Babe Ruth autograph - opinions

[Runscott]

No 'gotcha' - just asking for opinions.

[David Atkatz]

Looks good.

[thetruthisoutthere]

It looks good to me.

[JeremyW]

I'm not an expert in Ruth signatures, but that "R" in Ruth sure does have some variations to it. Do you know when it was signed?

[Runscott]

Thanks guys. It was signed Feb 21 1943 at a theatre in the Bronx

[Runscott]

Thanks for the responses. This was not a 'gotcha', but I felt that the rest of the piece supported the item's authenticity and might color judgement - I wanted an opinion based on the autograph itself. Here's the rest of it. There are the usual concerns about the 'B' and 'a' connecting (but the end of the 'B' rests on the 'a' and isn't an actual continuation). A bigger concern is that Ruth should have been in Florida over the winter. I know that in 1943 he was doing stuff to support the war effort, but this was a movie theatre in the Bronx, not a major venue. I found the following 'memory' of an old guy who used to go to the Ward Theatre:

"On Saturdays, for 12 cents, later an inflationary 25 cents, we saw a double bill, a Western, a serial, animated cartoons ranging from primitive black and white to sophisticated Disney and Lantz creations, coming attractions, the newsreel and a public service short, in those war days, generally a War Bonds appeal, with the lights going up at the end of the movie and volunteers from the AWVS — the American Womens Volunteer Service— going up and down the aisles trolling for contributions."

[r2678]

Is that just a card that was slipped into the envelope or is it a folded letter?

[Runscott]

8" by 5" piece of note paper has been folded over to the size of approximately 4" by 5".

[David Atkatz]

Very nice piece, Scott. Anita ran into the Babe, and got her brother his autograph.

The very same thing happened to me. I was walking with my girlfriend (now my wife) in midtown Manhattan in the early seventies. I noticed a big green Lincoln, California license plate "Say Hey," parked in front of a hydrant (Whose gonna ticket it?) across the street from a men's clothing store. Waited a few minutes, Willie came out, and I got his autograph for my girlfriend's brother. I wasn't a fan in those days--being a Mantle guy--so I didn't get one for myself.

[JimStinson]

Although the Babe went to Florida most winters , If I was going to take a wild guess. I would say that in 1943 with a WAR going on he was so heavily involved with the War Bond effort (see article below) that he would not have been at ease fishing, golfing and hunting during the winter months. Just a guess.

In 1943, Giants slugger Mel Ott was the teammate as he and Ruth went on the air with WABC radio in New York, "batting out" $25 and $100 war bonds to fans willing to lay down cash to talk to the greatest home run hitters in American and National League history.

Babe also visited four or five military hospitals a week, and in an act almost impossible to fathom today, appeared onstage at New York movie matinees in the summer of 1943, urging audiences to contribute salvageable material to the war cause.

________________________
jim@stinsonsports.com

Jim Stinson is BUYING and SELLING Baseball autographs
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[Runscott]

Thanks Jim (also Chris, David and Richard).

I purchased a Feb 8,1943 article from the 'NY Times', but unfortunately they only allowed me to pay for the article, but did not actually send it to me.

So all I have is the following abstract:

RUTH HAS A BIRTHDAY; Babe, 49, Helps in the Campaign to Sell War Bonds
Babe Ruth celebrated his forty-ninth birthday yesterday by lending a hand to the war effort. The Babe, nowhere near the 80 years, achieved recently by another great baseball figure, Connie Mack, is nevertheless too old for the armed forces, but he is doing what he can.

[Runscott]

We have a winner:

[mschwade]

Originally Posted by Runscott

Thanks Jim (also Chris, David and Richard).

I purchased a Feb 8,1943 article from the 'NY Times', but unfortunately they only allowed me to pay for the article, but did not actually send it to me.

So all I have is the following abstract:

RUTH HAS A BIRTHDAY; Babe, 49, Helps in the Campaign to Sell War Bonds
Babe Ruth celebrated his forty-ninth birthday yesterday by lending a hand to the war effort. The Babe, nowhere near the 80 years, achieved recently by another great baseball figure, Connie Mack, is nevertheless too old for the armed forces, but he is doing what he can.

Congratulations Scott! Great piece.

[JimStinson]

The research is the "fun" part of collecting, In a similar vein a long time ago I bought a government postcard signed by Grover Cleveland Alexander , it was postmarked about three years before his death from a very small town in Texas, I mean SMALL population was less than 100 people and the town was in the middle of no where , Could not find any connection between Alexander and the GPC being postmarked from the small Texas town.

I researched it and found that he spent that part of his life either in Nebraska or LA , His wife kept leaving him and they had numerous break ups and reconciliations. But never a connection to that little town in Texas.

After I had owned it for a few years I happened to be driving through Texas on the interstate and the town was about 50 miles off the freeway so I thought "What the heck" , When I drove through there was NO downtown , not even really a town, ....It was a real mystery until I found the post office ....It was a tiny building no bigger than a walk in closet but........IT WAS RIGHT NEXT TO THE RAILROAD TRACKS , which happened to be on the old train route from Nebraska to LA. Mystery solved.

No doubt on one of his trips Alexander signed his fan mail , wrote his letters and when the train stopped to pick up or drop off mail in this tiny Texas town it ended up with the postmark.
______________________
jim@stinsonsports.com

Jim Stinson Buying and Selling Vintage autographs
stinsonsports.com

[Runscott]

Great story, Jim.

Jim encouraged my research by giving some ideas. As a result I was able to locate Bernie's family In the 1940 census - Anita was his Mother. I also found a valuable tool for digging through NYC census records for 1940 that doesn't appear to be available for other years or cities.