Babe Ruth baseball card expected to fetch over $10 million

A New Jersey auction house says it was expecting a 1914 baseball card of Babe Ruth in his rookie year—one of only ten known to exist—to sell for upwards of $10 million. The 1914 baseball card is the holy grail for Babe Ruth fans, and it was up for sale. Brian Dwyer of Robert Edward Auctions said bidding was already above $6 million for the card with a week and a half to go before the auction closed. “It’s hugely significant for many, many, many reasons,” said Dwyer. “It is from 1914. One of only ten in existence. And it pictures Babe Ruth as a 19-year-old member of the Baltimore Orioles of the International League. This is the first time that Babe Ruth ever appears on any collectible.” The card was the latest high-profile sale in a sports memorabilia market that’s grown exponentially more lucrative. Last year, a 1951 Mickey Mantle baseball card sold for $12.6 million, blasting into the record books as the most-ever paid-for sports memorabilia. Michael Kowpak, who manages a sports memorabilia store named Bleecker Trading in New York City’s Greenwich Village neighborhood and has no connection to the Babe Ruth card auction, said the recent boost in prices for sports memorabilia is based on nostalgia. The pandemic partly drove the growth in demand, as people spent more time at home rummaging through potential treasure troves of childhood memories and family heirlooms and putting them for sale. “We’ve seen a crazy explosion in sports cards the past few years, and something like that. What might have been shocking five years ago, to me today might not be the craziest thing,” says Kowpak. This article was provided by The Associated Press.