How To Spot A Fake Babe Ruth 1933 Goudey #144 Baseball Card

Babe Ruth has a lot of iconic vintage cards.  One of these cards would be his 1933 Goudey #144.  Many consider it to be his true rookie card.  It features a full body color shot of the Sultan of Swat swinging a bat.  Its a great little piece of artwork.  Over time there have been tons of fakes and reprints made and some of them are pretty good.

Pictured above is a good example of an original Ruth 1933 Goudey #144.  When looking at the back, you can obviously see the card was miscut.  The card numbers for this set are suppose to be at the top, not the bottom.  Since this card was miscut, you don’t see Ruth’s proper card number 144 at the top.  Instead you see number 154 at the bottom.  Card number 154 belongs to Jimmy Foxx and if a number had to appear at the bottom of this miscut card, that would be the one to look for.  Not every authentic original was miscut, but it is something to look for.  You can also see some bleeding on the back, right above the word “New” in the first line of Ruth’s bio.  The word “George” is coming through from the front.  Most reprints don’t have this.

Here is a typical example of a Babe Ruth 1933 Goudey #144 reprint.  Not only is the condition a lot better, but look at Ruth’s hat.  When you compare the reprint to the original, you’ll notice that on the original there is some yellow space between his hat and the white border of the card.  On the reprint there is no space.  The reprint shows his hat meeting the border.

These tips can be used for most cards that come from the 1933 Goudey set.  If you’ve never taken the time to read the back of this card, I suggest you should. It actually makes you feel like its 1933.