Babe Ruth Baseball Card Found at Danvers Yard Sale Fetches Over $800K at Auction
An extremely rare Babe Ruth rookie baseball card found at a Danvers yard sale in November recently fetched $812,724 at a recent auction — more than five times its starting bid.
The never-before-seen 1916 Babe Ruth rookie baseball card displays Ruth when he played for the Boston Red Sox. The Robert Edwards Auction House, which handled the sale, expected the card to receive at least $300,000 but was beyond surprised when, after 36 bids, the price skyrocketed to more than $800,000.
Bidding began at $150,000 on Nov. 22 and closed on Dec. 8.
“This is a very distinctive example of Babe Ruth’s rookie card, universally regarded as one of the most significant cards in all of card collecting,” the auction company wrote on its website.
The Babe Ruth card is one of a series of 1916-era Morehouse cards, part of a set designed by a Chicago-area publisher in the early 20th century, distributed for promotional purposes by the Morehouse Baking Co.
A gentleman, who wished to remain anonymous, from Danvers previously owned the Babe Ruth baseball card. He only learned about its potential value when he happened to strike up a conversation with avid baseball card collector Jeff Gross, who was helping an in-law with a yard sale in Danvers.
“This is by far the biggest thing that’s ever and will ever happen to me,” Gross said in an interview with WCVB, upon describing his surprise when he offered to look through the gentleman’s card collection with him. That collection also included a rare Joe Jackson card from the 1919 Black Sox.
Gross later agreed to help the Babe Ruth card’s owner sell the collectible.
“To have been in the middle of all that starting with a yard sale is still mind-blowing, honestly,” Gross told NBC10 Boston. “Just a fun wrap-up to a six-month journey.”