Back in 1997 New York Yankees pitcher David "Boomer" Wells made big news by buying a 1934 game-used Babe Ruth hat and attempting to wear it in a game while pitching against the Cleveland Indians at Yankee Stadium (Click Here) before manager Joe Torre made him take it off after the top of the first inning. Wells later sold the hat for $537,278 at auction and donated the money to renovate the baseball fields at his former Pt. Loma, High School in San Diego, CA. To this date there are fewer than five surviving Babe Ruth caps like the one bought and sold by Wells including the spectacular specimen offered here. In the baseball year of 1932 when the mighty Babe was in the twilight of his mythical career "The Sultan of Swat" conjured all the muscle he could muster, and with his "Iron Horse" teammate Lou Gehrig and the rest of the "Bronx Bombers" formidable "Murderer's Row" carried the Yankees first Dynasty team to its fourth World Series title and seventh Fall Classic appearance in 12 years. The Babe hit 41 home runs with a 137 RBI and a .341 batting average in what amounted to his last great season in 1932, delivering on his famous "Called Shot," (his 15th and final World Series home run) off Chicago Cubs hurler Charlie Root in Game Three of the Series at Wrigley Field. The Babe wore this remarkably familiar looking classic New York Yankees cap during the 1932 season and is one of the earliest if not oldest Ruth caps known to exist. With a superlative lineage of provenance unparalleled by any Ruth cap previously offered for sale it was originally presented from the personal collection of legendary Yankees manager Joe McCarthy as a gift to a young newspaper delivery boy named Robert O'Brian in McCarthy's adopted home town of Buffalo, New York. The historic cap is accompanied by copies of letters signed by O'Brian and McCarthy as well as a fantastically detailed, hand-written four-page diary account of their interactions serving as a letter of provenance for the cap authored by O'Brian on lined three-ring loose-leaf paper and dated November 14, 2003 with an accompanying envelope post marked November 15, 2003. "They [the McCarthy's] had no children and we just seemed to take to one another," recalled O'Brian, also referencing that many times Mrs. McCarthy would tap on the window when he was passing by and invite him in for some "of the chicken she was preparing for dinner. I always looked forward to this treat," wrote O'Brian also recounting a time he was invited to a dinner party where McCarthy introduced him to "Gehrig, Dr. DeFoe, who delivered the Dionne quintuplets, Quinton Reynolds-sports writer-Rabbit Maranville-an old time ballplayer-and others whose names I have forgotten. As Gehrig was passing me with a tray of hors d'ouevres he said 'here Bobby, have one of these things' -I was thrilled." Sometime during the beginning of the 1932 season Mrs. McCarthy, who coincidentally also went by the nickname "Babe," must have told young Robert that she would be giving him a baseball signed by members of the Yankees team. A photo copy of a typed letter written by Babe McCarthy to O'Brian is post marked April 25, 1932 and reads as follows: "Dear Bob; Just be patient and you will have the baseball that I promised you, but not until I return home in May. I won't forget you, and I know that you will be a good boy and live up to your part. You not only will have the auto-graphs of Mr. McCarthy -Gehrig and Ruth, but the greater part of the Club. Sincerely, Mrs. McCarthy [hand signed]. As a Buffalo Evening News paperboy O'Brian won a contest after registering 12 new subscribers that earned him a trip to Cleveland to see an Indians game against the Yankees at League Park. O'Brian visited with McCarthy in the visitor's dugout and a photo of the two of them was published in the paper, a copy of which is also included her, identifies O'Brian as being 13 at the time. "During this time in the dugout Joe introduced me to Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig (Gehrig was Joe's favorite). Incidentally the original game was rained out and we saw a doubleheader the next day," wrote O'Brian." We have O'Brian's remarkable memory to thank for pin-pointing the date of the doubleheader he mentioned taking place on July 27, 1932. Babe Ruth was given the first game off and the Yankees lost a quickly played game (1:49) by the score of 2-1 with Frank Crosetti driving in Earle Combs with the Yankees only run. The Yankees also lost the second game in 12-10 slugfest despite racking up 21 hits. Ruth appeared as a pinch-hitter walking in his lone at-bat. It appears that Ruth may have been nursing an injury as he made only single plate-appearances in four consecutive games dating back to July 21 but he was back in