Empty the Bench

The so-called “Holy Grail of Baseball Cards” was auctioned off yesterday to a Southern California card collector who has concealed his identity so that the neighbors can’t rib him for spending $2.35 million on a baseball card. The uber-rare tobacco card for Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Honus Wagner has long been described as the most “off the hook” baseball card one could possibly own, as there are believed to only be 60 still intact. This particular card was once owned by hockey great Wayne Gretzky, who sold it when realizing the value would decrease if put in the spokes of his BMX.

According to seller Brian Siegel, his Honus Wagner card is in waaaayyyyy better condition than the other ones in circulation. Still, you could put one in the bottom of your cat’s litter box for a month, dust it off, and still sell it for a cool $100 grand.

The others “you could stick in the middle of the street and let cars drive over it through the day, take it in your hand and crumple it up, and it still would be a $100,000 card,” said Seigel, CEO of Emerald Capital LLC, an asset management company, who lives in Las Vegas. “The Wagner card gave me a tremendous amount of pride, excitement and pleasure. I hope the new owner will have the same satisfaction I enjoyed over the years.”

Seigel went on to say he slept with the card, bathed with the card, took the card for walks, even dated the card for a short spell. He cited “irreconcilable differences” for the break-up.