clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Baltimore Nun Selling Rare Honus Wagner Baseball Card

Strange story out of Baltimore, where another one of those extremely rare T206 Honus Wagner cards has surfaced.

↵
↵
↵
↵
↵
↵

The card is damaged, said seller Heritage Auction Galleries, noting that "creases snake across the body of the card and a tack hole hovers over Wagner's head."

↵

The card was found in a safe deposit box with the typewritten note, "Although damaged, the value of this baseball card should increase exponentially throughout the 21st century," according to the auction house.

↵

Sister Virginia Muller had never heard of Honus Wagner before she received the donation but soon learned that the card is expected to fetch as much as $200,000, which will be distributed to School Sisters of Notre Dame ministries in 35 countries.

↵
↵
↵
↵
↵
↵

The bidding on the card has already reached $130,000 despite being damaged. As the article points out, every time one of these ultra-rare cards surfaces, we get to talk about Honus Wagner again, which is great because he was perhaps the greatest Pirate ever and the greatest shortstop ever, at least relative to the level of competition he faced. Here are Wagner's career stats; his 1900, 1904, and 1907-1909 seasons are mind-boggling - try clicking through to see his teammates' statistics to appreciate how much better Wagner was than his peers.

Photographs by dizfunk used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.