Babe Ruth Auction To Benefit Babe Ruth Foundation Closing February 18
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/18/2017
Yes, 1927. The leading light of all Yankee championship seasons. Ruth's colossal 60-HR campaign.The height of Murderers' Row.
This is THAT contract.
On March 4, 1927, Yankees President Jacob Ruppert and Secretary Ed Barrow look on as Babe agrees to a $70,000 salary. (Little do many realize, the left-handed-batting Bambino was a right-handed writer.) In three years' time, Ruth would demand a raise to $80,000, even more than President Hoover, prompting the superstar's immortal quip, "I had a better year than he did."
Warm sepia in tone, the large 11 x 14 inch photo was produced on high-quality, double-weight, matte-finish stock. It features crystal-clear resolution and a white-ink handwritten credit line in the corner for NY-based Fotograms news service. A highly significant and very seldom-seen Type I of Ruthian proportions!
Provenance: This lot originates from the "Babe Ruth Farewell Album" that was prepared by the Yankees franchise upon Ruth's death and gifted to his widow Claire, then eventually acquired by Barry Halper and presented in Sotheby's 1999 Halper Auction. The 80-page scrapbook featured photos, news clippings and various well-wishing letters from fellow ballplayers. Each photo reverse exhibits related mounting remnants/wear that in some cases shows through to the front side. This photograph has been classified as Type I by 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.