Listen to Vin Scully recall the time he got Babe Ruth's autograph (sort of)

Vin Scully once got Babe Ruth's autograph (sort of)

By Dakota Gardner

September 10, 2014

When you're a baseball fan waking up for an early morning, one of life's greatest pleasures is brewing yourself a hot cup of coffee and listening to the Dodgers' inimitable broadcaster, Vin Scully, weave one of his trademark yarns.

Lucky for us, Scully did just that on Tuesday night as the Dodgers celebrated Babe Ruth bobblehead night, giving the long-tenured broadcaster an opportunity to share a charming story about the time he got Babe Ruth's autograph -- well, sort of.

It was at the Polo Grounds in New York City way back in the early 1940s and ... you know what? Let's just let Vin speak for himself:

I was in the Polo Grounds in New York, upper deck in right field; I can remember that as clear as a bell -- and a strike to Goebbert -- anyway, there was a commotion. A lot of people were running over to another area not too far from where I was. So, being a kid, I went over to see what all the noise was about.

And there he was, the way you would imagine him -- one ball, one strike -- there was Babe Ruth. He had a camel coat on, and he had a cap. Not a baseball cap: a cap. And the kids were all around him wanting his autograph. That's gonna be a strike, one and two.

And I can see and hear him now: "Just a minute, just a minute." And he reached into one of the side pockets of that camel hair coat, and he took out what I would say was a stack of business cards -- little cards that people use for business. Two and two, the count. They were blank on one side, and on the other side was a stamped Babe Ruth signature.

You'd better believe young Vin Scully was prescient enough to grab one -- although, according to him it's long since disappeared. Meaning somewhere, out there, there's a Babe Ruth "autograph" formerly belonging to Vin Scully.

Wouldn't that be something to own?