1933 Goudey Babe Ruth, Which One is the Ultimate Grail Card?
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Collectors in the fortunate position to be shopping for a playing era Babe Ruth card are most likely to be drawn initially to the 1933 Goudey set. For one thing, the set is one of the Hobby's most iconic, surpassed only by T206 and 1952 Topps in the category of vintage baseball card releases. And for another thing, the set included four different Babe Ruth cards, not only making a 1933 Goudey Ruth effectively a quadruple print (really a quintuple print but more on this later) but offering a choice of colors and poses. While any card in the Ruth quartet is a welcome addition to any collection, which one is the best of the four?
Card Facts
RELATED: Three Modern Babe Ruth cards every collector should know
Here are five quick facts regarding the Ruth cards that may or may not factor into a buyer's decision but should still add to the appreciation and enjoyment of whichever card they choose.
- Cards 53 (yellow background), 144 (batting pose), and 149 (red background) all derive from the same 1927 Charles Conlon photograph of the Bambino. In the case of the yellow and red cards, the card image is simply a close-up of the original source photo.
- Card 181 (green background) also uses a Charles Conlon photograph but from 1929.
RELATED: Iconic Cards from the legendary 1933 Goudey Set
Here’s my painting of Babe Ruth peering out of the dugout at Yankee Stadium, 1929. That year he batted .345, hit a league-leading 46 HR, and batted-in 154 runs. Based on the photography of Charles Conlon, collectors may recognize the image from his famous 1933 Goudey #181 card. pic.twitter.com/pfG4LAJLcE
— Graig Kreindler (@GraigKreindler) September 3, 2025
- While all four cards date to 1933, they did not come out all at the same time. Like many classic older sets, the Goudey set was issued in series. The yellow Ruth came first and was part of the set's fifth series, the red and batting pose Ruths were part of the sixth series, and the green Ruth was part of the seventh series.
- The batting pose Ruth was double-printed, meaning there were twice as many made as any of the other cards in the set's sixth series.
- The second batting Ruth (card 144) on the printing sheet took the place of card 106, which was never issued, at least not in 1933. It was only in response to inquiries from collectors that Goudey produced a stand-in the following year and mailed it on request. This card, the "1933" Goudey Napoleon Lajoie (actually produced in late 1934) is among the Grail cards of the Hobby.
One of the most sought after #vintagebaseball cards ever released due to the fact that it was omitted from the 1933 #Goudey issue, the 1933 Goudey #106 Lajoie, of course, was not actually printed until the following year. As most #vintage enthusiasts know, when the 1933 set was… pic.twitter.com/Q9HY03RCgm
— REA (@collect_rea) September 30, 2025
Card Values and Populations
#OnThisDay in 1930, Babe Ruth signed a two-year, $160,000 deal with the Yankees, with GM Ed Barrow proclaiming: ”No one will ever be paid more than Ruth.”
— PSAcard (@PSAcard) March 9, 2025
How do you think Mr. Barrow would feel about this 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth card selling for $4.2 million in July 2021? pic.twitter.com/39bfF6DaT3
At the moment, here are the Card Ladder values and populations of each of the four 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth cards in a grade of PSA 4.
- Card 53 (yellow): $26,936 POP 116
- Card 144 (batting pose): $21,222 POP 170
- Card 149 (red): $24,059 POP 167
- Card 181 (green): $19,520 POP 148
One thing evident from the data is that the relative scarcity of the cards does not appear to be a significant driver in card value. For example, the yellow Ruth, which is also his first card in the set, has a much lower population than its red counterpart but is priced somewhat comparably. Another interesting aspect of the data is that the double-printing of card 144 in the sixth series should have resulted in twice as many 144s as 149s. However, the population data, at least in a grade of 4, don't make that at all evident.
Collector Preference
Prominent pre-war card expert Anson Whaley ran a poll on X a year ago asking collectors to choose the 1933 Goudey Ruth they'd most want to own. The batting pose (card 144) won by a landslide.
Which of Babe Ruth's 1933 Goudey cards do you find the most desirable?
— Pre-War Card Collector (@prewarcards) January 22, 2025
The Verdict
When 58.3% of collectors all choose the same Ruth, it's hard to argue. The popularity of the card and its status as Ruth's most iconic make 144 the clear winner. That said, collectors looking to buck the trend may prefer to own Ruth's first card from the set, the attractive 53 yellow, or jump at the red 149 that should be twice as rare as 144 but is not yet priced accordingly. As for the green Ruth, though it finished second in Anson's poll, it is likely the caboose of the Goudey four. Still, part of its bottom-of-the-heap status means that it's also the card often priced most affordably.
Jason A. Schwartz is a collectibles expert whose work can be found regularly at SABR Baseball Cards, Hobby News Daily, and 1939Bruins.com. His collection of Hank Aaron baseball cards and memorabilia is currently on exhibit at the Atlanta History Center, and his collectibles-themed artwork is on display at the Honus Wagner Museum and PNC Park.