Collector Eric Fettmann on Babe Ruth & Yankee Stadium…

October 24, 2011 by  
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Our website item #584134 offers a New York Times newspaper from 1914 which has the earliest mention of Babe Ruth in that newspaper, and possibly any newspaper. Has anyone found earlier mention? The listing also mentions a report of a new Yankee Stadium being built–with an illustration of it–but I could find no documentation of it elsewhere. Eric offers further information on both with his comments:

Tim,

As for your item 584134, this may well be the first mention of Ruth in a newspaper. The earliest I can come up with is April 6, a week after this. But I didn’t have access to Baltimore papers, so there may be something earlier there.
As for the mysterious Yankee Stadium, here’s something from the NY Times in 1993:
“The Highlanders, soon known as the Yankees, had a middling record, while the nearby Giants were usually at or near the top of their league. So when the Polo Grounds burned in 1911, the Yankees used a certain calculating humility in letting the Giants temporarily use their own park. At the same time the Yankees said that they were building a new stadium at 225th and Broadway. That project slowed, perhaps for money reasons, and in 1913 the Yankees temporarily moved to the rebuilt Polo Grounds where, for rent of $55,000 a year, they rubbed schedules with the Giants.
It was there, in 1915, that the Yankees wore their first pinstripes, even as the 225th Street project was abandoned.” Eric

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Comments

2 Responses to “Collector Eric Fettmann on Babe Ruth & Yankee Stadium…”

  1. Steve Goldman on October 25th, 2011 10:39 pm

    Dear Tim and Eric:
    There are at least 2 earlier newspapers with a Babe Ruth mention. One is the Newark Star (NJ) dated March 2, 1914 which has a mention of Babe Ruth playing in his first professional baseball game (minor league). There is also a mention of Babe Ruth in the Newark Star dated March 26, 1914 in which there is an editorial on the sports page predicting greatness for Babe Ruth in his baseball career.
    Steve Goldman

  2. Tim Hughes on October 26th, 2011 5:57 am

    Steve – Very helpful & informative. Thanks much. If anyone else knows of earlier mention of Babe Ruth in newspapers (one would suspect Baltimore papers would have preceded all) please advise.

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