Original 1919 Contract Of Sale Of Babe Ruth Up For Auction

[Bronco_Beerslug]

They had it on CNBC today. Last auctioned off at $99,000 in late 90s. They're expecting around .25 mil this time.

Some other items up for bid of Ruth's...

BABE RUTH 1920 GAME BAT SIGNED AND PRESENTED TO CHICAGO MAYOR WILLIAM “BIG BILL” THOMPSON
200,000—250,000 USD

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The most important document in the history of sports was executed on December 26, 1919. This five-page agreement sets forth the terms by which Harry Frazee, owner of the five-time World Champion Boston Red Sox, agreed to sell the services of player George Herman "Babe" Ruth to owner Jacob Ruppert and the New York Yankees. The total price agreed upon by both parties was $100,000, to be paid in four annual installments of $25,000 between 1919 and 1922. Consummating the transaction, both Frazee and Ruppert signed the final page in bold black fountain pen. It is additionally signed by notary public Byron Clark, Jr. as witness to the moment. Among the stipulations stated in the contract is the requirement that Ruth report to the Yankees by July 1, 1920, lest the agreement between the two teams become null and void.

Faneuil Hall could have been sold or the Old North Church or Fenway Park itself and Bostonians would have been no more shocked.

When they awoke on Jan. 6, 1920, and opened their morning newspapers, they discovered a landmark had been shipped to New York. The Babe was gone, sold by Red Sox owner and theatrical producer Harry Frazee.

“Boston's greatest baseball player has been cast adrift,” wrote John J. Hallahan in The Boston Globe that day. “George H. Ruth, the middle initial apparently standing for 'Hercules,' maker of home runs and the most colorful star in the game today, became the property of the New York Yankees yesterday afternoon.”

It’s been called “The Steal of the Century” for the New York Yankees and the seed of Boston’s fabled “Curse”. This December 26, 1919 agreement facilitating the sale of Babe Ruth from the Red Sox to the Yankees, not only changed the course of baseball history, it prompted a sea of change in both sports and popular culture that still resounds today. These reasons make this the most important sports document ever offered for sale.
http://search.sothebys.com/jsps/live...p?lot_id=4FRN2

[-Slap-]

“Boston's greatest baseball player has been cast adrift,” wrote John J. Hallahan in The Boston Globe that day. “George H. Ruth, the middle initial apparently standing for 'Hercules,' maker of home runs and the most colorful star in the game today, became the property of the New York Yankees yesterday afternoon.”

This guy sounds pretty bummed out. I doubt if even he could have predicted an 86 year drought.

That contract has no display value whatsoever. Give me one of his bats.......before one of those soulless baseball card companies can reduce it to wood chips and laminate it into 500 insert cards.