The Mighty Bambino

A wonderfully innocent photograph of Babe Ruth signing autographs turned up at a recent Heritage Galleries auction. The image finds the Sultan of Swat surrounded by players from two women’s softball teams, the Roverettes and Americanettes, and freezes in time a moment that defines Ruth’s popularity. It also proves that there are some appealing Ruth-related mementos that can be had for bargain prices: It sold for $75.


More than a dozen other vintage Ruth photos—all from the Culver Pictures Archive—also sold for prices between $60 and $150. But don’t get the idea that Ruth memorabilia is cold. No, there’s always demand among sports collectors for anything Ruth-related. The Culver pictures weren’t autographed, and unsigned photos happen to be one area in the realm of Babe Ruth memorabilia that’s affordable.

If an authentic Ruth signature is involved, prices skyrocket. A pair of autographed Ruth photos in the same Heritage sale, for example, sold for $4,500 each (see below). And Ruth single-signed baseballs, of course, remain a true prize in the sports memorabilia market. They can sell for as little as a few thousand dollars to more than $60,000, depending on the condition of the ball and the appearance of the autograph.


Consider another item in the aforementioned Heritage sale. A mid-1920s Ruth-signed ball sold for $3,110, its value affected by stains on the ball and, more important, by a signature that looked to be faded over time. You could tell it was a Ruth autograph, but it appeared to have spent some time exposed to sunlight.

On the other hand, in the past four years, Heritage has sold 10 Ruth-signed baseballs for prices between $20,000 and $51,000. The top-priced example, from a 2008 auction, was a c. 1947 ball (Ruth died in 1948 at age 53) graded at Near-Mint/Mint+ by a leading autograph authentication service, PSA/DNA. In 2004, an equally clean example of a Ruth-signed baseball sold for $63,250 in a joint sale by Sotheby’s and SCP Auctions. More recently, in a March 2009 sale, SCP Auctions sold seven Ruth single-signed balls, fetching prices between $2,800 and $14,800.

Believe it or not, Ruth baseball cards can sell for even more than an autographed ball. A high-grade (Near-Mint/Mint+) 1933 Goudey card of Ruth sold for $89,625 last year, for example. And we haven’t even touched on the “high end” of the Ruth market.... In recent years, a 1930s uniform Ruth wore brought $658,000. A ball that Babe hit into the bleachers at the 1933 All-Star Game fetched $805,000. Ruth-used bats have sold well into six-figure prices. And in 2005, Sotheby’s reeled in $996,000 for the 1919 contract sending Ruth from the Red Sox to the Yankees.

During the past decade, we’ve seen the reputations of all kinds of contemporary stars sullied by their use (or suspected use) of performance-enhancing steroids. As a result, the market for players once considered to be future Hall of Fame “locks”—from Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds to Roger Clemens and Alex Rodriguez—has become chilly, if not cold. Then there’s The Bambino: His stats actually start looking even better—and serious collectors keep reaching deeper to buy their own piece of a baseball icon.

There are still deals to be had when it comes to Babe Ruth memorabilia. The charmer of a photo pictured above, for example, sold for a mere $75. And the signed photos above each brought $4,500. On the other hand, a top-condition Babe-signed baseball can be pricey; the one pictured here fetched $51,000 in May 2008. [All photos courtesy of Heritage Galleries.]