Lot # 446: 1925 Babe Ruth “Back in the Game” Original Type I George Grantham Bain Photo – Measures Approx. 5” x 6-5/8” - Full PSA Type I LOA

Category: Photos

Starting Bid: $500.00

Bids: 17 (Bid History)

Time Left: Auction closed
Lot / Auction Closed




This lot is closed. Bidding is not allowed.

Item was in Auction "Spring Break Rarities Auction 2019",
which ran from 3/14/2019 4:00 PM to
4/6/2019 7:00 PM




(LOT 446)
1925 Babe Ruth "Back in the Game" Original Type I George Grantham Bain Photo – Measures Approx. 5" x 6-5/8" - Full PSA Type I LOA

After five sensational seasons in pinstripes, the 1925 season for Babe Ruth would be tumultuous, to say the least. Ruth would show up to spring training in Hot Springs, Arkansas weighing roughly 260 pounds, with his seemingly uncontrollable eating and drinking spiraling out of control. The "Babe" could simply not shake his excessive weight with his carousing life style eventually leading to him collapsing in a New York hotel bathroom. Ruth was hospitalized for six weeks in St. Vincent's hospital with his legendary illness categorized in the newspapers as "the bellyache heard 'round the world!" Upon his return to the playing field, this magnificent George Grantham Bain photo captured the Bambino in his classic Yankee pinstripes in a "leaning on bat" pose directly in front of the Yankee Stadium dugout. Measuring approximately 5" x 6-5/8" the crystal clear image was taken on June 3, 1925 with the verso's violet ink stamp stating that Ruth was "back in the game".

Unfortunately for Ruth, his ailments led to the 1925 season being his worst "Big Apple" performance ever, with the "Sultan of Swat" hitting a paltry 25 round trippers, batting only .290 and knocking in a meager 67 runs. The photo itself reveals some evidence of a slight trim due to several wavy edges, no glaring surface flaws are evident, and the verso reveals the critical "CULVER PICTURES INC." credit stamp evident on many Bain images since Culver Pictures picked up the remaining Bain photos not originally captured by the "Library of Congress". A truly captivating image, it captures the "Babe" in a stoic pose at a point of time when he just returned to the game from his revered illness that even prompted British newspapers to inadvertently print a premature obituary. Issued by the iconic photographer George Grantham Bain, it is a sheer reminder of one of the "darkest" times in Babe Ruth's otherwise hallowed Yankee playing days! - Full PSA/DNA Type I LOA

MIN BID $500

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