Iconic "Walter Kent" Babe Ruth Single Signed Baseball: Uniqu... - photo 1
Iconic "Walter Kent" Babe Ruth Single Signed Baseball: Uniqu... - photo 2
Iconic "Walter Kent" Babe Ruth Single Signed Baseball: Uniqu... - photo 3
Iconic "Walter Kent" Babe Ruth Single Signed Baseball: Uniqu... - photo 4
Iconic "Walter Kent" Babe Ruth Single Signed Baseball: Uniqu... - photo 5

Iconic "Walter Kent" Babe Ruth Single Signed Baseball: Uniqu...

Lot 82
16.12.2020 10:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Sold
$ 87 500
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 465333
Lot 82 | Iconic "Walter Kent" Babe Ruth Single Signed Baseball: Uniqu...
Estimate value
$ 50 000 – 75 000
Iconic "Walter Kent" Babe Ruth Single Signed Baseball: Unique and Important Photo Matched Example (PSA/DNA 5.5)

Babe Ruth's appreciation for his youngest fans is very well documented through countless stories, photographs, inscribed autographs, and period interviews. This is largely believed to have been borne of his own experience as a youth within the St. Mary's School for Boys in Baltimore during a turbulent childhood. Equally well documented are the exaggerative tales of mythical proportions relating to various moments in Ruth's career. In both instances there is usually a blend of fact and fiction. This too can leak into memorabilia related to the Babe as often the related stories tend to expand the boundaries of accuracy. There are however exceptions wherein the history of a particular item is of equal importance to the piece itself.

In April of 1931, an eleven year old young boy by the name of Walter Kent Jr. was being treated for a brain tumor at Boston's Peter Bent Brigham Hospital. The young man had undergone several surgeries and had gone blind but retained an energetic outlook that only an eleven year old could. It was at this time that Babe Ruth had been admitted to the very same hospital for an injury to a ligament in his leg sustained during a game at Fenway Park. Given Walter Kent's condition and his love of baseball, he was brought up to meet the Babe while recovering in his room. Ruth and the young man enjoyed the meeting and the Babe sent Walter "some fruit and candy" according to period newspaper accounts. A few days later Ruth was to leave the hospital and as such Walter Kent was brought to Ruth in order to say goodbye. The Babe presented the boy with the offered baseball in order to raise his spirits and as a memory of their meeting. The farewell encounter was relayed in a period newspaper account, "KENT: Thank you for the candy and flowers which you sent me. I hope you will be better soon. RUTH: You look out for yourself. Never mind about me. You get better right away." Ruth then signed the baseball for Kent, shook his hand, and said to the boy, "Well, good bye sonny. I hope I see you again sometime. And I hope you'll be much better when I do." Kent would retain the baseball as his most cherished possession. Just six years later, in 1937, Walter Kent Jr. passed away from his illness with this very baseball at his bedside. The ball itself is a light evenly toned E.Barnard AL baseball (1927-31 period) which displays the very autograph on its side panel, "To My Pal Walter Kent From Babe Ruth". Black fountain pen signature remains very strong rating 8 out of 10 overall. There are a few areas of the inscription and autograph with some relatively minor "flaking" but overall eye appeal is very fine.

Appropriately, in 1998 the baseball was donated by the family of Walter Kent Jr. to "Hearts and Hands" which was a Massachusetts based charity that helped kids affected with similar issues to Walter. The ball was sold to benefit the the charity for an unprecedented amount at the time of its offering. This particular Ruth autographed baseball may well be the most well documented examples of any which have entered the marketplace. Furthermore, it embodies the human spirit for which Babe Ruth is so beloved. It's history and original intent can only be matched by what it must have meant to Walter Kent during his courageous medical battle. An extremely special baseball artifact of the highest desirability. Includes full LOAs from PSA/DNA (Ball: 5, Autograph: 6, Overall: 5.5) and JSA, as well as several period newspaper articles relating to Kent and the baseball.

Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
16.12.2020 – 16.12.2020
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
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