Babe Ruth Baseball Rolling Cigar Boston Red Sox 11x17 Photo Print Photograph

The2FunAdGuyz offer a new, high quality, 11x 17, reproduction print of a unique, intriguing, sepia-toned photograph of Babe Ruth rolling a cigar in 1919. There is a cliché that says behind every photo is a story. In this case, it not only applies to that cliché, it rewrites it to say behind this amazing photo is a really, really great story—adding another dimension to Babe Ruth’s story. At first look we thought this was a standard publicity photo of a sports figure doing something interesting. That is not the case. Babe Ruth owned an interest in a small tobacco-manufacturing business in Boston during his days with the Red Sox. The company manufactured a “Babe Ruth” nickel cigar with his picture on the wrapper. In this context, a news photographer snapped this picture on October 30, 1919—less than two months before the infamous trade to the New York Yankees. It shows “The Babe” rolling one of those cigars at his company’s workroom. In fact, Ruth learned to roll cigars while he was at St. Mary’s Orphanage as a teenager. “The Babe’s” cigar smoking was legendary, though he smoked the large style cigars. He once said he smoked 25 of these smaller “Babe Ruth” brand cigars in a day. We especially love this photo because Babe looks even younger than his 25 years. The picture also allows you to see Ruth’s legendary small hands—out of sync with his other large physical characteristics. When you compare his hands to the cigars in front of him—you see they really were small. He had the handles of his bats machined to a smaller size for his hands though some critics argue that it also allowed him to add speed to his swing.

The tragic side of this photo is his smoking probably contributed to his death. Ruth received a diagnosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, a form of upper throat cancer. Two risk factors are heavy smoking and excessive drinking, another of Babe Ruth’s vices.

Caption: (This caption was on the reverse side of the original photo and is reproduced on the front of this version)

Babe Ruth Rolls 'em Down A New Groove. The World's champion home-run slugger has entered the cigar manufacturing business and is learning it, as he learned baseball, from start to finish. He'll do in any box--pitcher's box, batter's box or cigar box. Watch his smoke! (October 30, 1919.)

PAPER QUALITY: This new print is on a highest quality, acid-free, 100-pound glossy premium text paper that allows for maximum color brilliance and fidelity for older images.

Image Size: 16.5 inches wide by 10.5 inches high.

Paper Size: 17 inches wide by 11 inches high. This allows for a small border around the image for matting and framing. When matted, this format is perfect for a standard 16-inch x 20-inch frame, a manageable size for a wide variety of decorating purposes.

AVAILABILITY: In Stock! – Ships Within 1 Business Day of cleared payment.

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