ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
Decision coming on valuable baseball card of D-backs’ Druw Jones
May 24, 2023, 7:27 PM
Druw Jones #25 of the Arizona Diamondbacks fields a fly ball during a minor league spring training game against the Chicago Cubs at Sloan Park on March 22, 2023 in Mesa, Arizona. (Photo by David Durochik/Diamond Images via Getty Images)
(Photo by David Durochik/Diamond Images via Getty Images)
Here’s the deal, all detailed by The Athletic’s Nando Di Fino, Zach Buchanan and Bill Shea.
Arizona Diamondbacks prospect Druw Jones has a baseball card with his autograph on it. Only one exists. It is essentially a souped-up version of a rookie card. The Athletic describes it as “the crown jewel” from the entire 2023 Bowman Baseball lineup of baseball cards from Topps.
A memorabilia dealer offered a quarter of a million dollars to someone if they pulled it within 30 days of its release on April 26.
And guess what, someone did.
🚨UPDATE 🚨
The 1/1 Druw Jones Superfractor Auto was pulled by The Siler’s, owner of Best of Ohio Sports Cards in Tipp City! pic.twitter.com/rdsJvF3UX8
— Dave & Adam's (@dacardworld) May 23, 2023
But there’s a catch: Dave and Adam’s Card World, the memorabilia dealers in question, will buy it for $1 million if Jones, the No. 2 pick in the 2022 MLB Draft, is a Hall of Famer as a position player.
Best of Ohio Sports Cards is who pulled it, and they said on Instagram they are deciding what to do with the card right now. The card collectors, however, said they will not be considering the $1 million option.
Di Fino notes the card alone is already worth close to $100,000 before the “bounty” from the dealers. Who knows what it could be worth in the future. Kids pulling Charizard Pokemon cards 25 years ago certainly didn’t. Best of Ohio Sports Cards spoke like one of their options could be just holding onto it for now.
To their point in the video, it would be quite the wait on quadrupling the money 20-25 years from now when Jones would be eligible to get voted in. And even then, there’s inflation to consider in the whole risk vs. reward breakdown as well.
It seems crazy to do, at least, because Jones has barely gotten started even in the minors. Buchanan points out Jones has played 10 professional games at the Single A level and that’s it. Not a ton to go off for a Hall of Fame bid.
Best of Ohio Sports Cards, though, said the decision is not because they doubt Jones’ ability. Jones commented on the Instagram post and the collectors said they have spoke with him about it as well.
