The Million Dollar Babe Ruth Rookie Card ?

The Honus Wagner T206 card recently sold for over a million dollars in an auction a few months ago.  Is it possible that there is a Babe Ruth Baseball Card that can eclipse that amount.  Babe Ruth has a 1914 Minor League Rookie card which was produced by the Baltimore News.  There are only 9 known to exist and the popularity and rarity of this card are just starting to come to life.  Many collector’s and card dealers did not  know this card existed. This rare Babe Ruth Rookie card may surpass the T206 Honus Wagner. Below is a list of some of Babe Ruth’s best cards and were you can find them.

1915 Babe Ruth Sporting News Rookie

This one of Babe Ruth’s rarest cards and buying this graded baseball card will cost you more than a month’s salary.  This card is a great investment.

Training Video : Find out the Value of Baseball Cards

We have received a lot of questions about what are my Sports Cards worth? There are a few ways to get an accurate answer but we believe we have one very effective way that we can show you in this video that you can do right in your own house. This training video will give you a simple step by step procedure that you can do using ebay.com. Please watch the video and if you have any other questions please feel free to leave a comment or email us at sales@gmagrading.com.

History of Sports Card Grading and Authentication

Sports Card Grading has been around since the late 80’s. The industry actually derived from the coin industry as the boom of the coin grading market proved too be just as lucrative in the sports card industry. CSA was actually the first sports card grading company on the seen and tried their best to patent their product and sell franchises over the united states. This business venture failed and opened the door for new grading card companies to evolve. PSA and SGC came on the seen in the early 90’s and begun the push to revolutionize the industry. The demand for sports card grading was immense and probably long over due. PSA and SGC made millions and did a great job of marketing to create a general buzz about the new age of sports cards. The sports card industry started receiving a lot of free publicity in the media which brought a ton of new people into the market. It seemed like the Gold Rush. Everybody was a card dealer or wanted too be one. Millions of dollars were spent in buying cards and having them graded. The problem with this new trend was their were many people in the industry that probably didn’t need to be in it. They new nothing about cards and were easy manipulated into buying cards at astronomical prices hoping that one day they would be able to retire young and rich. As the industry continued to grow PSA started raising their prices and the turnaround times on getting your cards back were getting to be ridiculous. You were paying $10-$25 per card to have you cards graded in certain period of time and having them come back 3-4 weeks later than what was promised. This delay infuriated customers and started a trend were new grading card companies began to pop up. When it was all said and done their were roughly 12 new grading card companies in a 1 year period. This baseball card and football card craze began to pour into the production of more and more cards. Topps and Upper Deck started flooding the market with different sets, insert cards, autographs, give aways, you name it. New card companies began to evolve. It seemed like every body wanted a piece of the pie. It was easy money to sum but the begin of the end for most. With productions runs at an all-time high card scarcity became a thing of the past. Productions runs were in millions and no matter how hard some card dealers tried to lie to their customers the realization was that the cards were being produced much more than the demand could keep up with. Their were many rumors starting to surface about PSA controlling their grades. Trying to control the population of what cards were being graded high and who was going to receive the best grades. When they saw the advantage of this practice they decided to come out with a population report which they still have to this day to try to show people how rare certain cards really are. While this practice helped the few and ended up hurting others the grading card companies continued to grow and money was still flowing on the industry.

GMA Grading came on to the seen in 2000. We saw the demand and what was really missing from the sports card industry.  We developed a system to be able to grade our customers baseball cards in five business days.  We also have tried to keep the lowest prices, second to none, in the baseball card grading industry.  GMA grading has had their cards sold on television on both Home Shopping Network (HSN) as well as Shop at Home television.  We will continue to look for new and improved ways of helping our customers achieve the best customer service in the industry.

When grading baseball cards customers have a variety of companies to choose from we hope that GMA will top the list of the most affordable and most efficient grading card companies in the industry.

How too Make Money with Baseball Cards !

