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Lot # 804: Beautiful 1948 Babe Ruth Signed "The Babe Ruth Story" Book to Steve Broidy - President of Allied Artists who Produced the Movie! (PSA)

Category: Ruth and Gehrig

Starting Bid: $5,000.00

Bids: 3 (Bid History)

Time Left: Auction closed
Lot / Auction Closed




This lot is closed. Bidding is not allowed.

Item was in Auction "Fall Classic 2022",
which ran from 11/20/2022 7:00 PM to
12/10/2022 10:00 PM



Offered is a fantastic opportunity to possess an extremely rare Babe Ruth autographed copy of his autobiography, "The Babe Ruth Story," which was an "as told to" book written with Bob Considine. Ruth signed the book in 1948, the same year that the inaugural Hall of Famer passed away. The book was used as a basis for the Hollywood movie of the same name that starred William Bendix as the Babe. The signed book makes a wonderful and valuable collectible. There is a photo on the back cover that shows both Ruth and Considine. Ruth has signed and inscribed the book on a flyleaf with his usual big and bold signature and inscription, in his elegant handwriting, with blue ink from a fountain pen, which reads, "To Steve Broidy From Babe Ruth." Broidy was a film producer who at that time headed Hollywood's United Artists - the movie company that produced The Babe Ruth Story film. In addition, Broidy was also a noted humanitarian who had a role in the merging of the Cedars and Sinai hospitals in Los Angeles. The book is 250 pages, and it has 49 photographs and cartoon endpapers. The autobiography covers Ruth's life from his early days at the St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys in Baltimore, Maryland, through his amazing career and into his years after his retirement. Although Bob Considine, a famous author and columnist, is listed on the book's cover, fellow writer Fred Lieb, who had covered Ruth's career from the Babe's early days with the Yankees, was also heavily involved in the writing. Because Ruth was already suffering from throat cancer and did not have the stamina for extended interviews, Lieb supplied as much information as possible about the Babe to Considine. The book came out in May of 1948. Before the tome's release, an eight-part series of excerpts from the autobiography were run in the weekly Saturday Evening Post, a magazine read by millions. Thus, when the book was released, great interest in the biography spurned sales, and the book became a best seller, spurred on by the Babe's passing away on August 16, 1948, just months after the book's release. The Babe Ruth Story was the first baseball book to become a New York Times bestseller, and it stayed a bestseller for three weeks. When he retired, the Bambino held a 96-45 record as a pitcher and the record for the most consecutive shutout innings in the World Series, with 29.2. That same great pitcher became an even greater hitter, retiring with the single season MLB record for home runs at 60 and the Major League lifetime home run record of 714. Ruth is the consensus baseball GOAT, the greatest of all-time. And because the release of The Babe Ruth Story was shortly before his death and because the Babe was ill at the time, signed copies of this autobiography are precious because of their extreme rarity. The signed book comes with a PSA Letter of Authentication.

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