No. 53 Goudey Ruth Card Hits Record Price of $191,200

The April 14 auction of the 1933 Goudey PSA Registry Set at Heritage Auctions proved itself to be a juggernaut, as prices soared – totaling more than $1.17 million in all and setting world record prices along the way – when the first great bubble gum baseball card set was offered to collectors.

“Clearly we’re on the vanguard of a new hobby paradigm,” said Chris Ivy, director of Sports Auctions at Heritage. “Our international bidding clientele is rewriting the record books for high-grade Registry Sets.”

Iconic Yankees Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig were sharing their penultimate season as teammates when the 1933 Goudey issue tempted young Depression-era baseball fans, but history’s greatest slugging tandem returned to its record-setting ways in the April 14 auction of this “Big Three” trading card set.

“Represented no fewer than a half-dozen times in the 240-card compilation, Ruth and Gehrig blasted past hobby norms to set a world record for each and every one of their six appearances,” said Ivy. “Dozens of ‘common’ cards likewise established new benchmarks in the seven-figure sale.”

Ruth’s No. 53 card, graded PSA NM-MT 8, registered the top result in the sale and a world record for type, a stunning price of $191,200. His No. 149 representation at the same grade trailed close behind, also for a world record price, at $155,350. The same grade was again repeated for the No. 181 Ruth card and it, too, brought a record price of $83,650.

Gehrig’s record shot in the auction came in the form of his No. 92 card, graded 8.5 by PSA, which soared to $89,625.