A quartet of treasured Babe Ruth heirlooms is heading for sale at SCP Auctions, direct from the family collection of the Sultan of Swat.
First up is a custom-made baseball uniform worn by Ruth to promote the 1939 New York World’s Fair.
Despite having retired from baseball in 1935, Ruth remained one of the world’s most iconic sports stars, and his long career in New York made him the perfect spokesperson for the Fair. He made public appearances on parade floats, gave batting classes and even turned up at business meetings wearing the special Spalding uniform.
Having spent years on display the Babe Ruth Museum in Baltimore, the uniform will now be sold with an estimate of $50,000+.
Next is a beautiful wooded chest complete with baseball-themed decoration, which was hand-made for Ruth by prisoners at New York’s infamous Sing Sing prison.
Ruth had originally visited the prison in September 1929, when reigning World Series Champions the New York Yankees played an exhibition game against a team of prisoners called the ‘Black Sheep’.
Having hit a number of huge home runs over the prison walls during the game, Ruth also impressed prisoners with his affable nature, and they thanked him for the visit by carefully crafting this cedar chest complete with baseball diamonds.
Having remained in Ruth’s family ever since, this treasures possession is valued at more than $10,000.
The third piece from the family’s collection is a large wooden sculpture hand-carved gifted to Ruth in 1933 by a fan named DL Watts. Standing 21" tall, the totem pole-like sculpture was proudly displayed around Ruth’s home for years, and now comes with an estimate of $3,000+.
The final item of Ruth memorabilia is a scrapbook featuring newspaper articles, which was made for Ruth by his manager Christy Walsh, and is estimated at $1,500+.
Dating from 1922, the scrapbook covers just three weeks in Ruth’s career, from May 18 to May 31, and illustrates just how famous he was – with his every movement being reported by newspapers from coast to coast in the U.S.
Bidding in the SCP Auctions Winter Premier sale concludes on January 21.
