An extremely rare Babe Ruth rookie baseball card that dates to his earliest years in professional baseball was recently auctioned off for over $7 million. Although the final hammer price was high, the sellers were expecting the card to fetch a price closer to $10 million. Even with the lower-than-expected final price, the $7.2 million represents a new record for Babe Ruth memorabilia and ranks as the third most expensive baseball card ever.

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 A Babe Ruth Rookie Card

Ruth is perhaps the most famous baseball player of all time, which is why any authentic memorabilia associated with his playing is the equivalent of catnip for collectors. The fact that the prime of Ruth's career took place almost 100 years ago, and at a time when no one could have imagined things like Babe Ruth jerseys or baseball cards would have any value, means that Ruth memorabilia is extremely rare and valuable.

When it comes to baseball cards, collectors prize rookie cards above all else, and the most recently sold card is exactly that. Long before he became a New York Yankees legend and perhaps the first bona fide sports superstar in American history, George Herman "Babe" Ruth was a young prospect for the Baltimore Orioles of the International League, one of many leagues that predated Major League Baseball.

Even though his eventual claim to fame would be as a prodigious home run hitter, young Ruth was originally a pitcher. The fact that this card dates to 1914, the year Ruth was traded to the Boston Red Sox, drives its value up further. The Baltimore News (the card issuer) put the Orioles' season schedule on the back instead of Ruth's career stats because as a rookie, he had no stats.   

Very Few Cards Left in the World

Baseball cards were once ubiquitous and printed to advertise everything from newspapers to chewing gum. However, they were also made of paper, and easily destroyed or damaged. Even though baseball card collections were often the pride and joy of their owners, the owners were usually young boys who didn't have the foresight to preserve them. That's why the older a card is, the less likely it is that any of them are in existence. 

Through time, most baseball card collectors got rid of the collections or had them thrown away by unwitting parents during spring cleaning. Thankfully for the family of Baltimore resident Archibald Davis, who was only a teenager when he got the card, he kept it in good condition. It turned out to be more valuable than Davis or his family could have imagined when he left them his prize collection.

Although the Baltimore News may have originally issued thousands of these cards, it is estimated that less than 10 of their Babe Ruth rookie cards are left in the world. When you add that to the fact that Ruth would go from the fresh-faced rookie on the card to an American icon, it's easy to see why the sellers had estimated the card's value in the $10 million range.

From Museum Display To The Auction House

Before the sale, the rookie card had been on public display in Baltimore's Babe Ruth Birthplace Museum. When the family decided to sell it, they turned the card over to Robert Edwards Auctions (REA), which specializes in selling sports memorabilia and other high-value collectibles.

Speaking about the sale, REA President Bryan Dwyer said, "This auction was a watershed moment for the Baltimore News Babe Ruth card, for REA and for the hobby. We are thrilled to see Babe Ruth stake his spot in the top three all-time with this record-setting result, and we are proud to have brought this incredibly significant card to auction for what may be the only time for many years to come."

Although the card may not have fetched the eight-figure price REA had originally estimated, having such a high-profile headline item generated an incredible degree of interest in their most recent auction. Overall, the auction, which included many other valuable Ruth collectibles, was a big winner for REA. All told, REA netted a reported $22.1 million in total bids for all the items sold, which is a record amount for their auctions. 

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