NLR man purchases rare card
Posted on Sunday, August 3, 2008
John Rogers says he’s acquired the “holy grail.”
In terms of sports memorabilia, he has.
Rogers, of North Little Rock, bought a 1909 Honus Wagner baseball card for $ 1. 62 million at an auction Friday night as part of the 29 th National Sports Collectors Convention.
“I call this the holy grail of baseball cards. It’s a dream come true. It’s something I always wanted to go after,” said Rogers, who is the owner of Rogers Archive along with Sportscards Plus in North Little Rock. “I was actually offered today $ 100, 000 more than I paid. I was offered $ 1. 7 [million ] today, and I turned it down. It makes me feel good. It makes me feel like I’m not a nut.”
Rogers, who played football at North Little Rock and Louisiana Tech, owns the copyright to 2. 2 million photographic images, mostly of sports, historical or political nature. Through Getty Images, they sell to interested parties, including media and memorabilia companies. He and his wife, Angelica, also own Hand-In-Hand Daycare in North Little Rock.
“My main revenue stream is definitely the image-leasing business,” Rogers said. “And we do high-end memorabilia. We buy and sell rare, one-ofa-kind sports artifacts.”
This Wagner card is known as a “White border T 206” and is from a series issued between 1909 and 1911. He doesn’t have the card in his hands yet. In fact, he’s never seen it in person. Rogers did his bidding via telephone through Doug Allen, the chief executive officer of Mastro Auctions.
“There was, from what I heard, several hundred people in the room. It opened on the floor at half-a-million [dollars ]. Immediately it went to 6, 7, 8, 900, 000,” Rogers said.
There was a dead heat, bidding war between Rogers and an anonymous bidder that lasted about four minutes.
“I was actually done. I wasn’t going to bid again. My wife was extremely supportive. She encouraged me to place one more bid, a $ 50, 000 bump and that’s what won it,” Rogers said.
Rogers said he’ll fly to Chicago this week to pick it up his purchase. He said he would like to find a way to let the public view the card at some point.
“We’re going to do something locally. I don’t know what,” Rogers said. “We’ve loaned items before to National Sports Gallery, Babe Ruth Museum, things like that for display. I’m always open to do that. It helps the item, gives it a little pedigree. We’re open to putting it in the right venue for the public to see.”
The card, originally packaged with American Tobacco Company’s Sweet Caporal cigarettes, is considered to be in excellent condition. The card was graded a 5 on the Professional Sports Authenticator scale.
The highest score for a Wagner card was an 8 on a scale of 10 (mint condition ). That card sold for a record $ 2. 8 million in 2007. Among its previous owners before it was sold in 2007 were hockey legend Wayne Gretzky and Bruce McNall, the former owner of the Los Angeles Kings. They paid $ 451, 000 for it in 1991. Many collectors have speculated that this card was once altered because of its texture and shape.
There is also a PSA 6-rated Wagner card that is at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N. Y., and is never expected to be sold. There appears to be no doubt about the card Rogers purchased.
“Over the years, I’ve watched them come up for auction. Recently a PSA 1 which was in poor condition sold for almost $ 400, 000, and I didn’t want to make an investment in something that was low grade. So, I bit the bullet,” Rogers said. “It’s the highest-grade, unaltered example that is available in private hands.”
Rogers said he was “completely obsessed” with baseball cards as a child.
“I was just the kid that did cards, that’s what I was known for,” Rogers said. “When I was in second grade, there was a photo of the Wagner card in a magazine. I cut it out and glued it to a piece of cardboard and carried it around in my pocket. I showed people at school, and I realized I was the only weird kid, nobody else cared. They weren’t impressed because nobody knew what it was.”
Wagner’s card was among the first of hundreds of cards of major league players produced and included in packages of cigarettes. Unlike other players, however, Wagner quickly demanded that his card be withdrawn. Theories vary as to why, with one being that he didn’t believe the American Tobacco Company paid him enough.
A nonsmoker, the Pittsburgh shortstop was arguably the second-greatest baseball player of his era, behind Ty Cobb. Wagner hit. 344 during his rookie year of 1897, and batted over. 300 for 17 consecutive seasons, winning eight National League batting titles.
One of the first five players inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, Wagner retired in 1917 with more hits, runs, RBI, doubles, triples and steals than any National League player.
There are fewer than 100 Wagner baseball cards in existence, said Julie Stoklosa, a spokesman for Mastro Auctions, and less than 10 are in excellent condition.
Allen said even the lowestgraded Wagner baseball cards can fetch more than $ 150, 000.
“The mystique and allure of the T 206 Wagner card continues to grow,” Allen said.
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