While overshadowed by the T206 Honus Wagner and 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle cards, Babe Ruth’s 1916 M101-4 and M101-5 rookie cards are undoubtedly among the most significant and valuable in all of the hobby.
Heritage will auction a PSA 7 example of the M101-4 in its February Winter Platinum Night Sports Auction with an estimate of $2.5 million and up.
Produced by Chicago-based printer Felix Mendelsohn, the sets were sold with blank backs, some of which were purchased by companies which printed their branding on the reverse for advertising purposes. According to PSA, it’s believed the M101-5 set was released first, around February 1916, while the M101-4 set came out that April.
Currently, the most expensive Ruth card ever sold is his 1914 Baltimore News card, which fetched $7.2 million in December 2023. A PSA 9 example of his 1933 Goudey sold for $4.212 million in July 2021.
The third-most expensive sale and the record for a Ruth rookie from either set (M101-4 or M101-5) belongs to the $1.77 million paid for an SGC 7 example of a “Sporting News” back in February 2023. The most recent sale of a PSA 7 copy was in October 2017, when Heritage sold a Sporting News example for $600,000.
The PSA 7 example currently at Heritage is a blank back and one of just two M101-4s graded PSA 7 with none higher. There are three from the M101-5 set graded higher.
If it hits its $2.5 million estimate, the card would become the third-most expensive Ruth card ever sold and would crack the top 30 most expensive cards ever sold publicly.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct.