Before losing him to a hamstring injury last month, signing Munetaka Murakami clearly paid off for the White Sox.
Now, a 9-year-old from Arizona is also reaping the benefits.
Mason Deane, who collects trading cards, lucked into a box of Topps cards in April that contained a one-of-one redemption for a Murakami autographed rookie card, according to a story from Arizona television station KPNX.
“It’s something that’s fun to do with your son. We have what we call a trading business, and we just buy and sell baseball cards,” Mason’s father Bradley told KPNX.
“We normally just look around, and if I feel lucky, we get a pack,” Mason added.
“I was like, ‘This is crazy.’ I’d never heard of a card like that,” he said.
The family decided to put the card up for auction and sold it for $75,000.
“I was like, ‘Oh, wow. That’s a lot.’ I was just surprised,” Mason said.
Mason wanted to use the money to buy more cards. Bradley overrode his son’s wishes and put the cash in a college fund.
The family intends to travel to Chicago next month to meet Murakami and take in a Sox game at Rate Field.
“That’s probably the best card I’m gonna get,” Mason said.