(LOT 80)
Babe Ruth and Christy Walsh Multi-Signed Check RUTH SHARES PROFIT IN KNIFE CO. PSA/DNA Auto Grade 9 MINT and JSA LOA
Christy Walsh, America's first sports agent, wrote a check out to The Bambino for $94.95. Babe Ruth endorsed the check on the reverse, "Geo. H. Babe Ruth". The even more fascinating story behind this check is the memo above the Babe's signature which tells it all. "Mr. Ruth's share of Adolph Kastor Bros. Check #36974 (Knife)" The background story goes like this: Ruth was paid for his likeness on knives produced in the 1930s bearing his facsimile signature on the side of knives in the shape of a baseball bat. In the '30s while much of American Industry suffered, Kastor and Camillus succeeded thanks to marketing genius Albert Baer.

He took the initiative to create celebrity endorsements with high-profile athletes and entertainers. One being, the Sultan of Swat, Babe Ruth! Hence the memo on the reverse above Ruth's signature. Between 1902 and 1913, with Adolph Kastor in the driver's seat, the company started to expand. They bought new machinery, such as steam-driven drop forge hammers and fly presses, and they adopted new techniques, like using alumina grinding wheels. By 1910, the Camillus Cutlery Company was producing close to a million knives a year and had about 200 employees, many of them German immigrants. The company even built a dormitory to house its German workers. And that's why this profit-sharing check exists. PSA/DNA Authenticated and graded PSA 9 MINT!

MIN BID $1,500
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