Buy the Cards that People Want!

One of the most important things that I have learned in business is to try to think like the customer. We all have our own favorite things that we like and people that we admire but these things vary from person to person. Red Sox fans love Red Sox players. Yankee fans love Yankee players. I understand that seems very simplistic but most of the simple ideas are the best ideas. When buying baseball cards you have a better chance of selling a Derek Jeter card faster than selling a Mike Lowell card. I will even take it a step further. Jimmy Rollins of the Philadelphia Phillies won the NL MVP award last year. This helped his popularity and improved his fan base but, with that being said, you can sell Derek Jeter cards ten times faster than you would sell a Jimmy Rollins card. This is true for a few reasons. One reason is that Derek Jeter is very marketable player and plays for one of the most marketable sports franchises in baseball. His sports cards are extremely popular and are sold on ebay in the thousands per week. This concept is something that needs a little practice. Our personal biases sometimes get in the way. I believe in time almost every card has a potential customer but you do not want to tie up your money in cards that are stagnant. Make a list of the most popular players from each team past and present. Take your list of players and fill in all the various rookie cards that they have. For instance, Alex Rodriguez has about 9 different rookie cards that you can buy. Derek Jeter have 7 different rookie cards that you can buy. Almost every card in the 80’s has about two or three different rookie card variations. I am assuming your getting the point. Once you have compiled the list lets move on to the next step and try to narrow it down a little.

Do Your Research

Ebay is no doubt the number one marketplace for people who are buying and selling anything from sports memorabilia to video equipment. It can also be an amazing research tool. If you have an ebay account you can view past sales, prices and popularity of almost anything that has been sold. You can view how many bids a certain card has. You can view how many times the card has been listed in the past 30 days. These bits of information can save you a lot of time and money. I definitely believe that time is money and that cliche is not used enough. One of the main purposes of making money and opening up your own business is to enjoy the freedom and time the money can give you. Use ebay as a tool to help you save time and make proper decisions on what to purchase. Try to keep your own personal opinions out of it. Numbers don’t have opinions, they are just numbers, but if analyzed correctly they can save you and your business from failing. See what cards are selling and at what prices. See what cards have bids and what cards are being listed continuously without any bidders. Make sure to monitor the prices so you can make informed decisions. If you see a Tony Gwynn Rookie card consistently selling for $25-$30 don’t be so surprised if you see one selling for $50 with no bids. This does not mean that Tony Gwynn cards don’t sell it just means that the seller has the card over priced. If your research is done properly you will be able to get a goog feel of what is good to buy and what is not. Once you have this information you can start narrowing down your list.

Money, How Much Do I want to Invest !

Every business has a start up cost and this business is no different. Come up with a sum that you are willing to invest and work around that. Do not use your life savings or your kids college tuition but try to come up with a reasonable sum of money to begin your venture. I use the word investment because you are investing in products that have monetary value. If you did your research properly the cards you have purchased can be re-sold on ebay for the price you purchased them for if not more. This is why the research part is so important. This lowers your risk and keeps your investment safe.

The Buying Process

Once you have the detailed list of the baseball card that you want to buy and the prices that you’re willing to pay for each one then it becomes time to start buying. This is definitely the funnest part of the whole process. You get to Rome eBay and spend money like it’s out of style. Feel comfortable that you have done your research properly your money will be well spent and you receive a nice return on the money invested. Make sure that you do your research and buy card lots of certain players that you are looking for to reduce your cost per card. Many times when you purchase card lots you can lower your cost per card 20 to 30%. This is a huge advantage especially if you have a budget and can afford to card lots. Don’t overdo the size of the card lots. Another words don’t buy too many of the same card. you want to make sure if you’re doing this is a business you have a large variety of cars to sell on eBay so you don’t get stuck with too much inventory. Just remember stick budget and do your homework. also don’t be afraid to buy more than one brand for each player you are looking for. Many times people will search for a certain rookie card but will like one brand over another. The larger variety you have to sell or offer the more sales you can generate selling on eBay. If you stick to the plan you’ll make money.

