Auction Item Details
Lot 230
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Lot Number: 230
Description: Historic 1946 Babe Ruth "Manage the Yankees" letter to Larry MacPhail. September 20, 1946 dated typewritten file copy letter (as retained by Babe Ruth) addressed to Larry S. MacPhail, then team President and a part owner of the New York Yankees. Content reads in part, "Having seen no official release as yet, regarding a successor you may appoint to succeed Bill Dickey as manager of the Yankees, I thought it a proper time to write and ask if you would be good enough to grant me an interview to discuss my chances of managing the Yankees...I feel it would be a fitting and happy climax to my baseball career to manage the club that I was so successful with as a player. I know that I have the knowledge and ability to handle and instruct young as well as seasoned ball players...I want it to be said that you are the man who gave me the first chance to realize my one ambition and that is to manage the Yankees..." As early as 1929, with the passing of Miller Huggins, Ruth is known to have approached the Yankees about taking over as Manager and it is well known that he repeated the request in the years that followed. As his playing days were winding down The Babe let it be known amongst a number of clubs that he was looking to take over managerial duties however, team owners were all of like mindset which is best summed up by the words of Ed Barrow: "How can he manage other men when he can't even manage himself?". Though retirement was filled with golf tournaments and exhibition games Ruth longed for a return to the game that he loved and this letter, sent just two years prior to his passing, marks his final appeal. Unsigned with some light scattered wear and a horizontal fold at center. Includes letter of provenance from the Ruth Family: EXEstimated Price Range: ($5,000-$10,000)
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