O.C. Man Pays Major League Price for Card

Brian and Lorrie Seigel were still jumping for joy over snaring the ultimate baseball card in an Internet auction when their 13-year-old daughter tapped her mother on the shoulder.

“If Dad can spend $1 million on a baseball card, why can’t I have a horse?” Jessica asked.

Welcome to this episode of Lifestyles of the Rich and Newly Famous, starring the Seigels. Brian Seigel stepped into the spotlight Tuesday as the proud owner of what he called “the Mona Lisa of baseball cards.”

The Santa Ana businessman paid $1.27 million, the highest price ever for a baseball card, to win an online auction Saturday for a 1909 card featuring Hall of Fame shortstop Honus Wagner. Seigel, an avid collector of early 20th century baseball cards, called the purchase “a dream come true.” His daughter’s dream may have to wait.

In a news conference Tuesday at Edison International Field of Anaheim, Seigel thanked his wife for catching auction fever and urging him to increase his bid three times from an opening offer of $500,000. The winning bid was $1.1 million, plus a 15% service fee.

“I still can’t believe we did it,” Lorrie Seigel said. “It was almost like, ‘Uh oh, what did we do?’ ”

The card, once owned by hockey Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky and former Los Angeles Kings owner Bruce McNall, is one of an estimated 50 that still exist from a set produced by the American Tobacco Co., which inserted cards of various stars into cigarette packages. The Wagner card included his portrait on the front and an advertisement for Piedmont cigarettes on the back.

Wagner, reportedly concerned he would be depicted as a smoking advocate, demanded the company halt production of his card. Seigel bought the only surviving Wagner card rated in close to mint condition.

Seigel, 40, said he hopes to display the card on a national tour that would include major league ballparks. He first saw the card in 1991, at a national sports memorabilia convention in Anaheim.

“I remember lining up with thousands of people just to stand 10 feet from the card. Today was the first day I’ve been able to touch it,” he said Tuesday.

While millions could view the card at auction, few could bid. In a joint venture between eBay.com and Robert Edward Auctions of New York, the card was sold on the online trading site, but the auction house required a $100,000 deposit from prospective bidders.

The auction house received and verified all bids, then posted them on eBay. Six bidders made a total of 13 bids.

In 1984, one year after graduating with a business degree from Cal State Fullerton, Seigel invested $1,000 and joined two friends in founding Rockford Industries, which finances and leases equipment for small businesses. American Express bought the company for $61 million last year.

That sale, however, did not compare to Tuesday’s news conference orchestrated by two public relations agencies, with nine television cameras in attendance. Nor did Seigel flinch in the glare of his 15 minutes of fame, even gently chiding a reporter from the Fox News Channel: “I’m surprised [Fox Sports anchor] Keith Olbermann is not here. He’s a huge collector,” he said.

But why would someone spend more than $1 million on a baseball card less than 2 inches wide and 3 inches tall? For $1 million, a sports fan could buy a minor league baseball team, with a roster full of living players. Seigel has a tiny picture of one dead player.

“Jay Leno and Reggie Jackson collect cars,” Seigel said. “I could ask, ‘Why do you have 50 cars? How do you drive them all? Where do you keep them?’ This is kind of the same thing. I can appreciate it if you can afford to do that.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Collecting Record Cash

The Honus Wagner card purchased by a Southern California collector has fetched a record sum each time it’s changed hands in recent years. A look at some of the other priciest sports memorabilia items on the market, depending on their condition:

Baseball cards

* T206 Honus Wagner card

(PSA graded Near Mint to Mint): $1.265 million

* T206 Eddie Plank (Near Mint to Mint): $203,000

* 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle (Gem Mint): $160,000

* 1954 Topps Hank Aaron (Gem Mint): $110,000

* 1941 Play Ball Joe DiMaggio (Mint): $109,510

* 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle (Gem Mint): $104,500

* 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth #181 (Mint): $100,050

* 1951 Bowman Mickey Mantle (Mint): $100,000

* 1933 Goudey Napoleon Lajoie (Mint): $95,700

* 1953 Topps Willie Mays (Gem Mint): $94,798

Sports memorabilia

* Mark McGwire’s 70th home run baseball: $3 million

* 1927 Autographed wire photo of Babe Ruth

and Lou Gehrig: $101,948

* Babe Ruth autographed baseball: $55,600

Source: PSA, which also graded the condition of the cards