Update: The card sold early  Saturday morning for $1.871 million after 15 bids — not including a 12.5 percent buyer’s premium. That ups the minimum price paid to $2.1 million — or $2,105,770.50 to be exact.

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By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor

How high will it go?

The PSA 5 (MC) copy of the famed T206 Honus Wagner card — one of only three cards graded 5 or higher by PSA — is entering its final day on the auction block via Goldin Auctions and sits at $1.571 million after 13 bids. The bidding ends on Friday.

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This card, dubbed the “jumbo Wagner” because it’s actually larger than standard T206 size, previously sold for $1.62 million in 2008. In April, a SGC 3 copy of the Wagner went for $1.23 million through Goodwin & Co.

“With less than 60 authenticated Wagner cards out there, the opportunity to purchase one does not come around very often,” said Ken Goldin, the  founder of Goldin Auctions. “The few owners recognize the investment potential of these ultra-rare, highly sought after collectibles and rarely sell them. It is easily the most famous of all trading cards and the ultimate addition to any collection.”

The only PSA 8 copy of this card, which has been shown to have been hand-cut from a sheet before grading, previously sold for $2.8 million in 2007, which is a record for any type of sports card.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

Need a T206 checklist or a Honus Wagner OPG? Click here.

By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor

Forget the Hall of Fame vote, a Hall of Fame caliber baseball card is hitting the auction block.

A PSA 5 (MC) copy of the famed T206 Honus Wagner card — one of only three cards graded 5 or higher by PSA — will hit the auction block in February via Goldin Auctions.

This card, dubbed the “jumbo Wagner” because it’s actually larger than standard T206 size, previously sold for $1.62 million in 2008. In April, a SGC 3 copy of the Wagner went for $1.23 million through Goodwin & Co.

“With less than 60 authenticated Wagner cards out there, the opportunity to purchase one does not come around very often,” said Ken Goldin, the  founder of Goldin Auctions. “The few owners recognize the investment potential of these ultra-rare, highly sought after collectibles and rarely sell them. It is easily the most famous of all trading cards and the ultimate addition to any collection.”

The only PSA 8 copy of this card, which has been shown to have been hand-cut from a sheet before grading, previously sold for $2.8 million in 2007, which is a record for any type of sports card.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

Need a T206 checklist or a Honus Wagner OPG? Click here.

By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor

Topps announced its first Finest rookie redemption of the year on Friday, and it’s a Pittsburgh Pirate who has made quite an impression since his first big-league at-bat.

It’s Starling Marte.

Collectors who found redemption No. 1 out of the five in 2012 Finest, which arrived in hobby shops on Wednesday, will receive a signed card of Marte, who is hitting .281 with four home runs since his debut. He homered on the first pitch of his first at-bat in MLB on July 26.

Marte already appears on 141 different cards valued at more than $1,300. (Need a Marte checklist or OPG? Click here.)

The company will reveal the remaining four rookies during the next month.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor

An SGC 40 specimen of the hobby’s most-famous baseball card sold for more than a million dollars on Friday morning at auction.

It’s a Honus Wagner T206 tobacco card (Sweet Caporal back), and it sold for $1,232,466.34 after 14 bids through St. Louis-based Goodwin & Co.

According to Beckett sales data for the card, a PSA 8 was sold for a record $2.8 million in 2007. A PSA 2 typically sells for $500,000 or less, but with an estimated total of just 50 known to exist — many of those in worse condition — there aren’t too many alternatives for a prospective buyer when one comes to market. This is just the fifth time Beckett has tracked a sale of more than $1 million for the card (in any condition).

This one blasted prices previously paid for cards in similar condition as a GAI 3.5 (Very Good+) sold for $456,057 through Mastro Auctions in late 2005.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

Need a T206 checklist or a Honus Wagner OPG? Click here.

By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor | Commentary

We all have our “common” players who we collect for varying reasons. We all have our local stars who made it or a college player who defied the odds and made it to pro sports from Smalltown USA.

I have a few of them from my collecting life — guys I casually collect when I find their cards but don’t necessarily hunt — but one from the University of Alabama chapter of my collection took an interesting twist recently as I discussed the hobby with a Japanese collector/dealer via Twitter.

My player? Former New York Yankee Andy Phillips. The twist? Recently discovering he has a certified autograph card — one that many of you have probably never seen.

