Wagner HBO Real Sports...what do you think?

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Posted By: DJ

Real Sports With Byant Gumbel goes one-on-one with NBC Sports Chariman Dick Ebersol and examines the mystery of the hottest baseball collective. Premieres Tuesday, August 15 at 10pm ET/PT. It will be rerun throughout the week on a number of the different HBO channels.

While Hall of Fame shortstop Honus Wagner hung up his spikes more than 85 years ago, he is still the hottest commodity in the sports collectible field. With only about 50 copies believed to exist, his 1909 T206 baseball card is the most sought-after baseball card in the world. This August, in Binghamton, NY, two Cincinnati men will attempt to sell one of those tiny pieces of cardboard for perhaps as much as one million dollars amidst questions about its authenticity. In collaboration with Sports Illustrated, REAL SPORTS correspondent Bernard Goldberg examines the history of this tantalizing card and explores the current controversy. Is the new buyer really purchasing the holy grail of collectibles?

Should be interesting how they handle the latest attempt to pass along a fraudulent piece on a sale that never happened.

Since I know that a hearty thread will start on this, thought I would start it and if I have nothing going on Tuesday night, will transcribe the show for those who don't have the pay channel or haven't seen the episode yet.

DJ

A little rough around the edges...but you get the jest.

Bernie: "This is where the story ends, in a run down strip mall in Binghampton, NY. It is Saturday. There is one item that won't come cheap at all. One baseball card they say won't come cheap at all and that's a 1909 T206 Honus Wagner baseball card."

"This little card has taken over your lives" says the interviewer, Bernie Goldberg.
"Yes it has! Yes it has!" says Ray Edwards. Edwards and John Cobb are cousin's in Cincinnati who own the card and the dream that comes with it.

"Before the hammer comes down for the last time today, Cobb and Edwards will turn them into millionaires. There's one tiny hitch. Many think it's a fake, a countefiet, not worth the paper it's printed on. That's why it's here in Binghampton so far, no one had been willing to buy it anywhere wlse."

"Is this frustrating for you guys?" says Goldberg.
"Very frustrating. It's like having a lottery ticket that you can't cash it and you know that number came up." says Edwards.

Back in Cincinnati, Cobb, who had seen magician David Copperfield tear it up in an trick based on illusion said "I got that card". John Cobb had been collecting anything he can get his hands on since he was a kid.

(video of John Cobb going through a tupperwear box that housed current Superman comics, new trading cards, Pokemon, Kung Fu magazine, Star Wars collectibles and a Charles Barkley card).

"I have been a collector of many things" said Cobb.

Including a piece of buried treasure where he bought this Honus Wagner twenty years ago for $1,800 at an estate sale.

They were ready to cash in on eBay but when one lawyer saw this on the local news, he nearly fell of my chair.

"I'm not saying they stole my card. All I know is I had a Honus Wagner card in this office that looked identical to that appeared on eBay....that was my card", says James Kidney.

The one that vanished from his office showed up on eBay, six miles from where Cobb and Edwards lived. Kidney says that the card was not real, just a novelty item and he went straight to the police.

"I was concerned about the people who were going to buy it." says Kidney.

Cobb and Edwards say that they had nothing to do with it. Ebay still cancelled the auction.

Looking for proof that the card was real, the cousins came to Steve Walter, a well known card deal who said it was 100% sure it was a grade a fake. It took him 2 seconds to come to that conclusion.

"We have probably had four of those come in here in thirteen years" says Walter.

Back To Joe Orlando. When asked how many fakes are out there to every original one, Orlando said: "Hundreds, if not thousands".

Orlando has not seen the Cobb and Edwards card in person, but also says that he doesn't need to.

"Down by the lettering, everything is one consistent capital lettering. formation...and it goes into smaller..." etc.

But Cobb and Edwards have ignored the experts and have spent the last four years trying to prove that they have the real thing. Piling up a stack of research binders and a lot of sleepless nights.

"I have been obsessed to a point where I block everything out. In a relationship that can be a problem. Trying to solve the mystery." says Edwards.

"From what I see, I think this card is real" says Arnie Shwed, a master printer. "I think it was printed around early 1900...1906 to 1917...no doubts."

Shwed says that it was printed in an old fashion press and that the paper in the card is just as old fashion.

"The way the paper was woven and manufcaturerd is far different then anything I saw printed since 1965 and suggested to have the paper anaylzed" says Shwed.

They went to Walter Ranton (sp?), the expert who helped the FBI crack the Unimbomber case. He did a 6 hour chemical evaluation. His conculsion was that the card had some fiber components that were in early 1900's and missing all paper made since then 1920's had.

"To try and counterfeit this thing." says Ranton. "It would be impossible. You would need an antique printing press... paper sits 70-100 it will fall apart, moisture in air. The knowledge to work the press."

Armed with scientific proof, Edwards and Cobb went back to eBay to sell again and (and again) as bids got as high as $200K, not Honus Wagner money though. Not even close.

Back to Joe Orlando: (about all this scientific data) :"It is not enough!"

Without the support of hobby insiders, they turned to Bob Connolly, a former cable TV appraiser who told them their card was worth $1 million and he was shopping the card around. HBO Real Sports caught up with Connolly in New York City to show a card to a broker.

(Connolly emphatically slams the oversized lucite protected card on a glass table with a little spin to a man with a crazy mustache and a loud shirt that went by the name of Mike Mango).

"Seems fine to me" says the Mango. "I will want to touch it at some point but everything looks to be in order...they all the feel the same so when my fingers touch this one, I will know."

One man has a warning for him...(dum, dum, DUM!) Joe Orlando who has invited Cobb and Edwards repeatedly to show the card at PSA. PSA is about the only place they have refused which makes them wonder.

"If they are as confident as they say they are, they are leaving potentially hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars by not having it certfied." says Orlando.

"If they say its fake, they get nothing?" says Goldberg.

"My guess is that they don't want to face the truth" says Orlando.

"He has already made up his mind that the card is a what it is. I just want the public to look at the facts and the sceintifc proof that we have." says Edwards.

Which brings us back to where this story ends. Bob Connolly's auction house.

(Mike Mango is rubbing the card in a semi-rough fashion)

"I'm looking for a $300,000 opening bid....(crickets)...any interest?"
"Last call at $300,000! Pass!"
Not one bid was made.

"It was a little glossy and I didn't feel like the thickness was correct there were too many alarms and bells ringing" says Mango.

Ray Edwards and Cobb are where they started. "The fight continues...take that chance. Life is nothing but a chance" says Edwards.