Rarest baseball card to date displayed at tented event

A Christmas party, a million-dollar baseball card and sparkling venue make for a memorable evening.

InTents | December 2009

Under a clear December evening sky in Little Rock, Ark., a world-renowned baseball card collector entertained friends at a holiday event to showcase a rare and valuable card. The baseball card on display was a T206 Honus Wagner—the rarest baseball card to date, with an estimated value of $1.5 million. In an effort to provide a suitably rare and stunning venue for the soiree, the event planner contracted Mahaffey Fabric Structures, Memphis, Tenn., to provide the tent, flooring and other finishing touches.

To take advantage of the view of the indigo winter sky and the aqua reflections of the pool, Mahaffey installed a 20-by-45-foot freestanding frame tent, outfitted with clear tops and sheer wall liners, a 16-by-36-foot area of clear acrylic floor directly over the pool, with 26 par lights with blue gels inside the pool.

For the pool installation the crew wore heavy-duty diving gear to prevent hypothermia from the cold water. They installed steel tracking, brace bars and cables over the pool, and kept them in place by bolting the tracks into wood flooring placed around the outer rim of the pool. Once the hardware installation was complete, the crew hooked up 26 par lights, into which they inserted blue gels to create the extra lighting effect. Each piece of the acrylic floor was then laid into place.

To add to the ambiance, a sheer liner was then put up along the far back wall, followed by Lucite® bars and an additional lighting system behind that. The event illuminated the beauty of a winter Arkansas evening and a treasured collector’s item.

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