When Washington Nationals rookie phenom Bryce Harper stole home during the first inning of the Nats' 9-3 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies Sunday, baseball fans were once again awestruck by the 19-year-old's baseball saavy.
Meanwhile, in St. Louis, Mo., Kevin Thole knew that he already had something special.
"The potential that Bryce Harper has... (he's the) youngest player in the big leagues to steal home, so that's probably the first of many records that I feel like he's gonna set," Thole said in a phone interview Monday.
Thole hopes to break records of his own with an incredibly rare Bowman Superfractor card featuring Harper. In fact, it is so rare that it is literally the only one ever made.
(Photo credit: Kevin Thole)
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Thole, who has been purchasing and selling baseball cards for 15 years, purchased the Bowman-issued Harper card at a private sale. Thole would not divulge exactly how much he paid for the card, but said he paid a "fair price" for it.
He hopes that that price will soar in the next week. Thole placed the card for sale on eBay at 9 p.m. Sunday for just $.01 and as of 10:30 a.m. EST Monday, the highest bid was at $12,100 (the auction ends May 16).
Thole believes that his Harper card can become the modern day Honus Wagner card, which according to Thole, is one of the rarest baseball cards of all-time, recently selling for $1.2 million.
Yet, Thole said the biggest difference between Wagner's card and Harper's card is that the former was not the only one ever made, while the latter is.
"You can imagine if in 30 years, Bryce Harper breaks all these records, we're thinking his could be worth similar money," Thole said.
No pressure, kid.
Adam Vingan is co-founder and editor of Kings Of Leonsis, a Caps-centric blog. Follow him on Twitter @Adam_KOL and e-mail your story ideas to adamvingan (at) gmail.com.
