NonSports Forum

Net54baseball.com
Welcome to Net54baseball.com. These forums are devoted to both Pre- and Post- war baseball cards and vintage memorabilia, as well as other sports. There is a separate section for Buying, Selling and Trading - the B/S/T area!! If you write anything concerning a person or company your full name needs to be in your post or obtainable from it. . Contact the moderator at leon@net54baseball.com should you have any questions or concerns. When you click on links to eBay on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network. Enjoy!
Net54baseball.com
Net54baseball.com
T206s on eBay
Babe Ruth Cards on eBay
t206 Ty Cobb on eBay
Ty Cobb Cards on eBay
Lou Gehrig Cards on eBay
Baseball T201-T217 on eBay
Baseball E90-E107 on eBay
T205 Cards on eBay
Baseball Postcards on eBay
Goudey Cards on eBay
Baseball Memorabilia on eBay
Baseball Exhibit Cards on eBay
Baseball Strip Cards on eBay
Baseball Baking Cards on eBay
Sporting News Cards on eBay
Play Ball Cards on eBay
Joe DiMaggio Cards on eBay
Mickey Mantle Cards on eBay
Bowman 1951-1955 on eBay
Football Cards on eBay

Go Back   Net54baseball.com Forums > Net54baseball Main Forum - WWII & Older Baseball Cards > Net54baseball Sports (Primarily) Vintage Memorabilia Forum incl. Game Used

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 11-13-2014, 05:44 PM
jerseygary's Avatar
jerseygary jerseygary is offline
G@ry Cier@dkowski
Member
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Northern Kentucky
Posts: 845
Default Babe Ruth Locker Tags



Has anyone come across these? They are listed in various auctions as circa 1930 and that 3 were issued every year to each player. Plausible story, but I have only ever seen Babe Ruth ones (the one shown is from a Huggins and Scott auction). Surely a Lefty Gomez or Lou Gehrig or some other Yankee would have survived, right? I stopped counting at 4 different Ruth ones that have surfaced.

Anyone see another player besides The Babe?
__________________
MY BASEBALL CARD PROJECT:
www.studiogaryc.com/baseball-blog/
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 11-13-2014, 08:20 PM
MK's Avatar
MK MK is offline
Mike Kendall
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Indiana
Posts: 570
Default

I have seen these come up many times in various auctions. My guess is they were produced after Ruth's death as a momento. Too many of them have surfaced to be the real thing.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 11-14-2014, 07:40 AM
packs packs is offline
Member
 
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 8,317
Default

Could it be possible that they were simply given out to fans as a souvenir? I seem to remember they kept Ruth's locker untouched for a while after he retired and died.

What I'm thinking is they had tours and fans were given tags to Ruth's locker as a souvenir. That is if my memory serves me well and they did display his locker for some time.

Last edited by packs; 11-14-2014 at 07:48 AM.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 11-14-2014, 12:45 PM
ooo-ribay's Avatar
ooo-ribay ooo-ribay is offline
Rob
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Salt Lake
Posts: 4,844
Default

I wondered about those, myself. With as many as are floating around, isn't it a bit odd the major, reputable auction houses continue to represent these as "one of a kind, held in Ruth's hand," etc?
__________________
if you can help with SF Giants items (no cards), let me send you my wantlist!
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 11-14-2014, 01:34 PM
jerseygary's Avatar
jerseygary jerseygary is offline
G@ry Cier@dkowski
Member
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Northern Kentucky
Posts: 845
Default

Yeah I agree it's odd. You'd think if these were legit at least one other player's tags would have popped up on the market - as far as I can tell none have. But these keep selling for crazy prices. I'd hate to think some guy in Astoria, Queens is making them on some old tag maker device in his garage!
__________________
MY BASEBALL CARD PROJECT:
www.studiogaryc.com/baseball-blog/
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 11-14-2014, 03:28 PM
packs packs is offline
Member
 
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 8,317
Default

Ruth's locker was in Yankee stadium until at least 1948. There are photos of him visiting his locker during his final trip to the stadium. I would like to see if anyone can find an article or advertisement for visiting the Yankee locker room. They do these types of tours today and I'd have to think they did similar ones in the past as well, especially since everything seemed much more accessible back then. If I were to lay some money down I'd say these tags were purchased or given away as souvenirs for people who visited the clubhouse, if they aren't fantasy pieces.

