Baseball

Records Keep Being Broken in Signed Babe Ruth Cards

Most baseball fans think of babe ruth as the home run king of his era for his 714 career home runs. What is often lost is that Babe Ruth’s 120th home run in 1921 actually made him the home run king as the end of the Dead Ball Era. And we know collectors still love to hear about ongoing records — a June 16, 2022 auction of a 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth #181 graded by PSA as Authentic AUTO DNA 9 from PWCC Marketplace became the highest amount paid for any Babe Ruth autograph card at public auction after a monumental $288,000 price tag after the buyer’s premium.

PWCC had spelled out just how rare this card is. With 4 total Babe Ruth cards in that 1933 set, here is the population of PSA’s encapsulated signed 1933 Goudey Ruth cards:

  • 6 signed examples of card #53,
  • 7 of #144,
  • 4 of #149,
  • and 8 of #181 (this issue).

That is just 25 signed PSA examples known to exist from the 1933 Goudey set. Image below by PWCC Marketplace.

autographed Babe Ruth baseball card

Collectors Dashboard evaluates high-end collectibles as an alternative asset class. That means that sports collectibles of this caliber are attracting the same capital that may have just as easily ended up in stocks, bonds and other more traditional investments. That of course comes with no guarantee of a profit — and a new bear market in stocks and the destruction of value in long-term bond prices only solidifies that there can be no expectations of a profit being assured over time. That said, PWCC does identify this alternative asset theme specifically:

As far as Ruth investments go, it is hard to imagine how a collector can go wrong buying an extremely scarce card of the game’s most iconic athlete from a hugely popular set. We expect tremendous interest in this card.

Tremendous interest was the result as well. As for the investment angle, PWCC’s description also said:

As far as Ruth investments go, it is hard to imagine how a collector can go wrong buying an extremely scarce card of the game’s most iconic athlete from a hugely popular set. We expect tremendous interest in this card.

The other issue to consider here is that the autograph’s presentation is nothing short of stunning. With a “AUTO 9” grade (of 10), the signature is clear and bold. PWCC even said:

It is rare that an example surfaces with a signature on it, let alone a PSA/DNA 9. The darkness of the ink in this auto is something that we do not see in most Ruth signatures. They are usually faded or in light ink, especially on baseballs. This signature is so dark and rich that you might feel Ruth’s presence if you look closely. Although the back of this card has an ink stain, the front of it has tremendous eye appeal—a relatively clean surface, good centering, and preserved color.

What is perhaps the most impressive fact about this known-record auction price is that this comes at a time where many prices in the sports collectibles hobby have been soft on cards with high populations. The weakening economy, high inflation, the tanking stock market, rising bond yields (hurting bond investors in price) and even the tanking price of Bitcoin and crypto — it all has an impact eventually.

This record-breaker also overcame a slight condition issue here. The card’s one weakness is a significant black ink stain on the back which would hurt the card if it were graded solely on the merits of the card’s own condition outside of the autograph. Then again, without the signature the ink stain may not have ever ended up there in the first place. The PSA encapsulation of this 1933 Goudey card also listed the card as the actual 1933 Goudey rather than the typical “Trading Card” designation that PSA is sometimes criticized over.

Collectors may have a harder time finding record price after record price after the huge zenith in early 2021 and after the vintage market continued to rise into 2020. Just don’t tell anyone about that when it comes to very scarce and highly desirable signed cards of Babe Ruth.