Presented is a rare image of the legendary New York Yankees slugger, Babe Ruth, captured on a 4 x 5-inch glass plate negative. The Hall of Famer is depicted in the black & white image swinging a bat in the batting cage at Yankee Stadium with a crowd of people in the stands behind him, and a catcher in full gear in front of the cage but behind Ruth. The image shows Ruth during batting practice, before the first game at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. Yankee Stadium officially opened on Wednesday, April 18, 1923, with the Yankees' first home game, against the Boston Red Sox. According to the New York Evening Telegram, "everything smelled of ... fresh paint, fresh plaster and fresh grass". At 3 pm, the composer-conductor John Philip Sousa led the Seventh Regiment Band in playing The Star-Spangled Banner. After a parade of the players and dignitaries, Ruth was presented with a case containing a symbolically big bat. New York Governor Al Smith threw out the first pitch directly into the glove of catcher Wally Schang. The Yankees went on to defeat Ruth's former team, the Boston Red Sox, by a score of 4–1, with Ruth hitting a three-run home run into the right-field stands. Asked later for his opinion of the stadium, he replied, "Some ball yard."

Auction Notepad