How many Monster Cards can Babe Ruth have? A lot, apparently. Below, I have a list of links to each one. No doubt, the Babe was a groundbreaker in the game of baseball and his APBA cards bear this out. I have featured him more often on Monday (Ted Williams may be a distant second).
I found this 1922 Babe Ruth card on Facebook’s APBA Baseball Card Bank group featured next to often trivia answer Wally Pipp. Truth be told, 1922 was a bit of a down year for Ruth especially compared to his 1921 campaign. Many APBA fans say his 1921 APBA card is the best among full time players.
The 1922 season is one of only two between 1918 and 1931 which Ruth did not lead his league in homers or drive in 100 runs. That year, Ken Williams was the HR king with 39 beating out Ruth with 35.
That said, Ruth led the AL with a .672 slugging percentage and a 1.106 OPS. He batted .315 with 24 doubles and (get this) eight triples. He was still the driving force behind the Yankees who won their second of three consecutive AL championship.
| Split | G | GS | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1922 Totals | 110 | 110 | 496 | 407 | 94 | 128 | 24 | 8 | 35 | 96 | 2 | 84 | 79 | .315 | .433 | .671 |
After all of my disclaimers of a “down year” up top, Ruth’s 1922 APBA card is still one of the best. He’s a decent fielder and a fast base runner with lots of power and really knows how to get on base.
Ruth’s 1922 card has power numbers 1-1-4-5-6. A 22-5 is a thing of glory when you hit it with a runner on the right base.
Babe Ruth cards have always had a lot of 14s and this one is no exception. Either Ruth saw the ball well or pitchers were afraid to pitch to him. I suspect it was the latter. On this 1922 card, he has six 14s to help replicate his .434 OBP.
Babe Ruth knew how to strike out, too. He KOed 80 times in only 496 plate appearances. All told, he has five 13s which is a fair amount for his era. Interestingly, he has consecutive 13s at 23 and 24 (probably because there were so many 14s to distribute).
Other notes on Ruth’s 1922 card
Ruth has four 8s and two 9s.
Like last week’s 1980 Cecil Cooper, APBA placed the 12 on 65 for the 1922 season. That moved the 35 to 63. Unlike Cooper however, Ruth did not have a second 31 to worry about but other players in 1922 sure did. Looking at Pipp’s card, it seems 21-31 was the preferred go-to spot.
The printing for this card and probably others is a bit “off”. In particular, the 61-40 is a bit “smooshed”.
Ruth has a 53-16, my personally least favorite error number (see “Runner on Second”).
Babe Ruth Monster Cards
Here are all of the Monster Cards in which I have featured Babe Ruth on The APBA Blog plus a Final Card Friday featuring Ruth written by Kevin Weber.
