What self-respecting baseball fan would call himself a card collector if he didn’t have at least a few Babe Ruth Baseball Cards displayed in his collection?

George Herman Ruth, Jr. (Born February 6, 1895 – died August 16, 1948) earned the nicknames “Babe”, “The Sultan of Swat” and “The Bambino” in his illustrious careers with the Boston Red Sox from 1914 to 1919, the New York Yankees from 1919 to 1935 and the Boston Braves for his final year in 1935.

All in all, his 21 years as a player was perhaps the most important years in the field of professional baseball. The man himself was responsible for changing the very face of baseball into what we see today. Baseball before Babe Ruth was one with a limited audience, speedy hits and low scores. However, the “Roaring Twenties” had taken well to Babe Ruth’s irresistible charisma and power hitting, turning the game of baseball into an adrenaline-pumping sport born from the crack of Ruth’s bat.

“The Sultan of Swat” was the first player to ever hit 60 home runs in a single season, a record which was broken 34 years later by Roger Maris in 1961. Ruth’s total of 714 home runs was another record that was to be broken 39 years later by Hank Aaron in 1974. However, it was his slugging average that proved to be one of his crowning achievements. Even after decades of refinement in the field of baseball, his .847 slugging average remained unbroken until 2001 – a record that went unmatched for more than seventy years.

Truth be told, “The Bambino” had become a sports figure larger even than the sport he played in. Describing his own childhood as rough, he lost his mother as a teen and was handed custody over to missionaries in an industrial school for boys. It was his skills in pitching that first caught the eye of Jack Dunn, then-owner and manager of the Baltimore Orioles. Ruth was nicknamed “Jack’s Newest Babe,” and the legend was born.

As “Babe” first debuted on the major league with the Red Sox, his hitting prowess had slowly but surely shown itself as the new face of baseball. As he played his finest season in 1921, it was his character that netted him admiration from the fans and trouble with the league. He would always find himself in a pickle over something said or done, but this all served only to embellish the life of the Babe.

And, of course, his popularity spawned a whole slew of baseball cards in his name. Babe Ruth Baseball Cards have become some of the most sought-after cards when it comes to trading and collecting the cards. Recently reprinted cards can fetch for a few dollars, while cards from his rookie days can fetch up to a cool half-million bucks – which was the case in an early 2008 sale. If you plan to find and collect your own Babe Ruth memorabilia from his 1921 and 1933 playing days, make sure to save up a really big wad of cash and make sure you buy them from legit sources. You really wouldn’t want to blow a few hundred dollars on a 2009 reprint, now would you?