(LOT 134)
c.1920's Babe Ruth PSA Type 1 Encapsulated Underwood & Underwood Photo – Measures Approx. 6-1/2" x 8-1/2"
Roughly one month before his 25th birthday, Boston Red Sox star pitcher/outfielder Babe Ruth was sold to the New York Yankees on January 5, 1920 for the staggering sum of $125,000, forever changing our National Pastime. The premier southpaw hurler in baseball, the 1919 season had seen Ruth's pitching time vastly reduced in favor of playing the outfield, ultimately leading to his then record setting 29 round-trippers. The Yankees would immediately "piggy-back" off of that strategy, making Ruth their everyday right-fielder and the Bambino would promptly respond by belting 54 homers and posting an unfathomable 1.379 OPS! The "Babe" would continue his batting exploits throughout the 1920's, a decade that would see Ruth clout a staggering 467 dingers, averaging an amazing 47 home runs per season.

Indeed, Ruth revolutionized our National Pastime for eternity via his tape measure homers that quickly changed the philosophy of baseball from "small-ball" to "long-ball". This outstanding 6-1/2" x 8-1/2" PSA Type 1 offering portrays Ruth taking questions from an unidentified Antioch College professor of history during what appears to be the early 1920's. Revealing impeccable contrast and resolution, Ruth is donning his classic Yankee pinstripes and cap with the only noteworthy blemishes being a diminutive surface crack near the upper left corner as well as a faint horizontal print line running through the center of the photo.

For full disclosure, a typical "DO NOT REMOVE FILE COPY" embossment is situated across Ruth's stoic facial expression, with these embossments seen on many Underwood & Underwood photos. The verso includes the critical Underwood & Underwood credit stamp as well as a partially torn caption, with this extremely eclectic illustration depicting the "Colossus of Swat" during an era when he would change baseball forever!

MIN BID $300
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