Mantle card sells for record $12.6 million; what's the most you would spend? | Opinion

Aug. 28—Someone hands over an unlimited amount of cash.

It's all for you — the biggest sports fan on the planet. After all the essentials, of course, what's your next move?

Someone with plenty of cash unloaded a huge amount to own one of the most — if not the most — collectible sports card ever. It's now the most expensive one.

On Aug. 28, it was announced a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie card — with a grade of 9.5 (out of 10) — sold for a record $12.6 million. It's recognized as the most expensive piece of sports memorabilia.

The Mantle card sale eclipsed the record from a few months ago — $9.3 million for the jersey worn by Diego Maradona when he scored the contentious "Hand of God" goal in the 1986 World Cup.

That sale surpassed the $7.25 million for a Honus Wagner baseball card recently sold in a private sale.

Last month, the heavyweight boxing belt reclaimed by Muhammad Ali during 1974's "Rumble in the Jungle" fight against George Foreman sold for nearly $6.2 million.

The Mantle card was sold by Anthony Giordano of New Jersey. He bought the card for $50,000 at a New York City show in 1991. The $12.6 million auction sale was quite a return.

"As soon as it hit 10 million, I just turned in," the 75-year-old Giordano told The Associated Press.

He woke up with an extra $2.6 million.

Mantle is among the most popular and most sought-after sports superstar among vintage collectors. The Yankees slugger with 536 career home runs was a three-time American League MVP and won seven World Series titles with the New York.

The Mantle sale poses two questions:

—Will this particular item ever exceed $12.6 million — if it is ever up for sale again?

Prices for collectable items in all genres are set by price guides such as Beckett for sports cards. However, in an auction setting, those "set" prices many times get blown out of the water. In those instances, items are worth whatever an individual is prepared to pay.

In September 2021, Heritage Auctions hit a new milestone when it completed a sale for the most expensive comic book ever — Marvel's Amazing Fantasy No. 15.

That comic book — which retailed for 12 cents in 1962 — marks the debut of arguably Marvel's most famous character, Spider-Man. The book graded at a 9.6, which is near perfect.

With the Mantle price tag of $12.6 million, that could stay at No. 1 for a while but most records do not stay unbroken forever. Especially when multi-millionaires are involved.

Or better yet — what if you were suddenly worth millions ...

—What piece of sports memorabilia would you pay thousands — maybe millions — to acquire?

Here's one man's top five, in no particular order:

—The ball Wilt Chamberlain scored his 100th point with on March 2, 1962: Whether the ball actually exists is unknown. Kerry Ryman of Hershey, Pa. — the site of the historic performance — reportedly grabbed the ball from Chamberlain and kept it in storage for years. In 2000, the ball was auctioned for more than $500,000 but its authenticity was in question and the sale suspended. If that ball actually exists, it would surely be sold for millions today.

—Babe Ruth's 714th career home run: In 1998, the ball sold for a then-record $126,500. In 2010, Ruth's 702nd home run sold for more than $260,000. The sky is the limit for Ruth's No. 714 home-run ball.

—Ken Keltner's glove from July 17, 1941: I know two things about Keltner: He played for the Indians, and he was responsible for stopping Joe DiMaggio's iconic 56-game hitting streak. More than 67,000 watched that day at old Cleveland Municipal Stadium as Keltner made two huge defensive plays at third base to rob DiMaggio of hits and ended his streak at 56 games.

—Jessie Owens track cleats from the 1936 Berlin Olympics: Northeast Ohio native Owens had a performance for the ages in 1936 when he won gold in the 100, 200, long jump and 4×100 relay. Some might want his gold medal. I want the tools used to deliver such a historic performance.

—The championship belt from "Rocky II" and "Rocky III": On the other hand, this hardware is too good to pass. The iconic movie prop championship belt Rocky Balboa won by defeating Apollo Creed in "Rocky II" is beautiful. The belt is yellow, red, white and blue with a silver medallion in the middle. Replicas are widely available online but the real thing? That's a must-have for a true Rocky fan and collector.

All I need now are millions of dollars.