Rare Honus Wagner card sells for $2.1 million, A-Rod's WS ring goes for $50K

Modern day ballplayers Alex Rodriguez and even Derek Jeter have nothing on Honus Wagner.

A rare 1909-11 baseball card with Wagner featured on the front sold at auction for a whopping $2.1 million after weeks of extended bidding.  The price includes a buyer's premium but was still about a third short of the $3 million the auction expected to fetch.

The item was the centerpiece of Goldin Auctions' April 5th showcase. The famous card was among other notable items including a copy of Alex Rodriguez's 2009 New York Yankees World Series Championship ring ($50,398) and a signed Derek Jeter 2001 World Series game-used bat ($37,486).

But the Wagner card, one of only about 50-100 that are believed to exist, was the big headliner. The T206 Wagner is baseball's most coveted card. The auctioned card was classified as the "Jumbo" Wagner because its edges are 1/16 inches larger than standard cards.

The card's story is part of its legacy. T206 series cards were featured in cigarette packs, a precursor to bubble gum cards and today's high-gloss releases.

For some reason, Wagner's cards were pulled from packaging. Legend claims that Wagner — one of baseball's first superstars — protested about his card being included with cigarettes (he didn't want to encourage children to smoke) — but he may have also been peeved over his compensation from card manufacturer American Tobacco Company.

Rodriguez's ring — although not put up for auction by the player himself — has a more notorious back story of its own.

A-Rod's cousin Yuri Sucart — the third baseman's longtime assistant and reported drug mule who was given the ring as a gift — was apparently in need of some cash.

Sucart, best known as the person who A-Rod says convinced him to take steroids, put the diamond-studded World Series ring on the block. The cousin was banned by Major League Baseball from clubhouses and private areas of stadiums after Rodriguez 's 2009 admission that he took performance-enhancing drugs from 2001-2003. 

Wagner's "Jumbo" card previously sold for $1.62 million in a 2008 auction.  Known as the "Flying Dutchman," Wagner played shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1900-1917 and is a member of baseball's first Hall of Fame class in 1936.

And that other shortstop's World Series bat?  It's Derek Jeter's ... 'nuff said.

A-Rod's cousin selling World Series ring he got as gift

Alex Rodriguez's cousin, Yuri Sucart, whom A-Rod reportedly once said convinced the New York Yankees slugger into taking steroids — is taking the World Series ring A-Rod gave him as a gift and putting it on the auction block Monday.

The diamond-studded, 14-karat white gold 2009 World Series ring could fetch as much as $40,000, according to memorabilia auctioneer Ken Goldin.

"It's a unique item," Goldin said.  "There is not doubt that Alex is the greatest player of his generation, and this was his only World Series victory."

Goldin purchased the one-of-a-kind ring for an undisclosed sum and cosigned it to Goldin Auctions.  The opening bid is $5,000.

Sucart reportedly approached a South Miami memorabilia collector and asked him if he would be interested in the valuable bling that is the same as the rings issued to the Yankees players.  The collector passed it on to Goldin.

How's that for gratitude?

The size-16 ring is emblazoned with "Rodriguez" on one side above the Yankee logo, and "World Champions 2009 Unity" on the other.  It is accompanied by a notarized letter of authenticity and an affidavit from Sucart.

A-Rod's cousin Yuri made headlines after the Yankees banned him from the team's facilities — including the clubhouse, training rooms and nonpublic areas the Yankees frequented — after he was fingered as A-Rod's drug mule picking up substances known as boli for the Yankees star.

Bidding for the Rodriguez ring begin Monday at GoldinAuctions.com and end on April 5.

A-Rod, other MLB players linked to recent PED purchases: Report

A report in the Miami New Times on Tuesday alleges that Alex Rodriguez purchased illegal performance-enhancing drugs from a South Florida anti-aging clinic over the prior four years.

The explosive report says that the newspaper obtained records from Biogenesis, a clinic that has closed and was owned by Anthony Bosch, the son of Florida physician Pedro Bosch who was linked to Manny Ramirez when the former Los Angeles Dodger was suspended for illegal PED usage in 2009.

