Babe Ruth

Why Babe Ruth? Perhaps it has to do with the nostalgia of owning a piece of baseball history when athletes were not the well-chiseled, steroid-raging monsters of today.

It was an era when chewing tobacco and alcohol were the most dangerous substances available to players. Incidentally, neither substance has been attributed to performance enhancement by any stretch of the imagination. Babe was a jolly round fellow with a penchant for alcohol and fast women and a member of one of the most storied franchises in sport, the New York Yankees.

Babe Ruth was part of a generation of players that worked full-time jobs in the off-season and were not always by-products of amateur clubs that serve as incubators for the pro leagues like today. Many of these players were involved in both World Wars and suffered through the great depression, further making them iconic as they served as superheroes of the working class.

Like all things vintage, there is an aura about owning something that was around when your grandfather was a young man. While my grandfather lived thousands of miles away in India and Africa, he sadly never heard of Babe Ruth, but he did remember the strife the world faced during the first and second World Wars. As a young boy blessed to have him move near me in Canada, I always cherished the stories that my grandfather would tell me. He spoke with passion about how people made-do with what they had, and left no stone unturned when it came to providing for their families. To put it bluntly, life was very tough.

My grandfather passed away in 2007. With great care, I pore over my Babe Ruth game used bat card, and immediately the thoughts of those who we loved and lost appear in my mind.

I think about my grandfather every day.

Blog Post Inspiration:
Manufacturer: Breygent
Year: 2010 Movie Posters
Attributes: Game Used Bat Card
Card Status: Will be kept in my personal collection