Lot # 1033: 1934 Tour of Japan Original Photograph Pair with Babe Ruth

Pair of original photographs originating from the 1934 Tour of Japan in which American baseball stars traveled to Japan for a series of exhibition games. The 1934 Tour of Japan by Connie Mack's "All-American" team is considered by many to be the most famous overseas baseball tour in history. This was the first and only overseas tour of Babe Ruth's career, and his popularity, even in Japan, was so great that he was treated like royalty by the Japanese people. The first photograph features a close up of Ruth in a follow-through batting pose with a Japanese catcher crouched behind him. The image is exceptionally crisp and presents extremely well, with minor surface flaws visible but in no way detracting from the overall appearance. The second photograph captures a Japanese street scene with cars and street cars surrounded by large crowds. While we cannot definitively link this photograph to the tour looking at it on its own, based on comparison to other photographs of the tour, including those found in player scrapbooks, it is very likely a tour photograph as players paraded through the streets in streetcars. Condition of this photograph is Excellent overall. Both photographs have been professionally framed and matted, which prohibits examination of the reverse. As such, we cannot conclusively deem these Type I original photographs, but they share many characteristics with period examples and compare favorably. A very attractive pair of images from this extraordinarily significant event in baseball history. Total: 2 photographs.