Offered is one of the most historically significant pieces of game used baseball memorabilia ever presented. This is a unique baseball that saw action in the decisive Game 6 of the 1918 World Series, a Series won by the Boston Red Sox in six games over the Chicago Cubs. Not only was the ball used in the final game of this noteworthy World Series, it has also been inscribed by the most accomplished player in the annals of the game – Babe Ruth.

Ruth was a two-time 20-game-winning pitcher as he entered the 1918 season. He was one of the aces of an imposing Red Sox staff and, indeed, he performed like an ace in that year’s World Series. Ruth posted victories in two games, winning the Series opener as well as Game 4, where his consecutive-innings scoreless streak in World Series play finally ended (at 29.2). Interestingly, Ruth started and pitched three World Series games in his career, allowing one run in his first inning of a 14-inning, 2-1 win in 1916, and two runs in his last inning of his second win in 1918. In between, Ruth twirled his record scoreless-innings streak, which was eventually broken by Whitey Ford ... five decades later.

The 1918 World Series was memorably different from earlier contests for a number of reasons. It was the only World Series to be played entirely in the month of September, as participation in World War I necessarily brought about a shift in the nation's focus. The European hostilities inspired a governmental “Work or Fight” order in the U.S., a policy that required all “non-essential,” able-bodied men to either join the war effort stateside or risk being sent to the front lines for combat. Baseball abbreviated its season (to end September 1), and received deadline extensions from the War Department in order to play the World Series.

This particular World Series, won by the Red Sox, initiated an 86-year Championship drought that would not end until the club's dramatic 2004 Series victory. In 1918, though, the Boston franchise was a virtual dynasty, winning four World Series in seven seasons. (The team was also the first to win five championships overall.) Game 1 in 1918 was also the first occasion at which "The Star Spangled Banner" national anthem was played before a Major League baseball game.

After this latest World Series championship in 1918, the club's third in four seasons, everything was looking up for Boston. However, Ruth’s extraordinary on-field success – as both pitcher and hitter – inflated the flamboyant star's ego. There were, in fact, several instances where Ruth became overtly insubordinate to management, including field manager Ed Barrow and owner Harry Frazee. The situation worsened over time, to the point that Frazee could no longer tolerate Ruth’s antics, and after the 1919 season "The Babe" was famously sold to the New York Yankees.

In one of just three World Series in which neither team hit a home run (the others were in 1906 and 1907), the scores of all of the 1918 contests were extremely low: four of the six games were single-run "nail-biters." The Red Sox scored a total of nine runs in the six-game 1918 face-off, the lowest total of any World Series victor. The final game of this Series was no exception, as the Red Sox won 2-1 behind the pitching of Carl Mays and a critical Chicago error that led to both Red Sox runs.

Sometime after the Series' final game, within the context of the event's noteworthy circumstances, an anonymous individual in the Red Sox hierarchy took a moment to capitalize on the day's euphoria. Amid the pervasive excitement of "Winning the World Series," this person approached the top three management figures for the Red Sox team, and succeeded in obtaining their signatures on this game used baseball. The ball is signed in black fountain pen by the club's manager, “E.G. Barrow,” on the sweet spot, with the owner, “Harry Frazee,” and team treasurer and minority owner, “U.J. Hermann,” adding their names to other surfaces. The ball, then, bears three impossibly difficult signatures, but the amazing sphere also carries the penmanship of Babe Ruth: the superstar inscribed the date of the final game, “Sept. 11th 1918,” the game's final score, “Red Sox 2 Cubs 1,” and the series-winning game tally, “4 2.”Ruth also inscribed “Sport.”

The entire inscription begins under the Frazee side-panel signature, extends into the panel below, and was placed in Ruth’s very own, distinctive hand. This double-panel inscription also indicates that Ruth was the final person of the four to apply the pen to the ball – and, always a master at creating written souvenirs, Ruth made the result look superb!

Ruth was a bold, free-spirited fellow who relished all of the attention he received (and deserved), so it's interesting that he applied these inscriptions without also contributing a visibly bold "Babe Ruth" signature. Or did he, in fact, refrain? It is possible that Ruth signed the ball and his name faded with time. But it's at least equally plausible that Ruth, himself, was the original owner of the baseball, and that he went to his team's owners (Frazee and Hermann) as well as his manager to have them sign the keepsake final out from a historic World Series victory.

JSA has provided a full LOA for the E.G. Barrow sweet spot signature (“6”) and the side panel Harry Frazee signature (“3”), along with the signature of the team treasurer. This is quite likely the only ball in existence that carries a Harry Frazee signature, as his signatures are typically found only on official documents. The ball, itself, is a tremendously eye-catching OAL (Ban Johnson), red-and-blue-stitched example, with bold stampings and nice apparent game use with toning and light scuffing (none affecting the signatures). The LOA also acknowledges Ruth’s inscriptions, and notes the presence of a latent, indecipherable signature under the Ban Johnson stamping.

Additionally, the baseball was sent to MEARS, where the piece was microscopically assessed for game use, as well as for period-correctness of the writing on the ball's surface. Based on MEARS' examination of the ball, its evident use and its writing, the company issued a full letter of authenticity (accompanying the ball) to fully validate this 1918 World Series game used baseball as "Authentic."

Simply, this is one of the most momentous game used baseballs in the hobby. Here is a ball from the final game of the Boston Red Sox' 1918 World Series championship, and a survivor from the very first spot in time that represents the onset of the team's 86-year-long title drought. Perhaps even the ball that sped toward the plate as the last pitch of the World Series, the item's trajectory toward hobby importance grew exponentially when it was signed by the Red Sox manager, owner, and team treasurer – three men, among whom at least two seldom, if ever, fielded autograph requests. Access to any of these three team leaders would have been exceedingly challenging for the average fan, a fact supporting the conjecture that another Red Sox front office member was the ball's original owner, or that this baseball was at one time the personal property of Babe Ruth.

The cover of this incredible spherical relic holds the signatures of the three most prominent, non-playing figures associated with the 1918 Red Sox championship team, as well as the scripting of the club's primary on-field member – Babe Ruth. The magnitude of the ball's singular quality and the rarity of its signatures (Frazee's, in particular) cannot be overstated. A strong case can be made that this is the most important game used baseball in Red Sox team history, and it is clearly one of the most remarkable game used baseball items that's ever been made available for public sale.

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