Babe Ruth Card From High School Memories Book Sells for $235,000
Her life was cut short, but an Iowa woman left her descendants a valuable gift–something she could never have imagined when she placed it into a book about 100 years ago.
The 1917 Collins-McCarthy baseball card of Babe Ruth was an innocent gift from Walter Stivers to Lillian Glenn. On Wednesday afternoon, that little token of a courtship between teenagers sold for $235,000 through Hunt Auctions.
The story behind the card that eventually made its way to a display at the 2021 National Sports Collectors Convention is one to remember. Graded 2.5 by PSA because of a light crease, the card–and the book where it resided for so long–will both be sent to the winning bidder.
The card is one of three 1917 Collins-McCarthy Ruth cards graded by PSA that have a blank back.
The auction also included several other Ruth items that attracted attention of bidders during the live finale of an auction that opened online last month. A 1933 Goudey Ruth #149 graded SGC 7 sold for $71,675 and an SGC 4 example of Ruth’s #53 card from the same set vaulted to $37,600. A 1916 Boston Red Sox team photo including Ruth, with the paper caption from October of that year still attached, went for $26,437.
Other sales included a 1911 Turkish Trophies advertising display with Ty Cobb that sold for $141,000, a 1948-49 Leaf Jackie Robinson graded SGC 5 ($26,437) and a PSA 2 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle ($34,897).
