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Lot Number: 640
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Lot 640
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| Description: Pristine 1923 New York Yankees World Championship team reunion auto. baseball from Babe Ruth's final appearance at Yankee Stadium. On June 13, in the summer of 1948, Babe Ruth made one final trip to the stadium where he had become a national icon. The New York Yankees were conducting ceremonies in celebration of the 25th anniversary of Yankee Stadium with a reunion of the 1923 World Champion Yankee players and the retirement of Ruth's famed uniform #3. Although the 1923 Yankees would play in a short exhibition game, Ruth was too frail to participate. The Yankees announcer called out Ruth's name to an enormous ovation and the extraordinarily frail man made a brief but impassioned speech to the crowd. Even in Ruth's dire condition, he managed to express the following sentiments to the youth of America, to whom he had become the most adored athlete in American history:
Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen. You know how bad my voice sounds. Well, it feels just as bad. You know this baseball game of ours comes up from the youth. That means the boys. And after you've been a boy, and grow up to know how to play ball, then you come to the boys you see representing themselves today in our national pastime...
It was clear Ruth recognized he would never return again to the stadium he loved. After the event, former teammate Joe Dugan had a beer with Ruth and asked "So, how are you?" Ruth solemnly replied, "Joe, I'm gone," and then began to cry.
Offered is an extraordinarily rare autographed baseball from that date signed by (17) players incl. Ruth, Schang, Mays, Koenig, Shawkey, Dugan, Pipgras, and Pipp. Signatures remain just as they were on day they were signed, ranging from 9-10 out of 10. Out of the handful of documented surviving exemplars from that date, the Ruth signature on the offered ball is, without question, the finest with regard to condition grade, rating a resounding 10 out of 10. Harridge AL ball remains incredibly clean with virtually no surface wear. Wonderful rarity relating to one of the most storied events in baseball history. Includes LOA from James Spence Authentication: NM-MT |
| Estimated Price: ($20,000.00-$30,000.00) |
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