If you’re a Mickey Mantle fan — and who isn’t? — there’s a chance to own a piece of the iconic baseball player’s history without breaking the bank.
Rally, a company known for offering fractional ownership in collectibles, has unveiled plans to sell shares of Mantle’s boyhood home in Commerce, Oklahoma, for $7 — The Mick wore No. 7 during his Hall of Fame career for the New York Yankees — each, ESPN reported.
Shares go on sale this Friday.
With the move, Rally, which bought the two-bedroom bungalow in 2022 for $175,000 and currently values it at $329,000, is attempting to to blend the worlds of sports memorabilia and real estate investment.
Rally’s co-founder and chief product officer, Rob Petrozzo, said he hopes the property would attract hordes of visitors, like Graceland or sites associated with Motown.
While Rally plans to retain a small percentage of ownership in the house, the responsibility for determining the property’s direction will lie with shareholders. Still, the company is reserving the right to sell the property if it deems it beneficial for investors, ESPN said, citing Rally’s regulatory filing.
Details over things like property taxes, property maintenance, insurance and other potential cost-sharing issues for investors were not available, but Petruzzo said Rally would likely, or at least could, cover such things for up to five years.
While Rally may be confident that it can rally buyers, there’s plenty of Midwestern skepticism in Commerce, where some residents remain unconvinced about the valuation of the property, suggesting that a similar home might typically sell for around $10,000.
Others in the town, including former mayor Michael Hart, are cautiously curious, having observed the constant stream of Mantle enthusiasts visiting the house daily, eager to be a part of the baseball legend’s history.
Amid the buzz around Mantle’s childhood abode, some experts caution that fractional ownership, while providing a chance for participation in coveted assets, may not yield substantial financial gains, especially given the fluctuations seen in the trading of sports memorabilia.
Nonetheless, the appeal of Mantle’s legacy in the world of baseball and collectibles persists, highlighted by the record-breaking $12.6 million sale of his 1952 Topps card in 2022.
Mantle famously played 18 years for the Yankees, amassing 536 home runs, three MVP awards and seven World Series titles, en route to a 110.2 career wins above replacement.
— Ted Glanzer