What do you guys think happened to his collection? I remember the segment said about $120,000 worth of his collection surfaced after his death, but the rest has yet to be found.
I see a few possibilities:

He sold them to some foreign collectors who then took the items with them out of the country.

He buried them in some remote location to return to someday (like some gold prospectors do), but took his own life when he thought he was going to get caught soon.

What do you guys think happened to his collection? I remember the segment said about $120,000 worth of his collection surfaced after his death, but the rest has yet to be found.
I see a few possibilities:

He sold them to some foreign collectors who then took the items with them out of the country.

He buried them in some remote location to return to someday (like some gold prospectors do), but took his own life when he thought he was going to get caught soon.

I would lean towards thats it all out there somewhere. The theory of a foreign collector buying the collection makes a lot of sense. It does appear that he committed suicide so I could see him selling it all before that happened. Not sure if he had a family or not but if he did maybe he found a way to get the money he made to them. I had noticed that Dennis Walker and Steven Cox were both operating in the same area, probably around the same time. I've wondered if they ever met up or had any dealings with one another.

What do you guys think happened to his collection? I remember the segment said about $120,000 worth of his collection surfaced after his death, but the rest has yet to be found.
I see a few possibilities:

He sold them to some foreign collectors who then took the items with them out of the country.

He buried them in some remote location to return to someday (like some gold prospectors do), but took his own life when he thought he was going to get caught soon.

Being a baseball fan and a history fan, I really hope it isn't the second possibility... :(

Personally I always thought that Dennis Walker and Stephen Cox did have dealings with each other. They were both in Medford, Oregon at around the same time and both were having their stuff going on at around the same time. I do think Walker was the 'mysterious man' Cox was seen interacting with and dealing with at the golf course. My guess is Walker was also screwed over by Cox. I think Walker when he knew the crap was going to hit the fan, started selling his collection bit by bit, trying to make enough money to stay afloat. Is it for sure though that Walker committed suicide or was he murdered? I mean Walker had quite the collection. For only about 120 grand of that collection to turn up which is only a fraction of that collection when he had what, 4 or 5 million dollars worth of memorabilia? Remember, that he had Pete Rose as his special guest? Now I like Pete Rose but I think the segment was filmed not long before Rose himself was banned from the game for life for placing bets on his team.

Personally I always thought that Dennis Walker and Stephen Cox did have dealings with each other. They were both in Medford, Oregon at around the same time and both were having their stuff going on at around the same time. I do think Walker was the 'mysterious man' Cox was seen interacting with and dealing with at the golf course. My guess is Walker was also screwed over by Cox. I think Walker when he knew the crap was going to hit the fan, started selling his collection bit by bit, trying to make enough money to stay afloat. Is it for sure though that Walker committed suicide or was he murdered? I mean Walker had quite the collection. For only about 120 grand of that collection to turn up which is only a fraction of that collection when he had what, 4 or 5 million dollars worth of memorabilia? Remember, that he had Pete Rose as his special guest? Now I like Pete Rose but I think the segment was filmed not long before Rose himself was banned from the game for life for placing bets on his team.


I agree with this as I have had this same theory as wel (though I'm not sure that Walker was ripped off by Cox. I wonder if they actually had a very loose partnership). As you pointed out, both man ran similar scams (basiacally pyramid schemes), had similar interests (when Cox was arrested, they found numerous high-money baseball cards and othe rmemorabilia) in his collection. Finally both men offered (I believe) the same 25% interest return to each investor (I know Walker's was 25%. I believe Cox's was also 25% but haven't watched his segment in a long time so I could be wrong). BTW, Pete Rose was banned in 1989. I hope he's not reinstated any time soon.

Hey Marlins, well interesting opinion although I disagree with you on Rose. The main reason why is, why was the book thrown at Rose for? I mean, Rose gambled on his own team but he never gambled against his team. It was not like the 'Black Sox' scandal of 1919 where a great White Sox team, well 7 players on the team had taken pay offs in exchange for throwing the series to the Cincinnati Reds. I mean those 7 players were banned for life too but it is rare someone gets banned for life in any sport, let alone baseball and I guess I have always found it a bit odd how Pete Rose got the book thrown at him but yet steroid users, wife beaters, etc, no ban.

Hey Marlins, well interesting opinion although I disagree with you on Rose. The main reason why is, why was the book thrown at Rose for? I mean, Rose gambled on his own team but he never gambled against his team. It was not like the 'Black Sox' scandal of 1919 where a great White Sox team, well 7 players on the team had taken pay offs in exchange for throwing the series to the Cincinnati Reds. I mean those 7 players were banned for life too but it is rare someone gets banned for life in any sport, let alone baseball and I guess I have always found it a bit odd how Pete Rose got the book thrown at him but yet steroid users, wife beaters, etc, no ban.


It all depends on the Commissioner of Baseball. For instance, Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle were both banned from baseball AFTER they retired because they worked as greeters at a casino. However, they were reinstated by the next Commissioner.

Yes, the Commissioner that banned Rose, he died of a massive heart attack 7 days after banning Rose. Rose has applied to be reinstated and I think Rose will be reinstated. Bud Selig came close to reinstating him last year and I think before Selig's term ends he will reinstate Pete Rose. I was also not aware that both Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle, who like Rose were among the greatest players of all time were banned from the game after they retired because they worked at casinos. I am glad they were reinstated though.

I think steroid abusers should be barred from the Hall as well. Now, I will be VERY surprised if a lot of info ever officially comes out about Bonds' steroid use. However, the proof is in the body, or rather head. The human head will not significantly grow on its own. The head will only grow with disease or chemical use. Bonds' head was significantly larger in 2006 than in 1992.

On Rose, no he did not actually bet on his team to lose. However, Rose was the manager of the Reds. On the nights he bet less or bet did not bet, it was a clear tipoff that the Reds weren't expected to do well that night (which is a sign to everybody else gambling on that game). BTW, Dowd later said he believed Rose had bet against the Reds, particularly on nights when Mario Soto and Bill Gullickson pitched, because they were lesser pitchers.

Now, I will admit that my 3 all-time favorite players are Ruth, Stargell, and Schmidt. Ruth wasn't exactly a pillar of society. So I guess I come across as a bit of a hypocrite.

