Spring 2020 Premium Auction
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/20/2020
The most easily recognizable signature in baseball history, Babe Ruth put his John Hancock to the sweet spot of one of his own in “Babe Ruth Home Run Special” endorsed balls in classic black steel-tip fountain pen. The first major sports figure to lend his name to any number of products including Babe Ruth Underwear, Red Rock Cola, Ruth’s Home Run Candy Bar, Pinch Hit Tobacco, Old Gold and Raleigh cigarettes, none were more appropriate and popular than the “Babe Ruth Home Run Special” ball manufactured by the A.G. Spalding and Bros. sporting goods company. Manufactured to the exact standards as the official American League balls the Babe routinely knocked out of the park including the red and blue stitching used to hold major league balls together when the Babe was trying to crush them to pieces.
The “Home Run Special” balls contained facsimile Babe Ruth signatures as part of their labeling but this one is actually signed by the Bambino himself. The Babe’s signature presents boldly across the sweet spot while the ball itself reveals only minor toning and even wear, which is remarkable given the age of this item. A splendid sentimental keepsake reminiscent of a time when gods like the Babe walked the earth. This ball comes with a LOA from Beckett Authentication, who have graded the signature a NM-MT 7, plus and additional LOA from JSA for the signature.