Babe Ruth Baseball Cards - A valuable investment

Babe Ruth was born in Baltimore, Maryland and his actual name was George Herman Ruth Jr. He finished his career with 714 home runs and a 342 career batting average, being given the nickname of "Sultan of Swat" and becoming probably the most popular baseball player of all times.

Despite his cards not being the most valuable on the planet (that honor going to the Honus Wagner T206), original Babe Ruth cards have continued to appreciate and are commonly seen as a bellwether in the baseball card collecting community. A Babe Ruth baseball card can be very expensive and you might have to reach deep into your pockets or you might not be able to afford some of the cream of the crop cards.

Remember that these baseball cards were often distributed with other products, such as food, sweets or newspapers, and those very early baseball cards are unbelievably difficult to come by today. Their initial purpose was to give passionate fans a chance to see stats and pictures of their favorite players. But baseball cards have come a long way in the past decade. Now, the most valuable cards are very difficult to obtain, and most reside in the personal collections of high end, wealthy collectors.

The first Babe Ruth baseball card was printed in 1914 by the Baltimore Sun Newspaper, back when The Babe was a minor league ballplayer for the Baltimore Orioles. That particular baseball card, being the first card ever produced of the young pitching prospect, has been sold for as high as $517,000 in recent years.

The value of the baseball cards greatly depends on the condition they are in. Baseball card collectors get very picky about the condition of the cards they are about to purchase. For this, there are catalogues giving grades to the cards available on the market. When a baseball card is graded it is given a condition value which can then be translated into a monetary value. A graded card helps you determine how much a card is worth, based on the grade that the card receives. The many different cards which collectors look for, like the Babe Ruth rookie card, are the ones that, while not in mint condition, are still very valuable.

If it is baseball cards that you are looking for, you must know that the best baseball card dealers in the USA offer their cards through eBay.