Here's a pic from a very obscure 1991 made-for-TV movie called "Babe Ruth." Stephen Lang played the Babe, and yes, that's Pete Rose playing Ty Cobb. MLB denied the producers' request for Pete to be allowed to wear a uniform, so the scene had to be rewritten to take place in a bar instead of on the field.

https://hosting.photobucket.com/albu...OxfordRuth.jpg

Best. Pose. Ever. It's absolutely soulful.
The Cobb from this Oxford issue is also my favorite image of his too.
The Hornsby's not a shabby card from this series either.

The cards from the set with Ruth himself are selling for three figures and up.

He also got a subset in 1962 Topps; can't think of any old-timer who got that treatment in the 1950s-1960s Topps issues.

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...0variation.jpg

I guess it was Topps' version of the 61*

All this talk of Ruth, and it makes me thinking about pivoting to get one of his cards next. His Sanella still seems to be relatively affordable, along with the Japanese issue whose name escapes me at the moment.Though I'm trying to think what other cards of his would be available in the 0-2K range. Probably not much anymore. Any thoughts?

in that range...sanella...shonen club...fro joy...churchman...beater possibilities.

I didn't even think of FroJoy. The Butterfinger as well is another that came to my mind though that's more an oversized than anything. Well lets hope I hit powerball and can buy the full range of Goudey's will report back after the drawing :D

I bought my m114 last year for $40. I know it is from the 40's with 1943 the most common date sited for its 1st release. I would like to find some of the earlier Ruth's from the series.

Other than Ruth and Gehrig, what is the next big money 1933 Goudey card? Foxx, perhaps?

If you leave Lajoie out if it, yeah on Foxx. Dizzy Dean not too far behind. Couple other sneaky ones like Gehringer and Ott get up there.

#119 Hornsby should be in that discussion as well. Maybe #188 too

It's hard not to be attracted to the Babe's cards...skinny left to right but bigger top to bottom than almost any seen.

https://luckeycards.com/r319ruth2.jpg

Leon
Nice looking card.

Everyone else who posted pictures some nice and diverse cards

I got this many years ago from the original owner. He got it as a kid.
This is an underappreciated/undervalued issue.

beautiful premium...these have gone from $1-300 to the low-mid 4 figures last 2-3 years.

Same story with so many other cards, in this latest boom. Though that topic has be discussed constantly within the past two years

Everyone knows I am a totally raw guy. I just want to collect cards. I have cracked every graded card I have ever had. But I am seriously considering having my 1933 Goudey Ruth and Gehrig cards graded. Perhaps a few of the others as well. At this point, it would be foolish not to.

Nice #144 Leon. Tough to find them with eye appeal like yours.

1929 Kashin Ruth still looks like a reasonable buy.

For me, I think his autograph is common and inflated. I put more effort into Grover Cleveland Alexander who died around the same time as Ruth but lived as a drunken vagrant for the last 20 years of his life and is much more rare but obviously not in as much demand. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...a35b622f59.jpg
.With that being said YES I would like to own one someday and my goal is to get everyone in that first HOF class photo. I’m at 6/10 (have Cobb). The story goes Cobb was too cheap to stay in Cooperstown and didn’t make it in time for the photograph.


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I honestly say only grade them if you plan on selling them.

j-yo thats awesome!!!!

If your cards end up in someone else’s hands to sell someday, it’s easier to value a graded card so people can look it up and get a solid idea on what it’s worth. My fear has always been some crook, friend of a friend kind of deal, shows up at my front door and tries to convince the wife that my Ruth card is only worth a few hundred. “And that’s actually being generous”.

Ran across this short article and photo while looking through an old Army publication. Thought it was kind of neat and relevant to the Ruth signing discussion. Lots of conjecture on the number of balls he signed, but one thing is for sure, and that is his signature was widely sought after at the time of his career and he willingly obliged.

After listening to Leon and others about how it's becoming vital to grade old cards, I can see your fear actually playing out with either my wife or daughter. I have given my daughter some cards, including a near mint 1960 Topps Mantle. I know she thinks they are cool old cards, and valuable. Valuable to her meaning a few dollars.

If you're planning to sell them, it's generally a mistake not to grade any vintage card that are worth ~$1000 or more, and in some cases it can be a big mistake. Most buyers are going to assume something is wrong with it and that it was rejected by a grading company for some reason, otherwise it would be in a slab already. There is still a market for raw, but the buyers in that market are mostly looking for bargains. Most of them are looking to get those cards graded and are often going to turn them for a profit after getting them back from the TPGs.

I think you are quite right. Like flipping houses.

I am keeping my cards; no intention of selling or trading any more of them. But what if? With Ruthian money, I guess it would be best to have Ruth and a few others slabbed.

Here is my Fro Joy. I got it many years ago and am pretty sure that it's real. Not sure if it's worth grading in this condition, but at least I can say that I have a Babe.

That's still a good-looking card!

If you ever contemplate selling it, I would definitely get it graded anyway. If not, why bother?

No one is jumping at my pretty decent 1935 Goudey Ruth 4-in-1 for under $2k :shrug: And you can get a really rough one for around $1.5k at times.

