Auctions
Rare 1917 Babe Ruth card, 19th century treasures headline Love of the Game auction
In an era when vintage baseball cards enjoy an all-time high in demand and value, there are few more coveted treasures than rare Babe Ruth cards.
Love of the Game Auctions has one of the most rare Ruth cards to surface in a while with a 1917 Boston Store Babe Ruth card. Graded PSA PR 1, the card is one of the rarest Babe Ruth cards in existence.
Related Content:
Issued in 1917 by a Chicago department store, the H801-8 Boston Store set shares images and its checklist with the E135 Collins-McCarthy issue but carries advertising for the store on the back of the cards. Based on new research by Love of the Game, the cards were sold in eight series of 25 and released weekly from April through June of 1917 for just 2 cents per series. Only 5,000 sets were produced at the outset.
Because the cards were issued alphabetically, Ruth’s card appeared in the sixth series and was available for just three weeks before the promotion ended, leading to the card’s scarcity. PSA has graded just 11 examples total.
The Ruth card is part of a group of approximately 100 Boston Store cards offered in Love of the Game’s Spring 2026 Premier Auction.
The auction, the company's largest to date, features nearly 2,000 lots spanning more than 270 different card types, including the most extensive 19th century offering the company has ever assembled, with more than 200 cards from the 1800s. The auction runs through April 11.
“We are so proud of this auction. There are so many unique and historically significant items, rare type cards, tough autographs and important memorabilia items,” said Al Crisafulli, auction director of Love of the Game Auctions. “There's something for every collector, but I'm particularly proud of the 19th century selection and the enormous amount of rare card types we are featuring.”
Ruth also shines in another one of the most rare and fascinating collectibles in the auction—a 1920s multi-signed autograph book featuring 243 signatures, including Ruth, Ty Cobb and Walter Johnson. The signatures were collected in 1922 and ’23 by young collector John White, who spent his days “lying in wait” around League Park in Cleveland, autograph book in hand.
The book also features autographs of such legends as Eddie Collins, Tris Speaker, George Sisler, Al Simmons, Hack Wilson, Waite Hoyt, Herb Pennock, Goose Goslin, and dozens of other Hall of Famers and key figures of the live ball era. White later wrote about the book in a 1977 issue of Grain Producer's News. The original article, along with the padded mailing envelope and a typewritten player list, is included with the lot.
Another one of the most rare collectibles in the auction is a 1923 Baltimore Black Sox player contract signed by Hall of Famer Pete Hill. The contract is the only known autograph of the Negro Leagues star once called “the first great outfielder in black baseball history.”
The contract was signed by Hill as he took over as manager of the club. It was discovered among documents belonging to Percy Wilson, a first baseman Hill brought with him to Baltimore. Hill signed the contract twice and added a handwritten note: “Keep this contract and send the other one back to me.”
Another one of the oldest and most rare collectibles in the auction is a 1893 Just So Tobacco Buck Ewing card. Graded SGC PR 1, the card is the only surviving example from one of the most obscure and elusive sets in the hobby. Ewing, a Hall of Fame catcher, was one of the greatest players of the 19th century.
Other notable auction items include:
• 1968 Topps Complete Set (598), #1 on the SGC Set Registry, with every card graded SGC 8 or higher.
• 1935 National Chicle #34 Bronko Nagurski (PSA EX 5).
• 1980 Topps Pepsi-Cola All Stars Uncut Sheet Complete Set, including 13 Hall of Famers.
• Individual lots of 1962 Topps Set, #6 on the PSA Registry, featuring nearly 300 PSA 9s and 235 cards with highest grade.
