LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2006 October Signature Sports Auction #705  / 

19018

Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig Signed Baseball PSA/DNA

Currency:USD Category:Sports - Cards & Fan Shop / Sports - Autographs (Original) Start Price:11,000.00 USD Estimated At:20,000.00 - 30,000.00 USD
Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig Signed Baseball PSA/DNA
<B>1934 Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig & Mickey Cochrane Signed Baseball.</B></I> We hate to call the autographs on this remarkable baseball "perfect 10's," as it degrades them to be lumped in with other signatures that have fallen under that heading in the past. These autographs are so much stronger than the "average" 10 that a tongue-in-cheek score of 11 might not be so silly after all. Our catalog imagery should illustrate our point fairly well. Consider the sweet spot Babe Ruth autograph, rendered in the boldest and darkest of black fountain pen ink, unmistakable at fifty feet of distance. Note how perfectly it displays as a single, above the neatly penned notation "Yankee Stadium, May 5, 1934" on the lower panel. Traveling westward, we encounter an equally stunning Gehrig autograph, again displaying as a perfectly convincing single. North of the Babe we find the third Hall of Famer, Tigers great Mickey Cochrane. Yet again the boldest fountain pen ink was used, though a tiny chip in the surname derails what would otherwise be another perfect score. We have been able to determine rather definitively, through the cast of characters and the drilled mounting hole through the "Babe Ruth Home Run Special" stamping, that this lightly shellacked sphere was a gift to a VIP from Christy Walsh, who often mounted autographed balls on ink blotters for presentation. Walsh is recognized as the first sports agent, with his most noteworthy clients being the legendary duo of Ruth and Gehrig. This delectable provenance, and the simply outrageous condition of the baseball's autographs, sets this special artifact in an elite class, worthy of the most esteemed private collections. Finer Ruth and Gehrig autographs on a baseball couldn't possibly exist. <I>LOA from PSA/DNA.</B></I>
Sign In to Bookmark Lot