Babe Ruth Autographed Ball: A Truly Unique Piece of Baseball Memorabilia

But it was signed by Babe Ruth!

WHAT!WHAT!

The Sultan of Swat!

The King of Crash!

The Colossus of Clout!

BABE RUTH!

THE GREAT BAMBINO!

Well you don't see this every day...

Dean's Cards has recently put up for sale this beautiful piece of baseball history.  This Babe Ruth Autographed Baseball was originally purchased in an auction around 10 years ago.  At that time, the owner commissioned an artist to paint a portrait of the Sultan of Swat underneath his signature.  The colorful portrait of Babe Ruth adds to the attractiveness of this ball, and makes this a truly unique piece of baseball memorabilia!

This autographed baseball would make for a great display item, and definitely give you bragging rights over your friends.  The signature is very clean and visible on the ball.  It has been certified authentic by both PSA and JSA, and if purchased, will come with a certificate of authenticity.

Is your wife or girlfriend still looking for birthday gift ideas to get you?  Just think...for a "measley"  $24k you have the Babe's ball in your man cave!  And not only is it an autographed baseball, this is a work of art, celebrating one of baseball's most beloved heroes.

DeansCards.com also has an assortment of other Autographed Memorabilia and Autographed Cards for sale.  If you are interested in buying Babe Ruth cards, check out 1933 Goudey Baseball Cards, 1952 Topps Look N' See Cards, and 1961 Fleer Baseball Cards.  There's also various magazines and publications bearing the likeness of the Bambino to choose from.

Image from the movie "The Sandlot"

Just In: Old Baseball Magazines

Baseball Magazine
January 1934 

Here at DeansCards.com we just inventoried a nice collection of Baseball Magazines ranging from the 1920s to the 1950s.  These are not just the covers but the full magazine!  So many great covers containing photos of Baseball's great heroes like Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.

Baseball Magazine was highly regarded as the top baseball publication in the beginning of the century. It began in 1908 and continued until the final issue was published on September 1957. Known for its articles written by players and managers prior to 1930, Baseball Magazine contained full page-sized sepia finished photos of players on the inside of the front and back covers, making them popular for baseball enthusiast bedroom walls.

Fro-joy Ice Cream Cards

We’ve seen baseball cards commonly packaged along side of tobacco, caramel, and bubble gum, and for one short week in 1928, thousands of Americans received limited edition Babe Ruth cards along with their ice cream. From August 6th through the 11th, children who purchased Fro-joy ice cream cones received free small pictures of the legendary Babe Ruth. These small cards measured 2 1/16" by 4", and for six days in a row, people across the country visited their nearest Fro-joy dealer in order to acquire all six Ruth picture cards. The cards featured black and white photos, along with a short caption on the front, and an ad for Fro-joy ice cream on the back.

Fro-joy ice cream container

Why collect a complete set of six Ruth picture cards? Individuals with complete sets of six were encouraged to mail them to the General Ice Cream Corporation in Schenectady, New York on or before August 25th, 1928. In doing so, one would receive a larger, premium Babe Ruth photograph which measured 8 ½ by 12”. However, instead of returning the six original Babe Ruth images along with the larger photo, General Ice Cream Corporation set out a new, uncut sheet of the six original images, printed on cheaper card stock. Aside from the cheaper card stock, the cards were nearly identical to the originals. However, also included on the new sheet of cards was instructions on how to cut apart the new six cards, as well as a longer advertisement for Fro-joy Ice Cream. The original six pictures were never returned.

Un-cut cards and Babe Ruth image issued by General Ice Cream

For over eighty years now, these cards have created controversy across the country. When they first issued these Babe Ruth cards to thousands of Americans, I think that it is safe to say that General Ice Cream Corporation had little clue how much controversy could stem from a seemingly innocent advertising campaign. However, printing the six cards on a single page of poor quality card stock, opened the doors to counterfeiters and profit seekers all over the country, as it made the cards easy to reproduce. These fakes integrated themselves into the card market and into the homes of unknowing collectors.

It is estimated that millions of Fro-joy ice cream cards exist today, but the underlying question remains, how many of the cards are real? Sources speculate that 99% of Fro-joy ice cream cards that are deemed real are actually counterfeit. In fact, it has gotten so out of hand that numerous grading companies refuse to authenticate cards from this set.

