A 1933 baseball card signed by the legendary Babe Ruth sold at auction for a record $761,000.
The card, produced by the Goudey chewing gum company, was owned by a collector who died in March 2020, according to Bleacher Report. An unnamed buyer purchased the card on Feb. 22 at an auction conducted by Wheatland Auction Services.
The Babe Ruth baseball card market is still ON FIRE!!! https://t.co/uIFzavIA0n
— TMZ Sports (@TMZ_Sports) February 23, 2021
This card is the most expensive one of Ruth, the Yankees slugger who hit the third-most home runs in Major League Baseball history. Another signed Ruth card, also from 1933 and produced by Goudey, sold for $325,000 in 2020. (RELATED: Former NFL Player Sold Baseball Card For How Much?)
Baseball cards are graded on a scale of one to 10 based on the condition of the card, according to Just Collect. The Ruth card sold on Feb. 22 had a quality grade of 4.0, and Ruth’s signature had a quality grade of 8.0.
Early baseball cards like Ruth’s were produced by candy and cigarette companies, according to PSA Cards. Goudey, a Boston-based company, began including baseball cards in its gum packages in 1933.
The most expensive baseball card, a signed Mike Trout Superfractor, sold for $3.84 million in 2020. That card broke the record set by a 1909 Honus Wagner baseball card, which sold for $3.12 million in 2016.
The 1909 Wagner cards are famously rare because the Hall of Fame Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop demanded that the American Tobacco Company stop using his likeness to sell cigarettes, according to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame.