How To Spot A Fake 1933 Goudey Ruth Or Gehrig Card

The 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth cards continue to climb in value each year, with the two Lou Gehrig rookie cards from the same set not too far behind.

I’ve received many requests for help authenticating Goudey Ruth cards, and nearly all of them are fakes.

Note that the 1933 Goudeys can be among the toughest to distinguish in the hobby due to some better-than-average reprints and fakes.

So, to help fellow collectors avoid getting scammed, this guide explains everything you need to know about distinguishing a fake 1933 Goudey Ruth or Gehrig from the real deal.

Remember, don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions about a Goudey Ruth or Gehrig card. I’m here to help. You can email me at chris@allvintagecards.com.

Our forum is also a good place for healthy discussions on counterfeit cards.

The Most Common Goudey Reprints and Fakes

The various Ruth and Gehrig reprints and fakes have different nuances, so I will discuss each individually. 

However, let me start with just a few notes. When dealing with non-authentic Goudey reprint cards, some well-known examples will try to be sold as the real deal.

The most common reprint of the 1933 Goudey Ruth card is from the 1983-84 Renata Galasso reprint set.

The word ‘reprint’ is written on the bottom back of the card.  Here’s a #53 Ruth Galasso reprint.  I’ve circled on the back where the ‘Renata Galasso Reprint’ text is.

Note that some Renata Galasso reprints have the word ‘Reprint 1984’ on the bottom of the card. It should be noted that these Galasso sets were never issued to deceive anyone. These are the classic case of an actual ‘reprint’ or reproduction of a popular issue meant as an affordable collector’s item.  

However, many scammers have tried to age these Galasso reprint cards while also trying to scuff or remove the reprinted text from the back. 

Charlie Brooks of The Sport Hobbyist publication also issued another reprint set in the 1970s, yet the text on the back of the cards is black, whereas it should be a dark forest-like green. There are no markings on those cards indicating that it is a reprint. 

From my research, these Goudey reprints caused a bit of a stir in the card community since the first issue had no ‘reprint’ text anywhere on the cards.

A Dover Reprint set was first produced in the late 1970s, but it is of poorer quality (note the perforations on the outside of the card) and easier to spot. The back of the card does say ‘Dover Reprint.’ 

Aside from the known reprints, there are other counterfeit cards, either aged reprints or poorly designed copies of the original card. We will examine those more in detail.

Some fakes are in altered grading cases or authenticated by shady, third-party grading companies.

Babe Ruth 1933 Goudey #144

This is the most common of the Goudey Ruth counterfeits; thankfully, there are a few easy signs to help distinguish.  

First, let’s take a look at the front and back of an authentic Goudey #144 Ruth:

A Review Of Key Identifiers on an Authentic #144 Goudey Ruth

Here’s a common counterfeit version of the #144 card.  I’ve circled the areas where there is a significant difference versus the real thing.

1. On an authentic #144 Goudey Ruth, there should be a space to the left of the ‘G’ in George.  On this fake, the G is hitting the left white border.

2. There should also be a space between the top of Ruth’s hat and the top white border. As shown, there is no space on the fake #144.

3. The Roof Colors Are Too Light: This is a common area to check and isn’t always foolproof, but on this variation of the card, where the print is lighter, there is less color and overall detail on the roof. 

4. The grass colors and details are non-existent on a fake. Compare an authentic Goudey Ruth to a suspected fake, and you’ll notice that the grass behind the Babe lacks detail and color on the fake card. With a loupe, you will easily spot the differences.

#5:  The red rectangular box on the bottom of the card will overlap with the white borders on the authentic Goudey #144.  The red border aligns with the edges of common fakes, such as the example above.  See below for a real example.

Examining The Back Of A Goudey Ruth #144

Here’s a look at the back of this counterfeit Ruth Card.

The fake above shows a significantly unclear print. You can especially focus on some of the letters with holes, such as ‘a’ and’ o’, which have very poor print quality on the fake. If you looked at this under a loupe, there would be a lot of fuzziness, whereas the authentic Ruth would show solid green colors. I’m providing a detailed view of the back of the authentic #144 Ruth for comparison.

Another common red flag when identifying a fake Goudey Ruth is the lack of an ink bleed on the back of the card. When Goudey’s were printed, the red ink usually showed through when looking at the back of the card. This is not always going to be a foolproof method, as we can see on the authentic card above that there is no ink bleed on the back.  Here is a Goudey Ruth with that traditional ink bleed-through:

Here is another common fake #144 Goudey Ruth that I’ve seen popping up that is slightly different.   

This Ruth fulfills some of the criteria I outlined above for a real #144 Ruth. There is a gap at the top of his head, a space to the left of the G, and more color and clarity.  

However, there are some notable issues here. First, the card’s print is too dark. This is easiest to distinguish with the text in Babe’s name. We can compare the text at the top of the card to the real thing. 

Here’s the real text:

And then the text on a fake:

In addition, check out the red nameplate at the bottom front of the card. There is no indent on the left-hand side. The borders, especially near the corners, look like they have been recently trimmed or intentionally rounded. The corners and borders of the card are also way too white. 

The print on the back of the card is also too dark and not as crisp as the original. A loupe to examine the text would be a big help.  

I’m also starting to see a lot of fake autographed Goudey Ruths being advertised as authentic.  If you see an autographed Ruth Goudey card on eBay (or elsewhere) that has not been authenticated, it is nearly guaranteed to be a fake.

Babe Ruth 1933 Goudey #53 & #149

To start, here are authentic Goudey Ruth’s #53 and #149

There is one noticeable difference between these two cards.  Can you spot it?

Let’s return to the red rectangular box on the bottom of the card that contains the text ‘Big League Chewing Gum.’  

