The Tale of the $640,000 Baseball Card

by Mik McLeod

In 1996, a 1910 "Honus" Wagner T-206 card sold for an incredible $640,000 to investor Michael Gidwitz of Chicago.

How, you ask? Or rather, why would anyone pay that huge sum? Wagner, "The Flying Dutchman," was a great shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates, hitting 101 home runs between 1897-1917 - out hit by only eight other players.

While scarcity of the card contributed to its price, it was not the deciding factor. According to the Society for American Baseball Research, there are at least 58 cards in circulation. But this card is the only known mint condition Honus card, and it has a unique story to tell.

Even before the Honus Wagner card began selling for big bucks, mystery surrounded it. Some say Wagner had the tobacco card pulled off the market because he neither smoked nor chewed tobacco. He reportedly did not like the image it portrayed.

Others have said Wagner chewed tobacco but pulled the card because the tobacco company didn't pay him a royalty. Either way, the move limited the number of Honus tobacco cards and drove up the price.

But the card's story gets better. In 1991, the card came into the hands of "The Great One," Wayne Gretzky, and LA Kings hockey team owner Bruce McNall who jointly purchased it at auction for $451,000. After McNall went bankrupt in 1994, Gretzky coughed up another $225,000 to become its sole owner.

He later sold it to Treat Entertainment for $500,000. Treat used it to engineer an ingenious sales promotion with Wal-mart to give the card away. (Ingenious and very profitable, the promotion resulted in 45 to 50 million packs of cards being sold.) The winner's name was drawn by Larry King on his CNN show, Larry King Live. The lucky winner, Patricia Gibbs, placed the card at auction.

Michael Gidwitz attended the Christie's auction in 1996 without intending to bid; he didn't obtain a paddle. The price quickly jumped to $500,000 and Gidwitz realized he could buy the card for less than $1 million, hold onto it for a while, and then be the first person to sell a baseball card for $1 million.

"I decided to bid up to $800,000 for the card and live with buyer's remorse later," Gidwitz said.

Gidwitz enlisted a friend who was prepared to bid. After his first bid of $550,000, bidding slowed dramatically. In the end, Gidwitz won the Honus card with a bid of $580,000. With the buyer's premium, the total price came to $640,500.
So where is the now famous Honus Wagner card?

Michael Gidwitz still has it in his collection, and you can see it on his website at www.preciouspaper.com. It's sale price is $2.5 million, but it may not be there for long. Gidwitz may take it off the website.

In a recent telephone interview, Gidwitz said he isn't sure he's ready to let go of this piece of history. "I had no intention of buying the card - didn't even have a paddle.

"I've received a lot of enjoyment from the card, in part because of calls like this [from the media]. The Honus Wagner card lets me have fun," he said.

_____________________

Michael Gidwitz, owner,
photographs his card in
the bank vault.
_____________________

Gidwitz is not just a card fancier or a collector of history. He is a proven collector with a massive collection. With baseball, he focuses on cards, uncut sheets of cards and original artwork for cards. A virtual tour of Gidwitz's collection - now filling its own apartment - would include the 1933 Goudey Gum Company uncut sheet set, thought by many to be the best in the world and an uncut sheet of 1960 Topps. You would also see thousands of cards and hundreds of tobacco cards, many of Ty Cobb's. The Baseball Hall of Fame would envy this collection.

Despite the heady quality of Gidwitz' collection, he is really a down-to-earth person.

"The best part of collecting is the people you meet. And of course, it's the hunt that's exciting. I get just as much enjoyment from finding something for my collection for $5 as I do for $50,000."

Gidwitz' collection goes beyond baseball to original cover art for MAD Magazine (he has 100 paintings), art from Eerie, Creepy, Vampirella and Wacky packages - some of which are on sale at his website.

The site also offers an eclectic variety of collectibles for sale - original sports paintings of Reggie Jackson, Yogi Berra, Pee Wee Reece; Bazooka Joe cartoons and comic book art; sports advertising displays; McDonald's promotional items; and "Stuff that defies description."

Undoubtedly, this is not the final chapter in the tale of the Honus Wagner card.

Gidwitz' philosophy: "In this life, you only get to borrow history for a while," so he's going to savor owning it before he adds the next chapter to the tale of the Honus Wagner card.