For Babe Ruth fans, July 12, 1921 is one of the great dates in baseball history. That’s when Ruth hit the home run, the 136th of his career and 33rd of the season, that crowned him the Home Run King. It happened during an away game, when the Yankees visited the St. Louis Browns at Sportsman’s Park. Heritage is offering the baseball Ruth hit in its Sports Collectibles auction on May 4th-5th. It’s expected to realize upwards of $50,000.
With Ruth’s first homer of the game, he tied Roger Connor’s career record of 136 home runs. With his second—hitting the ball that Heritage will sell—he became the king. The owner of the ball was 93-year old D. Berkeley Smith of Waterloo, Iowa, who was given the ball as a teenager by an uncle who attended the game.
