October Legends and Americana Ending November 14th
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/15/2015
The rare and visually engaging relic presented here was signed on the front by baseball's most popular ambassador of the 1920’s and 1930’s. The bold, pencil signature of Babe Ruth projects nicely against his own likeness on the front-page surface of this scorecard, a keepsake from the legend’s appearance in Montreal, Canada on October 17, 1926. The paper item’s yellow-manila color affords the ideal background for its Ruth scripting, and the unscored piece’s visible pocket-folds constitute no meaningful distraction.
Any visit by the great Ruth to be seen by any baseball audience was, by definition, quite special. The Montreal tour stop was part of another brainstorm by Ruth’s agent and promotional genius Christy Walsh, who seized any opportunity to improve his famous client’s financial position. In fact, the observer of this scorecard’s marvelous autograph can be certain that, while Ruth was wielding the pen that produced it, the ever-energetic Walsh was simultaneously angling to gain a big boost to the star’s salary for 1927.
The tour that featured the Montreal visit ran from October 11-26. Ruth's team had finished the World Series on October 10, with the Cardinals prevailing over the Yankees in Game 7 to take the Championship. Ruth embarked immediately afterward on a whirlwind tour that commenced in the town of Bradley Beach at the New Jersey Shore (where his team lost, 3-1, to the Brooklyn Royal Colored Giants). Ruth and his entourage left Bradley Beach and continued to Scranton, Pennsylvania, Lima, Ohio, Montreal, Canada, Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey, South Bend, Indiana, Des Moines, Iowa and Kingston, New York before completing the trip at Iron Mountain, Michigan on October 28.
Even though the Yankees lost the 1926 World Series, it’s important to note that Babe Ruth hit three home runs in Game 4 and another in Game 7. During the 1926 regular season, the Bambino had batted .372 with 47 home runs and 146 RBI. With these lofty accomplishments as leverage, Walsh secured a pay increase for Ruth in 1927, with his salary scheduled to rise from $52,000 per year to $70,000. Hardly a triumph: it had been rumored that Walsh was shooting for $150K!
Of course, too, as Ruth was signing this image, no one could know that just a few months later, "Murderer's Row" would dominate the American League -- and that Ruth would lay claim to a spectacular 60-home run season. LOA from JSA.