This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/15/2020
Featured here is an exceptionally rare advertising display item that we have never encountered in our 35 years in the hobby, not in any auction catalog or at the numerous shows we have attended in the last three and a half decades! The item displays an advertisement for Rose And Company Clothiers featuring the two combatants of the 1915 World Series, The Boston Red Sox and the Philadelphia Phillies. At the top of the back row is the image of a young incorrigible youngster from Baltimore, Babe Ruth. Although Ruth was a bumpkin with minimal social skills, at camp in South Carolina in 1914 Ruth quickly distinguished himself on the diamond. That spring, the Orioles played several major league teams. In two outings against the Phillies, Ruth faced 29 batters and allowed only six hits and two unearned runs. The next week, he threw a complete game victory over the Philadelphia Athletics, winners of three of the last four World Series. Short on cash that summer, Dunn sold Ruth to the Boston Red Sox. On July 11, 1914, less than five months after leaving St. Mary’s, Babe made his debut at Fenway Park: he pitched seven innings against Cleveland and received credit for a 4-3 win. After being hit hard by Detroit in his second outing, Ruth rode the bench until he was demoted to the minor leagues in mid-August, where he helped the Providence Grays capture the International League pennant. Ruth returned to Boston for the final week of the 1914 season. On October 2, he pitched a complete game victory over the Yankees and doubled for his first major-league hit. Babe spent the winter in Baltimore with his new wife, Boston waitress Helen Woodford, and in 1915, he stuck with the big club. Ruth slumped early in the season, in part because of excessive carousing with fellow pitcher Dutch Leonard, and a broken toe — sustained by kicking the bench in frustration after being intentionally walked — kept him out of the rotation for two weeks. But when he returned, he shined, winning three complete games in a span of nine days in June. Between June 1 and September 2, Ruth was 13-1 and ended the season 18-8. Interestingly and amazingly after an 18-8 season with a 2.44 ERA as well as a .315 BA and 4 HR's as well as 20 RBI's in limited plate appearances Ruth did not pitch and only had one AB during the 1915 World Series. The item itself displays images of the two teams both being Paul Thompson images from 1915. The display item appears to be framed to the dimensions of 30" x 24", as well the appearance of the unseen item is of an exceptionally high caliber and is of minimally NM to NM/MT. The item appears to be printed on a light cardboard stock, please do note there appears to be a page number at the bottom of the advertisement which may suggest that this may have been a page from a salesman's sample book explaining the extreme rarity of this item. The reverse of this rarity does reveal "Spring 1916" again suggesting the possibility that this was an advertisement from a sample book or possibly a window display of counter display for Rose Clothiers new Spring collection. Aside from the source of disbursement, the offered advertising item provides a rookie era image of Babe Ruth from noted photographer Paul Thompson on a regional or national advertising basis. This is most likely the earliest advertising piece on which Babe Ruth appeared. The featured collectible comes with our utmost of recommendations for its sheer importance.