Is this Babe Ruth rookie card the greatest baseball card ever?

A rare Babe Ruth rookie card that sold for $7.2 million nearly two years ago is on sale again. The card, graded a SGC Very Good 3, is currently on sale at Heritage Auctions. The card's most current bid is $3.05 million. It is one of the most revered of baseball cards. But is it the greatest ever?

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1914 Baltimore News Babe Ruth — Image Courtesy of Heritage Auctions

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The T206 Honus Wagner and 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle often overshadow the 1914 Baltimore News Ruth. The Wagner sold for $7.25 million (SGC 2), while the Mantle brought $12.6 million (SGC 9.5). Still, the Ruth offers a strong case.

First, there is the subject. Everyone knows who Babe Ruth is. His name is synonymous with baseball. Ruth last played in 1938, so the number of people who watched him play has dwindled. However, his legend lives on. As Ruth himself says in The Sandlot, "Heroes get remembered, but legends never die."

Secondly, it is Ruth's first card, where he's pictured as a member of his hometown Baltimore Orioles of the International League. He played for Baltimore for just a few months before being traded and signed by the Boston Red Sox. Although often called his rookie card, this card is technically not a rookie card, as it depicts Ruth as a minor leaguer, and some collectors consider it a pre-rookie. More importantly, the set was distributed locally. Think the 1984 Star Michael Jordan versus the 1986 Topps Jordan.

Many collectors consider Ruth's 1916 Sporting News Card, which was distributed nationally, to be his true rookie card because it shows him in a big league uniform as a member of the Boston Red Sox.

1916 M101-5 Sporting News Babe Ruth rookie — Many view the 1916 Sporting News card, distributed nationally and featuring Ruth in a Red Sox uniform, as his true rookie card. While rare and also being auctioned, it typically sells for less than the 1914 card. | Image Courtesy of Heritage Auctions

Thirdly, and maybe most importantly, is the card's scarcity. Only three copies have ever been graded by PSA. Seven have been graded by SGC. Only 10 are known to exist, which is much lower than the suspected 30 to 40 Wagners and much lower than the few thousand 1952 Topps Mantle cards out there.

Lastly, according to Heritage, "...only a single example has ever graded higher than the subject card, and it has been well over a decade since that sole superior example appeared at auction. This is only the second appearance of any Baltimore News Ruth at auction in the past ten years." In other words, the highest-graded copy, a PSA 4, would sell for far more than what the SGC VG 3 will sell for in about three weeks. It might even challenge the $12.6 million Mantle sale from 2022.

Back of 1914 Baltimore News Babe Ruth rookie card. — The back of the 1914 Baltimore News Babe Ruth rookie card features the Baltimore Orioles' schedule. | Image Courtesy of Heritage Auctions

Perhaps the card's challenge in surpassing the T206 Wagner or the 1952 Mantle is that very few people were aware of the card's existence until the 1980s. By that time, the Wagner had become a hobby legend, and the Mantle card was part of collecting folklore. The importance of the two cards had been marinating in the collecting diaspora for decades before the Baltimore News card's arrival in the hobby's consciousness only 40 years ago.

Is the 1914 Baltimore News Babe Ruth rookie card the greatest baseball card ever? It can be in time, and its upcoming auction result on Oct. 21 may shape its legacy.