Smithsonian Baseball
Inside the World's Finest Private Collections

by Stephen Wong
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The ever charismatic Bambino cherished the tools of his trade, as this original news service photograph from September 29, 1926 attests. Babe Ruth is readying his bats in the Yankees locker room before the '26 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals. The lumber served him well, as he hit three homers in Game Four, and another one in Game Seven, but the Cardinals prevailed four games to three. New York would bounce back to win the next two Fall Classics.

From Smithsonian Baseball: Inside the World's Finest Private Collections by Stephen Wong. Copyright © 2005 by Stephen Wong. Excerpted with permission.