1930 Babe Ruth Single Signed Baseball Hit for First Home Run of Season, PSA/DNA NM-MT 8....

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The Babe starts a new decade with a smash!

1930 Babe Ruth Single Signed Baseball Hit for First Home Run of Season, PSA/DNA NM-MT 8. The most desirable Babe Ruth single ever offered? We aren't quite ready to make a pronouncement that unequivocal, but a pretty solid case could be made. Autograph collectors are well aware of how strict are the grading standards of the experts at PSA/DNA, so by virtue of the NM-MT 8 rating alone, this is a Ruth single of the highest order. But that elite assessment as an autograph vessel is only part of the story.

That story is recounted in a notarized letter of provenance from the great-grandson of a gentleman who had traveled to New York City in 1930 from his home in Long Beach, California on a business trip. On April 25th of that year, that gentleman accepted an invitation from business associates to attend a game at Yankee Stadium, where the Bronx Bombers were hosting their key rivals, the Boston Red Sox. It was the sixth game of the season for the Yankees, and just their second wearing home pinstripes.

Trailing two-to-one in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Yankees sent the Babe to the plate to lead off the inning. Facing him on the mound for the Sox was Milt Gaston, a former teammate on the 1924 Yankees, who ran the count to one ball and two strikes before Ruth took hold of the next pitch. The notarized letter picks up the tale:

"Great Grandpa was very old at the time and didn't see the flight of the ball because he remained seated while everyone around him were standing and yelling. Just then, a loud bang, and a very lucky bounce, put that home-run-ball literally in Great Grandpa John's lap! After the end of the game, they all went down to the player's exit where Great Grandpa John was able to ask Babe Ruth for an autograph on the ball, which he graciously did."

The ancient sphere perfectly substantiates the tale, the Official American League model exhibiting clear game use and the facsimile signature of president Ernest Barnard, who served just four seasons (1928-31) in the role. The "Pat'd RE. 17200" stamping narrows the potential range of production by one year, assuring a vintage between 1929 and 1931.

Ruth would club forty-nine home runs in 1930, his eleventh of a record twelve seasons atop the American League. This April 25, 1930 clout was his first of that campaign, and the 517th of his career tally of 714. While the Babe's home run baseballs have occasionally appeared on the hobby's auction block, we have never encountered that so effectively plays double-duty as an elite single signed example. It's one of the most exciting Ruth relics to surface in recent history. Full Grading LOA from PSA/DNA, NM-MT 8. Full LOA from James Spence Authentication. Notarized letter of provenance from family of original owner.

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