Wayne Gretzky, the greatest to ever play the game of hockey, has broken a lot of records in his lifetime. On Thursday night, The Great One broke a record of his own when his rookie card was sold for a historic amount.The card was manufactured by Canadian company O-Pee-Chee and graded a Gem Mint 10 by the Professional Sports Authenticator grading company, the highest grade a card can receive. The back of the card reads: "Wayne is considered the best prospect to turn professional since Guy Lafleur."The whopping $465,000 that the Gretzky card sold for represents the highest value of any hockey card by a long shot, but it is comparable to other high-grade vintage sports cards. For example, a Michael Jordan 1986-87 rookie card sold for $100,000, a 1954 Hank Aaron card sold for $357,594, a 1914 Babe Ruth card sold for $519,000, and a 1909 Honus Wagner card—once owned by Gretzky himself—sold for a historic $2.8 million.Hearing Wagner and Gretzky in the same sentence reminds us of the time when illusionist David Copperfield made hearts drop when he showed off his magic in 1993.
A rookie card showing an 18-year-old and paper-thin Gretzky in his original Edmonton Oilers jersey from 1979 sold at an auction for $465,000—the highest amount for a hockey trading card since a less-mint Gretzky card sold for $94,162 in 2011.This Wayne Gretzky rookie card just sold for $465,000, a record for any hockey card ever sold — Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell)August 5, 2016
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The Wagner card, among the rarest and most sought-after cards ever made, had its own ESPN 30 for 30.