the lineup the next day going a typical Ruthian 3-4 with two home runs and 7 RBI. During the remainder of the season and other seasons to follow McCarthy would give O'Brian and his father tickets to games in the nearby cities of Cleveland and Detroit and dine with them at the visiting team hotels often introducing "Bobby" to Yankees players like Joe DiMaggio and presenting him with gifts in the form of baseball artifacts and souvenirs. On the third page of his diary account O'Brian wrote: "Among some of the memorabilia Joe gave me was Babe Ruth's cap, Wiltsie [sic] Moore's uniform (which was stolen when my family moved during the war), several autographed baseballs signed by Ruth, Gehrig, Gomez, Dickey, Crosetti, Lazzeri, Keller, and the rest of the team." O'Brian enjoyed a long standing friendship with McCarthy in the decades to follow and he closed his four-page memoir with the following passage. "My memories of Joe McCarthy will live with me for the rest of my life and when he passed away in 1978 I felt as though I had lost my second father. The only remaining memorabilia I have is a personalized baseball signed by Joe in 1933." The 1932 Babe Ruth cap was purchased from O'Brian by a Buffalo area collector for $6,600 in 1988 (not an extravagant sum by today's standards but an entire Ruth uniform could be purchased for $10,00 back then). A photo copy of a type-written letter signed by O'Brian reads: "To whom it may concern: This will confirm that I Robert L. O'Brian was given the following listed baseball memorabilia by Joseph V. McCarthy, former manager of the New York Yankees. 1. Babe Ruth baseball cap 2. Baseball with signatures of early 1930s Yankees 7. A photo of the 1932 World Champion Yankees with player and other names signed by Joe McCarthy. Signed: Robert L. O'Brian Date: June 28, 1989 (Items 3, 4, 5 and 6 have been deleted most likely because they were not included in a previous transaction that occurred in 1989) The letter is also signed by a witness on the same date. While we cannot confirm when Mrs. McCarthy presented Robert O'Brian with the promised autographed ball it stands to reason this cap was worn by Babe Ruth during the 1932 season. The Spalding manufacturers label is embossed into the interior leather headband. Spalding was the official manufacturer of Yankees caps during this time frame (1929-1932) and this cap compares favorably with a Miller Huggins (former Yankees manager) cap donated by former Yankees general manager Ed Barrow to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Both the Ruth and Huggins caps contain a white strip tag with their names printed in the same font and affixed at the same location on the interior band. The Huggins cap accompanied a pre-1929 (numberless) Yankees uniform (the Yankees began the practice of attaching numbers to uniform jerseys in 1929). Huggins also died in 1929. Another cap (circa 1931-1932) formerly belonging to Ruth's teammate Tony Lazzeri which had been gifted by manager McCarthy and recently sold by the family contains the same stitch outline where the name label had previously fallen off from use. This six-panel, white thread, short brim, navy colored cap matches correct construction for the era supported by photographic images and contains the Yankees original interlocking NY logo in white with a few missing stitches and some splitting of the material at the edges of the brim. The size 7 1/8 -7 3/8-inch cap (consistent with Ruth's reported cap sizes in the Mears database) has been repaired and stabilized by a company that specializes in preserving historical artifacts for museums. Some white paint speckles have been removed from the edge of the brim/visor. The partially torn white "B. Ruth" strip tag has been stabilized with sheer fabric overlay and stitches (that can be removed if desired but were employed to ensure that the identifying label was not damaged). The interior 1" x 1" leather head band has also been stabilized and the cap presents as one of the finest Ruth hats on market with extremely superlative provenance and comes with a detaled letter of authenticity form MEARS. (For those not familiar, MEARS does NOT grade hats on a 1-10 scale like jerseys. An item is either authentic or it fails) All documentation is available upon request.

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by Goldin Auctions
July 31, 2015 8:30 PM CDT
9701 W Bryn Mawr Ave
Rosemont, IL, US 60018

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$500 $999 $50
$1,000 $2,499 $100
$2,500 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $29,999 $2,000
$30,000 $49,999 $3,000
$50,000 $99,999 $5,000
$100,000 $199,999 $10,000
$200,000 $299,999 $20,000
$300,000 $499,999 $30,000
$500,000 $999,999 $50,000
$1,000,000 + $100,000