On September 27, 1998, Philip Ozersky went to a baseball game and saw his life changed forever. With one swing of a bat, and in two twinklings of the eye, he caught not just a baseball, but a gold mine.

Now a lot of fans have caught home runs, but this was no ordinary home run. A lot of batters have hit home runs, but this was no ordinary batter. On that day, Mark McGuire came to the plate and hit his record-breaking seventieth home run.

The ball was launched over Ozersky's head, hit a wall and bounced into his lap. Before you could say: "I am rich, this twenty-six-year-old research scientist became an instant millionaire. For on January 13, 1999, an anonymous bidder paid a record $2.7 million for this ball, almost twenty-two times the previous record.

Now just imagine that you have dis…