Last edited by packs; 11-14-2014 at 03:29 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 11-14-2014, 05:02 PM
baseball tourist's Avatar
baseball tourist baseball tourist is offline
Chris Wood
Member
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Vancouver, BC. Canada
Posts: 1,707
Default Lelands

Perhaps Lelands had the most plausible description back in 2003?

"2” gold pendant is like the one used to label the most famous locker at Yankee Stadium, home to the great Bambino’s spikes, glove, & uniform. Tag is EX. Engraved with “Babe Ruth 3” on one side, “Yankee Stadium Locker 3 The Bronx, New York” on the other. This is believed to have been produced after Ruth’s career. Possibly given out by the Yankees as some sort of keepsake."

http://www.lelands.com/auction/Aucti...uth-Locker-Tag
__________________
Looking for Toronto baseball items. Please contact me at chris@pacmedia.ca
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 11-14-2014, 05:11 PM
Jay Wolt's Avatar
Jay Wolt Jay Wolt is offline
qualitycards
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Gettysburg PA area
Posts: 2,924
Default

Even w/ Lelands disclosure in their 2003 auction, it still brought in $1600
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 11-14-2014, 06:34 PM
sporteq's Avatar
sporteq sporteq is offline
ΛLβΞℜ₮
Member
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: €Δ
Posts: 635
Default

IMO- most of the recent tags that have surfaced are phony, to me anyhow. Like you, why such a influx of tags all Babe Ruth? I have seen NO other Yankee sample.
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 11-15-2014, 04:17 AM
Scott Garner's Avatar
Scott Garner Scott Garner is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Midwest
Posts: 6,597
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jay Wolt View Post
Even w/ Lelands disclosure in their 2003 auction, it still brought in $1600
A reward for honest disclosure, eh?
Reply With Quote
  #11  
Old 11-15-2014, 09:38 AM
sayhey24's Avatar
sayhey24 sayhey24 is offline
Member
 
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 1,412
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by sporteq View Post
IMO- most of the recent tags that have surfaced are phony, to me anyhow. Like you, why such a influx of tags all Babe Ruth? I have seen NO other Yankee sample.
I don't think these are genuine tags off of Ruth's locker, but I do think there's a chance they are vintage period pieces made as souvenirs or giveaways, maybe for a specific day or event.

If someone was making these in recent years to defraud and make money, I can't imagine why they wouldn't double their money and make Lou Gehrig tags as well. So the fact that we only see Ruth tags makes me think that they may not be modern fakes.

Greg
Reply With Quote
  #12  
Old 11-15-2014, 11:23 AM
ooo-ribay's Avatar
ooo-ribay ooo-ribay is offline
Rob
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Salt Lake
Posts: 4,844
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jay Wolt View Post
Even w/ Lelands disclosure in their 2003 auction, it still brought in $1600
You know Ruth/Yankee collectors
__________________
if you can help with SF Giants items (no cards), let me send you my wantlist!
Reply With Quote
  #13  
Old 11-15-2014, 09:51 PM
sporteq's Avatar
sporteq sporteq is offline
ΛLβΞℜ₮
Member
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: €Δ
Posts: 635
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by sayhey24 View Post
I don't think these are genuine tags off of Ruth's locker, but I do think there's a chance they are vintage period pieces made as souvenirs or giveaways, maybe for a specific day or event.

If someone was making these in recent years to defraud and make money, I can't imagine why they wouldn't double their money and make Lou Gehrig tags as well. So the fact that we only see Ruth tags makes me think that they may not be modern fakes.

Greg
My take is.. Why didn't we see this many tags in the past 20 years? I saw only handful within that time period (20 years) Now, in the past few years I've seen dozens of these tags surface.. Could they keep recycling, who knows. I believe they've been made in the last decade.

