A rare Babe Ruth baseball card from his early years has just sold for a record-breaking price.
Nearly two dozen bids competed for the vintage baseball card, which featured Ruth as a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, in the Heritage summer sports card catalog auction.
The 1917 Ruth card was scooped up on July 11 for a staggering $244,000, according to the auction site.
“This incredible early and important Babe Ruth card set a new record price for the grade,” Chris Ivy, Heritage’s Director of Sports Auctions, said. “This auction exhibited strong results across all categories and genres, including both vintage and modern cards in both high grade and low grade, as well as singles, sets, and wax.”
MORE: Yankees' Aaron Judge predicted to join Babe Ruth, Barry Bonds, 2 others in exclusive club
It's not surprising that the Yankee legend's card went for such a high sum.
While he's most notably known for his time spent in New York, Ruth was also an impressive pitcher for the Red Sox in the 1910s.
Summer sports memorabilia auction fetches $9 million
Earlier this month, the summer auction sold several other high-value pieces of sports memorabilia, raising over $9 million.
A 1964 Topps Baseball PSA-graded complete master set, which included 589 cards, sold for $237,900. The set included cards from several notable athletes, including Yogi Berra, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Sandy Koufax, and Frank Robinson.
Baseball wasn't the only sport to sell some high-valued items. Basketball fans also scooped up some high-ticketed items.
NBA legend Michael Jordan was the most popular player in the sale.
Quite literally a HUGE item coming up in our Summer Platinum Auction
— Heritage Auctions Sports (@Heritage_Sport) July 18, 2025
This 8ft x 8ft piece of court was used at the United Center 2001-06 and is photomatched to Jordan’s last game at the stadium he built
Plus it has a massive MJ autograph and five inscriptions pic.twitter.com/0GJjWJkDdj
A Nike promo card signed by Jordan sold for $103,700, while a rare 1997 grand finale card went for $82,350.
Other auction highlights include:
- A 1971 Topps Baseball (2nd Series) Wax Box - With 24 Unopened Packs sold for $118,950. The auction had 31 bids.
- A rare 1941 Play Ball Joe DiMaggio #71 PSA NM-MT 8 auction had a winning bid of $109,00.
- The 1917 E135 Collins-McCarthy Joe Jackson (Blank Back) #82 SGC EX 5 drew 48 bids and sold for $103,700.
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