The Card: Collectors, Con Men, and the True Story of History's Most Desired Baseball Card | 
 enlarge | Authors: Michael O'keeffe, Teri Thompson
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy New: $10.17
You Save: $4.78 (32%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 534191
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.3 x 0.6
ISBN: 0061123935
Dewey Decimal Number: 796
EAN: 9780061123931
ASIN: 0061123935
Publication Date: June 1, 2008 (In 15 Days)
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Not yet published
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Product Description
Only a few dozen T206 Wagners are known to still exist, having been released in limited numbers just after the turn of the twentieth century. Most, with their creases and stains, look like they've been around for nearly one hundred years. But one—The Card—appears to have defied the travails of time. Its sharp corners and still-crisp portrait make it the single-most famous—and most desired—baseball card on the planet, valued today at more than two million dollars. It has transformed a simple hobby into a billion-dollar industry that is at times as lawless as the Wild West. Everything about The Card, which has made men wealthy as well as poisoned lifelong relationships, is fraught with controversy—from its uncertain origins to the nagging possibility that it might not be exactly as it seems. In this intriguing, eye-opening, and groundbreaking look at a uniquely American obsession, award-winning investigative reporters Michael O'Keeffe and Teri Thompson follow The Card's trail from a Florida flea market to the hands of the world's most prominent collectors. The Card sheds a fascinating new light on a world of counterfeiters, con men, and the people who profit from what used to be a pastime for kids.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
The fascinating history behind baseball's most notorious card! January 22, 2008
This is a great book for anyone who loves baseball and grew up collecting baseball cards. It colorfully takes us through the history of the infamous T206 Honus Wagner card, and all of its adventures. The tales of corruption and deceit along the way are fascinating, and gave me a different perspective on the hobby I once loved.
This book is an extremely quick read, and a very fun one.
 Educating and fun December 30, 2007
The Card was a very fun and easy read. It has great incites into the world of card collecting and collecting in general. My favorite part is the way the authors weave not only baseball history but American history as well throughout the book. I recommend this book to anyone interested in baseball and especially card collecting. It made me want to rifle through my sons shoe boxes of cards in hunt for that Honus Wagner!
 Lengthy and Redundant December 27, 2007
First of all, I love baseball and baseball cards and have been collecting cards since I was in First Grade. I really thought this book would be both compelling and informative. However, what I discovered is that what is stated in 256 pages easily could be condensed into 50 pages of text. Often anecdotes and stories are far too drawn out and the authors often find the need to go back to these old stories or bits of information as filler in later chapters. There is some to be taken from this book, but on the whole, it is much longer than it should be. I would pass, and if you want to give it a chance, surely check for it at the library and do not buy it. It won't add much to your personal collection.
An intriguing story well told November 24, 2007
Authors Michael O'Keefe and Teri Thompson tell an interesting and entertaining story about "The Card"--the most valuable Honus Wagner T206 card as well as the card collecting and sports memorabilia "hobby." The Wagner card sold for $2.35 million in February 2007. It is, as the authors write, "the symbol of a hobby out of control."
As one prominent collector said, "Too much of this hobby's driven by greed." The authors chronicle the transformation of the hobby into a $2 billion a year, Internet-driven business, which attracts more than its share of unsavory characters.
While slightly familiar with the Gretzky Wagner T206 card (so named because hockey great Wayne Gretzky and a partner once purchased it), I had no idea about its history and the controversy that surrounds it. The authors present a strong case that the card was actually cut from a sheet of cards, trimmed and altered. If this is the case, the value of the card should have been drastically reduced. It seems, however, that too many people have too much to lose, if it was actually proven.
"The Card" is an intriguing story that will keep you turning the pages. Kudos to the authors for also providing a couple chapters on the career and post-career of Pittsburgh Pirates great Honus Wagner, one of the five original inductees in the Hall of Fame.
The Card Review November 1, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I liked the book, read it in two days. It makes you wonder about a lot of memorabillia out there and why the people selling it are out are there and running around unchecked. It kills me that even though people know about The Card, they still want it. It could be brand new and they'd still want it. That's called wanting something others want. It's not the item, it's the want. Interesting reading, a must for anyone interested in the world of baseball memorabillia or collecting sports cards.
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