Most Valuable Baseball Cards

Baseball cards have long been collected and the game itself has been popular for well over a century. It should be no surprise then that there are some really old and rare cards out their, particularly from the early days of card collecting. Whether due to limited supply or just being lost over time, some cards are now worth millions of dollars. That is a lot when you consider cards in the early 1900s often were packaged with gum or tobacco for pennies. So without further ado, the most expensive cards in history:

1) Honus Wagner, 1909 T206 White Border

Worth: $2,800,000 in 2007

This is by far the most valuable card in existence today having been recently sold for just under three million dollars. It's has had a very long history. The T206 card set was originally produced and shipped with cigarette packs for promotional purposes. For whatever reason (there's plenty of bickering about this), Honus Wagner's card had a limited distribution and only 50 to 100 of them got out to the public. The highest know grade for the card is 8 out of 10 (near mint to mint) judged by Sports Authenticators (PSA). This particular card has pass through many hands as well, from Wayne Gretzky to the corporate entity that is Wal-Mart.

2) Babe Ruth, 1914 Baltimore News

Worth: $517,000

Not surprising, possibly the most popular player to ever put on a baseball jersey has one of the most valuable baseball cards ever. This rookie card of Ruth's has him list as a pitcher, is original position if you'd recall before becoming the famous slugger of the Yankees.

3) Mickey Mantle, 1952 Topps

Worth: $282,000 in 2008

Yet another Yankee makes the list of top valued baseball cards and it's the most valuable post-war card to date. Mickey Mantle lives large in the minds of many baby boomers due to his remarkable play both at the plate and in the outfield, and this rookie card personifies the star forever. A PSA Gem Mint 10 version of this card has been sold for $275,000 near the beginning of the century. Since then, a PSA Mint 9 has sold for the above price on Ebay. It's remarkable to imagine what the higher quality card would sell for right now.

The three most valuable baseball cards in history have combined been sold for over three million dollars within the last decade. While some certainly feel collecting anything, including baseball cards, is a waste of time, card collections time and time again have proven to be worthwhile investments.