In 1948, jersey retirement was a much more uncommon phenomenon than it is now. Until then, only Lou Gehrig and Carl Hubbell had received that honor in all of baseball. With Babe Ruth’s health declining, he was the logical choice for the third number retirement. He received the honor at the Yankees Silver Anniversary of Yankee Stadium on June 13th, 1948. It would be his final public appearance at “The House That Ruth Built” before his premature death in August of that year.

     Presented here is the Yankees press release announcing the Silver Anniversary festivities and Ruth’s number retirement. The press release is three pages long and describes the timeline of events to be held at Yankee Stadium. The third page provides a detailed list of the players taking part in the Old Timer’s Game. Players included were Hall of Famers Babe Ruth, Waite Hoyt, Lefty Gomez, Joe Sewell, Joe Gordon, and Bill Dickey. Other players included Bob Shawkey, Sam Jones, Carl Mays, Joe Bush, Wally Schang, Wally Pipp, Fred Hofmann, Mike McNally, Joe Dugan, Bob Meusel, Whitey Witt, Oscar Roettger, Hinky Haines, Elmer Smith, Johnny Allen, George Pipgras, Ernie Bonham, Hank Bowory, Spud Chandler, Bump Hadley, Wiley Moore, Tom Zachary, Pat Collins, Mark Koenig, Frank Crosetti, Red Rolfe, Sam Byrd, George Selkirk, Myril Hoag, Jake Powell, and Bud Metheny. The managers for each team are Babe Ruth and Ed Barrow. Hall of Famers Tommy Connolly and Billy Evans, the umpires for the first game at Yankee Stadium, are the umpires for this historic game. These three pages are arranged on a 23 x 17.5 inch black paper display. Goldin Auctions will be donating 5% of the winning bid price of this lot and all lots in this auction to the Babe Ruth Birthplace Museum.

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