“I have often said that the world could be coming to an end and the value of Ruth would continue to increase,” writes Ron Keurajian, the hardline author of Baseball Hall of Fame Autographs.
I immediately photographed the letter and envelope and emailed them to two autograph authorities I like for, among other reasons, responding quickly to my Forbes inquiries. Babe Ruth’s autograph looked exactly like the one Howard’s relative had torn out of a magazine a long time ago and precisely like examples on the web. Or maybe I would broker a deal with one of the top sports auction houses for Howard to show him and the world that I am a heavy-hitter. I would pay Howard straight up for his letter and keep it.
The Sultan of Swat typed and signed a letter on matching stationary thanking the family for their good wishes.Īfter writing so much over the years about the big-shot dealers and collectors, now it was my turn! Here was a Babe Ruth autograph fresh to the hobby and worth several thousand dollars. “BABE RUTH NEW YORK” was printed on its back. The next day at the coffee house Howard pulled out of his satchel a small envelope like the kind you use to mail a wedding invitation. One of my friend’s ancestors clipped an example of Babe Ruth’s signature from a magazine to compare it to the one on the letter. Going through his great aunt’s papers years ago, he told me that he came across a letter to her and her family from Babe Ruth written in 1947 while he was in the hospital fighting the cancer that would claim his life the following year. He’s old enough to have grown up in Harlem, a 15-minute bus trip from the Polo Grounds, watching Willie Mays play in his prime- baseball’s equivalent of watching Michelangelo paint the Sistine Chapel.Ī couple of weeks ago, I mentioned to Howard (he asked that I not divulge his real name) my Forbes beat and his eyes lit up.
0 kommentar(er)
