Babe Ruth’s First Photo as a Professional Baseball Player Could Fetch Over $200,000 at Auction
- A 1914 Baltimore Orioles team photo featuring a young Babe Ruth is up for auction and expected to sell for over $200,000.
A Babe Ruth photo currently up for auction really knocks it out of the park.
The image in question—a 1914 Baltimore Orioles team photo—is the earliest-known shot of Ruth as a professional baseball player. Part of Lelands's 2024 Fall Classic Auction, it's expected to hammer down for more than $200,000 when the sale closes on October 19.
More from Robb Report
Very few images of Ruth from this time exist, given that he only played three months for the Baltimore Orioles, who were then a minor-league team in the International League. At the time the photo was taken, Ruth was just 19 years old, a pitcher being paid $100 a month for his work. In the snapshot, he can be seen on the far right, smiling while he leans against one of his teammates.
A rare piece of Ruth history, the Lelands photo is certainly catnip for collectors. While there are two small chips in the upper and lower right corners, a few scratches, and a nick on Ruth's arm, the auction house still considers the photo to be in excellent condition. And even with those slight defects, it's an uncommon find that depicts one of baseball's GOATs at a pivotal time in his life.
As for the picture itself, it originally surfaced in the 1990s, when a collection of baseball memorabilia from a former Baltimore International League player came to light. The image was held privately until Lelands first auctioned it off in 2019, when it sold for an impressive $190,373. Now that original buyer is parting with the shot after just five years.
When Ruth memorabilia comes up for sale, they tend to be pretty big-ticket items. In the past year, two Ruth rookie cards have sold for impressive sums: A 1916 card from when Ruth played for the Boston Red Sox achieved $630,000, while a 1914 card from that same Baltimore Orioles season hammered down for an eye-popping $7.2 million. That's nothing compared with what Ruth's "called shot" jersey went for over the summer, though: That piece of sports history fetched more than $24 million.
And with the MLB postseason upon us, there's no better time to snag a rare bit of the Great Bambino's legacy.
Best of Robb Report
Sign up for RobbReports's Newsletter . For the latest news, follow us on Facebook , Twitter , and Instagram .
