Babe Ruth Signed Original Vintage 8x10 Photograph During His Farewell Speech at Yankee Stadium April 27, 1947 Personalized to Nat Fein (Estate LOA & Beckett MINT 9)

This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 9/21/2020

On April 27th, 1947, the legendary slugger Babe Ruth delivered his “Farewell Speech” before a capacity crowd at the venerable Yankee Stadium. Dressed in an overcoat and looking frail due to the throat cancer that would ultimately take his life, the Bambino stated to the crowd “Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. You know how bad my voice sounds — well it feels just as bad. You know this baseball game of ours comes up from the youth. That means the boys. And after you’re a boy and grow up to know how to play ball, then you come to the boys you see representing themselves today in your national pastime, the only real game — I think — in the world, baseball. As a rule, some people think if you give them a football, or a baseball, or something like that — naturally they’re athletes right away. But you can’t do that in baseball. You’ve gotta start from way down [at] the bottom, when you’re six or seven years of age. You can’t wait until you’re fifteen or sixteen. You gotta let it grow up with you. And if you’re successful, and you try hard enough, you’re bound to come out on top — just like these boys have come to the top now. There’s been so many lovely things said about me, and I’m glad that I’ve had the opportunity to thank everybody. Thank you.”

This historic original 8 x 10-inch photograph was taken by the legendary Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Nat Fein and this image was published the next day on the front page of the New York Herald. It shows Ruth standing near home plate with the third base side crowd in the background. Ruth is on the left side with a slight smile and being applauded by four men on the field next to him. Ruth has signed this photograph in black pen and inscribed “To My good friend Nat Fein From Babe Ruth 4-27-47”. In the inscription “30” is crossed out and replaced by “27”, all in the hand of Ruth. This photograph displays minor discoloration due to age, some minor crease and abrasion marks and has been matted and framed to a dimension of 12 ½ x 14 ½ inches. This comes with a LOA from Beckett Authentication, who have graded Ruth’s signature a MINT 9, plus a LOA from the estate of Nat Fein, which authenticates that this photograph was developed from the original negative by Nat Fein and signed by Babe Ruth. According to the estate, this is only one of two signed prints of its kind.