LOT #80513 |
Current Bid: $190,000
1916 M101-5 Blank Backs Babe Ruth Rookie #151 SGC Good 2....
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Description
1916 M101-5 Blank Backs Babe Ruth Rookie #151 SGC Good 2. How does one measure supremacy? For many years, when it came to Babe Ruth, the answer was as simple as an examination of his stat line. It's been said that records are made to be broken, but Ruth positively shattered them, dismissing the standards of incremental advancement for a paradigm shift that serves as the clearest evidence of the sport's transition from Dead Ball Era to Live. Some records have fallen, occasionally with help from medical science, but any argument that Ruth was not the most dominant athlete in sports history is doomed to burial beneath a mountain of evidence to the contrary.But we're talking trading cards here, and personal opinion offers no such handy metrics with which one might construct a consensus ranking. All we can do is make our case, which we believe to be as compelling as it is clear and simple.
With affectionate deference to the T206 Wagner and the 1952 Topps Mantle, cards well-deserving of their placement at the ceiling of the trading card pantheon, we are inclined to assign the primary ranking criterion to the identity of the subject. In this regard, the argument for Ruth has already been made. Certainly the matters of happenstance that made the Wagner and Mantle cards the hobby's most famous short-prints remain a point of intrigue--and each card pictures a true baseball legend--but there can only be one King, and that has to be Ruth.
From that point, we fall very much in line with the collecting dogma that has held sway over the trading card community for generations: All hail the rookie! There is only one universally recognized Babe Ruth rookie card, and this is it.
It's an impressive showpiece with aesthetics that surpass a technical grade that finds its level due to the corner wear typical of pre-war cardboard and some toning along two edges of verso, along with a horizontal printing mark common for the series. We're impressed by the crisp image registration, the glossy surface and the centering, each suggesting that this was once among the finest Ruth rookies on the planet, and still a worthy commemorative of the sport's one true king. Graded SGC Good 2.
Guide Value or Estimate: $250,000 - up.
Auction Info
2025 October 24 - 26 Fall Sports Catalog Auction #50080 (go to Auction Home page)
Proxy Bidding Ends
October
24th
Friday
10:00 pm CT
Auction Dates
October
24th-26th
Friday-Sunday
Proxy Bidding Time Remaining
15 Days
17h 49m 48s
Bids + Registered Phone Bidders: 25
Lot Tracking Activity: 134
Page Views: 1,178
Buyer's Premium per Lot:
22% of the successful bid (minimum $29) per lot.
This lot is in: 1 -
Signature Internet Extended Bid Session - Extended Bidding :
(Lots 80001-83093) - 10:00 PM Central Time, Friday, October 24, 2025.
[Normal bidding closes and extended bidding begins at 10:00 PM Central Time the evening of the session. Details below.]
Exhibition Viewing Times, Title Page, Floor Session and License Information
Additional Location Info:
Heritage Auctions
2801 W. Airport Freeway
Dallas, TX 75261
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