This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/12/2019
The success of the M101-4 and M101-5 cards created by Felix Mendelssohn in 1916, which carry several ad backs as well as blank backs but are generally connected with Sporting News, gave rise to a new crop of cards the following year that looked similar in format but were slightly wider and featured different photos and card numbers than the Mendelssohn issue. Of course, a new set of ad backs were introduced, each so rare that they've earned unique designations in the "Standard Catalog"; E135 Collins-McCarthy, D328 Weil Baking, D350-2 Standard Biscuit and the featured card from Boston Store, H801-8. Contrary to popular belief, Boston Store was not a Boston-based company but was founded in 1897 in Milwaukee and still exists today as an online retailer of parent company The Bon-Ton. Like their Mendelssohn predecessors, there were 200 subjects in the set, but since they were never offered as complete sets to the public, they are considerably more scarce. The collection is filled with baseball legends and a pitcher named Babe Ruth was quickly becoming one of them. His impressive 1915 campaign was followed up by a league-leading 1.75 ERA and 23 victories in 1916, adding a 14-inning complete-game win in the World Series to help the Boston Red Sox take the championship. Yeah, it wouldn't have been hard to convince anyone at the time that Babe Ruth would be the among the best players in baseball history, though they would have thought it would be as a pitcher. Every bit as difficult as any 1916 card of "The Sultan of Swat," this Boston Store example of Babe Ruth is graded SGC 3.5, but there's no way that you can deny it appears far superior to the technical grade. Near perfectly centered with endpoints that are squared well enough to the naked eye to compare favorably with VG/EX to EX examples while the Boston Store ad back is equally up to the task, deeply printed while shifted slightly toward the lower right. Of particular note should be the nearly perfect presentation of the nameplate, proclaiming "Babe" Ruth P.-- Boston Red Sox" in factory fresh black ink as well as the impressive registration of the image, offering a young, svelte Ruth delivering a throw while giving no thought to his inevitable rise as the greatest offensive juggernaut in the history of the game. This example is an absolute icon in the baseball card world, and at this grade level, likely the most appealing specimen in existence!