Yes, the Commissioner that banned Rose, he died of a massive heart attack 7 days after banning Rose. Rose has applied to be reinstated and I think Rose will be reinstated. Bud Selig came close to reinstating him last year and I think before Selig's term ends he will reinstate Pete Rose. I was also not aware that both Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle, who like Rose were among the greatest players of all time were banned from the game after they retired because they worked at casinos. I am glad they were reinstated though.

The Commissioner was A. Bart Giamatti, who also happened to be the father of actor Paul Giamatti.

Is this the collection that included Babe Ruth's uniform? I remember hearing several times that piece was stolen and they still don't know where it is.

Pete Rose from a position player standpoint is probably my favorite baseball player of all time. Although I personally would like to see him reinstated, I totally understand why he is banned. He broke a rule that was very clearly stated on the books regarding gambling. It's not like steroids or whatever else people drum up as reasons someone should be ineligible for the HOF.

Personally I've long accepted that the game of baseball is dirty so I'm either left with a choice to either not watch the game or accept that facet of the game and move on. Personally I'm headed to Yankees spring training in two weeks.
===============
Now I have a funny story regarding Charlie Hustle and Dennis Walker gleaned from several a Pete Rose biography "Collision at Home Plate" by David Jordan:

- In 1975 Pete Rose became the last recipient of the Hickok Award which was given to the athlete of the year. The recipient received a gold belt not unlike one of Ric Flair's old wrestling championship belts except this one was actually covered in diamonds and rubies and was valued at around thirty grand.

A decade after Rose received the belt he "passed it on" to Dennis Walker whom he considered a "business associate". Although Walker and Rose had already made dealings for tons of authentic Pete Rose memorabilia including one of his three silver bats, his first spring training uniform and several rings, Walker coveted the Hickok belt.

Rose would eventually sell the belt to Walker for $30,000 but not before Rose swerved Walker by having all the real diamonds and gems removed from the belt and having them replaced by worthless bobbles. Rose then had the real diamonds made into a pendant for his wife. Walker not being an expert on jewels by any stretch of the imagination was none the wiser when he received the Hickok belt from Rose.

However, in the end it was Walker who would end up swerving Pete Rose. Unable to fork over the thirty grand for the belt, Walker put down twenty grand and to pay off the remaining balance offered Rose $50,000 in stock from his Bank in Tonga (as detailed in the UM segment). Of course as we all know Walker's stock much like his promissory notes were worthless.

So in the end what we had here is a case of two slick foxes trying to outwit each other. Walker ended up with a Hickok belt that was worth considerably less than it was worth when it was awarded to Rose in 1975 and Rose ended up with fifty grand of worthless stock. At least he got some money from Walker up front eh? He made out better in that regard than the rest of Walker's clients. ;)

Yeah, Pete Rose, well he did voluntarily agree to the ban but I think when he agreed to it, he never actually thought he would be banned for life. I think he thought he would do a few years and get let back in. Interesting choice on favorite players Marlins, Willie Stargell and Mike Schmidt, are you originally from Pennsylvania? I like both too, Stargell was a machine as was Schmidt. Babe Ruth, well he was a womanizer and a drunk but neither is illegal.

I wanted to add a few other things on Dennis Walker:

- First it's pretty obvious (at least to me) that Dennis Walker was the victim of a gangland style killing possibly a contract hit. I believe much like Stephen Cox, Walker spent the last years of his life on the run due to the fact that he had a very legitimate fear that someone was going to try to kill him.

I would not be at all surprised if Walker ended up owing a significant amount of money to the wrong person and his death was the result of owing this person money. From what I understand, his death has all the earmarks of a mafia style hit

- According to Baseball Card News magazine, Walker owed Rose $700,000 at the time of his death.

- The FBI reopened the investigation in Walker's missing sports memorabilia in 1989 after $10,000 worth of Walker's collection turned up in New York. This information was published via the AP in April, 1989. The UM segment I believe aired in 1988...perhaps more of Walker's collection turned up after the segment aired?

- As published in Hustle: The Myth, Life, and Lies of Pete Rose by Mike Sokolove, Rose believed that the man found in Las Vegas under the name of Charles Lee was not Dennis Walker. Rose instead believed that Walker was still alive and was continuing to sell his (Rose's) memorabilia on the market.

- In a strange twist of fate the diamond pendant that Rose had made out of the jewels on the Hickok belt prior to selling it to Walker was also eventually stolen by thieves. According to Sokolove in the spring of 1990 burglers broke into the Roses' home and stole much of Carol Rose's jewelry.

- Finally the following dated June 2007 from a sports memorabilia message board from someone claiming to be Dennis Walker's son:

"Pete Rose came to my dad's sports museum opening in Medford, Oregon in 1985. We hung out with him a lot. It was during my Junior year of high school basketball and we had a game that night. My dad was telling Pete how I was the best player in the state and Pete said I'll be there tonight to watch ya. He never showed. He said the next day that it would have caused too much of a ruckus if he showed up. Anyway, it would have been cool to tell people that Pete Rose came to see me play a game in high school."
======================
After being asked if this was the abandoned bank building in Medford, Oregon, Walker's son responded with the following:

"Yea, that's the place Howard. That was my father's. He had about everything: Babe Ruth complete uniform, Players rings, team trophies, tons of gamers, 3 Honus Wagner T206 cards, etc. I think he charged a dollar a person to come view it all. It really was amazing. This was mid-80's before everyone starting going crazy collecting the stuff. He did a lot of business with Rose. He had Rose's Hickcock belt and many of his bats, rings, etc. In two of Rose's books-Hustle and the Rose/Giamatti book it talks of their business dealings for a couple of pages. It all ended ugly in 1987 when Dennis Walker was found dead in a Vegas hotel. Foul play was what the FBI determined. All his stuff disappeared. It's a long story. My father was doing some shady things with some shady people unfortunately. My mom and his 5 sons had to move to Nevada to live with my Mom's parents. He left us with nothing. For my graduation in 87 he had given me a Michael Jordan rookie home jersey. BUT, we had to sell it two years later to pay bills. Sold it for 2,000! If nothing else he left us with the sports collecting bug and all of his sons are doing really well: College professor, Lawyer, High School teacher and coach, and two big time insurance guys. That's the story in a nut shell." - Greg

Note: Because Walker's son posted this information on a sports memorabilia forum and not a UM/true-crime related forum I'm opting not to publish the link to this forum. He is a regular poster there to this day and I'm not sure if he'd want to be messaged by a hoard of UM fans asking about his father.

