Well, that’s a pretty big one, huh? When I was a kid dealing baseball cards I’d always wanted to scrape together a few hundred dollars just to get my hands on a really beat ’33 Goudey Ruth card, never happened, but now that I’m handling so many magazines I’m lucky enough to see the Bambino’s smiling face every so often. Of course, nothing better than seeing Ruth flash his teeth at me from a front cover, though, well, maybe one exception I’ll get to below.
If you’re looking to collect Babe Ruth on a budget, good luck to you, though in all seriousness it can be done. Babe pitched a lot of products, so period magazine advertisements are always a low cost possibility. There’s also a wealth of Babe Ruth articles to be found at affordable prices inside magazines. Check out this pretty spread from inside the September 1930 issue of The American Magazine. The article is titled “The Babe Shows How” and features 8 photos of Babe over 4 pages:
The Babe Shows How
You’re going to be able to find that issue for $20-$25 in very nice shape, possibly less. Then there are a huge number of magazines which include but a single image of Babe Ruth, these can usually be purchased without any special premium. Being brought up in the world of baseball cards I think it’s pretty neat that I can grab a magazine published from 1920, the Babe’s first year in pinstripes, for under $20, like a Mid-Week Pictorial containing this pic:
December 30, 1920
Or a later issue of the same title containing something unusual, like say the Babe wearing a fake beard:
April 15, 1933
Speaking of the Mid-Week Pictorial we jump a bit in price here for one of my favorite Babe Ruth items to have handled, this great cover image from the April 22, 1933 issue. I believe I took a little less for it, but estimated value on this issue is approximately $150-$200:
April 22, 1933
Sorry for that bright line at the right, scanner must have been on the fritz when I sold this one (maybe that’s why I got under my estimate!).
Finally, Babe Ruth died August 16, 1948, and baseball’s top magazine, The Sporting News, which grew with the Babe’s legend over the years, sent him off, not with a cover appearance, but with a special 8-page pull-out section in its August 25, 1948. This is one of the more valuable issues of The Sporting News, in fact, there aren’t any more recent issues of higher value. I’m lucky enough to have this particular issue available right now, and so, here are images taken from the special section:
Nation Mourns Ruth
Big Moments
Gone Is Our Youth
There you have it. What, did you think I was going to write about the Babe’s life and career? Uh uh, plenty of other sites out there with that info. What I’m trying to communicate here is that collecting Babe Ruth is in everyone’s price range. It all depends on how you go about doing it.
I always try to have something featuring Babe Ruth inside the VintageMeld, check it out:
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