|
[이데일리 스타in 이석무 기자] The most expensive baseball card of 5.7 billion won was born.
The US sports media ESPN reported on the 15th (Korean time) that “The New York Yankees Mickey Mantle’s baseball card was sold for the highest amount of 5.2 million dollars (about 5.7 billion won).”
According to the announcement by PWCC, a card trading company, the baseball card that set the highest price this time is the’legendary’ mantle of the major league New York Yankees issued in 1952 by Topps.
The previous highest-priced baseball card was a rookie card of Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout in August of last year, recording $39.3 million. Before that, Horners Wagner’s baseball cards sold for $3.21 million in 2016.
The official name of the card, with the mantle on his shoulder and looking away, is ‘1952 Topps Mickey Mantle PSA 9’. PSA stands for Card Rating System. PSA 9 means 9 out of PSA 1-10.
Mantle’s 1952 cards were sold so expensively because of their rarity. Topps, which makes baseball cards, produced the first cards of Mantle, the best star of the time, with a year. In particular, because the card was overproduced, thousands of cards were discarded in the Hudson River in 1960, and it became a more valuable item.
The protagonist who bought this card is Rob Goff, an actor and businessman. He is also famous for collecting cards for Babe Ruth, Joe Jackson and Michael Jordan.
“The 1952 Topps Mantle is like the holy grail of sports cards,” said Goff. “When I was younger, I always dreamed of having this card and felt that the price of the mantle’s cards was undervalued.”
The card was bought by former American football player Evan Mathis for $2.88 million in 2018. The price has nearly doubled in just three years.
Mantle is a legendary player who played for the Yankees from 1951 to 1968, with a career of 536 homers and three best players (MVP). Mantle, who was dedicated to the Hall of Fame in 1974, died in 1995.