The Commissioner was A. Bart Giamatti, who also happened to be the father of actor Paul Giamatti.

Is this the collection that included Babe Ruth's uniform? I remember hearing several times that piece was stolen and they still don't know where it is.

Yes, it was. There was also some Mantle items, and if I remember right, some Gehrig items. Mantle and Gehrig are my two favorite players, so I hope the collection is somewhere where someone is able to enjoy it.

Yeah, Pete Rose, well he did voluntarily agree to the ban but I think when he agreed to it, he never actually thought he would be banned for life. I think he thought he would do a few years and get let back in. Interesting choice on favorite players Marlins, Willie Stargell and Mike Schmidt, are you originally from Pennsylvania? I like both too, Stargell was a machine as was Schmidt. Babe Ruth, well he was a womanizer and a drunk but neither is illegal.


I am from PA but that has little to do with my favorite players (I don't particularly care for any PA-based sports team. Actually, I still live in PA (north of Pittsburgh). I'm a bit of a historian at heart. Stargell was actually before my time. I was 2 when he retired. When Schmidt hung it up in 1989 I started following a young kid (born in PA, oddly enough) named Ken Griffey Jr. He's been my favorite player since then. The Ruth thing started when I was a very young elementary school student. I always enjoyed Clemente as well (again long before my time, but books, tapes, etc allow us to see and read about them. When others were reading Bernstein Bears books or the Babysitter's club series for Book-IT!, I was Reading [I]Remembering Roberto
and DRIVE: The Story of My Life (Larry Bird). I was a Pirates fan until 1991 when the Marlins Franchise was announced. I watched the Pirates in 1992 but held on with baited-breath for the Marlins to begin play in 1993.

In football, I'm a lifelong Dolphins fan (have been since birth lol). My dad is a Phins fan too (which is probably why I started liking them). In the NBA, I love the Celtics (again, lifelong).

To get back on baseball, I love Koufax (best pitcher ever, IMO--even if his career was only 12 seasons with just 6 great years), Bob Feller,Randy Johnson, Bob Gibson, Josh Gibson, Johnny Bench, and Brooks Robinson. I used to like Roger Clemens. NEVER liked Bonds, even when he was in Pittsburgh.

Remember this is a UM thread, lol. I think UM should have played up the possibility that Dennis Walker and Steven Cox could have had dealings together. Two separate UM segments that intertwine would be very interesting such as the Don Devereaux/Charles Morgan one. Didn't Steven Cox have some valuable baseball items in his trunk when he was captured? Perhaps he bought them from Dennis Walker.

Yeah, Pete Rose, well he did voluntarily agree to the ban but I think when he agreed to it, he never actually thought he would be banned for life. I think he thought he would do a few years and get let back in. Interesting choice on favorite players Marlins, Willie Stargell and Mike Schmidt, are you originally from Pennsylvania? I like both too, Stargell was a machine as was Schmidt. Babe Ruth, well he was a womanizer and a drunk but neither is illegal.


Rose agreed to Giamatti's an with the understanding the Dowd investigation would OFFICIALLY make no finding that he bet on baseball. Rose knew what he was agreeing to and it would be disingenuous to suggest otherwise. I found Rose's book at a dollar store and bought it. He's te ultimate con man, in my eyes. Even his nickname is a con. Yes, he hustled every play. He also showboated a lot with "false hustle" (like running to first base on walks). He also strikes me as a fairly simple-minded guy (I hate to say that about anybody...trying to put it in the nicest way I can). Finally, his confession (big surprise he gambled...lol) seemed to me more like "Ok, I did it. Now put me in the hall of fame. I admit I bet on baseball". I would just as soon he never get in the Hall, but definitely not until we get an honest apology (at the VERY LEAST). He shows no actual contrition. On the positive on Rose, he pulled more out of his limited skills than any player ever (perhaps in any sport). Again, the Hall is full of guys with questionable character in one or two phases of their off-the-field demeanor (As much as I like kennesaw Mountain landi as a commissioner, the guy was racist which is despecable. He was also an ineffective judge, which is why he took the commissioner's job.). Ty Cobb was perhaps the most sour man in the history of baseball. Hack Wilson knocked in 190 runs in one season. He was a drunk. babe Ruth (My all-time fave player...which I am sometimes a little ashamed to admit) was well known for womanizing, drinking, and gluttony. BTW, his 1921 season is the best ever in the history of any team sport. The only thingsthat come close to matching it are Gretzky's 1981-82 and 85-86 seasons, and Wilt Chamberlains monster 61-62 campaign, though his rebound swere down to only 25 per game that year (after averaging 27 rebounds each of the previous 2 seasons).

Giamatti did the right thing with Rose. Unfortunately, the stress of dealing with the situation probably was a leading cause of his heart attack that killed him.

I don't want baseball to take over this thread. We need to get back to UM.

Remember this is a UM thread, lol. I think UM should have played up the possibility that Dennis Walker and Steven Cox could have had dealings together. Two separate UM segments that intertwine would be very interesting such as the Don Devereaux/Charles Morgan one. Didn't Steven Cox have some valuable baseball items in his trunk when he was captured? Perhaps he bought them from Dennis Walker.


Sorry, I know this is a UM thread. This topic always gets me going. Yes, Cox had some rings and cards in his possesion when arrested (I want to see his update but don't remember which number to find it on). I tend to believe Walker and Cox were loose business partners, as stated on an earlier thread.

Hey Marlins, well interesting opinion although I disagree with you on Rose. The main reason why is, why was the book thrown at Rose for? I mean, Rose gambled on his own team but he never gambled against his team. It was not like the 'Black Sox' scandal of 1919 where a great White Sox team, well 7 players on the team had taken pay offs in exchange for throwing the series to the Cincinnati Reds. I mean those 7 players were banned for life too but it is rare someone gets banned for life in any sport, let alone baseball and I guess I have always found it a bit odd how Pete Rose got the book thrown at him but yet steroid users, wife beaters, etc, no ban.

Thank you for saying only seven. I'm watching the Walker case as we speak.

Interesting. When I first started watching UM back in 1990, I had little interest in sports. Flash forward 20 years and I've read thousands of books, watched thousands of videos...you name it. We should honestly start a thread about baseball an UM...there are so many connections that I am just starting to learn about.

