By Anthony Fenech

Jeffrey Rosenberg’s mind raced and his hands trembled as he sat in the stands at the Little League field in Texas. No, he wasn’t worried about the game.

Rosenberg, founder of a sports memorabilia company, was constantly checking his cell phone, waiting to hear from auctioneers in California.

The first call: $40,000 was the bid on the first-ever baseball card — the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings.

“Wow,” Rosenberg thought. “This is way too low.”

Over the next hour, the bidding escalated: $50,000, $60,000.

“We knew we wanted the card,” he said.

Rosenberg waited at that field for more than hour before dropping his final bid of $75,285. Then he waited some more.

“The longest 15 minutes of my life,” he said. “All of a sudden I get a call saying ‘You’ve won,’ and I was in disbelief. Shocked actually, absolutely shocked.”

Rosenberg is bringing the historic card to AllStar Sports Cards in Henderson, where it will be on display from 2 to 7 p.m. Saturday.

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Las Vegas Sun
August 24, 2009