Card ID, the Babe?

[cincicards]

Just picked this card up, anybody have any info about it, the card measures 4" X 5.25"? The patent on the back of the card indicates a 1930's issue.

[Kawika]

Don't know the issue but it looks like the Babe.

[Butch7999]

Hi Randall, your card belongs to a very scarce boardgame, Home Base Ball: The National Game, produced by a Richmond, Virginia outfit that identified itself variously as "Home Baseball Corporation" and "The Home Base Ball Company." The game had long been identified as a 1922 product, but the 1936 patent (first we've had a look at that detail -- thanks) strongly suggests it is indeed actually from the mid-late-1930s.

Although the card image sure does look like the Bambino, the game's box lid carries the names of several luminaries, none of them the Babe: "Endorsed by / John McGraw / Buck Herzog / Jack Onslow / Eddie Dyer / and others," it says.

[cincicards]

Thanks for the info, it looks pretty much like a copy of the Briggs pose.

babe-back.jpg

[Butch7999]

In turn based on, if we're not delusional, a well-known action photo of the Babe, although we can't place the actual source. Photograph or Bambino experts, any help on that?

[Butch7999]

This would be the photo we were thinking of:


Anyone on board have the date that was taken, or know the identity of the photographer, or recognize the venue?

[Exhibitman]

It is an early 1920s uniform. The Yankees got rid of the pinstriped hat around 1925 I think.

[brickyardkennedy]

It's the Polo Grounds. I have seen the photo dated 1921, though I don't recall the source.

[brickyardkennedy]

Second row down, two from the left:

http://tinyurl.com/y87urch

[Butch7999]

Thanks for the help so far, gentlemen. The Getty site labels all the photos on that page "1920" or "1921" (clearly misleading at best -- many obviously date from much later), but we were confident someone here could identify the stadium with its distinctive grandstand and "Hotel Commodore" sign (also seen on that page in row 1, pic 1, and row 8, pic 2). And as that would be the Polo Grounds, at least we know the photo dates from earlier than 1923 (which may be the reason the boardgame was labelled a 1922 product by other collectors).

Further details on the photo are still most welcome...

[Abravefan11]

The photo has to be 1921 as that was the only season the Yankees wore the white pinstripe hat while Ruth was playing for New York.

Edit: It should be the Polo Grounds as the white cap was only worn with the home uniform.