This lot is closed. Bidding ended on 12/5/2007.
Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig are perhaps the two names most synonymous with baseball, not to mention the New York Yankees. Individually, these two baseball superheroes did it all. Ruth could hit the ball like no one of his time could, leading the Majors in home runs in an amazing twelve different seasons as he set and reset the single season home run record. 70 years after he played his last game, Ruth is still one of only three men to ever break the 700 mark. Gehrig, on the other hand, was arguably a better hitter than Ruth even though he finished his shortened career with 221 fewer homeruns than his teammate. In 1934 he won the Triple Crown, leading the AL in batting average (.363), homeruns (49), and RBI's (165). In addition, Gehrig still holds the AL record for most RBIs in a season with 184, as well as the all time record for most career grand slams with 23. In the late 1920s and early 1930s when Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig both donned the Yankee pinstripes, they created the fiercest hitting duo that baseball has ever seen. During Ruth's record setting 1927 season, the two hitters combined to hit more homeruns than all but one team in the Majors. This red and blue stitched Spalding ONL (Heydler) baseball has been signed in black fountain pen on the sweet spot by the immortal Babe Ruth, with teammates and fellow HOFers Lou Gehrig and Earle Combs having signed on the side panel. The bottom panel bears the signatures of two unknowns, one being "W.E. Keplinger," with the date "Aug. 10, 1931" (unknown hand). On that date, the Yankees were defeated 6-5 by the Washington Senators at Yankee Stadium. Ball shows some soiling and several abrasions, the Ruth signature grades a 7 with the Gehrig and Combs grading a 6. Accompanied by a LOA from JSA.