Rare autographed baseballs on the block
Legends Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig
Baseballs signed by two of the greatest Major League American players of all time are coming to auction on January 25, 2025 in what is Miller & Miller’s first exclusively Sports Cards & Memorabilia sale.
And they’re coming out when the hunger for memorabilia seems insatiable.
On August 25th this year, the world record for sports memorabilia was shattered and almost doubled. Babe Ruth’s ‘called jersey’ said to be worn in Game 3 of the 1932 World Series when he purportedly gestured where in the stands he would hit his home run – then did it – sold for over US$24 million in a six-hour bidding war.
Babe Ruth's 'called shot' jersey sells at auction for over US$24 million in August 2024. Source.
The two baseballs in Miller & Miller’s Pre-1980s Sports Cards & Memorabilia sale, from the late 1920s and early ‘30s, are up for auction for the first time and are coming out of Canada. One is a dual-signed ball by both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, the other a single-signed ball by Gehrig alone. Both are New York Yankee legends.
The dual-signed ball was acquired in 1928 during an exhibition game in Toronto, which took place in the off-season and was part of what was called a ‘barnstorming tour’. Says thisdayinbaseball.com:
“On October 15, 1928 six days after winning the World Series two of baseball’s most famous players — the Yankees’ Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig — arrived at Ottawa’s Union Station as part of a 21-game barnstorming tour across North America. They took a suite at the Château Laurier and later played an exhibition game at Dupuis Park in Hull before more than 3,000 fans. Ruth, the papers reported, was mobbed but ever charming. Together, the pair — the heart of New York’s Murderers’ Row — had hit 81 home runs that season.”
Yankee greats, Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth, on the steps of their dugout, 1920s. Source.
When he retired in 1935, Babe Ruth (1895-1948), nicknamed ‘the bambino’ and ‘the sultan of swat’, held the record at the time for home runs: 714. He was one of the most-celebrated athletes of the 20th century and an incredibly strong man who was sometimes known to be a little cocky. According to the Baseball Hall of Fame, Ruth was more than statistics and broken records. As his former teammate Joe Dugan apparently once said, “To understand him you had to understand this: He wasn’t human.”
The dual-signed ball in Miller & Miller’s auction is in excellent condition and has been authenticated by JSA, a world leader in authenticating signed memorabilia. It’s estimated to bring CA$15,000-$20,000.
“It’s very rare to see autographs of the two top guys on the same ball,” says Justin Miller, co-owner of Miller & Miller Auctions. “They didn’t always see eye to eye and during the time they played together Babe Ruth tended to be the one more in the spotlight, overshadowing Lou Gehrig despite his talent.”
Ruth’s autograph appears on the ‘sweet spot’ of the ball, between two seams, and Gehrig’s on the left panel. The ball they signed is in itself rare and highly collectible, even without signatures. Called a ‘Babe Ruth Home Run Special’, in its original box it can command CA$3,000 or more.
This dual-signed ‘Babe Ruth Home Run Special’ baseball, signed by Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, will be offered as part of Miller & Miller’s January 25th auction.
The other baseball, circa 1930, is single-signed by Gehrig, inscribed with the words ‘To John, With kindest regards’. Reportedly, this ‘John’ was living in Waterloo, Ontario at the time and had a friend who was a neighbour of Gehrig’s. The neighbour bought a ball at a New Rochelle, NY book store and arranged for it to be signed and sent to his pal John back in Canada. The tape that closes the box still shows the name of the store, which was said to be close to the house where Gehrig had grown up. The baseball became a treasured family piece and was kept in a safety deposit box in Canada.
This Lou Gehrig-signed baseball will also be included in the upcoming auction.
The Gehrig-signed ball is among the finer examples around, says Justin Miller. The boldness of the signature, the fact it’s been stored in its original protective box in a safe place, and knowing that Gehrig signed things so infrequently on his own all add up to rarity. It’s estimated to fetch CA$20,000-$30,000.
Gehrig (1903-1941) weighed 14 pounds at birth and was the only one of his four siblings to live past childhood. He was known as a man of integrity and character, but was felled in his prime by the neurodegenerative disease ALS, now commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. At the end of his baseball career his performance deteriorated badly due to his yet-to-be-diagnosed illness, which was finally confirmed June 19, 1939 on his 36th birthday. After 2,130 consecutive games he resigned and gave a speech declaring he was “the luckiest man on the face of the earth” and what a great privilege it had been to play for the Yankees.
Lou Gehrig delivers his famous “luckiest man on the face of the earth” speech at Yankee Stadium.
The world of autographs is a complex one and establishing value is dependent on multiple factors: How many autographs did the person do (the more that exist, the more common they are and therefore generally of lessor value), at what stage in a career were they done, and what were the circumstances surrounding the signing? And the more autographs on an item doesn’t equate to greater value either. In fact, in some cases unscrupulous sellers have tried to erase one of three autographs on an item in an attempt to increase value.
The first auction in Miller & Miller’s new category of Sports Cards & Memorabilia is expected to create a lot of buzz. “We’re super excited about this upcoming sale,” says Justin Miller. “We’ve always known there’s a lot of good sports memorabilia in Canada, but until you ask for it it doesn’t really come forward.”