This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/11/2018
From the late teens through the mid-1920’s, there was no finer first baseman than George Kelly. Known as “High Pockets” and “Long George”, the 6’ 4” behemoth held down the initial sack for the New York Giants team that won four consecutive pennants and two World Championships. Three of those years the Giants faced their bitter rivals, the Yankees, in the World Series. As such, Kelly was in the perfect position to assess the talent of Babe Ruth up close.
This 1977-dated letter contains Kelly’s reply to a question about Hank Aaron passing Babe Ruth on the career home run list. Kelly, who played against Ruth several times when his Giants played the Yankees in the World Series, puts a different spin on the Aaron-Ruth question. The Hall of Famer admits that Aaron passed the Babe in numbers of homers, but asks the reader to look at the number of at bats it took each man to reach their number. (For the record, it took Ruth 8,388 at bats to reach 714, Aaron 11,291, Bonds 9,234) With that reasoning Kelly states that Ruth’s record will never be broken.
A very interesting insight of one Hall of Famer’s take on baseball’s most hallowed record. The letter is handwritten by Kelly in strong 9/10 blue ballpoint, with his full name signature at the bottom. Measuring 6” by 9”, the lined paper shows light toning and some edge wear. The letter is accompanied by an 8” by 10” photo of George Kelly in his Cubs uniform that he has also signed in 8/10 blue ballpoint.
Photo has PSA/DNA sticker cert. (B78954). Letter is pre-certified by PSA/DNA.