Babe Ruth $$$

[egri]

Autograph collecting didn't take off until the 1920s, so the number of Ruth-signed baseballs from before then is probably negligible. Most were probably obtained in person, as I have a hard time imagining that in the Great Depression/World War II/immediate aftermath there were a significant number of people with the resources to mail baseballs to and from him. For the sake of argument, assume he signed 50 baseballs before each game during the season. 1920-1934 (his last full season) is 2,310 games, not including spring training, exhibitions and World Series. That works out to 115,500 baseballs. If the Leavy book is accurate, then that could easily add another 1,000 to each year's total, which would bring the total to 130,500. If he signed another 1,000 a year (3 a day, or a couple of those signings where he would knock out hundreds at a time), for the rest of his life, then that raises the number to 145,500. How many of those baseballs got The Sandlot treatment is anyone's guess, and of course the numbers I used are rough estimates; the true figure could well be higher or lower, and probably can't be stated with any degree of certainty.