iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — The contract transferring Babe Ruth from the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees is going to auction, ESPN reports.
Josh Evans of auction house Lelands.com said the original copy of the December 1919 document “transcends everything,” and that it “changed America.” It represents the deal in which then-Red Sox owner Harry Frazee sold Ruth to the Yankees in a deal totaling $100,000. The Yankees also loaned another $300,000 to Frazee to complete the deal, using a mortgage on Boston’s Fenway Park. If Frazee defaulted on the loan, ESPN reports, the Yankees would have owned Fenway — Boston’s home field.
One original copy of the document, which was last sold for $996,000 in 2005, onced belonged to then-Yankees owner Jacob Ruppert, according to ESPN. Both Ruppert and Frazee’s originals were held by collector Barry Halper, until Evans visited his home in the early 1990s. Evans then purchased Frazee’s copy for $25,000, and it later auctioned in 1993 for $99,000.
Evans bought Ruppert’s version of the contract, and sold it to another collector for $150,000. After 25 years, that collector is now consigning Ruppert’s copy of Babe Ruth’s Yankees contract to Lelands for the currect auction.
Of collectible professional athletic documents, contracts involving Babe Ruth are among the most valuable, ESPN reports.
Lelands will also auction Ruth’s 1927 World Series ring, now believed to be owned by Charlie Sheen.
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