Back to the 7 Chicago Black Sox...the eighth player (Shoeless Joe Jackson) was wrongfully thought to be involved and was thrown out of baseball anyway. Buck Weaver, the 7th player involved, probably did nothing more than take the money, like Jackson.

Did you see that guy interviewed at the end of the Elliot Ness segment? That's Oscar Fraley. Guy new jack about baseball. But the thing to do in '62 was rag on Roger Maris. See this guy stole the homerun title from Ruth. Teammate of Mantle's by the way. Fraley wrote this article about him that said that "...guys like Maris bat a round zero for me..." Real piece of work. When that caption came on with Fraley...I yelled every name in the book at him!

Thank you for saying only seven. I'm watching the Walker case as we speak.

Interesting. When I first started watching UM back in 1990, I had little interest in sports. Flash forward 20 years and I've read thousands of books, watched thousands of videos...you name it. We should honestly start a thread about baseball an UM...there are so many connections that I am just starting to learn about.

Back to the 7 Chicago Black Sox...the eighth player (Shoeless Joe Jackson) was wrongfully thought to be involved and was thrown out of baseball anyway. Buck Weaver, the 7th player involved, probably did nothing more than take the money, like Jackson.

Did you see that guy interviewed at the end of the Elliot Ness segment? That's Oscar Fraley. Guy new jack about baseball. But the thing to do in '62 was rag on Roger Maris. See this guy stole the homerun title from Ruth. Teammate of Mantle's by the way. Fraley wrote this article about him that said that "...guys like Maris bat a round zero for me..." Real piece of work. When that caption came on with Fraley...I yelled every name in the book at him!

I agree I am a baseball nut, not only because of my vintage card collecting but because I am obsessed with stats and played all the way through high school

This makes the Dennis Walker segment one of my favorites for sure

Saw the Walker segment for the first time, and the update simply says, "In the years since Dennis Walker was found dead, a few of his sports collectibles have come to light, including the uniform and World Series ring worn by Babe Ruth."

Walker was mentioned in a book about Pete Rose (mentioned earlier in this thread by DarkDante). Here's an excerpt describing his death:

Dennis Walker was too clever by half. In July 1987, he registered at a seedy motel off the strip in Las Vegas in the name of Charles Lee. Four days later, his body was discovered in the motel room, so badly decomposed in the desert heat that the authorities had to resort to dental records to make an identification. The police suspected a professional homicide, for the toxicology report found no drugs or poison in the system. The logical deduction was that Walker had been either electrocuted or suffocated. To the FBI, the motive lay in Walker's memorabilia collection, rather than in offshore financial fraud. "Sometimes an attachment to the memorabilia can be more powerful than the money it was worth", an FBI agent in Las Vegas was to observe. The case remains unsolved.

Kind of wonder why UM focused solely on the memorabilia, and not the death (and probable murder) of Dennis Walker.

Kind of wonder why UM focused solely on the memorabilia, and not the death (and probable murder) of Dennis Walker.
Wondered this for a while too. It seemed his murder was tacked on in the segment almost as a small anecdote. Perhaps it was just because of time constraints. Or there isn't much to the case other than finding his body.

I think that was done because it made for a "sexier" segment at the time, keep in mind that TV ratings were always an underlying factor, while not the main motivating factor IMO.

There are many examples of how UM did things like this over the years- overlook or minimize certain aspects of a case to make it seem more mysterious. But yes, time constraints could certainly also be a factor as to why his death was not the focus.

In the mid-eighties, sports memorabilia, baseball specifically, was a huge industry. Every town in the area I grew up in had at least one baseball card shop. (I know because I was always begging my parents to stop by them when we'd pass.) Plus UM was able to sensationalize the story a bit by dropping the names of Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, and Pete Rose. Mantle was still alive at the time, and he and Willie Mays were heroes to many adult viewers in the late 80's. Also, Rose hadn't yet become the caricature that he is today.

In the mid-eighties, sports memorabilia, baseball specifically, was a huge industry. Every town in the area I grew up in had at least one baseball card shop. (I know because I was always begging my parents to stop by them when we'd pass.) Plus UM was able to sensationalize the story a bit by dropping the names of Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, and Pete Rose. Mantle was still alive at the time, and he and Willie Mays were heroes to many adult viewers in the late 80's. Also, Rose hadn't yet become the caricature that he is today.

I get all of this, but I find it odd that at the very least UM didn't throw in it's typical narration of Stack asking rhetorical questions at the end of the segment. Like:

"What happened to Walker's baseball collection? Was his death the result of someone connected to his pyramid scheme? Who killed him, and why?"

The perfect segment for season 1 would be about the murder of a man who had millions of dollars worth of baseball memorabilia go missing. Instead they labeled it a fraud case and barely mention his death in passing.

I could be wrong but I think it's most likely (as is probably the case re the Russian Imperial Amber Room), it got scattered to the winds by folks who bought the ill-gotten gains who had little if any idea or interest in their historic significance. :mad:

I could be wrong but I think it's most likely (as is probably the case re the Russian Imperial Amber Room), it got scattered to the winds by folks who bought the ill-gotten gains who had little if any idea or interest in their historic significance. :mad:

I totally agree. I will be the first to admit that I don't know Jack about baseball cards. I could see myself glancing over some of these and being like, "eh. whatever."

I get all of this, but I find it odd that at the very least UM didn't throw in it's typical narration of Stack asking rhetorical questions at the end of the segment. Like:

"What happened to Walker's baseball collection? Was his death the result of someone connected to his pyramid scheme? Who killed him, and why?"

The perfect segment for season 1 would be about the murder of a man who had millions of dollars worth of baseball memorabilia go missing. Instead they labeled it a fraud case and barely mention his death in passing.

In my mind I absolutely heard Robert Stack say those lines as I read your post :lol: But you're right, that would have been a very UM thing to do.

This is purely speculation, but UM producers might have been told (by the network, or advertisers for example) to diversity their segments more? The original episode had another Unexplained Death segment already (Henry & Ives) I have always wondered if UM had quotas for certain case types.

I can think of two other cases immediately that should have been Unexplained Death, and weren't.. William L. Toomey and Roger Dean. Toomey was just called "Mystery" (I think the only time that label was used) and Dean was labeled "The Unexplained"

I can think of two other cases immediately that should have been Unexplained Death, and weren't.. William L. Toomey and Roger Dean. Toomey was just called "Mystery" (I think the only time that label was used) and Dean was labeled "The Unexplained"

Wasn't Roger Dean's case classified as a "Murder" segment?

