This lot is closed. Bidding ended on 5/11/2001.
Babe Ruth's status as the foremost celebrity of the 1920s ans ‘30s can be seen in these 13 classic Ruth pins. The first $100,000 a year ballplayer, Ruth pocketed additional cash endorsing products like Quaker Oats which featured his famous baby-faced smile on pins such as the two in this lot which are identical but for his cap bearing the Yankees logo on one and the Boston Braves "B" logo on the other. The excellent-condition pins have on the back an illustrated baseball diamond on which one could turn slots with a finger to keep score of a game. Reflecting Ruth's enormous popularity among kids, another of Ruth's sponsors, Esso, made a pin designed like a baseball with the words, "Babe Ruth Boys Club Charter Member" in black set on a silver background and a red Esso logo in the center. The 7/8" pin is in good condition with scratching and tarnishing. There are five other pins with Ruth head shots including a near mint 6" one with a color portrait. The others read "Babe Ruth Champions" (7/8" VG), "Babe Ruth Home Run King" (1 3/4" VG), "Babe Ruth New York Yankees" with two "MLB" logos (red, white, blue, 3 ½" G), and "Member Babe Ruth Baseball Club" (7/8" G). Three pins display Ruth swinging the bat including a sepia-toned one with a Ruth facsimile signature (3" NM), an off-white one with a facsimile signature (3" NM), and a 6" color one in excellent condition, and there is a cream-colored one that reads "Babe Ruth's Own Team" (1 1/4" G). There is also a 2 ½" pen-knife in the shape of a wood bat with a white ball on a chain. The bat reads, "Babe Ruth 1927, 60 Home Runs, Souvenir, New York Yankees." This piece is in excellent condition.