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1914 Baltimore News Babe Ruth Rookie Card

Sold For: $243,600
Year: 1914
Auction: 2005 Spring
Lot #: 3
Auction: Prewar Baseball - 1910s and 1920s Cards
The 1914 Baltimore News rookie card of Babe Ruth is perhaps the single most miraculous baseball card in the entire world of collecting. This card features Babe Ruth as an unknown minor league rookie straight out of St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys. One of approximately eight examples known to exist, this card is part of a 1914 set issued in Baltimore featuring stars of the city's two professional baseball teams, the Terapins of the Federal League and the Orioles of the International League. Cards were issued in red-and-white and blue-and-white. The reverse features the "At Home" and "Abroad" schedules of the Orioles team beneath the headline "Compliments of the Baltimore International League." Cards from this set were also issued with "Read the Baltimore News" printed at the top of the reverse. The 1914 Babe Ruth rookie has never received the notoriety it deserves, which ironically, in our opinion, is due entirely to its extreme rarity. Few collectors are even aware of its existence. The most sophisticated collectors and scholars of baseball cards appreciate the 1914 Babe Ruth rookie as one of the most profoundly important baseball cards that could possibly exist. It is a miracle that it does exist. It is simply incredible that a baseball card was even issued of Babe Ruth as a rookie with Baltimore in 1914, let alone that the card should be from such a substantial and high-quality set. Even sample cards of common players from this issue are highly sought-after. Robert Edward Auctions last offered a common player from this set, pitcher George Suggs of the Baltimore Terrapins, as Lot #87 in our May 2004 auction. That common player sample card sold for $4,600. In the opinion of Robert Edward Auctions' president, Robert Lifson, the 1914 Babe Ruth rookie card is deserving of the same stature and reverence as the T206 Honus Wagner. Without reference to value, this is his pick as the greatest baseball card of all time. There are very few cards which transcend the world of card collecting and whose great significance can so easily be appreciated by collectors and non-collectors alike. "The T206 Wagner in Mint condition" is one of the very few. The words "Babe Ruth's Rookie Card" also speak for themselves, and define the 1914 Baltimore News Babe Ruth as one of the collecting world's greatest treasures. The card is in very solid Very Good to Excellent condition. Bright and clean, both front and back. Centered 62/38 top to bottom, 47/53 side to side. The card has a single very small, light hairline crease in the bottom border, and lightly rounded corners. Reserve $20,000. Estimate $40,000/$60,000. SOLD FOR $243,600.00
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