Does Wayne Gretzky own a Honus Wagner baseball card?

Wayne Gretzky is widely regarded as the best NHL hockey player of all time. From 1979 to 1999, he played in the NHL for 20 seasons and for four different teams. Gretzky held 61 NHL records at the time of his retirement, and even after 23 years "The Great One" still has 59 of those records intact.

Despite his success in the NHL, did you know that Wayne Gretzky was on the verge of choosing baseball as a career? When "The Great One" was a kid, his favorite baseball club was the Detroit Tigers.

He has also mentioned it many times that he would have preferred baseball over ice hockey, but it was his father who persuaded him to remain with hockey, and the rest is history.

Wayne Gretzky's love for baseball remained even after he established himself as the greatest NHL player of all time. He also once owned a T206 Honus Wagner baseball card, which portrays Pittsburgh Pirates legend Honus Wagner, who is also regarded as one of the all-time best baseball players.

---

Wayne Gretzky and tale behind his T206 Honus Wagner baseball card

The legendary Honus Wagner, widely regarded as one of the game's all-time best players, is depicted on the baseball card known as the T206 Honus Wagner card. The creation of the card and its design was carried out by a tobacco company known as the American Tobacco Company.

As part of the T206 baseball series, the card was initially distributed to the public for the first time between 1909 and 1911. Honus later turned down the company's offer to produce the card, as he didn't want the younger generation to be able to get their hands on the card before they first buy a pack of cigarettes.

As a result, the company had to stop production of the Wagner card, and just a few pieces were released to the public. After many years, the card was auctioned for $50 in 1931, making it the most valuable baseball card at the time. Then there's the "Gretzky T206 Honus Wagner" card, which is the most renowned card ever.

The card was first acquired by Bill Mastro, who sold it to Jim Copeland two years later. Copeland opted to sell the card to Wayne Gretzky and Bruce McNall for $450,000 in 1991, and "The Great One" four years later sold it for a staggering $500,000 to Walmart and Treat Entertainement.

The Gretzky T206 Honus Wagner card was later sold for millions of dollars, making the Wagner card the most valuable baseball card ever.