Baseball Guru
06-23-2004, 03:53 PM
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=678&e=5&u=/usatoday/20040623/sp_usatoday/howmuchforbabesbat
By Sheil Kapadia, USA TODAY
Before the 26 World Series (news - web sites) titles, there was the first home run.
It was April 18, 1923, and Yankee Stadium was seeing its first action after 284 days of construction. The New York Yankees (news) were opening the season against the Boston Red Sox (news) in front of 74,200. In the bottom of the third, Babe Ruth slammed the first home run at Yankee Stadium, a three-run shot that gave the Yankees a 4-1 win.
Ruth later autographed the bat and donated it to the Los Angeles Evening Herald to be given to the winner of a high school home run hitting contest. Victor Orsatti won and received the Louisville Slugger, which is 36 inches long and weighs 44 ounces. Ruth's inscription reads, "To the Boy Home Run King of Los Angeles."
Orsatti died in the 1980s, and the bat will be auctioned off along with other New York baseball memorabilia by SportsCards Plus at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Manhattan on Oct. 4.
David Kohler, president of SportsCards Plus, said he expects the bat to join Honus Wagner's T-206 baseball card ($1.2 million) and Mark McGwire's 70th home run ball ($3 million) as the only pieces of sports memorabilia to be sold for more than $1 million at auction.
"His last time in Yankee Stadium, two months before he died, one of the things he said was how proud he was to hit the first home run in Yankee Stadium," Kohler says.
Ruth's daughter, Julia Ruth Stevens, said she doesn't remember her dad talking a lot about the home run, but she was very young at the time it was hit. She said her father was probably most proud of another feat earlier in his career.
"One of his very fondest memories was when he was a pitcher with the Red Sox and he pitched 29 2/3 scoreless innings in the World Series," she says. "If he was being interviewed and the reporter did not bring that up, he would always bring it up."
By Sheil Kapadia, USA TODAY
Before the 26 World Series (news - web sites) titles, there was the first home run.
It was April 18, 1923, and Yankee Stadium was seeing its first action after 284 days of construction. The New York Yankees (news) were opening the season against the Boston Red Sox (news) in front of 74,200. In the bottom of the third, Babe Ruth slammed the first home run at Yankee Stadium, a three-run shot that gave the Yankees a 4-1 win.
Ruth later autographed the bat and donated it to the Los Angeles Evening Herald to be given to the winner of a high school home run hitting contest. Victor Orsatti won and received the Louisville Slugger, which is 36 inches long and weighs 44 ounces. Ruth's inscription reads, "To the Boy Home Run King of Los Angeles."
Orsatti died in the 1980s, and the bat will be auctioned off along with other New York baseball memorabilia by SportsCards Plus at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Manhattan on Oct. 4.
David Kohler, president of SportsCards Plus, said he expects the bat to join Honus Wagner's T-206 baseball card ($1.2 million) and Mark McGwire's 70th home run ball ($3 million) as the only pieces of sports memorabilia to be sold for more than $1 million at auction.
"His last time in Yankee Stadium, two months before he died, one of the things he said was how proud he was to hit the first home run in Yankee Stadium," Kohler says.
Ruth's daughter, Julia Ruth Stevens, said she doesn't remember her dad talking a lot about the home run, but she was very young at the time it was hit. She said her father was probably most proud of another feat earlier in his career.
"One of his very fondest memories was when he was a pitcher with the Red Sox and he pitched 29 2/3 scoreless innings in the World Series," she says. "If he was being interviewed and the reporter did not bring that up, he would always bring it up."