Goudey thought so much of Babe Ruth that they put him in their 1933 set four separate times. Of the four, this is the one the world pictures — Ruth in full Yankees pinstripes, captured in the towering follow-through that became the defining image of the most important pre-war set ever made.
The set itself is the other half of the story. The 1933 Goudey issue is one of the cornerstones of the entire hobby — the release that set the template for the modern gum card, gorgeous in its artwork and stacked with Hall of Famers. That a single set contains four different Ruths tells you everything about his standing in 1933: even near the end of his playing days, he was the engine that sold the product, the name that brought kids back to the five-and-dime again and again. Most players in the set got one card. The Babe got a quartet, and #144 — the full-body batting pose — is the one most collectors mean when they say "the Goudey Ruth."
Most players in the set got one card. The Babe got four — and this is the one the world remembers.
There is a wonderful piece of mischief behind why this particular card is a little more available than its siblings. Goudey had teased collectors with a card #106 — the great Napoleon Lajoie — that was never actually inserted into packs, a ploy to keep determined kids buying in pursuit of a card that wasn't there. Irate parents eventually wrote in, and to help make good on the shortfall, Goudey double-printed several cards in the run — this Ruth among them. So the Full Body Ruth exists in slightly greater numbers not by accident, but as restitution for one of the hobby's most famous marketing stunts. Even so, "more available" is deeply relative: high-grade survivors from 1933 are genuinely scarce, and the finest examples have sold at a level shared by only a handful of cards in the world.
That is the quiet magic of it. The most recognizable Ruth, in the most foundational pre-war set, and the most attainable of the four — which makes it the natural cornerstone of a serious vintage collection. The Babe, the set, and the origins of the hobby all meet in one place. If you're going to own a single card from before the war, this one makes its own case.