Dinner with Mike Gidwitz: A Story about Kindness

[marzoumanian]

I still can't believe this happened. It's the subject of my latest blog.
Four summers ago a salesman walks into my condo here in Chicago to measure my living room for new carpeting. He sees my framed Mickey Mantle poster on the wall and I point out to him my nearby stacks of baseball card albums. He then informs me he has a good friend who collects baseball cards. His name is Mike Gidwitz. Would I like to meet him?
What would you say? That's what I thought.
For those who might not know, Gidwitz is a Chicago-based investment advisor who back in 1991 badly wanted the famous T206 Honus Wagner tobacco baseball card that's graded a PSA 8 today. Sotheby's Copeland Collection auction was held that year and it had the (then-raw) card. Gidwitz was outbid by Bruce McNall and Hockey Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky. They won with a bid of $451,000. But he didn't give up. In a 1996 Christie's auction he won the (now-graded) card with a bid of $641,500. Four years later, on July 5, 2000, he put the card up for auction. Collector Brian Seigel won it with a $1.265 million bid.
Arizona Diamondbacks Managing Partner Ken Kendrick now owns it. He paid $2.8 million for it in August 2007.
I didn't seek Mike out. The opportunity to meet him fell in my lap. Forum cynics might say, "Who cares?" Sorry. I have to admit it was a thrill. It's an evening I still remember vividly four years later. And what impressed me most about Mike? His kindness.
Visit www.markearzoumanian.com to learn what occurred. Then click on "My Love of the Hobby."