Selling Your Baseball Cards

selling your baseball cards can be a very lengthy subject so we will only touch on some of the key factors that you will be able to use to help you start the selling process on eBay and an easy timely fashion. When selling cards on eBay I would recommend that you use eBay’s software such as Turbo Lister or Blackthorne eBay selling software. Both these software tools can help you list auctions online and save you a lot of time in the process. I believe time is money and you can automate the process by using these listing tools. Automation is the key to everything if you want to make money on eBay. There is absolutely no point in selling a card and making three dollars on that card if it took you an hour to list. You might as well go get a paying job that pays more money. If you use a software correctly and generate templates you can create close to a hundred auctions on our. That might sound like an outlandish statement but it is true. EBay does a great job in supplying you with online tutorials on how to use both Turbo Lister and the Blackthorne software. Spend some time reviewing the software’s features to make sure you get the most out of it. The learning process is a lot faster than you think and will pay off with large dividends at the end. once you have learned how to list the car on eBay it is very easy to fill in the information of what prices as well is how long you want the auction to last. In a future post we would discuss different strategies to help you make your selling on eBay a much easier and time-saving process. Again just remember the key eBay is to try to automate everything.

Baseball Players Stats & Football Players Stats Pages

GMA Grading has added a new feature to the website which will include stats of every baseball player and every football player to play the game. The football stats will be linked by each individual player as well as each individual team. Baseball stats can be searched by players last name, alphabetically, and by record holders. An amazing feature for any die hard sports fan. Here are some links to view these pages.

All Sports

Current Sport News and Fantasy Sports News

Baseball Stats

Baseball Raw Stats by Year

Baseball Hitting Stats

Baseball Pitching Stats

Baseball Players Pages and Biographies

Baseball Card Sets : is still under construction

Football Stats

Football Team Stats

Football Player Stats

Football Stats by Position

Football Card Sets

Please bookmark these pages for the most up date date sports news and baseball card grading news.

Baseball Card Grading

Baseball Card Grading has been proven to raise the value of a baseball or football card collection. When a Baseball card is graded it is given a condition value which in return is translated to a monetary value. Each grade that a card recieves carries with it a certain dollar value and makes the card much easier to sell. There have been tests to prove that if you had a card, lets say a 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. it would sell much faster graded than ungraded. This test was conducted at the National Convention last years were a Ken Griffey Jr. was professionally graded but not put in a holder for the purpose of this test. The card sat in the display case at a known dealers table for the firs three days with a $40 price tag. He explained that nobody asked about the card and the only question that was asked was if he add any graded 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. Rookies. On day three of the test the card was graded and encapsulated in a Mint 9 grade. The card was than placed in the same place in the display case. After 2 hours the card sold. Here is the kicker though, the card sold for $55.00. Many would argue that you just found the right buyer, or to get the card graded cost more money so the card should bring more money. Well there is some truth to those arguments but the truth is Baseball Card Grading works. The same test was conducted with 5 other cards, and all had the same results. All were sold much faster and for more money. We can conclude that it works.

Baseball Card Grading and Ebay

If you look at the completed auctions on ebay you will see similar results. Cards on ebay that have been graded an equivalent grade sell for more money and sell faster than an ungraded card that would bring the same grade. The time it takes a card to sell is another very important factor especially on ebay auctions. Ebay charges you every time you list a card. They don’t care if the card sells or not you still pay the auction fees. You can spend a few dollars in auction fees just hoping the card sells so in this case as well time is money.

Top 3 Reasons to get your Baseball Cards Graded

There are many reasons to have your sports cards or baseball cards graded. It does not matter what sport you collect cards that are graded serve a purpose. Here are the top 3 reasons to have your cards graded.

1. Preservation : When you submit your cards in for grading the card is encased in a specially made plastic case. The case is ultrasonically welded to prevent the holder from being tampered with as well as the grade. This process helps protect your cards from future damage as well has preserving the grade of the card.

