Affordable Babe Ruth cards?

[Tyruscobb]

Originally Posted by ullmandds

The churchman image is the same as the shonen. The fact that it's not an american issue will always hold it back.

This is a valid point. The Churchman is a foreign issue, but so is the Shonen which you promoted earlier in this thread.

There are several reasons the Churchman is superior. First, the Shonen card isn’t even a true baseball “card.” It is a postcard. There is a difference between a baseball tobacco card and a baseball postcard. The Churchman is a T-206 type/size card with a front and back. The Shonen was created to write on and to mail to friends/family, etc.

Secondly, as a postcard, the Shonen card is larger. So, if you buy a graded one, you will receive a larger, cumbersome slab. Again, the Churchman is T-206 size and comes in a regular slab.

Third, the Shonen’s color and picture is not as sharp as the Churchman. The Churchman has crisp colors and the image is sharper. Finally, the Shonen is in Japanese, whereas the British Churchman is in English.

The main knock on the Churchman is it doesn’t say Babe Ruth anywhere on the card. There, however, is no argument that the image is not Babe Ruth. The swing, uniform etc. scream Ruth. This has kept its value down.

To each his own, but I’d rather own the Churchman.