Ask Babe: More questions for the Babe

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When it's too good to be true, it usually isn't and that appears to the case for a Babe Ruth autographed relic card that has been showing up around the country.

In the past year or so, three different readers have e-mailed me about the card. The first reader was Greg Perez from San Bernardino, Calif.. The second question came from Justin Catt in Vancouver, B.C. and the third was from Chicago's Peter Coy.

In question is a 1992 Babe Ruth Megacards card (No. 141) that has what is supposed to be a Ruth cut signature, a piece of wood and a piece of fabric. Obviously, the would-be buyer is supposed to think the sliver of wood is from a bat and the fabric from a jersey.

It's card 141, which shows Ruth shaking hands with President Warren G. Harding. The material and wood sliver cover Harding.
"The signature was cut from a personal check of Babe's,said Mike Heffner, president of www.Lelands.com auction house in New York. "I am not good with newer issue cards, but I can tell you that the signature is legit (providing it is not a laser copy)."
Mike Gutierrez, consignment director for Heritage Auctions (www.ha.com) in Dallas agreed, saying it looked like a signature cut from a check. If authentic, the signature alone would be worth $2,000-$2,500, Gutierrez said.

Of course, neither can tell from the image if it was a real signature or just a photocopy of a Ruth signature on a canceled check.

The card carries no indication of who might have added the "cut,'' the cloth swatch or the wood chip. Plus, all three of the cards are numbered "1/3,'' which is yet another reason to be skeptical.

"Without any specific notation on the card about the swatches or 'autograph,' I'd have to say this is a latter-day 'frankencard,''' said Bob Lemke, editor of The Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards.

"Wow -- never heard of it and don't you think as well tuned into the hobby as Megacards was in the early 1990s that they would have publicized this card,'' said Rich Klein, a long-time hobby expert and www.cardinformant.com columnist. "I suspect this is an 'after' market card; and if the auto is good; then a very valuable card albeit an aftermarket one."

Da Babe checked with card companies and others to see if they might have shared a slice of a Ruth bat and/or jersey. None said they did. The Babe Ruth Museum in Baltimore and CMG Worldwide, which has some rights to Ruth items, also said they did not provide materials for the card.

Since the first Ruth bat wasn't sliced up until 1999. Jersey swatches didn't appear around 1996 and cut sigs weren't added to cards until the new wave of inserts arrived around 2000.

"I would not know who to ask on that one. If a real Babe Ruth jersey was cut up in the 1990's I would imagine that we would have heard about it,'' Heffner said.

"I don't even know what to say about it,'' said Brian Fleischer of Beckett. "It just seems too good to be true, and if so few people in the industry have heard of such a landmark card (assuming it's the first game used card ever produced) it probably is too good to be true."

One reader said the card was offered for $500. That pretty much answers any questions about legitimacy.

If the "cut'' signature alone is worth $2,000-$2,500, why would anyone part with the card for a fraction of that value?

They wouldn't -- unless it was a fake.

(Send card questions to Babe Waxpak, PO Box 492397, Redding, CA 96049-2397 or e-mail babewaxpak(at)charter.net. If possible, include card number, year and brand or a photocopy. Please do not send cards. For Babe Waxpak's blog, see www.scrippsnews.com/waxpak. Babe Waxpak is a feature of The Record Searchlight in Redding, Calif.)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)