Toomey I could slightly understand being classified differently since his identity was unknown, but not the method of death. It was a pretty clear cut case of suicide. But with Dennis Walker, there was no signs of physical trauma, alcohol, drugs, or poison which would make his death a perfect "unexplained death" segment.

I agree with why the murder was glossed over. Frankly at that time, the missing sports memorabilia collection would have been more interesting. I collect memorabilia myself and have always enjoyed it, especially baseball collectibles and autographs. However when I was a kid back in the 1980's and 1990s I remember the card shows being just packed at local malls and now it is like no one cares?

Walker and Stephen Cox at least knew each other. I just don't know how they couldn't know each other in the small city of Medford, Oregon both being prominent? While Medford has grown substantially in the last couple of decades, back in the 1980s it was a city that had around 40,000 residents (about half the size it is now). Walker was no doubt a target of his murder in part because of his probably being in cahoots with the mob. It just reeks of an organized criminal hit. The baseball collection was merely collateral damage but whomever took that collection knew how to market it underground and so for it to remain hidden for so long tells me whomever was selling this was largely selling to professional collectors who wouldn't be so quick to flip the product.

I have always felt that he sold it off and gambled away the profits. And that before the justice system got him, he killed himself.

I have always felt that he sold it off and gambled away the profits. And that before the justice system got him, he killed himself.

I thought suicide at first too when they showed the pill bottle on the counter in the UM re-enactment, but an excerpt from a book about Pete Rose covers Walker's death, and it says the autopsy did not show signs of poisoning, drugs, or alcohol. The only logical way for him to have died would have been strangulation or electrocution. Even the UM segment says they never could determine a cause of death. But I definitely don't think it was suicide.

I tend to not believe that Walker killed himself. They (UM) focused on the pill bottle to I think create the impression Walker killed himself, but really all they mentioned was that the bottle had his name on it. Walker could have sold it and if he did it would have had to sell it in underground markets and that would have put him in contact with some pretty sleazy characters, some of whom would have been mob connected in all likelihood, especially back in the 80's when the mob still had a real presence in Vegas. Walker's collection was incredibly immense and diverse and so would have been very attractive to any potential buyer(s). I always have to be careful on this post because one time years ago, it turned into a big discussion about baseball as myself and several other posters here love the game.

I tend to not believe that Walker killed himself. They (UM) focused on the pill bottle to I think create the impression Walker killed himself, but really all they mentioned was that the bottle had his name on it. Walker could have sold it and if he did it would have had to sell it in underground markets and that would have put him in contact with some pretty sleazy characters, some of whom would have been mob connected in all likelihood, especially back in the 80's when the mob still had a real presence in Vegas. Walker's collection was incredibly immense and diverse and so would have been very attractive to any potential buyer(s). I always have to be careful on this post because one time years ago, it turned into a big discussion about baseball as myself and several other posters here love the game.

We do use a lot of general discussion on other threads meant to build on a particular case in an effort to comprehend them. I think it's imperative to follow suit on this thread because it shows how passionate we are about maintaining prestige and integrity in our national pastime. In essence, it became a discussion of how valuable and meaningful baseball is to us since we tend to feel the game deserves justice too.

It's 2021, and sports cards and memorabilia are red hot collectibles again. I am a collector as well as an uber UM fan so I did some research about Walker's collection. I think the provenance of the collection may shed some light about the ultimate fate of Dennis Walker.

The UM segment mentions and shows some specific items that were in Walker's collection at the time he disappeared with it in 1986. The update says the Babe Ruth uniform and 1927 World Series ring were recovered along with a few others that were not specified.

Walker's collection was certainly high end and contained a mix of items that were true 1/1's and others of very limited quantity.

From the segment, this is a list of what was in his collection:

- Babe Ruth's 1927 World Series ring
- Mickey Mantle's 1956 World Series uniform
- Pete Rose's "Silver Bat," which was given as an award for the winner of the top batting average in each league. Rose won this award in 1968, 1969 and 1973, so he had three of these.
- an uncut sheet of 1933 Goudey baseball cards with Babe Ruth on the top row, fourth from the left (the one in the segment has a distinctive tear in the top left corner, making it unique)
- Two T206 Honus Wagner cards (there are about 57 known examples)
- a 1933 Napoleon Lajoie baseball card (about 100 known examples)
- a T206 Sherry "Magie" error card (about 200 examples)
- Pete Rose's 4,000 hit diamond studded ring
- Babe Ruth uniform (UM wasn't specific on which year)

I also read that Dennis Walker had Pete Rose's 1975 Hickok Belt, which was a diamond studded belt given to the best professional athlete of the year (making it a 1/1 item).

It seems like most people feel Walker sold off the collection while he was on the run. There are some items in Walker's collection that could have been sold off more easily and put back into circulation in the sports card hobby. The baseball cards in particular are mostly untraceable and would have been relatively easier to sell, with the exception of the T206 Honus Wagner cards. Any of these cards could be sitting in some collections now or they could also still be unaccounted for.

Aside from the Babe Ruth uniform (we don't know which one it was), the 1927 World Series ring of Babe Ruth's is the only other item in Walker's collection that can be verified as recovered. It has an interesting story behind it. In 1994 Charlie Sheen bought the ring for $225,000 through a sports auctioneer in a private deal. The previous owner was reported to be Barry Halper, one of the most well known collectors ever in the sports memorabilia hobby. Sheen sold the ring at auction in 2017 for $2,093,927. Interestingly, the press at that time (as well as the auction house) ran a fabricated story that Halper got this ring from Babe Ruth's widow. But we UM fans know the ring really came from Dennis Walker's collection as it was a 1/1. Somehow the ring got from Walker to Halper. Halper is deceased.

The other 1/1 items in Walker's collection (Mantle's 1956 World Series uniform, the uncut Goudey sheet, Pete Rose's 4,000 Hit Ring and Rose's Hickok Belt) have never resurfaced for public sale. I want to stress that these items are so unique that had they gone to public auction, there would be searchable auction listings online and likely media stories about them (as the '27 WS ring had). These items would be a big deal if they showed up at a sports memorabilia auction.

