It's signed on the back of a matchbook cover. During Ruth's lifetime, matchbook saddles (the top portion of an intact matchbook) were rounded, not scored/squared off as they are today. I surmise that somebody handed Ruth the matchcover and he held it in the curve of his hand while signing. With no solid backing to provide proper counterpoint to the pencil pressure, any number of odd, spontaneous anomalies may have occurred. In this case, the "R" took the brunt of it.
Last edited by BillyCoxDodgers3B; 04-28-2011 at 09:00 PM.
Reason: typo
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