Posted By:
ChadThis is the description from Ryan's original auction of the card where it sold for $368 plus the hammer. It then sold on ebay a few weeks later for about twice that. (Sorry I can't give a specific price. I remember thinking that I wished I had the brains to flip it, though.)
Anyway, the description:
DESCRIPTION:
This is one of the most mysterious cards we have found in our travels. Several years ago we had the privilege of purchasing the book collection of the premier Cuban baseball historian and author, Severo Nieto. Nieto is the author of dozens of books on the history of Cuban baseball including biographies of some of its greatest stars such as Cristobal Torriente, Alejandro Oms and Lazaro Salazar. Unfortunately, nearly all of his books remain unpublished as he still lives in Cuba where it is obviously very difficult for an author to have his works published.
Severo Nieto Fernandez was first published in 1956 as co-author of "Beisbol Cubano," a book of records and statistics. He did have several articles on Cuban baseball published over the next few years in various sports magazines, but his next book, "Conrado Marrero - El Premier" wasn't published until 2000. His most recent book to be published is a biography of the great Jose Mendez.
The reason for mentioning the purchase of Nieto's book collection is that this card was found inside the pages of an old Spalding guide that was part of the collection. We have never seen another example or any card that is even remotely similar to it.
It measures 2 7/16" by 3 3/4" and is on thick cardboard. It appears to be hand-cut and has a blank reverse. There is a bughole that goes through the Babe's right forearm.
Your guess is as good as ours regarding the date, manufacturer, or purpose of the card. Perhaps it was a multi-sport set that used Ruth for baseball, as so many similar sets did. Whatever it is, it's certainly one of the more unusual Babe Ruth cards.