(Of the three Pete Rose Silver Bats, the 1973 bat sold for $6,000 at Leland's Auction in 2010, the 1969 bat sold for $77,000 at Paragon Auction in 2014. Edited to add that Pete Rose consigned both of these bats with Goldin auctions in December 2023 (see post 42). The 1968 bat has no public sales. I think it's clear Dennis Walker had the 1968 Silver Bat.)

It's possible that these items are sitting in someone's collection now. But I want to stress that collectors don't live forever and eventually the items have to be sold by either the collector or their families. The items disappeared 35 years ago. For four 1/1 items of that kind of value to be sitting in collections for that long, without at least one of them coming up for auction, seems very unusual.

I think after 35 years the most logical explanation is that Walker sold off some of the items in his collection to fund his life on the run, but held on to the more unique and valuable ones, because they would have been very difficult to sell. He likely hid these collectibles and was killed before he could retrieve them to sell. (This supports the theory that someone killed him rather than suicide. No drugs were found in his system at autopsy and no cause of death could be established because of the decomposition of his body after four days in a Las Vegas hotel.) I'm afraid at this point these items are probably lost forever. I would be very surprised if they ever resurfaced again.

As an aside, the UM segment has a reenactment of Walker going to a baseball card store and looking at 1951 Bowman cards of Mickey Mantle (priced $995) and Willie Mays (priced $225). Today those cards would be worth a minimum of $15,000 and $10,000 each respectively.

The state got their cotton picking hands on it.

Great post! Many thanks for all of the interesting updates and your thoughts. Truly a shame that those one-of-a-kind items have yet to resurface after so many years.

It's 2021, and sports cards and memorabilia are red hot collectibles again. I am a collector as well as an uber UM fan so I did some research about Walker's collection. I think the provenance of the collection may shed some light about the ultimate fate of Dennis Walker.

The UM segment mentions and shows some specific items that were in Walker's collection at the time he disappeared with it in 1986. The update says the Babe Ruth uniform and 1927 World Series ring were recovered along with a few others that were not specified.

Walker's collection was certainly high end and contained a mix of items that were true 1/1's and others of very limited quantity.

From the segment, this is a list of what was in his collection:

- Babe Ruth's 1927 World Series ring
- Mickey Mantle's 1956 World Series uniform
- Pete Rose's "Silver Bat," which was given as an award for the winner of the top batting average in each league. Rose won this award in 1968, 1969 and 1973, so he had three of these.
- an uncut sheet of 1933 Goudey baseball cards with Babe Ruth on the top row, fourth from the left (the one in the segment has a distinctive tear in the top left corner, making it unique)
- Two T206 Honus Wagner cards (there are about 57 known examples)
- a 1933 Napoleon Lajoie baseball card (about 100 known examples)
- a T206 Sherry "Magie" error card (about 200 examples)
- Pete Rose's 4,000 hit diamond studded ring
- Babe Ruth uniform (UM wasn't specific on which year)

I also read that Dennis Walker had Pete Rose's 1975 Hickok Belt, which was a diamond studded belt given to the best professional athlete of the year (making it a 1/1 item).

It seems like most people feel Walker sold off the collection while he was on the run. There are some items in Walker's collection that could have been sold off more easily and put back into circulation in the sports card hobby. The baseball cards in particular are mostly untraceable and would have been relatively easier to sell, with the exception of the T206 Honus Wagner cards. Any of these cards could be sitting in some collections now or they could also still be unaccounted for.

Aside from the Babe Ruth uniform (we don't know which one it was), the 1927 World Series ring of Babe Ruth's is the only other item in Walker's collection that can be verified as recovered. It has an interesting story behind it. In 1994 Charlie Sheen bought the ring for $225,000 through a sports auctioneer in a private deal. The previous owner was reported to be Barry Halper, one of the most well known collectors ever in the sports memorabilia hobby. Sheen sold the ring at auction in 2017 for $2,093,927. Interestingly, the press at that time (as well as the auction house) ran a fabricated story that Halper got this ring from Babe Ruth's widow. But we UM fans know the ring really came from Dennis Walker's collection as it was a 1/1. Somehow the ring got from Walker to Halper. Halper is deceased.

The other 1/1 items in Walker's collection (Mantle's 1956 World Series uniform, the uncut Goudey sheet, Pete Rose's 4,000 Hit Ring and Rose's Hickok Belt) have never resurfaced for public sale. I want to stress that these items are so unique that had they gone to public auction, there would be searchable auction listings online and likely media stories about them (as the '27 WS ring had). These items would be a big deal if they showed up at a sports memorabilia auction.

(Of the three Pete Rose Silver Bats, the 1973 bat sold for $6,000 at Leland's Auction in 2010, the 1969 bat sold for $77,000 at Paragon Auction in 2014. The 1968 bat has no public sales. I don't know which one Walker had.)

It's possible that these items are sitting in someone's collection now. But I want to stress that collectors don't live forever and eventually the items have to be sold by either the collector or their families. The items disappeared 35 years ago. For four 1/1 items of that kind of value to be sitting in collections for that long, without at least one of them coming up for auction, seems very unusual.

I think after 35 years the most logical explanation is that Walker sold off some of the items in his collection to fund his life on the run, but held on to the more unique and valuable ones, because they would have been very difficult to sell. He likely hid these collectibles and was killed before he could retrieve them to sell. (This supports the theory that someone killed him rather than suicide. No drugs were found in his system at autopsy and no cause of death could be established because of the decomposition of his body after four days in a Las Vegas hotel.) I'm afraid at this point these items are probably lost forever. I would be very surprised if they ever resurfaced again.

As an aside, the UM segment has a reenactment of Walker going to a baseball card store and looking at 1951 Bowman cards of Mickey Mantle (priced $995) and Willie Mays (priced $225). Today those cards would be worth a minimum of $15,000 and $10,000 each respectively.

Great post! Many thanks for all of the interesting updates and your thoughts. Truly a shame that those one-of-a-kind items have yet to resurface after so many years.

Thank you so much, I really appreciate that! It is a shame that these unique items are probably lost forever. There's more to the story that I found out recently:

The Babe Ruth uniform that was referenced in the Walker segment was from 1924 and worn by the Babe in the Pride of the Yankees movie. After the movie, it went to a costume company in Hollywood. Sometime in the 1950's it disappeared and then ended up in Dennis Walker's collection.

