Georgia woman discovers mother's closet stash, unveils vintage 1920s baseball cards including 20 Babe Ruth gems

A Georgia woman has found a load of old baseball cards from the 1920s, including 20 different Babe Ruth iterations. These cards were part of her mother's collection, which had over 600 cards and was stored in a cigar box she found while cleaning out a closet.

Joe Davis, the owner of J&J Sports Cards/Got Baseball Cards, initially shared the find on social media with some pictures of the strip cards, which are slightly different than today's baseball cards. These were produced in a strip and people could take them off the strip and give them out while keeping the rest together for later.

Davis said via WSBTV:

“She had called us and was looking for some help with her collection. We’ll buy collections from time to time but we usually just assist people, and that’s what we did with her.”

The 20 Ruth cards were reportedly from five different sets. The collection also included 15 cards of Ty Cobb, 10 cards of Walter Johnson, and 12 cards of Grover Cleveland Alexander.

Other Hall of Famers in the collection included Rogers Hornsby (nine cards), Tris Speaker (24), Casey Stengel (eight) and Christy Mathewson (two). There were also some cards for athletes outside of baseball, but impressive nonetheless: boxing icon Jack Dempsey, golfer Walter Hagen and tennis star Bill Tilden.

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Babe Ruth card stash not all in great condition

Davis did note that many of the cards were in pretty poor condition. The nature of these cards meant that they could be cut or torn off of the sheet, which didn't leave them in good shape.

A woman found cards of Babe Ruth

They are also made of paper, which doesn't hold up as well over time. That, and those who collected back in the day didn't give much of a thought to the long-term value and condition of the card like collectors now do.

Davis added:

“A lot of the cards are only going to grade authentic. We’ll be lucky if we get any 2′s or 3′s. It’s something you just don’t see. I’ve only seen one other collection this large, some T-206s about 15 years ago.”

While the collection isn't going to fetch a massive price due to the condition, it's still a rarity that is worth mentioning.