2008 Woodie Awards
The Babe Comes Home and He's Bringing Friends
Michael Dubitzky
Issue date: 12/27/04 Section: Arts & Culture
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I never thought I'd find myself excited to see sixty year-old shirts and eighty year-old pants, but that was before I walked into Sotheby's New York late last November. I witnessed the most impressive collection of baseball memorabilia outside of Cooperstown, and every item came with a price tag.
The Sotheby's auction in conjunction with Sportscards Plus truly overwhelmed from Babe Ruth's monogrammed silk robe to the actual National League Championship Pennant won by the Mets in 1973 and hung at Shea Stadium for nine years. The exhibit, entitled "The Babe Comes Home," contained over 300 historic pieces of baseball's past, most with a distinctly New York flavor. Dozens of items connected to the New York Yankees, New York Mets, New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers filled the exhibit hall.
But to fully fathom the magnitude of the collection, wrap your mind around this: among the items for sale was the Holy Grail of sports memorabilia, the third finest known example of the 1909 Honus Wagner tobacco card, and it wasn't the collection's centerpiece. That distinction belonged to the bat that sat proudly in a glass case, flanked by photos of Babe Ruth and Yankee Stadium.
When Yankee Stadium opened its gates in 1923 it was the finest sports facility in the world. Needless to say, the Babe wanted little more than to appropriately christen the new ballpark. Before opening day, Ruth had proclaimed to a reporter, "I'd give a year of my life if I can hit a home run in this new park." Indeed, Ruth got his wish. In his second at bat of the game, he clubbed a 2-run homer and spurned the Yankees on to beat the Boston Red Sox (naturally), 4-1. The Yankees would go on to win their first World Series that year, beginning a string of dominance unparalleled in American sport.
To promote baseball's youth, Ruth agreed to give the bat with which he hit Yankee Stadium's first homer to the boy who hit the most home runs in the Los Angeles City League that spring. The eventual recipient of the bat was Victor Orsatti. Ruth signed the bat with the words "To The Boy Home Run King of Los Angeles," and Orsatti had a foolproof way to make his friends jealous for the next sixty years. Now, twenty years after Orsatti's death, the bat made its way to auction. Sotheby's estimated that the historic lumber would fetch over a million dollars and they hit the bull's eye. On December 2nd, the bat sold for $1.265 million to a Chicago-based sports and memorabilia company. So much for the Babe coming home.
The Sotheby's auction in conjunction with Sportscards Plus truly overwhelmed from Babe Ruth's monogrammed silk robe to the actual National League Championship Pennant won by the Mets in 1973 and hung at Shea Stadium for nine years. The exhibit, entitled "The Babe Comes Home," contained over 300 historic pieces of baseball's past, most with a distinctly New York flavor. Dozens of items connected to the New York Yankees, New York Mets, New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers filled the exhibit hall.
But to fully fathom the magnitude of the collection, wrap your mind around this: among the items for sale was the Holy Grail of sports memorabilia, the third finest known example of the 1909 Honus Wagner tobacco card, and it wasn't the collection's centerpiece. That distinction belonged to the bat that sat proudly in a glass case, flanked by photos of Babe Ruth and Yankee Stadium.
When Yankee Stadium opened its gates in 1923 it was the finest sports facility in the world. Needless to say, the Babe wanted little more than to appropriately christen the new ballpark. Before opening day, Ruth had proclaimed to a reporter, "I'd give a year of my life if I can hit a home run in this new park." Indeed, Ruth got his wish. In his second at bat of the game, he clubbed a 2-run homer and spurned the Yankees on to beat the Boston Red Sox (naturally), 4-1. The Yankees would go on to win their first World Series that year, beginning a string of dominance unparalleled in American sport.
To promote baseball's youth, Ruth agreed to give the bat with which he hit Yankee Stadium's first homer to the boy who hit the most home runs in the Los Angeles City League that spring. The eventual recipient of the bat was Victor Orsatti. Ruth signed the bat with the words "To The Boy Home Run King of Los Angeles," and Orsatti had a foolproof way to make his friends jealous for the next sixty years. Now, twenty years after Orsatti's death, the bat made its way to auction. Sotheby's estimated that the historic lumber would fetch over a million dollars and they hit the bull's eye. On December 2nd, the bat sold for $1.265 million to a Chicago-based sports and memorabilia company. So much for the Babe coming home.