Which card?
 

Which card would you rather own long term?

I recently had the opportunity to trade Mantle for Ruth. Comps are pretty close. What's your preference?

Of those two examples I prefer the mantle

Mantle - All day - its his Rookie and that one is VERY NICE

Mantle, very nice centering, registration, and no roller lines. A real beauty.

Tough one and I COLLECT Ruth the best I can. In this case with centering and it being his RC I’d choose the Mantle however.

The Mick any day and every day... it's a no-brainer.

Mick

Such a tough choice. I'd probably take the Mantle. That is a really great example for the grade.

I would not say it is a no brainer.

Both iconic players and iconic cards. And both have excellent resale value and retain their values.

I am a Ruth guy.

But in this case I would choose the Mantle for a few reasons

1. I think the Bowman although gone up in value has a lot of upside left compared to the Goudey Ruth. They have gone up so much for so long I do not believe it has the same upside potential
2. The Mantle looks a lot nicer than this particular Ruth.

AJ, hoping to get a different response from a different site?! Keep the Mantle, the massive overwhelming majority of responses are mantle, and here you are getting it from a bunch of prewar peeps!!

Totally fascinated by people's choices between the two cards. Never thought it would be so one sided towards Mantle given how hot the Goudey Ruth's are.

I'm going the other direction and saying Ruth. I get that the '51 Mantle is his rookie, but there are way more '51 Mantles than '33 Ruths. As time goes on, Ruth remains one of the top players of all time (if not #1). Mantle is high up there as well, but Ruth is king. And I want an iconic card of his, from an iconic set.

The Mantle is his rookie, but the '52T obviously is more in demand.

Put it to the sniff test - ask 100 people with no baseball knowledge if they've heard of Babe Ruth, and then Mickey Mantle. Guarantee more have heard of the Babe, and that will only increase over time. So long term, give me Ruth.

There’s roughly double the pop count of the 51 Mantle vs #53 Ruth… BUT, if you take into account there’s 4 different 33 Goudey Ruth’s, it’s closer to 3 or 4 times as many Ruths! So I guess it’s just how you look at it.

Those 2 particular cards, put me another vote for Mantle.

I dont think people are picking a 51 mantle over a yellow Ruth. Instead, I think people are picking THAT particular Mantle (which is great looking) over that particular Ruth (which is nice bit not exceptional for the grade like the Mantle)

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Mantle or Ruth
 

Which card? Imagine yourself having one or the other...which ever one makes you the happiest is the right card. The Mantle does have really nice centering.

If you don't want that Mantle I will trade for it.

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That Mantle is a superb 4. With that centering it is so appealing. That Ruth is an "every day" 4. If you wanted a similar one later you wouldn't have to pay a premium to get it like you would if you wanted to replace the Mantle. In fact you might well find a lower grade Ruth that looked nicer, seriously doubt that happens with the Mantle.

Nailed it. My thoughts, exactly.

This is where I'm at. I personally have no real desire to own any Mantles, but that one is stunning and I'd rather have it than the Ruth.

This! Wow, that Mantle looks like an "8". Insane! Keeper for sure!

Agree with everyone who said Mantle.

Mantle all day

Super sharp cards. Tough call - I think I'd prefer the Ruth, but I would want to see as clear of a pic on the Ruth as I see the Mantle. Gosh that's a toughie!

A.J. This is a tough one for me--I love Goudey Ruth's, but also a Mantle guy---I would go with the Mick--it is a beautiful card, great centering and presentation, card has it all---Ruth is nice--but the Mantle wins---You should have kept Mickey and bought the Ruth---

In any event, talk about a huge trade possibility! I miss the good ole days trading cards in my old neighborhood

Does either card have a crease/wrinkle? Tough to comprehend how the Mantle grades only “4” without some flaw that fails to show up in the scan. Often, surface wrinkles must be viewed at an angle, to be seen.

Wish the Ruth scan was clearer, but if Mantle has a crease, I’d opt for Babe.

If both cards were centered with excellent color and registration all things being equal. Which do you choose?

Personally, I'd still go with Mantle. But if it was Mantle or #144 Ruth, then Ruth.

I’m a Ruth guy. The mantle is awesome. However the Ruth is a blurry screenshot photo, we can’t accurately assess how nice this particular Ruth is I’d say.

now this is a hypothetical?

Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding… Yep!

Tony if both were equal (centering, registration, color etc) which one you go with?

Hi AJ. If this Ruth were as nice as this particular Mick (corners, centering, color, registration, etc) I would probably change my vote over to the Babe.

In this case though since the Mick is so damn nice, Mick wins in my opinion.

I have a feeling that the Ruth is much nicer than that blurry image conveys.

Brian (My pick no matter what is Ruth...because if Mickey had a 1933 Goudey issued it would have pictured him as a two year old).

Also taking that Mantle all day long, and I'm a Ruth guy too.

That Mantle is a prime example of not all 4s being equal. If you were to list that Mantle at auction, it likely outsells most 5s (unless they also happen to have the same eye appeal for the grade).

+1 Agreed

But Regardless good choice and good "problem" to have. Cannot go wrong either way.

I definitely would.
Not just these particular examples, but for any comparable examples of each card, it's a no-brainer.
There is obviously nothing wrong with a Goudey Ruth, and I'd love to have one, but it pales in comparison to a 51 Mantle.

It's a much more iconic card as his true rookie, especially when compared to ONE of FOUR late-career Goudey Ruths.

This. A good example of the usual problem with buying online. If you scanned the Ruth cleanly like the Mantle (and assuming it's got the same eye appeal) and took the grainy photo of the Mantle card, you would have likely seen very different responses. That being said, I'm not a Mantle collector but the '51 Mantle is a beautiful card, and I'd love to own this particular one. :)

Mantle is much nicer, but Ruth is Ruth

Ruth