According to records given to the Miami New Times, the clinic repeatedly mentions Rodriguez, as well as many other sports stars and prominent major league baseball players — including Gio Gonzalez, Nelson Cruz, Melky Cabrera and Bartolo Colon, reports Yahoo! Sports.com.

Rodriguez, the New York Yankees star third baseman has already admitted using illegal PEDs while he played with the Texas Rangers from 2001 through 2003, but has denied using anything since.

According to the clinic's records obtained by the newspaper, A-Rod — identified in the records as  "Alex Rodriguez," "Alex Rod," or "Cacique," the name of a pre-Columbian Caribbean chief — paid $3,500 in 2009 for what is identified as "1.5 HGH (sports perf.), creams test., glut., MIC, supplement, sports perf. Diet."

Both the HGH and testosterone cream are banned by MLB.

Another record links  "Cacique" to IGF-1 — a banned substance that stimulates insulin production and muscle growth.

Yuri Sucart — A-Rod's cousin and purported drug mule when he was in Texas — was also identified as having paid Bosch $500 for a weeklong supply of HGH in 2009.  Sucart was banned from any non-public areas involving the Yankees including the clubhouse or team buses back in 2011.

Other baseball players identified in the clinic's records include former Yankee players Cabrera and Colon — who were both suspended by the league last season — and Nationals pitcher Gonzalez and Rangers outfielder Cruz.

The Yankees will not act upon the information until Major League Baseball vets the situation, according to an industry source.  This could lead to Rodriguez being suspended if the evidence is able to be obtained and authenticated — which could take a while.

A-Rod is currently recovering from hip surgery and is not expected to be back with the team until at least the All-Star break.

A-Rod's Banned Drug Mule Spotted On Yankees Road Trip

Major league baseball is looking into New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez's relationship with his steroid-supplying cousin Yuri Sucart after the admitted drug mule was spotted at the team's San Francisco hotel during the Yankees series against the Oakland A's.

Like bedbugs and Katie Couric, Sucart isn't easy to get rid of.

According to a team source, Sucart was seen at the St. Regis Hotel Tuesday night during the Yankees two-game series across the bay.  Sucart has been banned by the Yankees from any team-related activities after Rodriguez admitted that his cousin supplied and injected him with performance-enhancing drugs while he was with the Texas Rangers in 2001-3.

The source said Sucart, Rodriguez's mysterious "trainer" and "personal manager,"  has accompanied the Yankee third-baseman on numerous road trips over the past two seasons and the Yankees and MLB aren't too happy about the donkey's alleged resurrection.

Sucart was Rodriguez's constant companion during A-Rod's playing days with the Rangers, the Seattle Mariners and the Yankees.  He was banished, by the Yankees in 2009, from any Yankees team flights, stadiums or training facilities where the team was located.  Unofficially, Sucart's banishment does not apply to team hotels or sitting in the stands as a spectator.

After a 2009 Sports Illustrated story reported that Rodriguez tested positive during a 2003 drug test, he confessed how Sucart would pick up the steroids (or "boli" as it is sometimes called) in the Dominican Republic and inject the drug into both him and his cousin when he played for the Rangers in 2001-3.

Since 2003, Major League Baseball has had it's own ban on personal trainers and managers who are not affiliated with the teams and is once again looking into A-Rod's questionable relationship with Sucart.

Yankees GM Brian Cashman had no comment on the allegations, but can't be too happy about his star player bringing another distraction to the team.  MLB is already interested in the miraculous "stem-cell procedure" that has revived Yankees starting pitcher Bartolo Colon's arm.

The 48 year-old Sucart has seen better times since his Yankee banishment.  He is in foreclosure on several real estate properties according to his lawyer and feels he took the rap for A-Rod's misdeeds.

"Everybody wants a scapegoat," the dejected Sucart once said.

Maybe that's a step up from being a mule.