This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 3/22/2019
Most baseball enthusiasts that were fortune enough to see the great Babe Ruth play were convinced that, once he hung up his cleats for good, he would have a body of work so grandiose that it could never be surpassed. Of course, Ruth's two crowning achievements; most homers in a season and most round-trippers in a career, were eventually eclipsed, though it took decades to do it. Quite a few legends made a run and came up short, icons like Mays, T. Williams, Killebrew, F. Robinson and Mantle. But one of Ruth's greatest challengers shared the field with him in the 1920s-30s; the great Jimmie Foxx. Appropriately nicknamed "The Beast," Foxx posted "Ruthian" type numbers for much of his career, and when he reached the 500 homer mark to close out the 1940 season at just 32 years old, some people believed that Foxx could accomplish what was unthinkable just a few years earlier. As history would have it, Foxx's production would drop off the next year. Unable to regain his form, Foxx would touch them all just 34 more times. Foxx's amazing achievements probably wouldn't have surprised many who saw him play his one season of minor league ball for the class D 1924 Easton Farmers. With 38-year old Home Run Baker as a teammate, Foxx led the team by launching 10 homers and batting .296 in just 260 at-bats ... at the age of 16! Though most collectors consider a game-used Babe Ruth bat the pinnacle of vintage memorabilia, a war club of Jimmie Foxx is an even more scarce item with less than 10 known to exist. This incredible piece dates back to Foxx's rookie era of 1926-27, when he was still a teenager getting part time at-bats for a Philadelphia Athletics team under the tutelage of managerial icon Connie Mack. The dimensions of the bat are certainly beastly and unheard of in today's game, measuring 35 inches and weighing an unfathomable 39 ounces, with the Spalding stick exhibiting block lettering that incorrectly refers to him as "Jimmy" Foxx. The uncracked bat shows heavy game use, especially considering his limited at bats during the time period. The deep color of the wood, the stamping faux pas of the up and coming star's name, and the vintage Spalding markings combine to make this an incredible treasure, quite possibly the first bat ever used in the legendary career of "Double X." LOA from John Taube - PSA/DNA with a grade of GU 9.