There’s a 100-year-old baseball card of Babe Ruth being auctioned off—at more than $5 million and the bidding is still going. What makes a card like this so valuable?
This is a 1914 card, from when Mr. Ruth was still in the minor leagues, playing for Baltimore—though he was promoted to the big league’s that same season. So it’s his rookie card. Those are always the most valuable.
As you can see on the video here, considering it’s over 100 years old, it’s actually not in bad shape.
Babe Ruth died some 75 years ago, yet he was so popular, his name lives on. He was the Michael Jordan of his generation—immensely famous and successful. Was the best player of his generation—and baseball was America’s favorite pastime.
Now there are only 10 of these cards known to be in existence, so the opportunity to get one is extremely remote.
It’s like buying a Picasso.