MLB Icon Babe Ruth's Rookie Card 'Expected to Sell Close to $10M' at Auction

A Babe Ruth rookie card auctioned by Robert Edward Auctions is "expected to sell close to $10 million," according to USA Today's Bob Nightengale.

The auction, which began at a $2.5 million opening bid on November 17, closes at 9 p.m. ET Sunday night.

The $10 million evaluation was first reported by the auction house in November.

The 1914 Baltimore News Babe Ruth Rookie Card, which auction house president Brian Dwyer called "most significant baseball card ever produced," features a 19-year-old Ruth playing for the International League's Baltimore Orioles.

Ruth spent just half a season with the Orioles, but it only took him a month with the minor-league team to earn the infamous nickname "Babe."

Because of the rarity of cards showing Ruth during his brief professional career in his hometown of Baltimore, Dwyer told the Baltimore Sun's Hayes Gardner the card "has the potential to threaten the all-time record."

That record is currently held by a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card, which in 2022 became the most expensive piece of sports memorabilia ever sold at a $12.6 million.

The Mantle card was in mint condition, unlike the Baltimore News card.

However, the Mantle card one of at least 2,756 such pieces of memorabilia, while the Baltimore News card represents one of ten confirmed examples still in existence, according to the auction house.

The card was previously housed at the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum in Baltimore from 1998 until early 2023.