The Record (Troy, NY)

A tale of two bats, and Babe Ruth’s 60th HR

- By Vin A. Cherwoo

NEW YORK » As part of its collection of Babe Ruth items, the Baseball Hall of Fame says it has the bat the slugger used to hit his then-record 60th home run in 1927.

A private collector also claims to own the bat, and he’s selling it at auction. PSA/DNA, one of the leading sports memorabili­a authentica­tors, supports his assertion.

The dispute dates back more than 90 years to the original owner of each bat and how he professed to acquire it.

The bat being sold by the anonymous collector can be traced back to Joe E. Brown, the entertaine­r and vaudeville comedian with whom Ruth had a friendship. Brown said Ruth, who had presented him with the bat coming out at Christmas time.”

The bat in the Hall of Fame was given to the museum by sports writer James Kahn in 1939, and Kahn was quoted in the Otsego Farmer — a newspaper in Cooperstow­n, where the Hall of Fame is located — as saying at the time that thenYankee­s manager Miller Huggins gave him the bat after the game on Sept. 30, 1927.

Taube, who has done extensive research on Ruth’s bats, doesn’t dispute Kahn was given a bat after that game, but he doesn’t believe it was the one used for the record-breaking homer.

“It’s very unlikely that on Sept. 30, Miller Huggins comes down into the locker room and says, ‘ Babe, give me the bat that you broke the record with’ and then he hands it to a beat writer,” Taube said. “And we just think it was very unlikely Huggins came out of the dugout and handed him THE bat. He handed him a bat, there’s no question about that. Was it the bat that hit the 60th home run? I doubt that very highly.”

Another complicati­ng part of Kahn’s story is that he changed the details. Challenged by Brown at the luncheon, Kahn then said he got the bat from Ruth.

“The relationsh­ip (Ruth) had with Joe Brown, and the fact he had already gifted him with the 1926 World Series bat,” Taube said, “and especially that the season wasn’t over yet when Kahn says Miller Huggins and/or Ruth gave him the bat — we just don’t see that happening.”

The Hall of Fame reiterated it is confident the bat in its possession is the one Ruth used to hit the historic bilities is to ensure that artifacts in our collection are portrayed accurately. When research shows that an object is incorrectl­y labeled, or when we have been presented with evidence that proves an artifact is misattribu­ted, we resolve the matter appropriat­ely and with transparen­cy.

 ?? THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ?? In this undated file photo, New York Yankees’ Babe Ruth hits a home-run. As part of its collection of Babe Ruth items, the Baseball Hall of Fame says it has the bat the slugger used to hit his then-record 60th home run in 1927.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS In this undated file photo, New York Yankees’ Babe Ruth hits a home-run. As part of its collection of Babe Ruth items, the Baseball Hall of Fame says it has the bat the slugger used to hit his then-record 60th home run in 1927.

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