Page 48 - 2020 March JOA

Overstreet Turns 50, Ruth is Still “The Babe”

s we’ve mentioned previously in this asked me. Well, I finally ended up doing it. And here,
space, The Overstreet Comic Book Price 50 years later, I’m still at it. Can you believe it?”
AGuide celebrates its 50th anniversary this Although I’ve only been officially involved with the
year. If you’ve been collecting in virtually any Guide for half its life—I joined Gemstone Publishing
niche, you know that a price guide spanning five in 1995, just a few months after Steve Geppi acquired
decades is rare and one doing it with the same Overstreet Publications—this golden anniversary has
author is rarer still. been something to which everyone on the staff has
But that’s precisely where the Guide finds itself been looking forward.
in 2020. Robert M. Overstreet first published his If that $300 price for Action Comics #1 or the
price guide in 1970. Action Comics #1, the first $275 for Detective Comics #27 sounds appealing to
appearance of Superman, listed for $300 in Mint. you, consider checking out The Overstreet Comic
The highest documented sale for that issue has been Book Price Guide #1 Facsimile Edition, due in
$3.2 million for 9.0 (Very Fine/Near Mint) copy. comic shops on April 1. This detailed, faithful
There wasn’t a single comic in four figures in reproduction of the first price guide has all of the
that first Guide. Detective Comics #27, the first prices, articles, and ads from the original.
appearance of Batman, went for $275, the next As mentioned in this space recently, copies of
highest top price next to Action Comics #1. the first printing 1970 original have sold for as high
Much has changed in those 50 years. as $9,000, so this $16.95 softcover reproduction is
“I can’t believe it’s been five decades already! definitely more accessible. There is a limited
Time really does fly. It seems just yesterday that I was edition hardcover and an even more limited signed,
looking out at the stars and thinking about where my numbered edition. In addition to comic shops,
career would take me. I thought that when I grew up Gemstone Publishing will release a facsimile they can be found on Gemstone Publishing’s site
I wanted to be an astronomer. I never thought of edition of The Overstreet Comic Book gemstonepub.com.
Price Guide #1 (1970) on April 1 as
anything else,” Overstreet said. part of the book’s golden anniversary.
“I was always out late at night with the telescope. The Babe Still Has It
Later, I got a camera and learned how to take pictures through the Babe Ruth memorabilia routinely sets records and grabs headlines
telescope. Some of these pictures were actually published in an when it is offered at auction. The bat he used to hit the first home run
astronomy magazine back in the ‘60s. I didn’t know the pictures had at Yankee Stadium in 1923 sold for almost $1.3 million. Earlier in
been published. A local person called me and asked me if I was the Bob 2019, Ruth’s New York Yankees jersey from 1928-1930 sold for
Overstreet that took the pictures he had seen in this book he bought. $5.64 million.
That was the first I had heard of it, so I ran to the bookstore, found the On December 14, 2019, SCP Auctions sold the bat the Great
book, and there were my pictures. I had sent photos to the telescope Bambino used to hit his 500th home run for over $1 million. That
company, and they had published them to help promote their product!” milestone home run was hit on August 11, 1929, at League Park in
he said. Cleveland, Ohio, and it made Ruth the first Major League Baseball
That experience in being published was followed by a job at the player to hit that many career homers. He autographed the bat and gave
Bowater Paper Company, one of the largest employers in his area and it to former Suffern, New York mayor Jim Rice. The bat has since spent
one of the biggest paper plants in the country. When they ran an ad for nearly 75 years in Rice’s family before being offered in that auction.
a statistician, Overstreet applied and got the gig. Grey Flannel’s January 22, 2020 auction saw a Babe Ruth-signed,
“The Guide was launched while I was there,” he said. PSA/DNA-authenticated baseball sell for $183,500. Bidding opened at
“There wasn’t one exact moment in time where I decided to create $5,000 and after 24 bids it had a new owner. PSA subsequently
the Comic Book Price Guide. But after years of meeting other collectors confirmed the winning bid to be the highest price ever paid for
both in my area and around the country, we had all realized that we single-signature personalized baseball.
needed a price guide for comic books. I didn’t know if comics would The story behind the ball adds an endearing footnote to Babe Ruth’s
ever become a valued collectible like coins already were at that time. But life story. In 1948, when his health was failing, Ruth was at a restaurant
the market was taking off in the ‘60s, and prices were rising rapidly,” where a waiter approached him with a special request. The man asked if
he said. Ruth would autograph a ball for his daughter’s birthday. At first, Ruth
On his own, he started putting together pages of what a price guide declined, but later on he returned and asked the
might look like, and what kind of content would go into it. He showed waiter for the girl’s name, which was “Loraine.” Ruth
it to a bunch of other dealers and collectors, trying to get people signed the ball, then left. He passed away the very
interested. As much as he knew that the hobby needed a price guide, he next day.
wasn’t at all certain that he’d be the one doing it. J.C. Vaughn is the Vice-President of Publishing for Gemstone
“I kept typing up information for people – but no one else wanted Publishing. Gemstone’s Carrie Wood and Amanda Sheriff
to do a price guide! It was too much work. ‘Why don’t you do it?’ they contributed to this column.
46 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles