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Signed photo of Babe Ruth with my grandfather.

I have a picture of Babe Ruth holding my grandfather (he was three or four at the time) inside  Fenway Park in Boston. The photo is autographed by Ruth and dated April 18th, 1928. Ruth is wearing his Yankees uniform. 

The thing I don't understand is how the picture was taken and then autographed. I asked my mother and she said she believed my grandfather attended a game and had the picture taken and then returned to another game and had it signed. 

This photo has been in my mother's possession for at least forty years so I have no reason to believe it is a fake signature. 

She gave it to me a few years ago to do with it what I want. I am interested in selling it but have no idea how I should go about the process. I apologize if this is a very novice question for this forum but I did not know where else to go for advice. 

How would you recommend I go about selling this? I assume I need to have it authenticated first, but I have read a lot about the issues in authentication  industry. 

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Permalink Reply by Mike Kaminski on June 20, 2014 at 11:37am
Entirely up to you, but that's enough reason for me haha.

I'm sure some people will help you with value and if you're interested in selling it dirt cheap, I'm your guy ;)
Permalink Reply by terrier8HOF on June 20, 2014 at 12:36pm

Mike, please don't make a cut out of THIS one!  LOL

Permalink Reply by Mike Kaminski on June 20, 2014 at 1:10pm

It would look so much better matted and framed with Ruth's called shot though :(

Permalink Reply by Erich Jerozal on June 20, 2014 at 2:49pm

I wouldn't sell it.  If I didn't care for my grandfather.  I would pull a Mike Kam on it. 

Permalink Reply by Andrew Griffin on June 20, 2014 at 5:29pm

William, why were you trying to stifle your observations on this piece?

I came to this forum specifically to find out whether the signature was authentic, or at the very least get the opinions of some people here. I have no background in the sports memorabilia world and only found this site when looking up authentication services. 

I grew up with this photo hanging on the wall in one of the rooms of my house and my mother told me it was a picture of my grandfather, signed by Ruth. As I said from the beginning, aside from the story my mother told me about the photo, I have no idea of its origin. My mother has had no reason to decieve me about this photo, however, I do not know the story my grandmother told her about this photo. 

If this is not Ruth's signature or even a photo of my grandfather, I would have no problem with it. The only thing that  I want to be clear is that I am not coming here with any ulterior motive, deliberately trying to deceive people. I'm not saying that you are implying this but I can't tell with the tone of your post. 

Permalink Reply by Andrew Griffin on June 24, 2014 at 12:35pm

William, 

Thank you for your observations, this is in fact why I came to this forum. 

My biggest question at this point is how to proceed? 

You stated that this is not a genuine Ruth signature and also that you have seen this photo before either in a book or at a show. 

I spoke with my mother over the weekend to ask her some more questions about the photo. 

She explained that she was given the photo in the 1960's by her mother as she was the only one of my grandmother's four daughters who had any interest in baseball. Up until that point my mother said the photo had always been in their house. 

She assured me that to the best of her knowledge the young boy in the photo was her father (my maternal grandfather) and has no reason to believe otherwise. 

As I said in the beginning of this post, I am just not sure where to go with this. If this photo is not in fact a genuine Ruth signature and a photo of my grandfather, it has little to no value and I would have no issue simply getting rid of it. 

I am at a point where I still don't know if this is a genuine signature or not. While I respect your opinion, I am not sure I am ready to end my investigation on the authenticity of this signature yet. If I were have a consensus of respected authenticator's that would change. Can you recommend other individuals or company's who I can contact to acquire their opinion on the signature?

Thank you. 

Permalink Reply by David S on June 24, 2014 at 1:37pm

Just seeing the pictures today...I agree with William in that it looks off.  my first thought was that I have never seen an authentic Ruth where the t was crossed left to right ( a tip I learned on this site, from William, when i was looking to purchase a Ruth autograph)...The signature has faded quite a bit, so it may look different in person, but it definitely looks like the t was crossed that way...

William is very knowledgeable on Ruth autographs, so I trust his opinion.

You can always list it on ebay (for a really high $ Buy-it-now or best offer) and get a PSA/DNA quick opinion for $10.  

Permalink Reply by michelle on June 25, 2014 at 1:10am

Hi Andrew,

I myself have no clue as to what his signature should look like, authentic or non authentic ; - but like the other chap who commented , William is very, very knowledgable , & I would trust his opinion far more than some of the TPA .  There was a brilliant article to do with Ruth forgeries which was posted up this weekend; - altho I can't remember what its called; - something like Hauls of shame I think.  I am not very computer literate so can't find it but I am sure someone else will put it up which doesn't appear to show the TPA in very good light as they just see the $$$$$$$ when they spot a Ruth even if they believe it to be questionable

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