Newman is said to have purchased this 1933 Ruth card for $20,000 in the mid-1990s. It sold for $4,212,000.

TUSTIN, CALIF. – A Florida doctor’s collection of sports cards and memorabilia fetched a total of more than $21.5 million in a public auction by Memory Lane Auctions that closed on July 11.

Dr Thomas Newman of Tampa, who assembled the collection over the course of five decades, died of Covid-19 complications in January at the age of 73. Memory Lane characterized Newman’s treasure trove of rare items as “a collection of a lifetime” and it included a 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth card (graded PSA 9 on a scale of 1 to 10) and a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card.

Newman is said to have purchased the 1933 Ruth card for $20,000 in the mid-1990s. It turned out to be the single most valuable item in the collection, selling for $4,212,000, according to the auction house.

A 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card slugged its way to $2,112,200.

Three of the most valuable items in Newman’s collection were a 1916 Sporting News Babe Ruth rookie card, a 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth card and a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card.

In addition, a 1916 Sporting News rookie card of Ruth sold for $1,452,000. The 1952 Mickey Mantle card (PSA 8) brought in $2,112,200.

The collection included more than 1,000 baseball, football and hockey items, some dating back as far as the 1880s.

“He was just a quiet collector. He didn’t brag about it to anybody. Only his friends and close family really knew it,” Newman’s widow, Nancy Newman, told USA Today Sports in May. “He’d get them out and play with them. He called them his ‘paper babies.'”

A 1916 Sporting News Babe Ruth rookie card fetched $1,452,000.

Newman told USA Today Sports that her husband kept the most valuable cards in a safe in their Tampa, Fla., home, while others were stored in locked closets and cabinets or at his office.

“Until he died, I didn’t really have a figure (on their value). It was surprising,” she said. “I did know it was a lot, but not this many millions.”

All prices given include the buyer’s premium as stated by the auction house.