2. Value : When a baseball card is graded it is given a grade value which helps determine the condition of the card. This grade does not tell you a value but does give a strict assessment of the condition which in turn gives a much more accurate view of the card. There have been millions of cards produced and even though you might have the same card the grade will help determine its real market value.

3 . Resale : Many people that have there baseball cards graded are looking for a certain grade so they can turn around and sell the card in the market place Whether the market place be ebay or trade show when the card is graded is a lot easier to sell or trade. The third party company grades the cards so dealers due not have to haggle on what the evaluation of cards condition actually is.

Can Kobe Bryant Rookie Cards Reach Michael Jordan Status ?

If Kobe Bryant can pull off a championship victory over the Celtics is rookie cards are bound to go up. The real questions will become can Kobe Bryant Rookie cards become just as valuable as the Michael Jordan 1986 Fleer Rookie Card. Here will try to break down the two sides of the coin.

1. 1986 Fleer Michael Jordan Rookie -The production run on the Michael Jordan 1986 Fleer Rookie was plentiful. With the set being so small 132 cards you could get 3-4 Jordan’s out of a single box of 86 Fleer. That being said many of the boxes and cases were destroyed due to the fact that basketball cards were not even on the radar for most sports card collector’s. The other advantage of Michael Jordan’s rookie is it really is his only rookie. There are not 20 other Rookie cards like Kobe Bryant has. No other basketball cards were produced in 1986. Yes Michael Jordan does have a Star rookie, but in 1984 but there are so many counterfeits and rumors about reproduction from the original press plates I would advise collector’s to stay away from those. When Michael Jordan’s Rookie (1986 Fleer Rookie) was at its peak I remember watching someone pay $43,000.00 for a BGS 9.5. THAT IS SICK! The problem is whoever purchased that card is sitting on that card that he can replace for about $4,000. So what is the lesson that can be learned? Don’t buy HYPE! If you are speculating buy a card that can go up based on the numbers on how many were produced. If the card is rare from the get go your money will be safe.

2 . Kobe Bryant Rookie Cards - Kobe has many different rookie cards that you can purchase. His most popular versions re the 1996-97 Topps Chrome and the 1996-97 Topps Chrome Refractor. The Topps Chrome refractor is extremely rare and is probably Kobe Bryant’s best rookie card. Kobe Bryant has other popular version of his rookie cards that collector’s feel are just as good for example his 1996-96 SP rookie, 1996-97 Upper Deck Rookie, and his 1996-97 Ultra Rookie. I can go on and on here because there are so many different cards but each one has its own popularity and demand. If Kobe Bryant can win his fourth Championship ring and do it without the help Shaquille O’Neal people will be looking to buy up as many as they can put there hands on. So now for the comparison.

Michael Jordan’s popularity far exceeds that of Kobe Bryant. Michael Jordan is an icon of not just American basketball but is known through out the known world. A test was conducted that said Michael Jordan was the second most recognized person in the world second to only Jesus Christ. If you are looking to buy Kobe Bryant rookie cards with the hope that they will be increasing in value I believe you are making a safe play. Just don’t over pay! If you are hoping that your Kobe Bryant rookie will be selling for tens of thousands of dollars I would say play the lottery you probably have better odds.

Jay Bruce Rookie Cards Heating Up

Jay Bruce Rookie Cards are on fire. Since Jay Bruce was called up last week to the Reds his rookie cards have been heating up on ebay. He has helped the the situation by putting up some strong numbers last week like batting over .400 and hitting 3 Homeruns. Not a bad weeks worth of work. The upside to Jay Bruce Rookie Cards is they are not over priced as of yet. He plays in a small park and is batting in the middle of the Reds potent lineup. One of the most important things about baseball players having success in there young age is where they are batting in the lineup. He has batted second and third in the lineup for the Reds which means he has been followed by Griffey Jr. and Brandon Phillips. Pitchers are not going to pitch around Jay Bruce because they know Griffey Jr. and Phillips are next in line. If you are looking to invest in Jay Bruce rookie Cards my advise would be to try to purchase cards in the $20-$25 range. Dont overpay for these cards no matter how hot he is at the time. He is a solid investment and his upside is much like Ryan Braun’s cards exploded last year. Again try not to overlook the team and park he is playing in.

Babe Ruth Baseball Cards

Babe Ruth baseball cards are some of the most highly collected items in the baseball card industry. Babe Ruth baseball cards are extremely rare and there scarcity has driven collectors to grab hold of these vintage items. They are hard to find in good condition but even if you have one that is not in the greatest condition it is probably still worth a pretty penny. I will be going over in detail some of the best Babe Ruth baseball cards that have ever existed and why they are great investments for collectors as well as investors who are looking to make money.
1914 Baltimore Sun Babe Ruth Baseball Card (First Card)(Minor League Card)
The 1914 Baltimore Sun Babe Ruth baseball card shows Babe Ruth in his Minor league uniform with the Baltimore Orioles schedule depicted on the back. The card was produced by the Baltimore Sun Newspaper in 1914. Each member of the 1914 Baltimore Orioles minor league team were photographed individually with the team’s home and away schedule printed on the backs. The cards were Orioles promotions as well as promotion for the newspaper. The babe Ruth baseball card was printed in Blue as well as Red. The card is known has Babe Ruth’s oldest known card and rarest known card with only 10 versions known to exist. This card is one of the most valuable baseball cards in the industry second to only the T206 Honus Wagner card. The 1914 Baltimore Sun Babe Ruth card recently sold for $270,000.00 in the Robert Edward’s auction. The Babe Ruth baseball card is incredibly valuable in almost any condition due to the extreme rarity of the card. This rare Babe Ruth baseball card is piece of American History and will always bring a feeling of “nostalgia” when it is viewed.

1915 Sporting News Babe Ruth baseball card (Rookie Card)
The 1915 Sporting News Babe Ruth baseball card is one of the Babe’s oldest cards and is also one of the hardest to obtain. The belief is the card was actually issued in 1916 and actually has two different versions of the card. ( M101-4 and M101-5). The card was printed with a blank back and also has a few versions with various advertisers of the time printed on the back. The 1915 Sporting News Babe Ruth is universally regarded as one of card collecting’s most recognizable and highly prized baseball card rarities. The baseball card depicts Babe Ruth in his Red Sox uniform before he was traded to the New York Yankees. This is considered to be Babe Ruth’s rookie card by most baseball card guru’s. Babe Ruth has one previous card that was issued 1914 by the Baltimore News that features the Babe in the minor leagues. The card as shown in the picture is smaller than more recent baseball cards and many were destroyed or ruined. The nature that baseball cards were more of something to play with in the 1915’s than something to collect made this card so rare. The card was part of a small set that contained many of the greatest Hall of Famers of all time which include, Honus Wagner, Ty Cobb, Cy Young and the list goes on. The card shows Babe Ruth throwing the baseball which is rare due to the fact that most of his cards showing his more familiar legendary swing. Out of all Babe Ruth baseball cards this is top of the list of all Babe Ruth baseball cards to collect. In a recent Robert Edwards auction a NM version of the Bambino sold for $82,250. This was a record high for the 1915 Sporting News Babe Ruth card but, I dont believe the card has reached anywhere close to its peak. If only a handful of these cards are known to exist in this condition the cards value will most definitely increase over time. The rookie card of Babe Ruth is one of the most significant cards in all of card collecting.

