Dick Bartell signs "Babe Ruth" Envelope - Autographs

Babe Ruth FDC signed by Dick Bartell. Measures 6 1/2" x 3 3/4". 

George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball(MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Sultan of Swat", he began his MLB career as a star left-handed pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, but achieved his greatest fame as a slugging outfielder for the New York Yankees. Ruth is regarded as one of the greatest sports heroes in American culture and is considered by many to be the greatest baseball player of all time. In 1936, Ruth was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame as one of its "first five" inaugural members.

At age seven, Ruth was sent to St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys, a reformatory where he was mentored by Brother Matthias Boutlier of the Xaverian Brothers, the school's disciplinarian and a capable baseball player. In 1914, Ruth was signed to play minor-league baseball for the Baltimore Orioles but was soon sold to the Red Sox. By 1916, he had built a reputation as an outstanding pitcher who sometimes hit long home runs, a feat unusual for any player in the pre-1920 dead-ball era. Although Ruth twice won 23 games in a season as a pitcher and was a member of three World Series championship teams with the Red Sox, he wanted to play every day and was allowed to convert to an outfielder. With regular playing time, he broke the MLB single-season home run record in 1919.

After that season, Red Sox owner Harry Frazee sold Ruth to the Yankees amid controversy. The trade fueled Boston's subsequent 86-year championship drought and popularized the "Curse of the Bambino" superstition. In his 15 years with the Yankees, Ruth helped the team win seven American League (AL) pennants and four World Series championships. His big swing led to escalating home run totals that not only drew fans to the ballpark and boosted the sport's popularity but also helped usher in baseball's live-ball era, which evolved from a low-scoring game of strategy to a sport where the home run was a major factor. As part of the Yankees' vaunted "Murderers' Row" lineup of 1927, Ruth hit 60 home runs, which extended his MLB single-season record by a single home run. Ruth's last season with the Yankees was 1934; he retired from the game the following year, after a short stint with the Boston Braves. Throughout his career, Ruth led the AL in home runs during a season 12 times.

During Ruth's career, he was the target of intense press and public attention for his baseball exploits and off-field penchants for drinking and womanizing. After his retirement as a player, he was denied the opportunity to manage a major league club, most likely due to poor behavior during parts of his playing career. In his final years, Ruth made many public appearances, especially in support of American efforts in World War II. In 1946, he became ill with nasopharyngeal cancer and died from the disease two years later. Ruth remains a part of American culture.

Richard William Bartell (November 22, 1907 – August 4, 1995), nicknamed "Rowdy Richard", was an American professional baseball player, coach, and manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a shortstop from 1927 to 1946. One of the most ferocious competitors of his era, he won both admirers and critics at each stop during a career which saw him traded every few seasons, often under acrimonious circumstances. While hitting .300 over a full season five times, the two-time National League All-Star led the National League in double plays four times and in putouts and assists three times each. From 1927 through 1946, Bartell played for the Pittsburgh Pirates (1927–30), Philadelphia Phillies (1931–34), New York Giants (1935–38, 1941), Chicago Cubs (1939) and Detroit Tigers (1940–1941). After two years of military service in World War II, he played briefly in 1946 before retiring. At 5'9" and 160 pounds, he batted and threw right-handed.

A native of Chicago, who grew up in Alameda, California, Bartell played in three World Series and the 1933 All-Star Game, the first to be played. He had one year in the minors, 1926, with the class A Bridgeport Bears in the Eastern League, where he hit .280 in 148 games. At 19, Bartell was the youngest player in the National League. He appeared in only one game at the end of the season, drawing two walks in four plate appearances. He played flawlessly in the field with five chances and one double play. The Pirates lost to the Yankees in four games and the team had to wait until 1960 to make amends.

With an aggressive style of play and fiery attitude which earned him his nickname, Bartell was a competent shortstop with good hands and a strong throwing arm. A skillful hitter, he batted a career-high .320 in 1930. After three seasons over .300 with Pittsburgh, he was traded to the Phillies in 1931, and had collected seasons of 40 doubles and 100 runs three times each by 1934. Bartell helped Philadelphia's perennial cellar-dwellers finish in fourth place in the 1932 season, for the only first-division finish by a Phillies team in a span of 32 seasons (1918–42). In 1933 he was elected to the first All-Star Game, and again in 1937.

Traded to the New York Giants before the 1935 season, Bartell helped the team win two NL pennants (1936–37), and hit .381 in the 1936 World Series. Leading off for the Giants in the Brooklyn Dodgers home opener in 1937, he complained when the first pitch was called a strike – and was promptly hit in the chest with a tomato thrown from the stands. He later played with the Chicago Cubs in 1939. In 1940, his first season in the American League, he teamed up with second baseman Charlie Gehringer to give the Tigers an AL pennant. Bartell started 1941 with Detroit but returned to the Giants in the midseason as a player-coach.

In an 18-season career, Bartell posted a .284 batting average with 79 home runs and 710 runs batted in in 2,016 games played. He also finished with 1,130 runs, 2,165 hits, 442 doubles, 71 triples, 109 stolen bases and 748 bases on balls. Defensively, he recorded an overall .955 fielding percentage playing primarily at shortstop but also at third and second base. In 18 World Series games, he hit .294 (20-for-68) with 10 runs, 6 doubles, 1 home run, 7 RBI and 7 walks.

Bartell later managed in the minor leagues and coached for the Tigers (1949–52) and Cincinnati Redlegs (1954–55). He died on August 4, 1995 in Alameda at age 87 after suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

He is interred at the Chapel of the Chimes columbarium

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