1914 Balitmore News: The Holy Grail of Babe Ruth baseball cards. Issued by the Baltimore News newspaper when Ruth was a relatively unknown minor league player, he was featured alongside his teammates from the Orioles. Only ten of these Babe Ruth "rookie" cards are known to exist; the most expensive one fetched $200,000 at auction in 2007.

1933 Goudey: Goudey Gum printed four different Babe Ruth baseball cards in 1933. Often reproduced due to their popularity among collectors, the Goudey set are among the most recognizable Babe Ruth baseball cards in existence. The originals fetch huge prices on the auction market.

1948 Leaf: The year of the Babe's death, trading card company Leaf included some Babe Ruth baseball cards in a set of otherwise modern stars like Joe DiMaggio and Jackie Robinson. Because these were essentially the first commemorative Babe Ruth baseball cards, the 1948 Leaf set is highly prized among collectors.

1933 Goudey Sport Kings: Separately from its baseball series, Goudey Gum released the Sports Kings series of cards in 1933 featuring star athletes from across the spectrum of professional sports. Along with Ty Cobb and Carl Hubbell, Babe Ruth was a natural choice to include in this set.

1932 U.S. Caramel: The U.S. Caramel Company released a 32-card set of sports stars including Babe Ruth and many other baseball players. While in high demand as a set, individual Ruth cards from the 1932 U.S. Caramel series are relatively affordable choices among investment-grade Babe Ruth baseball cards.

A red hot collectors' market has been pricing baseball cards outside of the reach of the average collector for some time now. The good news is, you can still get Babe Ruth baseball cards for your collection without breaking the bank by going the route of the several reissues and commemoratives that are available. And if you want to go the route of an investment rather than merely a passion, the five choices above are the cream of the crop.