“I knew its history when I found it in my sister’s collection of stupid TV shows,” Mantila said. “The whole pack was unopened. So, I took care of that. The gum was still fresh. But when I found it, my hand started shaking.”
When asked what he was doing searching though his sister’s dresser drawer, Abe turned red and stammered until he had to be taken away.
So, which Hall of Famer was on this card?
Kengos? Nebraska? Hinson or Gillstrom? Could it have been the rare rookie third basemen card that included Diego Moreno, Boone Carlyle, and Tim Parsons that had been printed with each in reverse?
No.
Although not a particularly legendary player, the guy in question is ex-Valencia Star and current Boise Spud pitcher Pepe Hernandez, who had been said to have taken a legendary photo for his card before his rookie on a dare from his teammates while in Valencia—a card that was then quashed by both the team and league officials before it could be released as part of the run. “I can’t say,” Hernandez has replied when asked in the past, which has been often. It seemed a reasonable answer, but conspiracy theorists were quick to note that this is what a player working under a non-disclosure agreement might say.
Now it turns out the conspiracy guys were right.
- Pepe_Hernandez_BB_Card.png (55.34 KiB) Viewed 446 times
The card, which was released as part of Big Bop series Z206 run, was apparently printed one time and only one time by a disgruntled employee who had been supporting the chief photographer at the time of the filming of the cards. “The rest of the team dared him to have his picture taken like he was fielding a come-backer to the nuts,” said Fed Kalinka, the photographer who came to the auction specifically when he heard what had happened. “At first, Hernandez wouldn’t do it, but he’s a rookie, you know, and the team said there would be fines to pay in the Kangaroo Kourt. Apparently the minimum salary only goes so far these days, so eventually he caved in and did it.”
Kalinka said the team had to hit several grounders off Hernandez’s nuts before the picture came out right. “It’s hard to get the timing on a ground ball just right, even with a high-speed camera. To the guy’s credit, he only puked after the last one.”
The prior record was set three years ago when a rare card depicting Manuel Aguilar’s triple crown in fetched $3.8M. On the night, over $9M was spent on trading cards.
“With the popularity of baseball growing around the world, the demand for high-grade vintage cards has really taken off,” said Dave Goldin, “so we expected a good night even before the Nuts Card showed up.
