At the just-held National I bumped into Rob Gough, who as we all know until very recently was the owner of the most expensive baseball card ever sold when he paid $5.2 million for a PSA 9 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle. I found him to be pleasant and very cordial and we talked for about 10 minutes.
If you read the July 2021
SI article about this Mantle card, he is featured VERY prominently. Like the first 10 paragraphs. What I found "weird" is that PWCC, who served as the broker in the sale (it wasn't an auction) and whose vault the card now sits in, wasn't mentioned by name. I wonder why.
This article makes it clear that Gough dove in hard last summer and eBay was one of his sources as he spent millions of dollars on cards. Now this news breaks. Does he pull that Mantle from the vault? Where will he go to buy cards in the future? At the National I recommended to him (and real estate mogul Kurt Rappaport, who was with him), that REA is the best but of course REA isn't on eBay. I also told him to stay away from PWCC because of the ongoing (?) trimming scandal. I know, that advice was too late.
Why does it matter what this young man does going forward? I believe the hobby needs fresh, young faces if it is going to continue to grow. I also believe he has had a positive impact on the hobby and what he does now (in terms of buying more cards) matters. Just my opinion. I want the hobby to thrive long after I am dead and gone. Gough can help.
P.S. I did write a blog about my pleasant encounter with Gough and Rappaport. If you want you can read it at
www.markearzoumanian.com and then click on "My Love of the Hobby."