This Babe Ruth signed book has an interesting connection to baseball’s most famous overseas tour, the 1934 Tour of Japan. The books former owner, so identified by her printed name “Penny Satterlee Brown” on the flyleaf page below Ruth’s autograph, was the daughter of Herbert L. Satterlee. Herb Satterlee founded the law firm originally known as Satterlee & Canfield—in 1894. Mr. Satterlee, whose clients included Mark Twain and many of the most prominent corporate leaders of the day, was responsible for incorporating General Motors, a name, which Mr. Satterlee suggested. During its first century, the firm was the home for many talented and colorful attorneys. Among them was the mulit-talented Moe Berg. For half of the year Berg was a lawyer with the firm and for the other half he was a catcher with the Brooklyn Dodgers, the Chicago White Sox and a succession of other teams. Berg is remembered for being fluent in twelve languages, “although he couldn’t hit in any of them” (lifetime average .243), and for his work with the OSS during World War II.
Satterlee’s firm, Satterlee & Canfield, was a major sponsor of the 1934 U.S. Tour of Japan team which featured one of their own, Moe Berg. Despite the fact that Berg was a mediocre, third-string catcher, he was invited at the last minute to make the trip, secretly performing double duty as a spy for the U.S. military. Penny Satterleee Brown’s father’s association with the 1934 Tour undoubtedly facilitated her encounter with Babe Ruth whereby she had this book signed. Babe Ruth’s beautiful 3 1/8" long black ink signature graces the inside first page of Penny’s 1921 copy of the Zane Grey novel "The Mysterious Rider". Very strong, near perfect looking 9/10 quality autograph. Below the signature written in blue ink is "PENNY SATTERLEE BROWN". Above are the initials "F" and "G". Book itself is about fair-poor condition with the spine almost totally loose. Covers have extensive wear. A fine quality Ruth autograph with an interesting association to the 1934 Tour of Japan.
Full LOAs from PSA/DNA and JSA.