On #53 Ruth, the red box is indented on the left (similar to #144) and overlapping on the right (similar to #144). In addition, see the white spacing between the red box and the bottom of the Ruth image. See below:

Now here’s a look at the Ruth #149.  Can you see the difference?

The left-hand side of the box overlaps with the white border, as does the right-hand side. 

Now in examining the known fakes,  the ones that usually seem to trip people up are the aged reprints, such as this one below:

The box alignment is good, but you can see those little wrinkles all over the card, a sure sign that it was soaked in something to age it artificially.

Here’s another fake #53 that I came across on eBay.  The seller sold this for $1900, and it is now relisted–since the buyer probably received the card, freaked out, and returned it. 

So, you might be looking at the card above and wondering what’s wrong.  It’s a pretty good fake, although you will see the funky peeling on the borders, which looks completely unnatural.  The peeling at that bottom right corner unveils the newer white paper.  **(side note–You could also take a black light to this card to show that it will most definitely fluoresce due to the newer paper)

But let’s say you couldn’t figure that all out. Here’s what you MUST do to try to piece together the scammer puzzle: PLEASE, closely examine the seller’s past listings, past feedback, and other current listings.  

I did this and found that this seller had not only this Goudey Ruth for sale but two other legendary cards, including another fake Goudey! They all have the same signature: forced corner wear and border manipulation. 

As Joe Biden might say—“C’mon man!”

Here’s what the seller had to say:

“I have inherited this lot of 3 cards. I have no indication that it is not the real deal based on appearance, and previous owner. As far as I know this card has never been graded. I do not want to wait the expected 12-16 weeks to get card graded-just want my initial costs back”

Okay, let’s play detective here for a second. He/she inherited these cards. He/she doesn’t want to wait the 12-16 weeks to grade over $10K worth of cards. And since they inherited these cards (at zero cost), do they need to get their ‘initial costs back’? Does that make any sense? Nope. 

Note here is also a #53 in a fake holder.  Seeing a lot more of these popup.

Regarding the #149 Goudey Ruth, here is one that might fool most people:.  Unfortunately the image isn’t all that clear, but you can see the white bleeding through on the top left corner and the sort of consistent ‘spotchiness’ all over the card, with the intentions to make this card look dirty.  

But, again, we can also examine the listing description, which echoes what many of the scammers will try to say:

“I acquired this card (among thousands of others) recently through a storage auction sale. The previous owner had hundreds of boxes of cards, mostly vintage and some modern. A few cards were graded, but most were not. I do not know the history or authenticity of the card with 100% certainty.”

Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure, you don’t know it’s authentic….just like the other fake cards you are selling (see below), including two 52 Topps Mantles. 

Babe Ruth 1933 Goudey #181 

Here’s an authentic #181 Goudey Ruth.  

Here is an example of one of the more common fake #181 Ruth cards.  This one could trick many collectors, and many of these have sold for thousands on eBay to unwitting buyers.  The colors are close, albeit a bit bold, but the real tell comes down to the back of the card. 

Note the extremely dark print of the text compared to the original above, which has a smooth yet bold print. More of a darker forest green versus the normal green on the regular card.  Plus the text is not very consistently printed, as you can see some missing strokes and lack of clarity.  Not the corner edges are also very consistent with artificial aging. 

Lou Gehrig 1933 Goudey Cards #92, #160

Let’s first take a look at the two Gehrig cards in the Goudey set.  These are authentic copies of #92 and #160 of Lou Gehrig. 

Now here is an authentic #160 Gehrig card.  Note there are subtle differences between the two.   Gehrig #92 tends to have whiter borders and a darker blue background.  

Similar to the Ruth Goudey cards, some of the same identifiers can help spot a fake Lou Gehrig Goudey card.  We’ve provided a quick guide here on some of the common identifiers:

Review Of Key Identifiers on Authentic 1933 Gehrig Cards

1.  There should always be a small space at the top of Gehrig’s head between his hat and the top border.

2.  There is a little bit of the bat, a yellowish hue hanging into the top border.

3.  The brown infield dirt overflows into the left border.

4.  Similar to all of the Goudey Ruth’s, the bottom red border is not perfectly square with the side borders.  

So here’s a common fake Gehrig that meets none of the above criteria.  This would be classified as an ‘aged reprint’ and has the common wrinkles associated with such.  Note that this card also sold for over $200 on eBay!

Authentication PRO TIP!

!If you are dead set on buying a raw Goudey Ruth or Gehrig, do yourself a favor and buy a few Goudey Commons to get a feel for the paper, the texture, and the print.  

Examine the real card with a loupe to see the defining print characteristics.  Then, when you have the big dollar cards, you can quickly evaluate to see if what you purchased is authentic. 

Here’s another counterfeit that meets all the criteria outlined above. Note that this one also sold for over $400 on eBay. But the telltale sign here is the spider wrinkling, which again indicates that a scammer has soaked the card to age it artificially. 

The back also shows us that this paper is likely the wrong stock and that the print looks way too dark/bold.

Examining Fake Goudey Cards With A Blacklight

In addition to the key areas I’ve outlined above, collectors should examine potential fake Goudey cards with a a blacklight. A 1933 Goudey card will not fluoresce under blacklight, thus if you find your card shining brightly, it’s highly likely the card was printed on modern paper and is a fake card. Here’s a video we made of trying to authenticate some strip cards. You can use the same process with your Goudey cards.

I hope this guide will help a few people avoid the counterfeit cards that continue infiltrating our hobby.  

I would be happy to help you authenticate your cards.  Also, if you come across any good fakes, let me know, and I’ll be happy to add them to this resource guide. 

I can be reached at chris@allvintagecards.com