Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig powered the New York Yankees to one of the greatest seasons in baseball history in 1927. The Yankees, trotting out their fearsome “Murderers Row” lineup, won 110 of their 154 contests, finishing 19 games ahead of the Philadelphia Athletics to win the American League pennant. It took the Yankees only four games to win the World Series, defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates by an aggregate score of 22-10. Ruth put together the most dominant offensive season in baseball history, breaking his own MLB record with 60 home runs, as well as adding 165 RBI and batting .356. Including the World Series, Ruth hit an outstanding 62 home runs in 155 games. Incredibly, Ruth did not win the American League MVP Award in 1927, as his teammate Lou Gehrig put together an equally amazing season. Gehrig cranked 47 home runs to go along with 173 RBI, 18 triples, 52 doubles, and a .373 batting average.

     The Murderers Row Yankee teams have gone down in history as some of the greatest collections of talent to ever set foot on the field. Nine Hall of Famers played on the 1928 team alone, with a tenth, Bob Meusel, falling just short.

     This album page, signed by Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, comes from the personal scrapbook of Rud Rennie. During the 1927 season, Rennie logged each of Ruth’s home runs next to his total from 1921 to track his progress against the standing record of 59. On the left side of this sheet, Rennie wrote the date and the number of each home run until number 25, scrawling in pencil beneath this column, “He made 60”. On the top of the album page, he wrote “Ruth’s Homers -1927”. Typed on the right side of this album page are Ruth’s home run totals from 1921 when he set the previous home run record.

     Rennie was a sportswriter for the New York Herald Tribune, and a close personal friend of both the Babe and Lou, serving as an honorary pallbearer at the formers funeral. Rennie was mere steps away from Lou Gehrig during his famous “Luckiest Man” speech, a witness to one of the most moving moments in baseball history. A founding member of the Newspapers Guild, Rennie also served on the board of directors for the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

     Ruth and Gehrig each signed the middle of this album page, with Ruth writing his signature in incredibly vibrant black fountain-pen. His signature projects beautifully, and is undamaged by age. Gehrig’s signature projects equally well, and the sturdy first baseman from Columbia wrote his name in pen as well. In a rarity for Gehrig, he included quotation marks around his first name. This album page has been encapsulated and authenticated by PSA/DNA (Y05878).

     Also included in this invaluable collection is Rennie’s personal scrapbook. This tan album is replete with newspaper articles and hand written notes from Rennie, including an original copy of his article on Babe Ruth hitting his 60th home run of the 1927 season. This album is an incredible piece of journalism history full of some of the greatest sports writing of all time.

Auction Notepad