Churchman's is still available in that range.

My favorite "affordable" Ruth cards (and consequently these are the only two Ruths I own) are the 1935 Goudey and the W517 portrait. Both of these in the this poor/authentic condition can still be had under $2000 (although they've been inching closer to $2000 over the last couple of years).

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Very Nice

To anyone who's thinking about how to acquire their first Babe, my opinion and advice is to buy anything you can afford when you can afford it. You will not regret extending yourself when you did.

Case and point, I bought this WWG for $500 when I was in grad school. I used my own loan money to do it and it meant not eating as much as I would have liked to. Do I regret it? No!

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...1608f2c0_z.jpg

I bought my Kashin at the start of the pandemic. I wasn't exactly thrilled about paying $1,800 for it. But, uh, another win I think:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...e318ebf5_z.jpg

My favorite Ruth issues are from the Blum's Bulletin

I think this is a very good point. While nothing is a sure thing, it doesn't get much safer than Ruth when it comes to buying a high dollar card and hoping it maintains it's value.

And there is something about owning a real, playing days Ruth card that is very satisfying. I mean, it's a baseball card of BABE RUTH!

They say nothing is recession proof but Babe Ruth is about as ironclad an investment you can make. I don't think any collector of any length of time has paid less for Ruth one year to the next.

Agreed. Ruth is a strong investment and a relatively low risk investment

IT is also great long term collection

I need more Babe Ruth cards lol. This thread has me convinced. Time to sell some of these basketball cards...

The Fro Joy and W517 are probably cheaper because they are oversized and PSA puts them in the big slabs. The Churchmans is cheaper because PSA refuses to put his name on the flip. I really like the Churchmans card though. If PSA ever decided to put his name on them, watch out! I bet they'd skyrocket in value overnight.

Beautiful set up!:cool:

PSA does not slab Fro Joy. I am not sure who does now. Mine are in Beckett holders that are thick enough to withstand Superman's heat vision.

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...Ruth%201_1.jpg

Agreed and like everyone wish we bought into more Ruth Earlier

i believe beckett is the only one who still grades these.

You are quite correct. You will not regret it. I bought my 1933 Goudey Ruth card (see OP this thread) and my Ruth signed ball (also signed by Gehrig and Cobb) both for $800 in 1988 upon completion of weather forecasting school at Chanute AFB Illinois and receiving my $20K reenlistment bonus (Air Force and Navy go to the same weather schools even now). Also bought a Ford Mustang that I put 326,000 miles on from Rantoul Ford. I thought the money paid for both was crazy, and the only way I could have afforded such high-end baseball stuff was because I had reenlistment money. But look what has happened over time. Usually my luck is the Midas Touch in reverse, whatever I touch turns to crap, not gold. I just gave away, literally, all my 1988 to 1993 cards. I did, however, hang on to a Stadium Club Jeter RC and a few others.

25-30 years ago I was at a show, and a guy was selling just the Ruth portion of a '35 Goudey for $100. I walked around trying to convince myself to buy it, but just couldn't think of any. First of all, at that time the full card could be had for less than $1,000. Second, by having only 1/4 of it is that even considered a card anymore? This thread got me thinking whether I had made a mistake to pass it up, but I still don't think I'd buy it today even at the same price. If you have just the upper-left part of the '35 Goudey, would you feel that you own a "Babe Ruth card"?

Probably not 30 years ago, but NOW I think $100 for the just the Ruth square seems about right. I don't think it qualifies as a card, but it's an authentic Goudey Ruth image from his playing days. It would have limited resale value, but if $1000 is out of a collector's budget (and let's face it, there are likely MANY collectors out there that want a Ruth card but can't justify spending $1000+), I can imagine there are collectors out there that would consider $100 a fair price.

I sort of follow the price history on that card, and a "Ruth square" came up on eBay within the last year or two....it's no longer in the Sold listings, but if I recall it sold in the $150 to $250 range.

I think there is some truth to that. I actually LOVE my w517 Ruth portrait...I think the large portrait image is unique for his playing days cards. And with the card stock, w517s definitely feel more like cards than the large Kashin pictures.

But I'm slowly colleting the set. I wanted to make it a binder set because most of my cards are raw and fit nicely in four pocket pages. And even though standard PSA and SGC slabs also fit nicely in four pocket pages I can't figure out a way to nicely fit the oversized w517 slabs in a binder, so my handful of graded w517s are separate from my binder set. And that kind of bothers me.

Someday I may just bite the bullet and crack them all out...(which I would hate to do because there are SO many fake/reprint w517s out there, you really need to buy graded for the high dollar cards if you are buying them online. So cracking them out would really hurt resale value in the future).

Benny Bengough in high grade perhaps?

Is this a somewhat recent change, or are the ones on eBay fakes perhaps? There are quite a few that I've seen in PSA slabs. Maybe those are all old?

The version I've heard is that he was still mad at Landis over the Dutch Leonard stuff and didn't want to be in any photos with him so he intentionally showed up late. Cobb was on a cross-country trip with his children that included shows in NYC, it's unlikely he was balking at the cost of one night's stay in Cooperstown.

Psa used to grade them…they look real.