Was doing a little research on this photo that I recently won in the last REA.
I came to the realization that it's actually part of a set/series of photos produced by the Phototone Company of Chicago (not to be confused with the Phototone Company of Boston). Labeled c1917-19, I believe the Ruth was actually most likely part of a series produced in 1916 or early 1917 as Phototone was bankrupt and sold off all their assets prior to May 1917.
It's technically a type 3 photo as it was created from an original source photo to achieve the shaded-out background, not unlike the card creation process back then which also used source photos to achieve the final desired card image. Again, printed in 1916 or possibly early 1917.
I discovered other players that have sold in past auctions that all date to 1916 based on uniform styles - Hippo Vaughn & Charles Pechous of the Cubs and Ed Cicotte of the White Sox.
All have the same embossed blind stamp although on the Ruth the street address is also provided. Perhaps the Chicago based teams were series 1 followed by other players soon after?
Think these are the most "card-like" photographs (outside of cabinet photos) that I have ever seen since they were created as a set/series with shaded out backgrounds per the artist's intent. The Cicotte is actually the exact same image found on those 1919 reprint card sets.
Is there a Joe Jackson out there somewhere?