As far as Gehrig tag, I think Babe Ruth's items are far more replicated and far more superior in price.. So why settle and create anything less, hence the mass production of these tags. But who knows what a forger thinks.

Albert
Reply With Quote
  #14  
Old 11-16-2014, 07:08 AM
Huysmans Huysmans is offline
Br.ent So.bie
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 1,013
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by sporteq View Post
My take is.. Why didn't we see this many tags in the past 20 years? I saw only handful within that time period (20 years) Now, in the past few years I've seen dozens of these tags surface.. Could they keep recycling, who knows. I believe they've been made in the last decade.

As far as Gehrig tag, I think Babe Ruth's items are far more replicated and far more superior in price.. So why settle and create anything less, hence the mass production of these tags. But who knows what a forger thinks.

Albert
Agreed Albert. Plus any semi intelligent forger who's done his homework would realize that to flood the market with tags for a number of different Yankees, when none have existed in the past, would raise the red flags of too many collectors. For Ruth though, let's be honest, it's different, many collectors will risk the chance of authenticity to possibly own a piece of the babe.
Just my two cents.

Brent
Reply With Quote
  #15  
Old 11-17-2014, 02:32 PM
Bob Lemke's Avatar
Bob Lemke Bob Lemke is offline
Bob Lemke
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Iola, Wis.
Posts: 646
Default

These are very reminiscent of the fantasy brothel tokens that were a plague on the numismatic hobby in the 1970s.

whorehouse.jpg
__________________
My (usually) vintage baseball/football card blog: http://boblemke.blogspot.com

Link to my custom cards gallery:
http://tinyurl.com/customcards
Reply With Quote
  #16  
Old 11-18-2014, 10:00 AM
jgmp123 jgmp123 is offline
James Graham
James Gra.ham
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Greenwood, Indiana
Posts: 1,855
Default

With Babe's original locker now being in the Hall of Fame, why wouldn't these accompany it if authentic....
__________________
"What I have done after my baseball career -- being able to help people with their lives and getting their lives back on track so they become productive human beings again -- that means more to me than all the things I did in baseball" - Don Newcombe

https://www.collectorfocus.com/collection/jgmp123
Reply With Quote
  #17  
Old 11-24-2014, 05:02 PM
steve B steve B is offline
Steve Birmingham
Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: eastern Mass.
Posts: 8,083
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob Lemke View Post
These are very reminiscent of the fantasy brothel tokens that were a plague on the numismatic hobby in the 1970s.

Attachment 168242
That one is cool because it's so obviously fake. If it was in a dollar box I'd at least have it in the "maybe" stack.

But I remember seeing others that were far less obvious - at least until the people who dealt in them realized that having them out on the table for kids to look at wasn't a good idea.

Steve B
Reply With Quote
  #18  
Old 11-24-2014, 05:14 PM
steve B steve B is offline
Steve Birmingham
Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: eastern Mass.
Posts: 8,083
Default

These locker tags have always seemed to me as being like the tags used by large machine shops. If the machinist needed some expensive bit of equipment he'd get it from the tool room but would have to leave a tag with his name or employee number. That way if it went missing they knew who to ask first.

Machinists were a rather mobile bunch. Our machining prof talked about one guy who would feel overworked and underappreciated and simply roll his toolbox out the door at lunch or coffee break and get hired across the street or down the block. A few months later he'd be back, roll in and get to work as if nothing had happened.

I can't really picture the team making Ruth sign out any sort of equipment. Maybe they had a tag to let some manager know who was in the bathroom? Which makes no sense either. 1920's they'd probably just knock and ask if they even bothered with a door.

Steve B
Reply With Quote
Reply



Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Babe Ruth Locker Tag gomer183 Net54baseball Sports (Primarily) Vintage Memorabilia Forum incl. Game Used 1 03-24-2012 10:30 AM
Ty Cobb signed photo, Munson locker tag, Ruth photo negative, and more joshn Net54baseball Sports (Primarily) Vintage Memorabilia Forum incl. Game Used 0 05-02-2011 11:56 AM


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 05:16 AM.


ebay GSB