(LOT 273)
1923 Babe Ruth & John McGraw Pose Before the Jack Dunn Benefit Game – PSA Type 1 Encapsulated Underwood & Underwood Photo – Measures Approx. 6-5/8" x 8-1/2" (Incl. PSA Type 1 LOA)
After losing two consecutive World Series to John McGraw's New York Giants, the 1923 season would see the official opening of the "House That Ruth Built", with the new Yankee Stadium opening its doors on April 18, 1923. In typical Bambino fashion, the "Babe" would christen the newly built stadium by blasting the inaugural home run that led to the Yankees besting Boston by a 4-1 score. Ruth would go on to lead the Yankees to their third consecutive pennant via his league leading 41 round-trippers and 130 runs batted in, as well as posting his finest batting average (.393) of his illustrious career.

The Yankees would post 95 victories and once again face the Giants in the Fall Classic. A few days before the regular season ended, a benefit game was held at the Polo Grounds on October 3, 1923 between John McGraw's N.Y. Giants and Jack Dunn's International League's Orioles to help raise money for John B. Day and Jim Mutrie, who had both fallen on hard times. These two men were considered most instrumental for bringing Major League Baseball to New York, and to boast attendance, McGraw lured Babe Ruth to play for the Giants on his "off-day", trying to capitalize on Ruth's unparalleled popularity with the Big Apple fan base.

The Giants would go on to win the game 9-3 with the "Sultan of Swat" blasting a mammoth home run that allegedly cleared the Polo Grounds roof! Interestingly enough, the Orioles starter that day was a young fire-balling southpaw named Lefty Grove, who only two years later would embark on one of the greatest pitching careers in baseball history. Regarding Babe Ruth's presence in this renowned benefit game, ironically, it just happened to be Jack Dunn's suffering financial related issues back in 1914 that eventually led him to selling Ruth to the Boston Red Sox on July 4, 1914 along with Ernie Shore and Ben Egan. As owner of the Baltimore Orioles International League club, Dunn simply could not compete with the new Federal League Baltimore Terrapins team, attendance dropped and Dunn was forced to sell off his premier players. History was now in the making with the iconic Babe Ruth now set to etch his unequivocal mark in baseball history.

This remarkable 6-5/8" x 8-1/2" illustration was taken directly before the October 3rd benefit game and portrays the "Babe" donning his cross-river rival Giants pinstripes uniform he borrowed for the day as well as the immortal Giant's manager John McGraw in formal attire. Emanating magnificent clarity and a somewhat darker contrast, other than a few negligible stray wrinkles, no obtrusive flaws are evident, with this time defying image's surface still retaining a majority of its original glossy luster. The flipside includes the classic Underwood & Underwood credit stamp as well as significant "Ruth and McGraw – 10/3/23" pencil notations, dating the photo to that illustrious benefit game. As an anti-climax, following this benefit game and the regular season close, the Yankees would finally exact revenge on their cross-town rivals, besting the Giants in a six-game Fall Classic with Ruth walloping three round-trippers and posting a stellar .368 series average!

MIN BID $500
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