Grab a coffee. Sit down. Brace yourself.
You are about to read perhaps the most tear-jerking story the world has ever known. Ready? Let’s rock.
Most of you have probably heard by now that last Sunday a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie card sold for $12.6 million dollars. The card is described as being in near perfect condition and one of just a handful of the Hall of Famer still in existence.
For the worst reason possible, I may have an idea where there might be one more.
Y’see back about 2012 or so, somewhere in there, our family happened to be on a holiday outing in Rolla, N.D., where we bought a minty estate sale Buick Rendezvous from Theel Motors.
The man I dealt with there was the owner of the business, the very personable, and funny, Lowell Tupa, who, while we were chatting, told me a story I have never forgotten. We were talking about collectibles in general, during which he got waxing prolific regarding a baseball card collection he’d once had. It was quite the story.
So when I saw the “Mickey Millions” card sale last weekend, I gave Lowell a call to get his thoughts on the matter:
“I had one of those!” he tells me straight up. That one, and a whole lot more, because about 1950 Lowell began collecting every baseball card he could get his hands on. He continued collecting ’til it was time to head off to college.
By that time he had about 18 boxes of them, all tucked safely under his bed. As he was prepping to leave, he told his mom, Ellen, “I’ll be back every summer ’til I’m through college, may as well just close my bedroom door and leave everything as is. It’s all pretty much the way I want it for now.”
That turned out to be a tough ask.
Lowell continues, “My Mom was a cleaning fanatic, she had to clean the whole house every week even with nobody home.”
She was also a very dedicated school teacher, who alternated teaching grades 3 through 6 in Larimore, N.D., and was always looking for incentives to encourage her students to push themselves a little harder.
Lowell says she “really never saw much merit in me collecting those cards anyway,” and perhaps the clutter thing had some play in it, so what did she do? Throw them out? No.
“At some point in my trips home from UND (University of North Dakota) I looked under the bed for my cards and there were only a couple of boxes left. I asked Mom where the rest were.”
“Oh you know (paraphrasing) they weren’t doing much good there, so every once in a while I’d take one to school to reward my students for a good grade or some accomplishment.”
Sag. Frustrating, but back then they hadn’t grown much in value yet.
Of course over the years as he saw their value climb, it drove him a little crazy, although, did give him a heck of a great story to tell.
During our chat this past Monday I asked him how seeing the $12.6-million windfall for a card he’d once had made him feel.
“I told my wife (Loie pronounced Low-ee): “I had that card! I had that card!” She said, “Well it doesn’t matter, it’s done, so I guess you’re no good to me now.” They got a good laugh out of that one.
This tale does make you think though doesn’t it.
Lowell says there were kids for miles around who attended that school, could it still be tucked away in a drawer somewhere? Lowell’s never-to-be rookie card millions, just wasting away? He even wonders if maybe the card sold last Sunday had originally been his. He’ll never know, but boy he’d like to. Thanks for sharing your story with us Lowell. Cheque’s in the mail. Kidding.
Comments and column ideas welcome at lmustard1948@gmail.com
