Babe Ruth finished his Major League playing career with a mostly desultory half-season with the National League Boston Braves in 1935. In 1938, on or around June 17th, he signed a contract to coach first base with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Offered is a 1938 vintage International News Photo of Ruth - on an unnamed golf course in Tuckahoe, New York - with children and other well-wishers happily surrounding The Bambino.

In 1935, Ruth was made to believe that in signing a contract to play for the Boston Braves as a player, assistant manager and vice president, that he would have the inside track to become the Braves' manager, in 1936. Instead, Ruth, realizing that the promise to him of a shot as the Braves' manager was only a means to lure Ruth, who had longed for years to become a Major League manager, into playing long past his prime, merely as a means to draw fans. Ruth was made no such promises when he signed to coach at Brooklyn in mid-season in 1938. As a Dodgers coach, Ruth took batting practice before Brooklyn's games, drawing large groups of spectators to see him hit batting practice home runs. Ruth even played in some in-season exhibition games for Brooklyn during that 1938 season. But the Babe renewed his feud with Leo Durocher, Brooklyn's captain and manager-in-waiting, an act that did not please the Brooklyn executives, and at the end of the '38 season, Ruth was released by Brooklyn, never again to be a player, coach, or manager for a Major League team.

The offered photo, measuring 8x10", shows Ruth in the midst of exuberant boys and men, in great spirits to be with The Sultan of Swat. The older gentleman, to Ruth's right, is unidentified. The photograph back has an International News Photo stamp and a suggested slug line, which reads, "AFTER RUTH RETURNED TO BASEBALL/TUCKAHOE, N. Y. ... His tailors were busy making up his new baseball uniform, so Babe Ruth, ... is shown ... on the golf links, here, as he was besieged by admirers who came to wish him good luck in his new baseball venture. He signed a $15,000 contract to serve on the coaching staff of the Brooklyn Dodgers of the National League. There is no clause in the agreement promising the Babe a boost up the ladder to the manager's job." The photo has a terrific vintage look, with Ruth in great two-toned spats and a young boy in front wearing knickers. The photo has some light crinkling in a few places, including two corners, but the offering is in overall very good condition.