The Louisville Slugger Museum auction Saturday yielded a record price paid for an MVP trophy (for Ted Williams' 1947 award), but the star of the auction was the shocking price paid for a Hank Aaron postcard.
The postcard from Aaron's brief time playing for the Indianapolis Clowns in the Negro Leagues in 1952 sold for $199,750, crushing the high estimate of $10,000. Yes, you read that right. It did nearly 20 times its high estimate.
Hunt Auctions, which put on the auction for the museum, sold a similar postcard, with "Hank Aaron" written on it for just $6,000 in 2008.
In its auction description, Hunt made the argument this could be considered Aaron's rookie card of sorts and bidders seemed to have bought it, despite the fact the major grading companies aren't grading the item.
In a raw state, the postcard outdid every Hank Aaron card except his rookie 1954 Topps graded either a 9 or 10.
"There was never any question in our mind that the Hank Aaron postcard was extremely scarce and in turn having a great chance to outperform expectations,” Hunt Auctions CEO David Hunt said. “The main question we (and many bidders) had was whether it would be received by the market as simply a postcard or more as a card issue. That question was certainly answered with the incredible final selling price."
In 1952, at 17 years old, Aaron signed with the Clowns, leaving his home in Alabama with $1.50 in his pocket, two changes of clothes and a ham sandwich made by his mother. In three months with the Clowns, he led the league in batting (.467) and got paid a total of $600 for his work.
The Milwaukee Braves then bought Aaron's contract for $10,000, and he finished the season in the minors, being named the "Most Outstanding Rookie" in his league. He was called up by Opening Day of 1954 and soon began his quest to become the sports' all-time home run king, a title he held from 1974 to 2007.
The postcard came from the collection of Ed Scott, the scout who discovered Aaron. The auction lot included an article on Aaron that had the same image from when it was published in the St. Louis American on Aug. 7, 1952, calling him the next Jackie Robinson or Willie Mays.
Two Type 1 photos of Aaron with the Clowns, from Scott's scrapbook, sold for a whopping $33,930 combined.
Elsewhere in the auction, Williams' 1947 MVP trophy sold for $528,750.
Darren Rovell is the founder of cllct.com and one of the country's leading reporters on the collectible market. He previously worked for ESPN, CNBC and The Action Network.