Baseball cards found in Ohio attic sell for $566,000 - MLB

Last month we had a post about the remarkably pristine collection of early 1900s baseball cards discovered in an Ohio attic, which experts speculated could fetch as much as $3 million.

The first batch of those cards was auctioned off last night at the annual National Sports Collectors Convention in Baltimore and a 37-card lot sold for $566,132, including $239,000 for the Honus Wagner card pictured below.

As a kid I attended the National Sports Collectors Convention with my dad a handful of times and it’s a pretty amazing event for anyone into card collecting, so I can only imagine the scene there as “gem mint” 1910 cards of Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, and Cy Young were drawing bids for a half-million dollars.

In all there are 700 cards, nearly all of them in perfect condition, and the Associated Press reports that “Heritage Auctions plans to sell most of the Ohio cards over the next two of three years through auctions.” And the money will be split 20 ways among members of the Hench family in Defiance, Ohio.

PITTSBURGH — The New York Mets will have to dig out of an early-season hole without star first baseman Pete Alonso.

The leading home run hitter in the majors will miss three-to-four weeks with a bone bruise and a sprain in his left wrist.

The Mets placed Alonso on the 10-day injured list Friday, retroactive to June 8. Alonso was hit in the wrist by a 96 mph fastball from Charlie Morton in the first inning of a 7-5 loss to Atlanta on Wednesday.

Alonso traveled to New York for testing on Thursday. X-rays revealed no broken bones, but the Mets will be missing one of the premier power hitters in the game as they try to work their way back into contention in the NL East.

“We got better news than it could have been,” New York manager Buck Showalter said. “So we take that as a positive. It could have been worse.”

New York had lost six straight heading into a three-game series at Pittsburgh that began Friday. Mark Canha started at first for the Mets in the opener. Mark Vientos could also be an option, though Showalter said the coaching staff may have to use its “imagination” in thinking of ways to get by without Alonso.

“I’m not going to say someone has to step up and all that stuff,” Showalter said. “You’ve just got to be who you are.”

Even with Alonso in the lineup, the Mets have struggled to score consistently. New York is 16th in the majors in runs scored.

The team also said Friday that reliever Edwin Uceta had surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee. Uceta initially went on the IL in April with what the team called a sprained left ankle. He is expected to be out for at least an additional eight weeks.

New York recalled infielder Luis Guillorme and left-handed reliever Zach Muckenhirn from Triple-A Syracuse. The Mets sent catcher Tomás Nido to Triple-A and designated reliever Stephen Nogosek for assignment.

Nogosek is 0-1 with a 5.63 ERA in 13 games this season.