Hi all!

This is my first post here at this forum - I've been reading past posts for the better part of two weeks now, quietly absorbing all of ya'lls knowledge of...well...baseball cards from way back in the day (in other words, before any of us were born hehehe).

I'm utterly amazed at the sheer volume of knowledge you all have - quite a powerful bunch I have to add.

AND I NOW know MORE about tobacco (not the cards, but actual tobacco) than I've ever known before hahahaha!

Anyway, getting to my question - can ya'll help me identify if this is a reprint or legit?

SOMEONE is trying to sell this to me - problem is, I can't tell if it's a reprint or not; I've seen scans of similar cards, all reprints - I just need verification from another set of eyes.

Thanks in advance!!!

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Reprint

On that card the easiest way to see is there is no gap above Ruths hat and the "G" in "George" is way too close to the border. Photo area was cropped whne they designed the reprint.

PS if you want to compare cards, especially common ones like the R319 Ruth, just google images on Google. (example below)

can you get better scans from the seller? (larger, less blurry)

edited to add... what Frank said.

See? This is why I love this forum - you guys are way too smart lol I thought this one was kind of strange - I'll pass on the card; thanks for the heads up!

Looks like a reprint to me too. That's just too expensive a card to buy ungraded.

Go graded on the Ruth...........Welcome to the boards!

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1- They're telling you correctly about the space above the
cap, and to the left of the 'G'. Look at that, a good test.
Also, look at the thickness of the card, and look for the
multilayering tht is present on authentic Goudeys, the reprints
don't mimic the multilayering.

2- Illuminate the card with a black light to see if it
fluoresces. Authentic cards won't fluoresce.

3- Do NOT trust the grading companies, you can depend on them
a bit, but use 1 and 2 above, don't blindly trust in the slip
on a slab.

4- You CAN buy ungraded Ruth Goudey's with 1 and 2 above...
look at a bunch of Goudeys and develop a feel for what's
authentic.


FW

Thanks for ya'lls help; I use to collect as a kid and decided to get back into the game...problem is, I HATE this new stuff coming out.

My heyday from collecting as a kid was back in 1986, so unfortunately for me, I started at the beginning of the "overproduction" period. I've been picking up cards the last couple of months, but the "thrill" is completely gone, not like when I was a kid, hoping for that Mark McGuire pull; now, it's all jersey inserts, autographs, etc etc and while many collectors find that thrilling, I simply do not - I MISSED THE HUNT, THE CHASE, THE THRILL. And with overproduction going on now, it's completely pointless and pretty much a waste of cards.

That's when I started looking at the vintage, classic stuff. Absolutely beautiful works of art. Back in day as a kid, I barely had $5 bucks to spend; now as a grown adult...well, I have a bit more to spend than $5 bucks hehehe

I'm in complete agreement with many of ya'll - these card companies essentially destroying history to make a card...well...it's just sickening and stupid. I'd rather have a complete glove or bat from a vintage player...than a chunk of it.

Well, thanks for having me and as soon as I start building my collection, I'll post more!

PS - I work for an assisted living community and I'm hoping to land some inexpensive cards soon to put into a display case at work - believe it or not, I have 90+ year old residents that REMEMBER these players...which is absolutely fascinating to me...and some of the stories they've told me about their "card" collection, or as one southern gentleman puts it, his "to-baccy stuff," would probably make any of us here cry....

MJ,

Here's my recommendation regarding display cards. Try to pick up ones with back damage or trimming ... but that still look nice. You can absolutely find T206 / Goudey / Playball and other vintage series cards in the 'looks nice' but 'won't grade' shape for $10 or less.

If you need a few examples to get you started....shoot me an email:
scottglevy@yahoo.com and good luck!

A Ruth for 10.00?

Steve

But I thought the mass overproduction started in 1977.

I'll admit upfront, I am not a Goudey expert. But look at the difference between the distance from the top of Ruth's cap to the top of the card boarder on the PSA and the SGC examples shown. They look quite abit different to me. I would almost think that the PSA Ruth shown is suspect. Is it just a difference in scan size, or...?

David M, the 2 graded Ruth cards look authentic to me, NOT because they're in slabs, though!!! The hat and letter space looks acceptable, the wear looks authentic. UV light testing would be reassuring... those 2 appear real, the top one's not.

I'll take your word for it. Like I said, I'm no expert. I do find it surprising that there is that much variation though. Maybe a different print run it why there is the variation.

I'll add that I am no expert either (barely a novice) but there is also a difference in the space above the grandstands. The SGC has a sliver of yellow between it and the border, the PSA does not.

I too would be interested in know about this variation.

Edited to add that after looking closer it is just a registration issue as the yellow is a bit out of allignment compared to the blue.

I'm pretty sure #144 is a double print. Is it possible there are slight differences between the 2 on the sheet, much like there is differences between the double printed '52 Mantle? This is regards to the PSA and SGC versions above, not the reprint in the OP's post.

Anthony,

You are correct. Card #144 was double printed on what is commonly called sheet #6, out of 10 sheets. There are some differences between the two versions.

Indeed, #144 was double-printed on it's respective sheet of 24 cards. The difference that I have noticed
in comparing many such Ruth cards, is that the gap varies between the top of his cap and the top border.
However, I have not seen the cap tangent to the top border in an authentic card.

I have seen it tangent on many reprinted versions of this card.


TED Z

The SGC example above has the yellow ink misaligned (off registered), this places the yellow slightly higher on the card (notice all the colors of the top edge of photo are not straight across) so the top hat to border gap only looks wider, but if the ink was aligned right it would not be wider.

Hope you all know what I mean

The blue is also out of register on the SGC card with the blue pinstrip/outline on the left side of the uniform landing in the grass. You can also see how the blue and yellow registry affects the grass color on the lef and right edge.