For Some, an Outdated Ad; for Others, the Mona Lisa

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

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

This episode of Lifestyles of the Rich and Newly Famous, starring the Seigels of Santa Ana, came after he became the proud new owner Tuesday of what he called “the Mona Lisa of baseball cards.”

Seigel paid nearly $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, a businessman and avid collector of early 20th-century baseball cards, called the purchase “a dream come true.” His daughter’s dream may have to wait.

At a news conference at Edison Field, Seigel thanked his wife for and urging him to increase his bid three times from an opening offer of $500,000.

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

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

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

While millions could see 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 through the online trading site, but a $100,000 deposit was required from prospective bidders. Thirteen bids were received.

Seigel co-founded Rockford Industries with a $1,000 investment a year after graduating from Cal State Fullerton. The company, which finances and leases equipment for small businesses, was bought by American Express last year for $61 million.

But why would someone spend so much on a baseball card?

“Jay Leno and Reggie Jackson collect cars,” Seigel said. “I could ask, ‘Why do you have 50 cars?’ ”