Even if you aren’t a fan of baseball, you’ve likely heard about the extremely rare Honus Wagner baseball cards. One recently sold for $2.35 million. - via SI.com.
If I’ve learned anything from marketing great Seth Godin, it’s that the story matters in marketing, and the story of this baseball card is no different. For starters, hockey legend Wayne Gretzky bought the exact card for $451,000 in 1991, and the gentleman who sold it for north of $2 million bought it for a cool $1.2 million just seven years ago. One of the characters in the television series Prison Break gets five years in prison for stealing a Honus Wagner baseball card, which was a felony. When you tell a good story, it tends to spread until others tell it as well.
More of the story. The “Mona Lisa” of Baseball Cards.
There are only 60 of the 1909 Honus Wagner cards in existence, which came in packs of cigarettes. The card is so rare that it’s sometimes called the “Mona Lisa” of baseball cards, but is that really enough to make it worth $2.35 million? Wagner was an incredible baseball player who won the National League Batting title 8 of his 21 seasons and has a host of other records, but that’s hardly enough in my mind to fetch more than $2 million for his baseball card. So how did it become so rare and desired?
The Price of Character
Collectors believe Wagner’s cards are rare because he stopped allowing the American Tobacco Co. to use his image, fearing it would encourage children to smoke.
via SportsIllustrated.
I love this story even if Wikipedia questions it’s validity. Collectors believe it’s the reason the card is rare. Does it matter what Wikipedia thinks?
Telling Your Own Story
I wrote a post once called “In another life,” and people posted some pretty cool stories about their life. The thing is, if you take a minute to think about your life, your business or the products you sell, you likely have a pretty cool story to tell as well. And the thing is, the news media likes to tell stories about businesses that involve a neat story about a person. They still do it for Honus Wagner almost 100 years later.
15 comments ↓
My question is this: When’s the last time you heard of someone naming their kid “Honus”?
Russ, you’ve got one on the way . . .
I have also heard this story about Honus. If only all sports stars would follow this lead. I personally believe that the Honus card is worth so much because fewer were produced. It is possible that the sheets were printed with lets say 50 cards per sheet. If there were 26 cards in the set, then some cards would be on the sheet 2 times, others 1.
That would lead to a decrease in the number of cards and lead to the shortage.
HI I AM INTERESTED TO SPEAK TO SOMEONE ABOUT THIS BASEBLL CARD HONUS WAGNER I HAVE THIS CARD AND MORE JUST NEED TO GET IN TOUCH WITH SOMEOME TO HELP ME SELL THEM THEY WHERE MY HUSBAND COLLECTION FOR YEAR SO PLEASE CONTACT ME BACK WHAT CAN I DO. WHERE CAN I GO TO PUT IT IN THE ACTION. I DO HAVE MORE OLD CARD IN MINK CONDITION NEVER BEEN HOLDJUST OUT THE PACKAGE IN TO THE PHOTO ALBUM
I RECIEVED THIS CARD A LONG TIME AGO FROM A OLDER PERSON BEFORE SHE PASS AND WAS TRYING TO FIND OUT WAS IT WORTH SOMETHING.WHAT I REALLY NEED TO KNOW IS WHAT THE FRONT AND BACK LOOKS LIKE ON THE REAL CARD.HONUS WAGNER,AND THE OTHER CARDS I HAVE AREMAGIE,PHILA.NATL,AND PLANK,PHILA.AMER SO COULD SOMEONE PLZ GET IN TOUCH WITH ME.
I am the secretary of an auctioneer that has a customer that has a honus wagner card we need some help as to where we could have it looked at to make sure it is not a remake.
How do you know if it is a remake? Do the remakes have any value?
APRIL IT WILL SAY REPRINT ON THE BACK OF THE CARD ON THE BOTTOM OF THE CARD IF IT IS A REPRINT AND YES REPRINTS ARE WORTH MONEY NOT ALOT BUT YES WORTH MONEY ANY WHERE FROM 3.00 TO 100.00 DOLLARS DEPENDING ON THE AGE OF THE REPRINT AND THE CONDITION OF THE REPRINT
I HAVE A REPRINT LIKE NO OTHER I HAVE SEEN BEFORE IT HAS RED A RED TOP ON BACK OF CARD WITH THE STORY OF HONUS WAGNER ON THE BACK OF IT MY DAD GAVE ME THIS CARD A LONG TIME AGO WHEN I WAS 10 YEARS OLD AND HE HAD IT FOR A LONG TIME I AM 32 NOW IS IT WORTH ANYTHING NOW AND I HAVE MANY OTHER REPRINTS OF TOBACO CARDS THAT ARE OLD ALSO OLD MILL, AND SWEET CAPORAL, PIEDMONT THESE REPRINT ARE ALSO FROM THE SAME TIME I SEE REPRINTS ON EBAY FOR 3.00 DOLLARS AND 5.00 DOLLARS BUT THEY ARE 2002 THREW 2008 REPRINTS MINE ARE AT LEAST 40 YEARS OLD
how much is the Honus Wagner card worth this year n a condiction of 7out 10?
I have a Honus Wagner, Sherry “Magie”, Eddie Plank, and Lewis (Boston-NL) 1912 Tobacco Card with the red tops on back and the stories of the card at the bottom. The Lewis card lists the Tobacco companies it was printed on and says it is from the T-207 series. They are small cards that are like around 1×2+ I am guessing. I can scan them if I need but are they worth anything? My son and I found a lot of ball cards in a safe that my grandparents hid under their house before they died. We have thousands od cards and I was wondering how to find out what they are worth. Please email me at balloueyes@aol if you know.
Revise to my above comment. The Honus, Magie and Plank card has a date of 1910. Only the Lewis has a date of 1912
hi i hav a Lewis Boston T-207 with red block and black writting on it is it worth anything? i also have a Honus Wanger card with the same print on the back.
Hello, I have Honus Wagner, Irving Lewis, Eddie Plank, and a Napoleon Lajoie cards 2 are from 1910, 1 from 1912, and 1 from 1933 they have red on the back and stories about the card on the bottom.
Hi,
i am looking at a honus wagner card with a piedmont back. the printing is black but it does not say reprint. is it a fake, unknown reprint or?
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