Oh, we're sure.
Two free bits of advice to those thinking of buying a 1916 Ruth. First, 95% or more of the fakes are blank-backed, mostly because the licensed reprints all came blank-backed and the ads (fonts) are very difficult to correctly reproduce. Second, buy one graded by PSA or SGC (probably Beckett too), even if just deemed authentic. I would estimate that more than 99 1/2% of the raw blank backs you see are reprints or outright counterfeits, and while PSA famously got this card wrong once, the grading companies know what to look for here and presumably will stand behind their work for even this very high dollar card.
In short, the odds of you finding an authentic blank-backed Ruth, even a beater, are very small. Even if you stumble into an old antique store or estate sale where this truly is buried in some dust-covered book that looks to have been unopened for decades, remain highly skeptical, as this card has been reprinted so often that I expect the number of fakes to catch the number of '88 Donruss cards some day.
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If we are to have another contest in the near future of our national existence, I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason and Dixon's but between patriotism and intelligence on the one side, and superstition, ambition and ignorance on the other. - Ulysses S. Grant, military commander, 18th US President.
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