For those who don’t know Phillips, he was drafted by the Yankees in 1999 out of Alabama where he was the school’s career leader in home runs, RBIs and hits — an All-American and the star of the program when I was there. In 2004, he was named the Yankees’ Minor League Player of the Year, and that was the same year he made his big-league debut. He homered in his first MLB at-bat — a game against the Red Sox — and, more notably, later played in 110 games for the Yanks in 2006, hitting seven homers (half of his career total) when Jason Giambi was injured.

From there, he played for the Mets and Reds before spending time in the minors for the White Sox and Pirates organizations. Then, he capped his career playing parts of two seasons in Japan.

His minor league totals? A .298 average, 141 homers and 518 RBI in 826 games — that’s a career, folks. He retired at age 33 in 2010 and is now an assistant baseball coach for the Crimson Tide.

In all, Phillips’ Beckett.com cardboard resume is a brief one — he has just 62 baseball cards, a lone short-printed Rookie Card from 2001 Stadium Club, and not a single memorabilia card. In all, it’s a collection that will cost you about $100 to own them all (not including those too rare to price) — if you can find them in the commons bins out there.

I have a decent number of his cards — though I have never really even gathered them all into one place (yes, it’s that casual). At my first National Sports Collectors Convention, I picked up a game-issue/used bat of his — an item found on accident. Recently, I added a game-used jersey from one of his later career stops to go with other Crimson Tide guys’ game-used MLB bats and jerseys in my collection. Long ago, I picked up one of the many Steiner Sports session-signed autographed photos from when he was a short-term Pride of New York. (A homer like that against the Sox does things to people in Pinstripes.)

And a certified autograph card? That’s nowhere to be found because one doesn’t exist — unless, of course, you’re a collector of the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles. That’s right, a team from the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball. Thanks to Kazu via Twitter, I now know that if my Phillips collecting challenge ever looks like it is near completion it won’t be — Phillips’ lone certified autograph came in a BBM set released in Japan this year (seen above as provided by Kazu), and it’s limited to fewer than 100 copies … not an easy find.

Think about that. A guy homers in Yankee Stadium and is an everyday regular for much of a season but he has to go to Japan to get a certified autograph found in a pack of cards. You don’t hear about that often these days with an over-saturation of prospecting products and kids signing cards for USA and All-Star sets while still in high school. Phillips is pretty unique.

Like Phillips’ cards, I have casually dabbled in Japanese baseball cards from time to time — the differences and simultaneous similarities are an interesting way to look at the hobby in a much simpler way. (After all, I know very little — ok, no — Japanese.) It’s just interesting to see how one of America’s favorite pastimes is seen elsewhere, too.

But now, thanks to a tiny but more personal part of my collection, I have another reason to go hunting for some other types of baseball cards — those from a world away featuring a guy I once saw sitting nearby in a classroom.

Oh, what a hobby.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor

One of baseball’s most memorable families has lost one of its stars.

Matty Alou, one of three Alou brothers to play the outfield for the San Francisco Giants in the same game in the 1960s, died Thursday in Miami. He was 72.

Matty, along with his brothers Felipe and Jesus, all were members of the Giants outfield in 1963 and remain the only three brothers to bat in the same half-inning of an MLB game. The Dominican-born star was the 1966 NL batting champ when he led the league with a .342 average. In 15 big-league seasons, played mostly with the Giants and Pirates, he hit .307 with 1,777 hits and 427 RBI.

On cardboard, he appears on just 114 cards in the Beckett.com database. His Rookie Card can be found in the 1961 Topps set — it typically sells for $12 or less.

Alou signed just six certified autograph cards through the years — all of them found in the 2005 Topps Retired Signatures Autographs set, and four of those are 1/1 press plates. His standard autograph card from the set typically sells for $15 or less, while the Refractor version has sold for as much as $60.

In all, his cards that aren’t too rare to price go for a total of $1,212.05, according to the database.

The three brothers also weren’t the only relatives to play in the major leagues. Their cousin, Jose Sosa, played big-league ball, while Moises Alou, Felipe’s son, was a six-time All-Star and Mel Rojas also was a big-leaguer in the family.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor

One of the most beloved players in MLB history will be back on Topps cards starting next year.

Topps announced on Friday that it has reached a deal with the estate of Pittsburgh Pirates legend Roberto Clemente to showcase him on baseball cards beginning with 2012 Topps, which arrives in February.

The multi-year deal includes the rights to showcase him on inserts, cut autographs, Relics and more.

He presently appears on 2,817 cards in the Beckett database with his 1955 Topps Rookie Card checking in at $2,200.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.