After the UM segment in 1988, a collector turned the uniform into the police, fearing prosecution because it had been stolen. (This was the uniform referenced as recovered in the UM update.) The details are sketchy, but apparently the collector was able to retain legal custody of the uniform, and then sold it to a dealer in Cooperstown, NY. In 1995, the uniform was stolen out of a car parked in Manhattan and has been lost again.

The dealer Dennis Walker sold the Ruth 1927 World Series ring to, Barry Halper, has been exposed over the years as someone who would buy items reported stolen from public libraries and fake the provenance of other items. It's very possible that Halper bought other items from Walker, particularly the baseball cards. All of Halper's collectibles were sold at auction in 1999.

I loved this case.

It's 2021, and sports cards and memorabilia are red hot collectibles again. I am a collector as well as an uber UM fan so I did some research about Walker's collection. I think the provenance of the collection may shed some light about the ultimate fate of Dennis Walker.

The UM segment mentions and shows some specific items that were in Walker's collection at the time he disappeared with it in 1986. The update says the Babe Ruth uniform and 1927 World Series ring were recovered along with a few others that were not specified.

Walker's collection was certainly high end and contained a mix of items that were true 1/1's and others of very limited quantity.

From the segment, this is a list of what was in his collection:

- Babe Ruth's 1927 World Series ring
- Mickey Mantle's 1956 World Series uniform
- Pete Rose's "Silver Bat," which was given as an award for the winner of the top batting average in each league. Rose won this award in 1968, 1969 and 1973, so he had three of these.
- an uncut sheet of 1933 Goudey baseball cards with Babe Ruth on the top row, fourth from the left (the one in the segment has a distinctive tear in the top left corner, making it unique)
- Two T206 Honus Wagner cards (there are about 57 known examples)
- a 1933 Napoleon Lajoie baseball card (about 100 known examples)
- a T206 Sherry "Magie" error card (about 200 examples)
- Pete Rose's 4,000 hit diamond studded ring
- Babe Ruth uniform (UM wasn't specific on which year)

I also read that Dennis Walker had Pete Rose's 1975 Hickok Belt, which was a diamond studded belt given to the best professional athlete of the year (making it a 1/1 item).

It seems like most people feel Walker sold off the collection while he was on the run. There are some items in Walker's collection that could have been sold off more easily and put back into circulation in the sports card hobby. The baseball cards in particular are mostly untraceable and would have been relatively easier to sell, with the exception of the T206 Honus Wagner cards. Any of these cards could be sitting in some collections now or they could also still be unaccounted for.

Aside from the Babe Ruth uniform (we don't know which one it was), the 1927 World Series ring of Babe Ruth's is the only other item in Walker's collection that can be verified as recovered. It has an interesting story behind it. In 1994 Charlie Sheen bought the ring for $225,000 through a sports auctioneer in a private deal. The previous owner was reported to be Barry Halper, one of the most well known collectors ever in the sports memorabilia hobby. Sheen sold the ring at auction in 2017 for $2,093,927. Interestingly, the press at that time (as well as the auction house) ran a fabricated story that Halper got this ring from Babe Ruth's widow. But we UM fans know the ring really came from Dennis Walker's collection as it was a 1/1. Somehow the ring got from Walker to Halper. Halper is deceased.

The other 1/1 items in Walker's collection (Mantle's 1956 World Series uniform, the uncut Goudey sheet, Pete Rose's 4,000 Hit Ring and Rose's Hickok Belt) have never resurfaced for public sale. I want to stress that these items are so unique that had they gone to public auction, there would be searchable auction listings online and likely media stories about them (as the '27 WS ring had). These items would be a big deal if they showed up at a sports memorabilia auction.

(Of the three Pete Rose Silver Bats, the 1973 bat sold for $6,000 at Leland's Auction in 2010, the 1969 bat sold for $77,000 at Paragon Auction in 2014. The 1968 bat has no public sales. I don't know which one Walker had.)

It's possible that these items are sitting in someone's collection now. But I want to stress that collectors don't live forever and eventually the items have to be sold by either the collector or their families. The items disappeared 35 years ago. For four 1/1 items of that kind of value to be sitting in collections for that long, without at least one of them coming up for auction, seems very unusual.

I think after 35 years the most logical explanation is that Walker sold off some of the items in his collection to fund his life on the run, but held on to the more unique and valuable ones, because they would have been very difficult to sell. He likely hid these collectibles and was killed before he could retrieve them to sell. (This supports the theory that someone killed him rather than suicide. No drugs were found in his system at autopsy and no cause of death could be established because of the decomposition of his body after four days in a Las Vegas hotel.) I'm afraid at this point these items are probably lost forever. I would be very surprised if they ever resurfaced again.

As an aside, the UM segment has a reenactment of Walker going to a baseball card store and looking at 1951 Bowman cards of Mickey Mantle (priced $995) and Willie Mays (priced $225). Today those cards would be worth a minimum of $15,000 and $10,000 each respectively.

Excellent post. I have become a sports memorabilia collector over the past five years or so. When I re-watched this segment recently, I said to myself, "if these items were recovered or sold second hand, it would be public knowledge due to the rarity of some of these items." What has happened to this collection is a true mystery. We have programs like Storage Wars that show you what happens when a storage facility isnt paid for. If Walker had his stuff in a storage locker and the bill wasnt paid, it would have been sold long ago. Somebody would have found it and likely sold it and it would be public knowledge, as I said earlier. If he sold them directly to someone else to finance his life on the run, then at some point, these items will make it back to the mainstream.

What I also do not understand, is his cause of death. They had no cause of death and could not tell if he was murdered or committed suicide. They also had no theories. He was found in a tub so I assume no water was in his lungs and no self inflicted wounds. I mean, what?? I'm not sure I've ever seen a case where zero theories are given as to why someone died.

Thanks for the comment! It's a very interesting case for sure.

I was recently contacted by a researcher who is looking into Dennis Walker, hoping to turn his story into a podcast. She reported to me that there just isn't much out there on him in the public domain. The details surrounding his death are very strange and equally as compelling as what happened to his memorabilia.

From the segment, this is a list of what was in his collection:

- Pete Rose's "Silver Bat," which was given as an award for the winner of the top batting average in each league. Rose won this award in 1968, 1969 and 1973, so he had three of these.

