A fine counterpart to the adjacent Thorne follow-through shot, this variation has Ruth in the same familiar white undershirt but now with his eyes trained directly on the camera—putting the photographer (and by extension, the viewer) in the shoes of an opposing pitcher. One can only imagine the pressure, intensity and intimidation felt by those poor hurlers facing down such a powerful force of nature. Thorne's hand-captioned stamp appears on the 8 x 10 inch photo's reverse.

     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.

Auction Notepad