1933 Goudey Babe Ruth Baseball Cards

Babe Ruth has many different rare and valuable baseball cards but there is a set that features some of Babe Ruth’s most popular baseball cards. The set is the 1933 Goudey set. Babe Ruth is featured in 4 cards of this popular set. The cards have become a cornerstone of the baseball card industry. The Babe was so popular in 1933 Goudey decided to make a few different versions and include all of them in there set. All of these Goudey cards have become extremely popular with collectors. All of the 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth baseball cards bring premium prices if they are even fair condition. Here is a summary of what some of the cards have sold for in recent auction houses.

1933 Goudey Babe Ruth #144

A 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth card #144 sold on ebay for $16,500 in a recent auction graded a NM-MT 8. This card is the easiest to find of the 4 cards due to the fact that the card was double printed. An equivalent card sold last year for right around the same price. Even though the card is double printed it still demands a premium with collector’s.

1933 Goudey Babe Ruth #181 A 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth card #181 sold recently for $9,800 in NM condition. Not bad for a 7. In early 2008 the same card was auctioned off for $21,000 in NM-MT condition but did not meet the minimum bid. This highly sought after baseball card is a strong investment and a collector really can’t go wrong by purchasing this Goudey Babe Ruth baseball card.

1933 Goudey Babe Ruth #53 and #149 We have slotted these two Babe Ruth baseball cards together due to the fact that the same picture is depicted on the front of the Goudey cards accept the background colors are different. Card #53 shows the Babe Ruth baseball card with a yellow colored background while card #149 has a red colored background. A 1933 Goudey card #53 graded NM-MT sold recently in a Robert Edwards auction for $38,187.50. Pretty Incredible! A 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth card #149 sold in the same auction house for sold for $1,000 less, $37,000. Due to the size of these rare cards and the demand they are very hard to find in decent condition. These two versions of the 1933 Goudey set are a must have for any Vintage baseball card collector.

Babe Ruth Baseball Card Checklist

1914 Baltimore Sun1916 M101-5 Sporting News #1511916 M101-4 Sporting News #1511916-20 Big Head Strip Cards W-UNC #171917 Sporting News M101-4 #1511917 Collins-McCarthy E135 #1471917-20 Felix Mendelsohn M101-6 #811917-20 Felix Mendelsohn M101-6 #821919-21 W514 #021920 W519 #51920 W520 #131921 Neilson’s V61 #371921 Koester’s Bread World Series Issue D383 #491921 Clark’s Bread D-381-2 #41921 Oxford Confectionery E253 #151921-23 E220 National Caramel #901922 American Caramel E122 #571922 E120 #711922 W501 #491922 W572 #881922 W573 #1121922 William Paterson V89 #251923 Lections #81923 Maple Crispette V117 #81923 W503 #321923 W515 #31923 W515 #471923 W551 #71923 Willards Chocolates V100 #1391924 Mrs. Sherlock’s Bread Pins #71925 Drake’s Bakery1925 Exhibits #1001925 Universal Toy and Novelty W-504 #1231926 Exhibits #1021926 Major League Die-Cuts #651926 Sport Company of America #361926-27 Sporting News Supplements M101-7 #21926-28 W590 #321927 American Caramel E126 #381927 Exhibits #521927 York Caramel E210 #61928 Exhibits #511928 Star Player Candy E-Unc. #581928 W502 #61929 W553 #131930 Rogers Peet #481930 Schutter-Johnson R332 #261930 Schutter-Johnson R332 #421930 W554 #151931 W517 #41931 W517 #201932 U.S. Caramel #321933 Sport Kings #21933 Goudey #531933 Goudey #1441933 Goudey #1491933 Goudey #1811933 Butter Cream R306 #231933 Butterfinger Canadian V94 #411933 Exhibits Four-in-One #131933 Sanella #11933 Sanella #21933 Uncle Jack #241933 Worch Cigar #1011933 Worch Cigar #1021934 Butterfinger Premiums R310 #531934 Exhibits Four-in-One W463-4 #131934 Goudey Canadian V354 #281934 Goudey Premiums R309-1 #41935 Al Demaree Die Cuts R304 #41935 Exhibits Four-in-One W463-5 #11935 Goudey #16

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