Rare Babe Ruth Rookie Card Discovered in Danvers, MA

A baseball card so rare that many doubted its existence has been found in Danvers, Massachusetts. This 1916 rookie card features a young Babe Ruth pitching for the Boston Red Sox, long before his legendary home run exploits with the New York Yankees.

The card was part of a promotional campaign by Morehouse Bakery in Lawrence, Massachusetts, aiming to boost bread sales. Now, over a century later, its discovery has thrilled baseball enthusiasts and collectors alike.

Jeff Gross, a Newburyport-based collector of vintage cards, shared the incredible story of how the card surfaced. It all began this past June, when Gross struck up a conversation with a man attending a family estate sale in Danvers. The topic naturally turned to baseball cards.

"'Do you have Babe Ruth Morehouse Bakery cards?' I asked," Gross recalled. "He said, 'I do.'"

The Danvers resident, who has chosen to remain anonymous, explained that his father had collected the Morehouse Bakery cards. More than 100 cards, including two of Babe Ruth's rookie cards, had been sitting untouched in boxes for decades.

"This is Babe Ruth in 1916, a skinny left-handed pitcher for the Red Sox," Gross explained. "He wasn’t a Yankee yet, and he wasn’t hitting home runs. He was just a kid."

The Morehouse Bakery collection is particularly valuable because of the advertising printed on the back of the cards. According to PJ Kinsella of Robert Edward Auctions, this rare advertising adds significant value to the find.

"It’s an exciting discovery," Kinsella said. The better-conditioned Babe Ruth rookie card is expected to fetch at least $500,000 at auction.

Gross, who has been collecting cards for years, is now helping the card’s owner prepare the collection for sale. The auction starts Friday, and Gross plans to host the card owner and his wife for a “bid-watching party” as the offers pour in.

"Someone joked this morning, 'Does he know he just won the lottery?' I said, 'He does now,'" Gross said. "I told my wife, next time we’ll just have another yard sale and wait for the next million-dollar collection to show up."

This isn’t the first amazing baseball card find in Massachusetts this year. Earlier in 2024, a man in Chatham stumbled upon an unopened pack of 1952 Bowman baseball cards during a home demolition. That pack, which remains sealed, could also be worth up to a million dollars.

“The whole thing is super cool,” Gross said, reflecting on the thrill of uncovering hidden treasures.

For now, all eyes are on the Morehouse Bakery Babe Ruth card—a rare slice of baseball history poised to make headlines and set auction records.