1933 Goudey Babe Ruth #53 SGC 8 NM-MT (PWCC-A)

The four Babe Ruth cards in the landmark 1933 Goudey baseball set stand as some of the most popular printings not only in the Yankee slugger’s venerable card catalog but in all of vintage collecting. This offering of card #53, the shortest printed of the four ‘33 Goudey Ruth issues, is one of the most impressive examples in existence. Sharp corners and edges, a deep, yellow background that still emanates a vibrant hue more than 90 years after the card’s release, superb centering and a clean surface set it apart from many of its contemporaries. Those characteristics helped the card earn an astounding SGC 8 grade and PWCC–A Eye Appeal designation. Only six examples assessed by SGC have earned an 8, with just one graded higher. For context, only one PSA-graded example, a PSA 9, has earned a higher mark than this exceptional printing. Few athletes in sports history have ascended to the same dizzying heights of popularity as the Colossus of Clout. Coming off his seventh World Series and fourth with the New York Yankees, the King of Crash’s unprecedented popularity caused Goudey to print multiple cards of the slugger. As such, he appears on cards No. 53, 144, 149, and 181 in the ‘33 set. The four cards are some of the most revered issues of one of the most popular players in sports history, with Ruth remaining one of the driving forces in vintage collecting today. The ‘33 Goudey set revolutionized the trading card industry, raising the bar for sports collectibles with its high-quality artist renditions of players, eye-pleasing color splashes, more robust paper stock, and engaging bios that connected fans to players they often had only read about in newspapers. It was also the first set to include sticks of gum with cards, something that would become standard practice in the decades to follow despite causing damage to plenty of examples throughout the years. But this offering avoided any such blemishes to stand as one of the most magnificent known Ruth specimens. The certification number on this card has been checked against the third-party grader's online database and is active as of 11/05/24.