Fro-joy Reprint Cards available at DeansCards.com

So how does one spot a fake? Some cases are easier than others. If you come across an uncut sheet of color images of Babe Ruth, it is almost guaranteed that it is not an original sheet produced by the General Ice Cream Corporation. The 1928 Fro-joy ice cream cards were printed and issued only in black and white. Thus the color cards are counterfeit. Black and white fakes are much harder to detect, as they appear to be exact replicas of the originals. At this point in time, even counterfeit replica cards printed in the 70’s are going to show wear, and in turn, look much more real to collectors. Thus, unless you’re able to scrutinize the originals and fakes under a microscope and see differences in paper stock, ink, and printing techniques, we advise that you use caution in purchasing “authentic” Fro-joy ice cream cards.

DeansCards.com does not carry original Fro-joy cards at this time, but if you would like to purchase Fro-joy Reprint Card Sets, please visit our website at DeansCards.com

Babe Ruth

The Dean’s Cards player of this week is Babe Ruth.  The occasion is that we have just listed so many great Babe Ruth cards and I wanted to talk about them before they sold.  The reprint cards of the Babe are also very popular.

The Babe loved to play golf and had a five handicap.  The story goes that he could hit the ball 300 yards with the old fashioned wood drivers and had a terrible short game.

My favorite Babe Ruth Story was told by Billy Werber, who died this year at 100 years of age.  Werber tells the story of regularly playing bridge with Bill Dickey against Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig on a train rides between cites as a rookie.  The Babe would light a cigar and get a big glass of ice filled to the top with Canadian Whiskey.

According to Werber, he and Dickey were much smarter than Ruth and Gehrig (which is very believable) and beat them regularly – often winning $3 or $4 a night.  Ruth would regularly "false bid" his hands (often to get a rise out of Gehrig) and Gehrig would become mad and throw down the cards.  Werber also added that he liked Ruth a lot and did not care very much for Gehrig.

Please add any good Babe Ruth Stories that you may have.  I would love to hear them.

Also please check out the obscure reprint cards that we have of the Babe.  I rarely see these cards as originals.

Four 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth Cards Just Added

Dean's Cards just added five Babe Ruth cards to our inventory!  We buy over 500 collections a year, but have never added this many Babe Ruth cards at one time.  The cards added include all 4 of the Babe's 1933 Goudey cards and his 1931 W517 Portrait card.

The 4 Goudeys were part of a 160 card Goudey collection that we acquired last month.  The cards were actually collected by the seller’s father and had been in his family for 76 years.

The way that we came to buy this collection was very unusual for us.  A guy contacted me by email and said that he had a friend that wanted to sell a bunch of pre-war cards, but was reluctant to send his cards through the mail.  It has been my experience that scenarios like these rarely work out, but I was really hoping that this would be a chance to buy some great Goudey cards.  Dean’s Cards has been in business for 8 years and I have never traveled to buy a collection.  They are all sent to us in the mail, which is one of the reasons we are able to pay more than other dealers.

The seller sent me a spreadsheet of the cards and I provided a price range that we would pay – depending on the card’s condition.  The seller’s friend said that he had gotten several other quotes and we were, by far, quoting the highest amount.

I spoke to the friend of the seller on the phone and he said that the seller would come to the office and bring the cards, since he just lived up in Youngstown.  It just so happened, though,  that Jonathan (my 12 year old son) and I were driving up to Cleveland to attend the National Sports Card Convention,  so I offered to meet the guy on the way.  My wife was a bit nervous about it – especially since Jonathan was with me - so we agreed to meet in the lobby of a Holiday Inn.  You just never know these days.

The seller and his friend turned out to be great guys and the collection was better than expected.  The gentleman accepted my offer, but was so nervous by the prospect of selling his fathers cards, that he was visibly shaking.

Although I paid a small fortune for the cards, the acquisition of the four 1933 Babe Ruth cards capped off a successful father/son trip to the National Card Show.  Out of the millions of cards that I have bought over the years, these were the first ones acquired outside the friendly confines of the Dean’s Cards Office.

The other Ruth card just added, 1931 W517 Babe Ruth Portrait card, came through a separate collection of about 30 W517 cards that also included the Lou Gehrig card. These are the first W517 cards we have had due to their rarity.

All cards over $50 at Dean’s Cards qualify for our quantity discount.