Babe Ruth’s earliest ever baseball card nets $4M in auction
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Follow UsNEW YORK — A piece of baseball history connected to one of the sport’s most legendary figures has just set another record. A 1914 Baltimore News Babe Ruth rookie card, considered among the rarest in existence, sold for more than $4 million, making it one of the highest-priced items of Yankees memorabilia ever auctioned.
Rare Babe Ruth rookie card sells for over $4 million
Heritage Auctions announced Friday that the Baltimore News Babe Ruth card fetched $4.026 million during its Fall Sports Catalog Auction. The card dates back to Ruth’s teenage years, when the future Yankees slugger was just 19 and pitching for the minor league Baltimore Orioles.
Chris Ivy, Heritage’s director of sports auctions, called the piece “one of the rarest cards of any issued during Ruth’s career, with only 10 examples ever graded and encapsulated.”
The 1914 Baltimore News issue remains one of the earliest known cards featuring Ruth before his rise to fame. The limited number of surviving copies and their fragile nature make it one of the most sought-after baseball collectibles in the world.
Card’s connection to Ruth’s early years in Baltimore
Before the multimillion-dollar sale, the card spent years on display at the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum in Baltimore. The museum, located near the house where Ruth was born, had showcased the artifact as a centerpiece of its collection.
This was only the second time in a decade that a Baltimore News Babe Ruth card appeared at public auction. Collectors have long viewed these early minor league cards as a key to Ruth’s pre-Yankees years, representing the start of his journey from a local pitcher to one of baseball’s biggest names.
Ruth began his professional career in 1914 with the Baltimore Orioles of the International League before being sold to the Boston Red Sox later that same year. It was in Boston that his talent began to draw national attention, eventually leading to his fateful move to New York in 1920.
Ruth’s rise to Yankees superstardom
Once Babe Ruth joined the Yankees, baseball itself changed forever. Known as the “Sultan of Swat,” he helped turn the team into an American powerhouse and made Yankee Stadium “The House That Ruth Built.”
From 1920 to 1934, Ruth’s record-breaking power and charismatic personality transformed the Yankees into a national phenomenon. He hit 714 home runs during his career and won seven World Series titles—three with the Red Sox and four with the Yankees.
“If a collector wishes to have a seat at this table for one of the finest Babe Ruth rookie cards in existence, then the price for that seat will reflect both the rarity and desirability of this fantastic offering,” Ivy said.
Ruth passed away in 1948 at age 53, but his fame has never faded. His connection to the Yankees remains one of the strongest links between baseball’s early years and its modern era.
Babe Ruth memorabilia keeps smashing records
Over the years, Ruth’s memorabilia has set numerous auction records, underscoring his timeless appeal among fans and collectors.
In August 2024, a Yankees jersey Ruth wore during the 1932 World Series sold for $24.12 million, becoming the most expensive sports collectible ever sold. That uniform was photo-matched to Game 3 of the World Series—the famous “called shot” against the Chicago Cubs that remains one of baseball’s most iconic moments. The same jersey sold for just $940,000 in 2005, highlighting how dramatically Ruth’s memorabilia has appreciated in value.
Another Ruth Yankees jersey from the 1928–30 seasons brought in $5.64 million during a 2019 auction held at Yankee Stadium. That sale included more than 400 personal items from the Ruth family collection.
The baseball card market has also seen record prices tied to Ruth. A 1917 Collins-McCarthy Babe Ruth card sold for $452,010 in October 2024, while a newly found 1916 blank-back rookie card fetched $292,800 during the same auction.
Collectors chase Ruth’s legacy
The surge in value for Ruth’s memorabilia reflects a broader boom in the sports collectibles market over the past decade. Experts credit his enduring connection to the Yankees and his place as baseball’s first true superstar as key factors driving those prices higher.
Advances in photo-matching technology have further increased the value of authenticated game-worn items. The process compares wear patterns and stitching to archival images, confirming their use in historic games.
Babe Ruth’s No. 3 jersey was retired by the Yankees, and his plaque stands proudly in Monument Park, ensuring that his contributions to the franchise remain front and center. Even today, almost 80 years after his death, the Yankees and baseball as a whole continue to celebrate his monumental impact.
Collectors routinely pay premium prices for items linked to Ruth’s milestones. The 1914 Baltimore News card, tied to his earliest professional days, carries immense historical weight. It captures a time before the fame, before the home run records, and before the Yankees dynasty he helped create.
Cultural and historical value endures
Experts agree that Babe Ruth’s cultural influence extends far beyond the baseball diamond. He became an American folk hero during the 1920s and 1930s, embodying the country’s spirit of ambition and showmanship.
The $4.026 million sale price reflects not only the rarity of the 1914 card but also Ruth’s lasting popularity with fans and collectors alike. With fewer than a dozen known copies, it stands as a museum-worthy artifact—a tangible piece of baseball’s earliest and most transformative era.
Heritage Auctions, which specializes in high-value sports memorabilia, has overseen several major Ruth-related sales in recent years. The firm’s Fall Sports Catalog Auction included numerous other historic items, but none carried the same cultural resonance as the Ruth rookie card.
The buyer, who chose to remain anonymous, now owns one of the rarest and most valuable cards in baseball history. From its origins as a newspaper giveaway in Baltimore to becoming a multimillion-dollar collectible more than a century later, the card’s story mirrors the legend of Babe Ruth himself—rising from humble beginnings to eternal fame.
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