A great piece of baseball memorabilia is coming up for auction at Alexander Historical Auctions on 29th July 2022 when Babe Ruth's straw boater hat hits the auction block.
Image: Alexander Historical Auctions
At a time when a 'made for collectors' Mickey Mantle baseball card is expected to sell for $10,000,000, this true piece of owned/touched/worn baseball memorabilia could be yours with a starting bid of just $2,000, although the item has an estimate of $4,000-$6,000.
That's big bargain territory as far as we're concerned.
The hat is being sold with provenance from radio and television host Joe Franklin with Joe's original letter stating:
'This extraordinary piece of memorabilia was obtained personally by me from Ruth's widow, Claire Ruth, in 1968. Clara Mae Ruth appeared as a guest on my television show in early 1968.'
Franklin was a life long New York Yankees fan and lunched with Babe Ruth's widow Claire who agreed to appear on his TV show. When Franklin asked about Babe Ruth's personal items Mrs Ruth brought items to the TV studio when she was interviewed.
In June 2019 one of Babe Ruth's New York Yankee jerseys sold for $5.64m at auction in New York, becoming the most expensive piece of sports memorabilia ever sold at the time. The previous top priced item being another Babe Ruth jersey sold for $4.4m in 2012.
Babe Ruth's 1930's Yankees game-worn cap was once owned by Yankees pitcher David Wells who actually wore it during a match and was fined $25,000 as it wasn't 'regulation' uniform.
Wells had the last laugh though; he had bought the cap for $35,000 and eventually sold it for $537,278
We know game worn Babe Ruth memorabilia fetches big bucks, so it will be interesting to see what Babe's personally worn straw boater hat sells for.
The hat is accompanied by a photograph of Babe Ruth wearing the hat. We reckon that extra photographic provenance could move it towards the $7,500 figure.
Full details at Alexander Historical Auctions.