THE BABE’S 1914 BALTIMORE NEWS ROOKIE CARD LEADS A STELLAR LINEUP OF RUTH CARDBOARD IN HERITAGE’S FALL SPORTS CATALOG AUCTION
By Steve Lansdale | October 21, 2025
The first card ever made of the player widely considered the greatest in baseball history is the main attraction in Heritage’s October 24-26 Fall Sports Catalog Auction. The Babe is known best, of course, as the New York Yankees’ biggest star over 15 seasons, from 1920-34, and even casual fans know he started his Major League Baseball career as a lanky left-handed pitcher with the Boston Red Sox. But the 1914 Baltimore News Babe Ruth rookie card that headlines this event celebrates Ruth’s time as a player in the city where he was born: Baltimore. Graded VG 3 by Sports Card Guaranty (SGC), the card is one of only 10 such specimens ever graded and features a teenage Ruth during his days with the International League Baltimore Orioles.
This 1914 Baltimore News Babe Ruth rookie card, graded SGC VG 3, shows the 19-year-old pitcher during his minor-league days in his hometown of Baltimore.
“Not only is this an absolutely incredible rookie card of baseball’s first superstar,” says Chris Ivy, Heritage’s Director of Sports Auctions, “but it is also one of the rarest cards of any issued during Ruth’s career.”
It is believed that 17 different subjects originally existed for the 1914 Baltimore News issue, only 11 of which are known to remain in existence. Ruth is by far the most important among them, and the example offered in this auction carries the second-highest grade of just 10 Ruth specimens in the census of any grading service. This is also the most famous example of the card, having spent years on display at the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum in Baltimore.
This auction marks just the second time in the last decade that any Baltimore News Ruth card has reached the auction block.
The Baltimore News rarity isn’t the only Ruth card in play, however. Heritage’s fall auction features an exceptional roster of the Babe’s most sought-after baseball cards. Keep reading for just a few Sultan of Swat highlights.
The 240-card series of 1933 baseball cards by Boston-based Goudey Gum was the first major promotion of the 1930s, as well as the opening salvo of the “Bubble Gum Era” of trading cards that would hold sway for a half century to come. It is now universally recognized as the most significant series of the era, one that set the bar for quality that many feel went unchallenged until the 1952 Topps edition, another landmark first effort. Ruth entered the 1933 season fresh on the heels of his final World Championship season, one best remembered for his legendary “Called Shot” posted in a four-game series sweep of the Chicago Cubs. So while the Babe was already nearing the end of his career when Goudey issued its debut set – which featured four Ruth entries, including this full-body version – he still held a firm grasp on the hearts and minds of the baseball public. This autographed specimen is one of only nine signed examples of the card.
This monumentally important trading card finds Ruth just a few years removed from a Baltimore orphanage, where he had been taught the finer points of the game by a baseball-loving priest. Assuming the card was released at the start of the 1916 Major League season, it would have found the 21-year-old rookie just 47 games and four home runs into a career that would make him the most famous human being on the planet. The Boston Red Sox franchise he represents on this storied rarity would repeat as World Champions in 1916 to claim their fourth of five titles before the Curse of the Bambino cast the franchise into 86 years of painful drought. Ruth’s 1920 departure for the Big Apple would slam the door on the Dead Ball Era and ultimately redefine the Babe as the game’s premier offensive force – and the New York Yankees as the most successful franchise in the history of our national pastime.
With its bold yellow background and artistic rendering of the Bambino in his classic Yankees pinstriped uniform, the #53 card in the 1933 Goudey set is instantly recognizable. Goudey’s groundbreaking use of full-color lithography and premium card stock helped set a new standard for baseball cards, making the series a cornerstone of vintage card collecting. The yellow background variation is one of the most visually striking Ruth cards from the set, capturing his larger-than-life personality in a beautifully illustrated portrait. As one of the most sought-after cards from the 1933 Goudey release, this cherished piece of cardboard remains a historic and highly collectible tribute to baseball’s biggest icon.
When Ruth was traded from the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees in 1920, the change brought out the best in him. In his first season in the Bronx, he walloped 54 home runs and followed that up with 59 homers in 1921. His Yankees career lasted through the 1934 season before he made his final stop with the Boston Braves in 1935. Offered here is a 1921 American Caramel card that shows Ruth still sporting his Red Sox uniform, although he was already firmly in right field for the Yankees. As part of the 80-card E121 American Caramel series, this is one of three cards in the set that feature Ruth.
Ruth’s Goudey #181 has become one of the most sought-after cards in the history of the hobby. Of the four Ruth cards issued by Goudey in 1933, many collectors favor this one as it offers a more expressive and detailed portrait compared with the repeated imagery of the other three. This depiction of the Babe features him holding a baseball bat, eyes lifted, perhaps contemplating his next towering blast.
