The totally ‘batty’ story behind famed Babe Ruth memorabilia
The bat Babe Ruth used to score his 60th homerun in 1927 has hit the auction block — but the story behind it is a real screwball.
An anonymous collector claims the bat he’s selling is the real deal and can be traced to the comedian Joe E. Brown, who was pals with the Sultan of Swat and gifted the famed bat 91 years ago.
But in a twist, the Baseball Hall of Fame is challenging that provenance – claiming it owns the actual bat the Yankees slugger used to notch the then-homerun record that would go on to stand for 34 years.
The private collector is backed by an expert with PSA/DNA, one of the leading sports memorabilia authenticators, which casts doubt on the Hall of Fame’s artifact.
The vaudeville actor passed down the bat to his son, Joe L. Brown, the general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1955-76 — who then sold it to a collector.
“There is documentation back to (Joe L.) Brown’s ownership and his talking about the bat that goes back to a sports writers’ luncheon in 1948,” PSA authenticator Jon Taube told The Associated Press. “Even before that the bat is mentioned from his collection in a 1939 baseball centennial celebration. … We also have a letter that continues the story from his grandson Ty Brown that talks about the bat coming out at Christmas time.”
Also backing up the private collector is the fact that Ruth had gifted Brown historic pieces of baseball equipment before, including the bat he used to whack three home runs in the 1926 World Series.
The bat in question, which is now being sold through Heritage Auctions, is signed, “To Joe E. Brown From Babe Ruth.”
Meanwhile, the bat possessed by the Baseball Hall of Fame was given to the museum by sports writer James Kahn in 1939.
At the time, Khan told the Otsego Farmer, a newspaper in Cooperstown, where the Hall of Fame is located, that then-Yankees manager Miller Huggins gave him the bat after the history-making game on Sept. 30, 1927.
But the journalist also flip-flopped on his story, claiming that Ruth personally gave him the bat when he was challenged by Brown decades ago at the sports writers’ luncheon.
Taub doesn’t dispute Khan’s account — but he also doesn’t believe Khan was given the very bat used to score the record-breaking homer.
“It’s very unlikely that on Sept. 30, Miller Huggins comes down into the locker room and says, ‘Babe, give me the bat that you broke the record with’ and then he hands it to a beat writer,” said Taube, who has done extensive research on the Great Gambino’s bats. “And we just think it was very unlikely Huggins came out of the dugout and handed him THE bat. He handed him a bat, there’s no question about that. Was it the bat that hit the 60th home run? I doubt that very highly.”
Taube added, “The relationship (Ruth) had with Joe Brown, and the fact he had already gifted him with the 1926 World Series bat, and especially that the season wasn’t over yet when Kahn says Miller Huggins and/or Ruth gave him the bat — we just don’t see that happening.”
The Hall of Fame said it’s “very comfortable” with the provenance and authenticity behind its bat.
“The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is dedicated to preserving baseball’s history,” Jon Shestakofsky, the Hall’s vice president of communications and education, told The Associated Press. “One of the institution’s primary responsibilities is to ensure that artifacts in our collection are portrayed accurately. When research shows that an object is incorrectly labeled, or when we have been presented with evidence that proves an artifact is misattributed, we resolve the matter appropriately and with transparency.
“Given the lack of proof to the contrary, we will continue to maintain that the bat in our collection is the one Babe Ruth used to hit his 60th home run of 1927.”
Taube said he wasn’t challenging the Hall of Fame. He said he wasn’t aware of any other instances of multiple claims of a high-profile item.
“I respect them. It’s a baseball shrine,” Taube said. “You have to understand, during the day, there was no provenance. Many of the items that were given to the Hall were presented as, ‘Here’s the bat that did this, here’s the glove’ and there was no follow-up. Nobody is perfect.”
Bidding on the bat that’s being sold by the private collector runs through May 18.
The existence of the Hall of Fame’s bat and the story behind it is included in the listing, in full disclosure to potential buyers.
“It is essential that we disclose the fact that the Baseball Hall of Fame — an establishment for which we hold the utmost respect — claims to own the bat responsible for that monumental feat,” the listing says. “But the detailed letter of examination from leading expert John Taube of PSA/DNA carefully compares and contrasts the divergent tales of provenance, leaving little doubt that the Cooperstown example is improperly identified.”
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