(Of the three Pete Rose Silver Bats, the 1973 bat sold for $6,000 at Leland's Auction in 2010, the 1969 bat sold for $77,000 at Paragon Auction in 2014. The 1968 bat has no public sales. I don't know which one Walker had.)



This is to update my prior post about the Pete Rose Silver Bat that Dennis Walker had in his collection.

I read today that Pete Rose just consigned two of his Silver Bats (1969 & 1973) to Goldin Auctions: https://goldin.co/buy?Category=Pete%20Rose%20Collection

1969: https://goldin.co/item/pete-rose-personally-owned-louisville-slugger-1980-all-star-game-commeqja4k?queryId=eyJxdWVyeUlkIjoiZmY0NGE1NTFjODI0Njg4ZTk0ZGNlMWJmN2JmYWQ4NjEiLCJjYXJkSW5kZXgiOjR9

1973: https://goldin.co/item/1973-national-league-batting-champion-louisville-slugger-award-presentrb8al?queryId=eyJjYXJkSW5kZXgiOjF9

It's quite interesting because these bats were reportedly sold by Rose before. I guess he bought them back?

Link to 1973 Silver Bat Auction with Leland's in 2010: https://lelands.com/bids/pete-rose-1973-silver-batting-championship-bat

(I couldn't find my original source for the sale of the 1969 bat with Paragon in 2014.)

I think it's fair to conclude that Dennis Walker had the 1968 Silver Bat and that has still never hit the auction block.

This is to update my prior post about the Pete Rose Silver Bat that Dennis Walker had in his collection.

I read today that Pete Rose just consigned two of his Silver Bats (1969 & 1973) to Goldin Auctions: https://goldin.co/buy?Category=Pete%20Rose%20Collection

1969: https://goldin.co/item/pete-rose-personally-owned-louisville-slugger-1980-all-star-game-commeqja4k?queryId=eyJxdWVyeUlkIjoiZmY0NGE1NTFjODI0Njg4ZTk0ZGNlMWJmN2JmYWQ4NjEiLCJjYXJkSW5kZXgiOjR9

1973: https://goldin.co/item/1973-national-league-batting-champion-louisville-slugger-award-presentrb8al?queryId=eyJjYXJkSW5kZXgiOjF9

It's quite interesting because these bats were reportedly sold by Rose before. I guess he bought them back?

Link to 1973 Silver Bat Auction with Leland's in 2010: https://lelands.com/bids/pete-rose-1973-silver-batting-championship-bat

(I couldn't find my original source for the sale of the 1969 bat with Paragon in 2014.)

I think it's fair to conclude that Dennis Walker had the 1968 Silver Bat and that has still never hit the auction block.

Always possible that they 'sold' at auction, but the sale was never completed. The auction houses will tout the sale, but.. Not when something goes wrong.. So..

There's lots of other possibilities where Pete is involved as well.. Someone at one of the casinos could have given him money where he wouldn't have to sell them back in the day or something.

I've always kinda felt that the collection was probably sold to an individual and.. Sits in his 'private collection' to this day. I mean.. Think about it.. In vegas.. There's likely nothing you couldn't find a buyer for.

The person who bought this stuff might have passed by now and even their heirs may not realize exactly what they have.

It's like some of the art that disappeared during WWII.. Every once in a blue moon you see something about one of those pieces being found. I've just always had the feeling this would be the same.

Of course, there's the worst case scenario that happened to most kids of the 50's and 60's.. His mom was cleaning out his room and tossed it all.. lol

Always possible that they 'sold' at auction, but the sale was never completed. The auction houses will tout the sale, but.. Not when something goes wrong.. So..

There's lots of other possibilities where Pete is involved as well.. Someone at one of the casinos could have given him money where he wouldn't have to sell them back in the day or something.

I've always kinda felt that the collection was probably sold to an individual and.. Sits in his 'private collection' to this day. I mean.. Think about it.. In vegas.. There's likely nothing you couldn't find a buyer for.

The person who bought this stuff might have passed by now and even their heirs may not realize exactly what they have.

It's like some of the art that disappeared during WWII.. Every once in a blue moon you see something about one of those pieces being found. I've just always had the feeling this would be the same.

Of course, there's the worst case scenario that happened to most kids of the 50's and 60's.. His mom was cleaning out his room and tossed it all.. lol

My own theory is that Dennis Walker hid the collection so well that it was never discovered and somehow destroyed after his death. Some of those items would have been so obvious (Pete Rose Hickok Belt) that I can't imagine anyone would look at it and not think it had some value or was worth investigating further.

I think the theory the items are in a private collection somewhere is viable too. What discounts it for me is the passage of time and the strong likelihood that many of those items would have resurfaced in a public auction by now. I don't even think these items are "wanted" by anyone or have liens against them, which might shield them from the public anymore. Barry Halper sold some of Walker's items at auction and there were no legal issues or claims when he did so. The owners of these items would be free to sell them today without fear of prosecutiion or confiscation.

Thank you so much, I really appreciate that! It is a shame that these unique items are probably lost forever. There's more to the story that I found out recently:

The Babe Ruth uniform that was referenced in the Walker segment was from 1924 and worn by the Babe in the Pride of the Yankees movie. After the movie, it went to a costume company in Hollywood. Sometime in the 1950's it disappeared and then ended up in Dennis Walker's collection.

After the UM segment in 1988, a collector turned the uniform into the police, fearing prosecution because it had been stolen. (This was the uniform referenced as recovered in the UM update.) The details are sketchy, but apparently the collector was able to retain legal custody of the uniform, and then sold it to a dealer in Cooperstown, NY. In 1995, the uniform was stolen out of a car parked in Manhattan and has been lost again.

The dealer Dennis Walker sold the Ruth 1927 World Series ring to, Barry Halper, has been exposed over the years as someone who would buy items reported stolen from public libraries and fake the provenance of other items. It's very possible that Halper bought other items from Walker, particularly the baseball cards. All of Halper's collectibles were sold at auction in 1999.



I remember Sports Illustrated did a story on Halper and his collection in the mid/late 1990's. At the time, I found it fascinating (I was in high school).

They did a story in much more recent years covering the theft of a T206 Honus Wagner card; it was in a display case for public viewing. The heist went unnoticed for a time because the thieves replaced it with a copy. IIRC they trimmed the stolen card to make any potential identification of it less easy or conclusive.