In 1943, four-year-old Joel Platt’s mother sent him to spend the day at his uncle’s car lot. Little Joel had a ball! He ran from car to car, sitting at the wheels and pretend-driving each one. In one of them, he found a surprise – a box of matches. Little Joel walked around to the gas tank, lit a match, and threw it in. The car exploded. And so, more or less, did little Joel.

Joel Platt spent the next year in a hospital bed. To keep his spirits up, his parents brought him baseball cards every day, and his Dad told him wonderful sports stories. One night, after his parents left the hospital, little Joel had a dream in which Babe Ruth appeared, telling him not to give up. That was the start of his magnificent obsession.

Today, Joel Platt is the proud owner of the largest private collection of sports memorabilia in the world. Some 3,000,000 pieces, to be (somewhat) precise. Estimates of their value run as high as $100,000,000. And he’s traveled more than a million miles to collect them.

It’s been called “the largest and most valuable collection of diverse and important sports artifacts ever assembled.”

Joel Platt’s “Sports Immortals Museum,” which  opened in Boca Raton, FL in 1994, can only hold about 30,000 of those objects. But if you love sports, you’ll wander through this museum – which Joel runs with his Vice President and son, Jim – like a kid in a candy store.

You can see helmets worn by race drivers A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti. An autographed photo from tennis great Don Budge, and autographed racquets from Pete Sampras and Chris Evert. You’ll come upon an extremely-rare autographed photo of baseball immortal Christy Mathewson. You’ll find basketball jerseys worn by Shaquille O’Neal, and by old-time great George Mikan.

“One of the best things about all this,” Joel Platt says, “is that it gave me a chance to meet so many wonderful people. Not only the athletes themselves, but their families and friends. Often, they’ve given me their most precious keepsakes…or helped me track them down.”

Here, you can ogle the gloves worn by Jack Dempsey when he knocked out Georges Carpentier in 1921. There’s also a letter written by the immortal Jack Johnson after his fight with Jess Willard. And the bell from the Jack Dempsey-Louis Firpo fight at New York’s Polo Grounds in 1923. In fact, Platt’s collection of boxing items is considered the most comprehensive in the world – with more than 100,000 items.

You’ll see an autographed kicking shoe from Tom Dempsey (actually it’s only half a shoe, because this NFL kicker was born with only half a foot!). You’ll see the putter used by Gary Player. And if you’re a hockey buff, you can see Montreal Canadiens jerseys worn by the Maurice “Rocket” Richard.

You’ll see the warm-up jacket worn by Al Oerter, who won four gold medals – in four different Olympics – for the U.S. And a football thrown by quarterback Sid Luckman of the Chicago Bears for a touchdown in a 1943 game – one of seven touchdowns he threw that day.

“I was lucky enough to get to know Sid Luckman’s daughter,” Platt says. “And when she gave me the ball, she told me her Dad would have wanted me to have it.’”

You’ll see Lou Gehrig’s glove. Wilt Chamberlain’s uniform. And many items and letters of the legendary Jim Thorpe.

“I found Thorpe’s granddaughter in California, after a long search,” Platt says. “And when she found out what I was doing, she gave some of her most precious mementoes to me.”

Here, you’ll also see what’s considered the most valuable baseball card in the world – one of three known cards of Honus Wagner, the Pittsburgh Pirates great from the early-1900’s. Estimated value is as high as $4,000,000!

Joel Platt is a walking encyclopedia of stories, many of which are in son Jim’s book, “Sports Immortals: Stories of Inspiration and Achievement.”

“I cherish every piece,” Joel Platt says. “And the stories behind each one.”