Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig Autographed Baseball.

RUTH, Babe and Lou Gehrig.

Item Number: 79843

Spalding Official League Special baseball, signed by Yankee legends, Babe Ruth on the sweetspot and Lou Gehrig on the west panel. Lindenhurst NY Oct 18 1930 appears on the north panel in an unknown hand. For the fishing village of Lindenhurst, Long Island, this 1930 exhibition game with Ruth and Gehrig (avid fishermen themselves) was regarded as the greatest sporting event in local history—and it remains so to this day. First, the Yankee legends were honored with a parade fit for kings. Then, more than 4,000 star-struck spectators gathered at Meridale Baseball Park for a contest between their Lindenhurst ball club (managed by Babe’s fishing buddy Addie Klein) and the Ruth/Gehrig all-star squad. What ultimately stole all the headlines was the Bambino’s ninth-inning moon shot, reported here by the Lindenhurst Star newspaper: “The second pitch was shoulder-high, and that’s where Ruth likes ’em. He took a healthy swing and ‘crack’ went the bat as the ball went sailing out over the rightfielder’s head! The ball landed just in back of the Old Homestead Inn, corner Wellwood Avenue and Montauk Highway, and was said to be the longest drive ever seen on the home grounds…The most famous ballplayer in the world just grinned as he trotted at a slow pace around to third base where he halted, not wishing to continue on to home plate, apparently satisfied with the triple.” (In addition to Ruth’s gesture of sportsmanship and humility, Gehrig is said to have donated his financial compensation to the Lindenhurst team.) According to the Village of Lindenhurst website: It was a cold, windy October day at the Meridale Baseball Park at West Montauk Highway and South Second Street. But nothing could keep the crowds away on that brisk fall day of 1930. That was the day Babe Ruth came to Lindenhurst. Accompanied by other big-leaguers such as Lou Gehrig, Ruth played an exhibition game against Addie Klein’s Lindenhurst Nine, an amateur baseball club. Bundled up in blankets and overcoats, none of the 4,000 fans seemed to mind that the local team got beat by Ruth and his cohorts by a score of 10-4.

Arguably one of the best baseball teams in history, the 1927 New York Yankees club was so consistent its roster went virtually unchanged throughout the entire season. The team acquired the nickname Murderers' Row to particularly describe the first six hitters of the lineup: Earle Combs, Mark Koenig, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Bob Meusel, and Tony Lazzeri.