Back in 2001, Rangers employee Delaine Head would have never imagined that an autograph from a six-year-old boy would help her make an incredible profit in the future. However, not only did she make a 4,500x profit but also the six-year-old, named Patrick Mahomes, went on to become one of the greatest QBs in the NFL.
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After the Texas Rangers finished their last game of the season in what turned out to be a disappointing campaign, the team management decided on an outing for their personnel and employees. It was during the outing when Delaine, a back-end employee for the team, decided to approach Rangers pitcher Patrick Mahomes Sr. for an autograph on her postcard.
After Mahomes Sr. gladly signed it for Delaine, she interestingly approached the pitcher’s son, six-year-old Patrick Mahomes, to sign the postcard as well.
As we now know, the six-year-old boy went on to become “The Patrick Mahomes.” The Arlington, Texas native revealed this incident two decades later through a Facebook post. As per Delaine, this might just be Mahomes’ first-ever autograph.
“I remember getting Pat Sr. on a card and he had his son with him at the table and I asked for his autograph too on the back of the card. I may have Pat Mahomes II first ever autograph.”
After her social media declaration in 2021, Delaine received a lot of attention from Mahomes fans, and rightly so. Smartly enough, she used this to her advantage, selling the signed memorabilia right after Mahomes won his first Super Bowl at an insane price of $4500.
While the decision at that time must have felt right, one might wonder if she could have held the memorabilia for a couple of years longer.
Did Delaine sell her Patrick Mahomes memorabilia prematurely?
For someone who waited 20 years with the memorabilia, hearing comments that she sold it prematurely would hurt. But unfortunately for Delaine, she did exactly that.
For starters, Mahomes has won two more Super Bowls since 2021, one NFL MVP, and two Super Bowl MVP. While it’s understandable that no one could have predicted the quarterback reaching the heights he has today, giving up on a 25-year-old souvenir so early shouldn’t have been the case either.
If she did decide to wait for a couple of years and sell it under a clever tagline like Patrick Mahomes’ first-ever autograph, she would have made significantly more than the price she received.
Sports Memorabilia dot com is one of the most accessible websites for the Chiefs player’s signed memorabilia. As of writing, the website is selling a canvas of Patrick, signed by the QB himself at a whopping price tag of $9,999 — more than 2x the price at which Delaine sold.
