Before Babe Ruth became a legendary slugger with the New York Yankees, he was a budding teenager navigating the minor leagues. Now, a rare baseball card capturing his early playing days is set to hit the auction block, with expectations of fetching a substantial fortune.
A Glimpse Into Ruth’s Early Days
At the beginning of his baseball journey, Babe Ruth served as a pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles, a minor league team. A scarce baseball card from this period, printed in 1914 in red and blue versions, is garnering attention.
Featuring a 19-year-old Ruth as an Oriole pitcher, only ten copies of this card, in either color, are known to exist today. One of these rare gems is slated for auction during Robert Edward Auctions’ fall sale.
Auction Anticipation and Expected Value
The starting price of this sports memorabilia is pencilled in at a whopping $2.5 million, with experts projecting the final price to soar to $10 million or potentially higher.
This rare card has the potential to break records, challenging the current all-time-high price set by a 1952 mint condition Mickey Mantle card, which fetched $12.6 million last year. Brian Dwyer, president of the auction house, asserts that this Babe Ruth rookie card is the most significant baseball card of all time!
Historical Significance and Ownership Journey
Originally owned by Archibald Davis, who acquired it at the age of 16 while delivering newspapers in 1914, the card has travelled through the Davis family for over a century. The Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum in Baltimore housed the card from 1998 until the Davis family sold it to a private collector in 2021.
Although not in mint condition like the record-breaking Mantle card, the Babe Ruth rookie card carries a grade of “3” by SGC, indicating very good condition. The auction house hails it as the “second-finest confirmed example” of Ruth’s rookie card, representing the highest-graded version to be auctioned in at least 15 years! We can’t wait to find out who buys it and, more importantly, for how much!