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Babe Ruth's First Ever Major League Game Program
Once in awhile you find a "must have" piece of memorabilia for your collection. Perhaps once in a lifetime you have an opportunity to own a one-of-a-kind piece of baseball history. This is that opportunity. What you are looking at is the only item to ever surface from Babe Ruth's very first Major League game. This is a program from the July 11, 1914 Saturday afternoon game at Fenway Park, where the Boston Red Sox played host to the Cleveland Naps (later, the Cleveland Indians). Ruth's services were purchased four days earlier from the Baltimore Orioles of the International League, and he arrived in Boston just hours before the game. One of the 11,087 fans attending penciled Ruth in as the starter, and scored the center scorecard completely, showing us the details of this monumental contest. The Babe pitched seven innings, scattering eight hits and giving up three runs in the 4-3 victory. At the plate, he was 0-for-2, striking out in his first at-bat, and was pinch-hit for in the seventh by Duffy Lewis, who would eventually score the winning run that inning. Duffy would take the field in the eighth along with Dutch Leonard, who replaced Ruth on the mound. A number of Hall of Famers were on the field that day in addition to Ruth, including Nap Lajoie, Tris Speaker, and umpire Tom Connolly. Shoeless Joe Jackson and Ray Chapman were also in the game. The program itself is strong, with tight staples holding the cover (1" by 1/2" paper lose on the right side). Content is Very Good, as its (16) pages are complete with bold printing and light toning. The cover has some wear with chipping, a bit of paper loss, and some foxing at the bottom left and right side corners. The flaws do little to detract from this museum-caliber piece, arguably the most significant program the sport collecting world has ever seen.
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