card for a purpose related to its tax-exempt purpose. Many of my cards have a cost basis of 1 cent, maybe less, if I attribute a portion of the 5 cents per pack purchase price to the bubble gum. How many charities use baseball cards related to their tax-exempt purposes? Very few. 

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