This lot is closed. Bidding ended on 12/1/2011.
“The Best…Ever”. We hear these words quite frequently as they are carelessly thrown around when discussing a certain player or team throughout the pantheon of sports history. Very rarely do these mighty accolades live up to the hype. Once in a great while though, “The Best Ever” is truly that; when the court of public opinion meshes with iron clad fact, swirling around in a perfect storm with history in the making and the magic that creates Legends. The 1927 New York Yankees were, indeed The Best…Ever. Given the nickname “Murderer’s Row” as a result of the first six lethal batters in their line-up, the 1927 New York Yankees went 110-44, winning the American League Pennant by an astounding 19 games and sweeping the Pittsburgh Pirates in the World Series. They batted an unbelievable .307 as a team, slugged .489, scored 975 runs, and outscored their opponents by a record 376 runs. Center fielder Earle Combs had a career best year, batting .356 with 231 hits, left fielder Bob Meusel batted .337 with 103 RBIs, and second baseman Tony Lazzeri drove in 102 runs. The Iron Horse, Lou Gehrig batted .373, with 218 hits, 52 doubles, 18 triples, 47 home runs, a then record 175 RBIs, slugged at .765, and was voted the American League MVP. Babe Ruth amassed a .356 batting average, 164 RBIs, 158 runs scored, walked 137 times, and slugged a ridiculous .772. Most notably, The Bambino’s 60 home runs that year broke his own record and remained the Major League mark for 34 years. This baseball was carefully inspected in person by Jimmy Spence of JSA who put the ball is his spectrograph machine. The ball features red and green alternating stitch making it possibly an official league baseball although no stamp is present. This treasure is signed by the 1927 World Champs including all of “Murderer’s Row”. Bold and most visible on the sweet spot is of course, “Babe” Ruth. The Sultan of Swat’s signature is large with his last name appearing more vibrant than his first rating an overall 7-8. There is some spotting underneath the “R”. There is one signature which stands alone on the south panel, Urban Shocker (very rare), which appears bold rating a 9. The north panel has six signatures; Lou Gehrig rating an 8, Herb Pennock rating a 7, Pat Collins rating an 8, Dutch Ruether rating a 9, Ben Paschal rating a 7 and Ray Morehart rating an 8. Morehart was only a Yankee for one season, and he chose wisely. The west panel has five sigs; Tony Lazzeri rating an 8-9, Earle Combs rating a 7-8, Mark Koenig rating a 7-8, Joe Dugan rating an 8 and George Pipgras rating an 8. The east and final panel has four signatures; Eddie Bennett (a rare signature of the famous hunchback Mascot and Batboy for the New York Yankees from 1921 until 1932, including the illustrious year of 1927) rating an 8-9, Bennie Bengough rating a 9, Manager Miller Huggins (signed M Huggins) rating a 7-8 with some brown toning of the “M” and coach Arthur Fletcher rating an 8. There are three signatures that have been enhanced for boldness. All signatures are done in period blue ink and the ball itself shows consistent aging throughout. This rare piece of baseball history is accompanied by a full LOA from JSA. Timeless; historic; legendary; The Best…Ever.