Our auction partner was recently approached to sell an historically significant piece of Babe Ruth memorabilia. This payroll check (pictures below) was Babe Ruth’s first of the 1927 season. It compensated him $7,687.78 for his initial two-and-a-half weeks (“Salary Apr. 12th — 30th”), which included 15 games against the Athletics, Red Sox and Senators. Ruth waited until the fourth game—a 6-3 win over the A’s at Yankee Stadium on April 15th—to launch his inaugural round-tripper, and he added three more over the following night.
The check also deducts $2.55 for phone calls Ruth made from two significant locations: New York’s Hotel Alamac and St. Petersburg’s Princess Martha Hotel. In fact, according to a Miami News article from March 3, 1927, Ruth stayed at the Hotel Alamac while negotiating his three-year $210,000 contract with Yankee owner Jacob Ruppert:
“A small army of reporters, photographers and baseball fans met him in the Grand Central station. Babe posed for photographs on the observation platform of the train, waving his cap and grinning. Fans yelled at him as he passed out of the station. ‘Atta boy, Babe, get the $100,000, you’re worth it.’ On the train was a huge banner, ‘Babe Comes Home’ which, it was explained, is the title of the film in which he is starred by First National pictures. Similar banners appeared later at the Hotel Alamac where Babe reserved a suite by telephone after some difficulty with an employee who told the amazed idol of baseball he had never heard of him, but later that he thought he was ‘being kidded.'”
A St. Petersburg Times article from March 8, 1927, described Ruth’s arrival at the Princess Martha Hotel for spring training: “The Babe was greeted by a crowd of enthusiasts at the train early yesterday morning and escorted in state to the Princess Martha hotel. His first maneuver was to journey to the Jungle Country Club and shoot a few golf’s.”
The payroll check measures 3-1/4″ x 8-7/8″ and showcases minimally EX/MT condition with only slight toning and minor evidence of handling such as mild wrinkles and light fold marks—all of which is commensurate with cancelled bank checks. Ruth’s spectacular black-fountain-pen endorsement, “Geo. H. Ruth,” has been graded NM-MT 8 by PSA/DNA, and the complementary signatures of Ruppert and Ed Barrow are equally bold and impressive. Quite a piece of baseball history!
If you have a piece of Babe Ruth, Baseball or other sports memorabilia that you’d be interested in selling, let us know and we’ll be happy to research your piece and connect you with our auction partner!
Babe Ruth 1927 Payroll Check
Babe Ruth 1927 Payroll Check
