The 1909 Honus Wagner tobacco card which is the so called “Holy Grail of Baseball Cards” was sold recently for a record $2.3 Million at auction.

Hockey great Wayne Gretzky who bought the card in 1991 for a mere $451,000 sold the card to Brian Seigel in 2000 for $1.2 Million. Seigel now has sold it for the record $2.3 Million to someone who is only being identified as a Southern California collector.

Honus Wagner cards are so rare that even tattered ones will sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars, Seigel said.

The others “you could stick in middle of the street and let cars drive over it through the day, take it in your hand and crumple it up, and it still would be a $100,000 card,” said Seigel, CEO of Emerald Capital LLC, an asset management company, who lives in Las Vegas.

The tobacco cards used to be included in packs of cigarettes. 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.

Nicknamed the “Flying Dutchman,” Wagner was the National League batting champion in eight of his 21 seasons and finished his career with a lifetime .329 average. He retired in 1917 with more hits, runs, RBIs, doubles, triples steals than any National League player.

While this card seems to be quite a good investment, spending millions on a baseball card sounds a little silly. Then again look at how it’s value has appreciated over the last 15 or so years since Gretzky owned it.

I think it’s time I go look through my dusty old baseball cards. I’m pretty sure I have a Barry Bonds rookie card along with a ball that was signed by the 1991 World Champion Minnesota Twins. I know it has Kirby Puckett, Frank Viola and Kent Hrbek on it. Although I’d imagine that’s worth about the same as I nice steak dinner so I’ll probably just hold onto them for memory sake.