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The sports memorabilia world is still buzzing over an auction result that can rightly be considered an upset.  For the first time ever, a 1914 Baltimore News Babe Ruth rookie card sold for more money than the famed T206 Honus Wagner. 

It happened at Robert Edward Auctions (REA), where one of only about 10 known examples of the Ruth card sold for a record price of $450,300.   That was nearly $48,000 more than a 1909 T206 Wagner, which was offered in the same grade and was once the subject of an FBI “card hunt” after it was stolen from a restaurant display in the 1990s.

The red-bordered Ruth card shows a young Babe as a pitcher with the Baltimore Orioles not long after he was signed out of St. Mary’s Industrial School for Boys.  It was apparently issued as part of a set created as a promotion for the newspaper.  A Ruth rookie graded PSA 2 (Good) sold privately last year for an amount that netted the seller a tidy profit over just five years.  The transactions illustrate the explosive growth of the 99-year-old card over the past several years. 

The T206 Wagner remains the most recognizable baseball card ever made, but with several dozen known to exist, it isn’t as rare as the Ruth.

The two cards were among several lots that brought record prices in the REA auction, which traditionally attracts some of the most avid and determined baseball memorabilia collectors in the world.

The selling prices all included an 18.5 percent buyer’s premium.  There were hundreds of rare individual cards, sets and pieces of memorabilia dating back to the 19^th century offered by REA, which specializes in rare baseball memorabilia.

The Wagner card carries quite a story.  It was once owned by actor Charlie Sheen and subsequently stolen from a New York City restaurant in the 1990s; it also set a new record for its PSA 1 grade.  Most Wagner cards have been profitable investments over the years.

Also selling in the auction was one of only two 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle cards graded PSA 8.5 (NM/MT+) which totaled $272,550.  The last 8.5 Mantle had sold at auction for about $118,000 less just three years ago.  High grade Mantle cards from what was the first major set ever issued by Topps are in high demand by advanced collectors.  PSA graded cards (and those authenticated by competitors SGC and Beckett) utilize a numeric grading scale to rate the condition of cards, which are then encapsulated and labeled.

Joe Jackson baseball cards also continue to attract strong interest.  Shoeless Joe’s 1910 Old Mill tobacco card, which pictured the slender outfielder as a New Orleans minor leaguer, is his most sought after.  The REA auction included one graded SGC 30 (Good), which sold for $118,500. 

Some memorabilia also required six figure winning bids.  A PSA/DNA 8.5-graded ball signed by Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig realized $343,650, a new record price for a signed baseball.   Most collectors prefer their autographed baseballs to carry a single signature but Ruth-Gehrig would be an example of the exception to that rule.

A 1963 Sandy Koufax game-worn Dodgers jersey in outstanding condition rocketed to $201,450 in the auction, the most ever paid for a Koufax jersey.

In all, more than 1,800 lots were sold in the auction for a total of $10,177,000.  

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Another example of the baseball card collector’s “holy grail” is on the auction block.  Just a few weeks after a T206 Honus Wagner tobacco card brought $2.1 million, another one of the 1909 rarities is up for bid.

New Jersey-based Robert Edward Auctions is offering the card once owned by actor Charlie Sheen.  Just over a week into the bidding, it stands at $330,000.  Graded PSA 1 (poor), the card shows wear, but has quite a story behind it.

In the 1990s, Sheen loaned the Wagner and several other vintage cards from his collection to the All Star Café in New York.  It was a popular attraction at the sports-themed restaurant and apparently too tempting for a pair of chefs.

Two of them, along with a manager, plotted to steal the card and replace it with a copy.  Their idea worked for a while and they tried to cash in by selling it to New Jersey dealer Alan “Mr. Mint” Rosen.  The trio, however, got greedy.  They stole an uncut sheet of 1934 Goudey cards that included the scarce Nap Lajoie card.  They cut up the sheet and tried to sell the individual cards to avoid being discovered.

This time, though, it wasn’t as easy to replace the original, and when the theft was discovered, law enforcement agencies swooped in and the thieves were eventually arrested.  The stolen cards, including this Wagner, were turned back over to Sheen, who later sold it—along with the majority of his collection.

The card has been in private hands for a while and was sold by the same auctioneer in 2009 for $399,500. 

Virtually each time a Wagner card has sold, it’s gone on to bring a higher price the next time it hits the market—regardless of condition.  In fact, lower-grade T206 Wagner cards are highly sought after by investors and those putting together complete sets of the ever-popular set that was issued inside various cigarette brands from 1909-11.

Wagner asked that his card be pulled from production, and that wish was granted early in the production process.  It’s estimated that fewer than 75 may exist.

Popular, avidly collected and just downright cool, not all T206 cards are valuable.  So many were made that common players and lesser-grade Hall of Famers can be had for less than $100 in lower grades.  The set includes multiple cards of Hall of Famers like Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson and Christy Mathewson.  

The auction, which also includes minor league cards of Babe Ruth and Joe Jackson in addition to the famous Wagner card, closes May 18.

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Mr. October’s most famous pinstripes are going on the auction block.

As first reported by Sports Collectors Daily, the jersey Reggie Jackson was wearing October 18, 1977, when he hit three homers in Game 6 of the World Series will be up for auction this spring. SCP Auctions will offer Jackson’s size 44 No. 44 home white button-down in its catalog auction in April.

Experts anticipate that it will sell for a minimum of $500,000. Some of the proceeds from the sale will go to Jackson’s Mr. October Foundation for Kids.

David Kohler, president of SCP Auctions, says he believes the Jackson jersey could bring more than any other sports jersey sold in the modern era. He wouldn’t be surprised to see the sale reach seven figures at the conclusion of the bidding. A Babe Ruth jersey worn in the 1920s was sold at an SCP Auction last year for $4.4 million, making it the most valuable piece of sports memorabilia ever sold.

SCP says the 1977 Jackson World Series jersey has been photomatched to the night in which he led the Yankees to their first post-Mantle era World Series title. Jackson had signed what was at the time a lucrative five-year free agent deal with George Steinbrenner’s team just 11 months earlier. It was Jackson who was to help deliver another title, and under immense pressure, he came through.

Jackson’s three homers came off three Dodger pitchers that night, and each came on the first pitch he saw. 

So delirious was Yankee Stadium crowd that night that Jackson had to retreat to the dugout in the top of the ninth to retrieve a batting helmet in hopes of protecting himself from fireworks landing nearby. As the final out was made, fans began pouring onto the field, and Jackson made a mad dash for the clubhouse wearing this jersey, memorably knocking over trespassing well-wishers along the way.

Jackson has promised to autograph and inscribe the jersey before it is sold.

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