This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 10/5/2018
Graded NM/MT 8 by PSA. A solid klop must have filled Jake Geiser’s ears when a baseball ricocheted off a doorstep on Cleveland’s Lexington Avenue and rolled toward the New Philadelphia, Ohio, resident’s feet. Geiser, waiting to board a bus to his home about 90 miles south of the city, was standing just beyond the tall right-field fence at Cleveland’s League Park. He most likely heard, too, the roar of the overflow ballpark crowd of more than 25,000 people just as the Sultan of Swat cocked his bat over his left shoulder and swung fiercely, launching the baseball toward the street. As Geiser was about to depart from Cleveland that Sunday afternoon after visiting relatives, Babe Ruth stepped to the plate in the top of the second inning with 499 career home runs tallied on his stat sheet. Ruth had been hitting homers at a torrid pace; he had four in his last five games. The Babe seemed to find League Park particularly accommodating, having slugged many moonshots there since he first deposited one into the center-field seats, just left of the scoreboard, in May of 1921. As the Bambino settled at the plate – it was his first at-bat of the game – Cleveland pitcher Willis Hudlin threw a high fastball “which left home plate much higher and ten times faster than it arrived,” reported New York Times writer William Brandt. “It soared over the right-field fence near the foul line, and was the first run of the afternoon.”
According to the front-page, above-the-fold article in the next day’s Cleveland Plain Dealer, Ruth called his shot before the game. In his story, Gordon Cobbledick wrote about an exchange the Yankees’ slugger had with the ballpark’s security chief, H. Clay Folger: “Listen,” said the Babe, “I’m going to hit No. 500 today and I tell you what I wish you’d do. I wish you’d find the kid who gets the ball and bring him to me. I’d kinda like to save that one.” Geiser was no kid. Brandt wrote in the Times that he was 46 years old. As for respecting the Babe’s wishes and returning the ball, the Times simply reported that he, the “ball retriever,” was brought back to the stadium and escorted to the Yankees’ dugout. The Plain Dealer, sticking with the kid theme, provided a more elaborate tale of how Geiser reached and met the Babe. Offered is 1 of just 5 copies that has been graded of this pasteboard which is trumped by just a sole example that has been graded a half grade higher, not bad company considering that 115 copies of this card have been graded by PSA. Four needle-like corners frame this auspicious example that provides a perfectly centered presentation along with a nearly immaculate dose of focus and eye appeal. The surface is exceptionally impressive with nary a disturbance to be encountered. The reverse is a creamy antique white with no apparent issues to be encountered. A terrific example offered at the very top of the PSA census report and a card that comes with our utmost of confidences!