Father John Ubel, rector of the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul, holds two of his most valuable baseball cards, Jackie Robinson and Hank Aaron. Those cards and more from Father Ubel are the basis of a March 12-14 auction to benefit Aim Higher Foundation, which provides Catholic grade school scholarships to students in need.

Father John Ubel, rector of the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul, holds his two most valuable baseball cards, featuring Jackie Robinson and Hank Aaron, that were sold during an auction to benefit Aim Higher Foundation, which provides Catholic grade school scholarships to students in need. DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Father John Ubel was just wrapping up his evening prayers at 10 p.m. March 14 in the rectory of the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul. As he closed his breviary, he caught the final bid of the weekend auction for his baseball card collection, which he was selling as a donation to the Aim Higher Foundation, where he serves on the board of directors.

That last bid brought the final auction total to $51,039, more than double what he had anticipated when he decided several months ago to sell his cards. The money will be used to fund annual scholarships of $1,000 to low-income students attending Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

“I’m beside myself,” Father Ubel said of his reaction to the auction total. “It’s more than I ever could have imagined. And, the generosity of the people is amazing and very humbling.”

Most of the cards sold for at or above market value, he said, with the top dollar amount coming from a 1948 Jackie Robinson card. It was the first year a card was made for the man who broke the color barrier in the major leagues; hence, it is called his rookie card. It sold for $35,000, about $10,000 more than Father Ubel expected. There were a total of 90 bids on this card.

Next was a Hank Aaron rookie card that sold for $8,609, with 66 bids placed. The final $7,430 came from the sale of 69 cards sold in 25 lots, or groupings of several cards each.

“I’m very grateful” for the amount raised by the auction and the support for students it will provide, Father Ubel said. “I’ve never had so much enjoyment and satisfaction out of alms giving. But now, I do have to get back to my priestly ministry. I’m trying to stay focused, and this was a nice diversion from that.”

There’s one final piece to the event that will add thousands more to the total — online donations. They took place during the auction, and the deadline extended for one additional day after the auction closed. Father Ubel said he expects thousands more dollars to be added to his total donation. This includes not only money, but additional donated items that also were sold in the auction, including more cards plus an autographed baseball signed by Minnesota Twins slugger and Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew, .

Father Ubel admits it was hard to part with his cards, which had built up sentimental value over more than four decades since he started collecting in the 1970s. But, now that they’re out of his hands — and storage boxes — he has no regrets.

“I would do it over again in a heartbeat” he said of auctioning his card collection, which also included a handful of football cards. “There are a lot of them (cards) that are difficult to part with, but, ultimately, not so difficult when you consider that you can make new memories for new children in a Catholic school.”