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Lot # 2: 1929 Babe Ruth, "Shows Off His Jersey with Uniform Number for First Time" Important Photo

Starting Bid: $25.00

Bids: 53 (Bid History)

Time Left: Auction closed
Lot / Auction Closed




This lot is closed. Bidding is not allowed.

Item was in Auction "Winter Collectors Auction 2022",
which ran from 12/27/2021 4:00 PM to
1/15/2022 8:00 PM



Today, uniforms with numbers are mandatory in sports, but there was a time when this was not the case. Some sports tinkered with the idea before the Yankees made the novelty permeant in 1929, but it was this moment when Babe Ruth put on a pin striped jersey with the number 3 (symbolic of his place in the batting order) that made the idea a fixture in American culture. It all started right here! Seeming to recognize the magnitude of the moment, Ruth paused from his routine of warming up to flash his back toward a photographer at Underwood and Underwood who snaps the baseball god so that both his face and the now iconic jersey number can both be seen in the frame. What seemed like a cool shot in 1929 is now one of the most important images of Ruth in the world and this is the only example of the photograph we have ever seen in over twenty years of selling sports photography! In nice shape overall, the photo is crystal clear and being offered here for the first time ever, fresh out of the Underwood archives. The importance of this image can not be overstated as it is without a doubt one of the most historically significant images of Babe Ruth on the planet! This will get a Type 1 from PSA no doubt!

Size: 6.5x8.5
Designation: Vintage 1
Condition: 4.5/5
Quality: 5/5
Overall Grade: 9.5/10

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