Babe Ruth Auction To Benefit Babe Ruth Foundation Closing February 18
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/18/2017
A thousand words could never do it justice. This masterpiece speaks for itself.
Everything that's good and pure and holy about our national pastime—and our nation—shines forth here in our unlikely young hero. He's the dawning of a Golden Age. He's the American Dream writ large. And he's only just begun.
Already, in his brief 20 years of life, the pitching phenom had risen from a childhood of poverty and abuse to the highest ranks of success. A world championship looms right around the corner. But no one, not least of all the Babe himself, could possibly know he holds all of baseball's future in the palm of his hand. That he will singlehandedly revolutionize his sport and, in turn, all sports. That he will become one of the most famous faces on the planet.
Little does anyone then realize that, over 100 years later, the most elite collectors of the Hobby That Ruth Built will battle it out over his Red Sox original photographs. Just several short weeks ago, in fact, a 1915 portrait example sold at auction for more than $40,000. During the past decade, two 1915 team panoramas have crested $50,000, and a 1915 real-photo team postcard nearly reached $100,000.
Yet even these sums will soon seem quaint as such super-rare, rookie-era photos follow in the footsteps of Ruth's red-hot Red Sox cards like the now-astronomical 1916 M101-5. If anything, the Boston Bambino's bona-fide Type I's remain vastly undervalued. And we dare say there isn't a better one around than this candid, breathtaking, crystal-clear gem. Measuring 6 /12 x 8 1/2 inches, it was first distributed in the fall of 1915 by International Film Service (William Randolph Hearst's International News film division, founded that same year) and retains a portion of the original paper caption: "[BOSTON] RED SOX EXPECT TO CLINCH [PENNANT]." A corresponding stamp and later editorial notations adorn the photo's reverse. This photograph comes with a LOA for Type I from PSA/DNA.
Please note: Due to their routine newsroom usage for publication purposes, all news-service photos generally bear varying degrees of handling wear (creasing, crazing, chipping, etc.) and editorial marks (outlining, cropping, highlighting, background masking, etc.). 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.