Defining a “Rookie Babe Ruth” will vary from vintage collector vintage collector. What is not hard to define is which cards of his that are counted as rookie cards or which are close to rookie cards. They are all valuable, extremely valuable! Get your checkbooks out for this one sports card fans — after 43 bids, a 1916 M101-4 Sporting News #151 Babe Ruth blank back PSA 7 with the gold label has now sold for $2.4 million after the buyer’s premium.

And while $2.4 million may seem excessive for a tiny piece of old cardboard, it is very possible that this valuation should have been even more money.

The collecting community can think Mile High Card Company for this grand auction. According to the PSA prices realized reports, it had not seen a PSA 7 sell in this exact M101-4 Sporting News issue. The last two cards that were close to it in grading were both PSA 6 examples. The most recent at PSA 6 was in the Newman Auction from Memory Lane with a final price of $1.452 million (June 11, 2021). Another PSA 6 sold through Memory Lane (March 20, 2021) with a different certification number for $940,831.20.

This particular variation of Babe Ruth’s rookie card for the hobby was from The Sporting News, one of many issuers who licensed Felix Mendelson’s independent Chicago-based printing. Mile High noted that Mendelson took on 18 clients who used the blank-back cards to promote their business, but The Sporting News was the most widely known brand due to having 30 years of operations at the time. Other clients featuring the same images were department stores, bakeries, clothing stores, breweries and other trades.

Mile High further noted that The Sporting News began offering the cards with their own company information on the reverse, and that blank-backed versions of the cards like this piece have become customarily referred to as Sporting News issues.

It is important to consider that Babe Ruth was not yet known to everyone in the collecting world in 1916. Collectors of that era were busy chasing the cards of established superstars with names such as Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Joe Jackson, and Walter Johnson. Mile High even noted that had Ruth not led the American League with a 1.75 ERA and 9 shutouts (and a 23-12 record) his card would have been considered a common card to those outside of Boston’s fan base in New England.

Mile High pointed out just how scarce this card is and how great this one looks:

Only 6 blank-backed examples of Babe Ruth’s rookie card designated M101-4 have made their way to the grading room at PSA headquarters and this PSA 7 specimen is matched by just one other at the NM level with none graded higher, according to the population report. Any advanced hobbyist who has made it their mission to secure a Babe Ruth rookie card for their collection knows of the two almost obligatory pitfalls plaguing the issue; poor centering and unsightly print lines, which is why this example has vaulted to the upper echelon of the PSA grading scale. The M101-4 Ruth is almost always heavily shifted toward one endpoint but the featured specimen offers superior framing for the issue, slightly positioned a few degrees toward the right side but well within parameters for the grade. Even more significant is the absence of the two horizontal print lines that appear on the large majority of other known specimens, which is why most examples fail to venture above a VG/EX to EX assessment.

The series is also lauded for overall image quality that is superior to any contemporary but can vary greatly from one example to another, often corrupted by a conspicuous dose of “black snow” in the backdrop and on the Babe’s uniform that reduces the regal stature of the card. But as expected of such a high-profile card with an advanced grade, the sharpness and focus of the young, lanky legend are superb and largely devoid of that complication, enhanced by an unadulterated layer of reflective gloss.
Mile High went on to note that the Near Mint grade of this PSA-graded example exceeds the qualifications for the grade, with the auction house going as far to say that this example appears closer to NM+ or even NM/MT specifications as outlined in the PSA guidelines — with little more than a speck of light enamel loss that is visible under high magnification but looks virtually undetectable to the naked eye.

The auction house even specified this closer:

Well-respected grader Mike Baker agrees, giving the card a “gold diamond” status that indicates it’s of the highest quality of known examples in the marketplace for the grade.

Mile High also pointed out three modern era rookie sales for a relative comparison:

• a 2003-04 LeBron James Upper Deck Exquisite Collection Rookie Patch Autographs sell for $5.2 million;
• a 2018 Luka Doncic Panini National Treasures 1 of 1 Logoman Autograph net $4.6 million;
• and a 2009 Mike Trout Bowman Chrome Draft Prospects Superfractor Autograph fetch just short of $4 million.

On top of pointing out the card price here against the other recent rookie star sales, Mile High pointed out that there have even been more T206 Honus Wagner cards sold in the past two years than there have been of the Babe Ruth rookie cards and it specified… this is an opportunity of a lifetime for the enthusiast who wants a collection-defining piece that stands as one of the pinnacle pieces in the over 150 years of baseball card production!

Mile High Card Company has a reminder of just what 60 home runs in the 1927 year was like, noting that Ruth hit more home runs than every other team in the American League in 1927. And while most of Ruth’s records have faded into history, they remind the bidders that Ruth was and will always be the first player to hit 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 home runs in a season.

And if you are looking for any Shohei Ohtani references for pitching and hitting a century, earlier, they said:

And had he not made a transition to the outfield when joining the pinstripers, he likely would have been one of the greatest hurlers in baseball history. Posting an overall 80-41 record with a 2.09 ERA at just 23 years old, it’s conceivable that we’d be celebrating Ruth as a 300-game winner instead of one of only three players, and the first in history to top 700 home runs. Even at this early stage in his career, it was becoming apparent that Ruth was as adept in the batter’s box as he was on the mound, adding a .299 batting average and 20 homers over 678 at-bats. The Red Sox had a decision to make and began transitioning Ruth to the outfield in 1918, cutting his starts on the mound in half and giving him more opportunities at the plate. Ruth proved that he could be dominant at both by posting a 13-7 record with a 2.22 ERA while also batting .300 and leading the American League in home runs despite having just 317 at-bats. In 1919, Ruth’s time on the mound was scaled back even more but he still posted a 9-5 record. More importantly, his 432 at-bats yielded 29 homers, 113 RBI, and 103 runs scored, all-league leaders.

Whether or not $2.4 million should have been closer to $4.2 million will depend upon varying opinions among the collecting and sports card investing community. This is obviously not a vintage Ferrari. And it’s not a T206 Honus Wagner. In some ways this high-grade Ruth rookie is better than the other Grail cards being chased.