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Robert SI've seen that photo sold a few timees before, once together with this similarly-sized photo with the same coloring / sepia tone:
However, the backs are different. Here's the back to this one:
By the way, this photo was taken during the filming of the 1936 short film "Home Run On The Keys." This Warner Bros & Vitaphone short features Ruth after a duck hunting trip "composing" a song on the piano with musicians Zez Confrey and Byron Gay, and also boasting of his called home run shot.
As per the Internet Movie Database: "Ruth also takes time to tell of the home run he called on a third strike, but manages to describe it coming in an incorrect situation. The three go back to New York to appear on a radio program where the Vitaphone Orchestra, led by David Mendoza, plays their "new hit". Mendoza, in a rare turn before the cameras, turns the baton over to The Bambino/Sultan of Swat, who directs the orchestra with all the style of a bull in a china shop."
Here's a link to a music file (midi) of the song the three "composed," also entitled "Home Run On The Keys" -- [[just add a ".mid" to the end of this URL to get it to work: http://www.alevy.com/midi/zez/homerun ]]