This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/27/2010
The name Babe Ruth automatically conjures up images of Yankee Stadium and all the legendary New York greats that followed, but it's easy to forget that the Babe wasn't always a Yankee. And while original Babe Ruth photos are, understandably, always in demand, only a precious few capture "The Bambino" before his Yankee days, when he was a star pitcher for the Boston Red Sox. It seems almost surreal that this photo depicts the young and considerably thinner Ruth warming up to pitch for Boston, not New York. Babe did it all in 1919, leading the league in home runs, runs batted in, and was 13-7 with a 2.22 ERA, completing 18 of his 19 starts that year. The reverse side of the photo has the Brown Brothers label and stamp with "1919 Babe Ruth Red Sox" written across the top. The photo has many marks and small scratches from age, which are very apparent when held at an angle but far more subtle when the photo is viewed directly. This is an extremely rare and delightful piece of baseball history!