YES Network.com

It’s every collector’s dream: a baseball glove once owned by the legendary Babe Ruth. That is, unless it’s a fraud.

California resident Irving Scheib is facing up to 20 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to attempting to sell a fake Babe Ruth glove for $200,000.

Scheib schemed up a story behind an authentic 19th century baseball glove, which he purchased on eBay for $750. The con artist claimed that The Bambino gave the glove to deceased Hollywood actor Robert Young, who Scheib is related to by marriage, and he kept it in his private collection for more than 68 years.

In March, Scheib listed the glove online with a Nevada broker who listed it as “The Earliest Known Worn Babe Ruth Glove From St. Mary’s Baseball Team, Autographed Tag and Provenance From Golden Era Movie Star Collection.”

When advertising the glove, Scheib even went as far to say that Ruth, “was so affectionate towards this glove that he slept with it under his pillow at the orphanage.”

All of the lies eventually caught up with Schieb; he was busted by a potential buyer in Manhattan, who happened to be an undercover investigator.

“[Scheib] wove a fantastical tale in an attempt to exploit the iconic status of a legendary figure in the world of baseball, Babe Ruth, to make a quick buck,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said.

Scheib appeared in Federal District Court in Manhattan on Thursday and pleaded guilty.

“I sold a baseball glove falsely claiming it was a Babe Ruth glove, and it was not, your honor. I feel horrible about it, but those are the facts,” Scheib told Judge Robert P. Patterson, Jr.

Scheib was released on $50,000 bail and is restricted to parts of New York and southern California until his sentencing in October. He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.