In today’s burgeoning world of pre-war baseball collectibles, one ballplayer stands out above all others, the incomparable George Herman “Babe” Ruth. While it can be a lifelong dream for many vintage collectors to own either a playing days baseball card depicting “The Bambino” or an authenticated Ruth autograph on a baseball-related item, there are only a select few opportunities each year which offer the best of both worlds, an authenticated and signed example of a playing days Babe Ruth card. Having been viewed as taboo for decades, the idea of getting your favorite ballplayer to sign one of their prized playing days cards has resulted in extremely low supply as compared to the tremendous increase in demand during recent years. Thus, we have the ingredients for that ever so elusive collectible, one where there will never be enough examples to satisfy the huge number of buyers out there looking to obtain one. Presented here is one of those treasured collectibles that fits the bill perfectly, a 1929 R316 Kashin Publications Babe Ruth card with a bold and distinct signature which has been authenticated and encapsulated by PSA/DNA, and also comes with a separate PSA/DNA LOA. Making this amazing treasure even more remarkable is the fact that the card has also been signed on its blank reverse by two additional MLB players, Paul Gregory and Elias Funk.    
           
Ruth signed his first professional baseball contract with the International League's Baltimore Orioles prior to the 1914 baseball season. Ruth's only prior baseball experience came at Baltimore's St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys, a reform school that he had attended since childhood. The Boston Red Sox purchased the Babe's contract from the Orioles on July 9, 1914 and the rest, as they say, is history. Only getting into five games with the Red Sox that season, Ruth was sent down to their minor league club in Providence for more seasoning. The Babe was well prepared for his first full season in Boston in 1915, however, and responded with a sterling 18-8 record and a 2.44 ERA, while also showing prowess at the plate with 15 extra base hits in only 103 at bats. Although the Red Sox would go on to win the World Series over the Philadelphia Phillies in five games, Ruth did not pitch in any of the postseason games that year. The following season, 1916, would be Babe Ruth's real coming out party. Now widely regarded as the best young southpaw in the American League, the Babe posted the first of his back-to-back 20 win seasons with a record of 23-12 alongside a league leading 1.75 earned run average. Ruth also led the American League with 40 games started, 9 shutouts and only 6.4 hits allowed per 9 innings (and no homers allowed all season long). Once again, Boston won the American League pennant and went on to the World Series. This time, however, the Babe did get a start and responded with a masterpiece, pitching all 14 innings to pick up the win, allowing only one run on 6 hits. The Red Sox would go on to defeat the Brooklyn Robins, 4 games to 1, to claim their second consecutive World Championship. At the age of only 21 years old, Ruth already had two World Championships under his belt but it would be impossible for anyone to imagine what was still ahead for “The Bambino” in the future. Following three more phenomenal seasons as the ace of the Red Sox pitching staff (in addition to becoming one of the American League’s most feared sluggers), Ruth would be sold to the New York Yankees prior to the 1920 season. Although Ruth’s pitching appearances with the Yankees were few and far between, the Babe would set a new American League record for home runs during his inaugural season with New York, slamming an astounding total of 54. Throughout the 1920s, Ruth would become the linchpin of the greatest line-up in baseball history, known as “Murderer’s Row”, where he would be joined by a young Lou Gehrig along with Tony Lazzeri, Earle Combs and Bob Meusel. The Babe would go on to win a total of five world championships with New York. Ruth’s MLB career totals include a .342 batting average along with a then-record 714 home runs and 2,214 RBIs, ultimately leading to him becoming one of the five inaugural members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936.  

As mentioned earlier, locating on-card autographs of pre-war baseball stars from their playing days is exceedingly difficult. Of course, the biggest names from that era command the highest prices and nobody is more desirable or more widely collected than Babe Ruth. The 1929 R316 Kashin Publications signed example presented here offers a beautiful image of Ruth in his Yankees uniform in a full-figure batting pose on a 3.5x4.5” baseball card, ideal dimensions for a bold and distinct autograph which does not have to be confined by the dimensions of many of the smaller cards of the era. The PSA/DNA population report indicates that there were only two signed examples of this rarity ever graded prior to our recently submitted example. As you can imagine, the demand for a playing days autographed baseball card of Ruth during the prime of his career far exceeds the total population of three signed copies authenticated by PSA/DNA that exist in the world. A closer look at the PSA pop report reveals that our autographed copy presented here is the highest graded example, PSA 2MK, with the only two other examples encapsulated by PSA both receiving only an “Authentic” designation. Not surprisingly, the most recent auction sales for a signed 1929 Kashin Ruth card were $56,730 in October of 2024, $55,200 in June of 2023, $61,200 in August of 2022 and $70,672 in May of 2020, establishing a robust market for these wonderous treasures. In addition to being the highest PSA graded example, the other thing that takes our amazing rarity to another level entirely is the fact that it also includes the PSA authenticated autographs of two other MLB ballplayers of the era, pitcher Paul Gregory and outfielder, Elias “Liz” Funk. They signed the back of the card on the bottom margin with Gregory directly below Funk. Gregory only played two seasons of Major League Baseball with the Chicago White Sox in 1932 and briefly in 1933. Funk also had a brief MLB career but was also a member of both the 1932 and 1933 White Sox. Given the fact that both of these ballplayers had very nondescript careers, it is a near certainty that their two signatures were added sometime during that two-year period. It can be further surmised that the Ruth autograph would have been signed at the same baseball game as the other two signatures were obtained as autograph hounds of the day would always have a Ruth item available for a signature but extremely unlikely that they would have something handy for Gregory and/or Funk to sign. In doing research we discovered that all three only appeared in two games together, both in 1932- July 18th and August 30th.  Ultimately, the true significance of these two additional signatures lies in the fact that this Kashin Ruth card was signed during the Babe’s playing days as he would finally retire following his season with the Boston Braves in 1935. When it can be proven that a pre-war ballplayer signed an item while still active in the Major Leagues, that can oftentimes raise the value of said item significantly.

As mentioned previously, the autographed card presented here has been assigned a card grade of PSA 2(MK) along with an autograph grade of PSA/DNA 7. It must be noted that the 7 autograph grade was obtained by averaging the autograph grades of all three ballplayers equally. Of course, reality is that the Ruth autograph accounts for nearly 100% of the card’s value but PSA insists that is how they arrive at their numerical autograph grade. If you review the Gregory and Funk signatures, it is clear that the quality of these autographs pale in comparison to the Ruth autograph which we believe is more in the range of a 9. It is bold, distinct and perfectly placed at the bottom center just above the tiny, printed Babe facsimile signature that is part of the card’s design. Ultimately, the bidders will have the final say as to how impressively the example being offered here presents itself. One thing is for certain, with only three examples authenticated by PSA, you don’t want to pass up the opportunity to pick up this incredible pre-war Ruth on-card autograph.