Ruth, who gained most fame by hitting 714 home runs during his career, began as a pitcher, playing for the Boston Red Sox and helping them win the World Series in 1915 and in 1918. (He was later traded to the Yankees, an event that triggered stories of the "Curse of the Bambino".) The ball is from that year's World Series and has 27 other autographs, including that of another Hall of Famer, Tris Speaker.

Dick Hoblitzel, a former Red Sox and Cincinnati Reds first baseman who was Ruth's teammate in 1914–1918, had the ball, and his family has put the ball up for auction as part of the Fall 2019 Classic Auction by Leland's auction house. The Matawan, N.J.-based Leland's says that the Babe Ruth-signed baseball is expected to sell for at least $50,000.

Among the other highlights in the auction:

• a Babe Ruth rookie card
• a voucher bearing the signature of "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, who couldn't read or write and signed relatively few things of value; Jackson was a very talented player who is perhaps most well-known for being part of the 1919 Chicago White Sox players who took money in exchange for intentionally playing to lose, in what has come to be known as the Black Sox scandal
• other 1919 items, such as a White Sox season pass, World Series tickets, and handwritten letters
• a photo of the 1917 Chicago White Sox team, which did win the World Series, a feat documented in the movie Eight Men Out
• a baseball from the 1956 World Series perfect game thrown by Don Larsen
• programs from World Series in other years
• several photographs of Hall of Famer Ty Cobb
• the first baseball card set sold publicly, a 1917 Collins-McCarthy set

In a slightly less real yet humorous vein, the auction will also feature the sale of several items from the iconic baseball movie Major League. The movie featured the depicted-as-woeful Cleveland Indians being very successful, as epitomized by a pitcher known as Ricky Vaughan and portrayed in the film by actor Charlie Sheen. The cap that Sheen wore during film the movie will be on sale, as will the baseball used in the scene in which Sheen struck out a hitter by throwing a ball 101 mph.

The auction, which features nearly 2,000 items, runs through December 6.