Rare Babe Ruth Yankee Stadium Locker Tag Circa 1930

This is an original Yankee Stadium Locker Tag for Babe Ruth Circa 1930. We have dated this piece from 1930 as 1929 was the first year the Yankees used numbers for the players. We were told by an old Yankee history buff that each player received three tags, one for his equipment bag, one for the locker and the last for his luggage. I have not been able to find anything written relative to this factoid. We also found in our research that possibly these were given out as a promotional item at a game back then. However, because of the rarity of this item we doubt they handed out thousands as this is the first and only one we have actually touched. The tag is made out of bronze and measures 2" across. It does show some wear especially around the hole at the top where a lock or small chain had been attached. Below I have listed information from two auctions that have sold this item. One is Sotheby's who sold a tag for $9200.00 and the other is Phillips Auction who sold one in 1987 for $7150.00. The third photo which includes both front and back of the tag is from the Sotheby's Auction Archives. There is also a copy of a question posed on Answers.com which was answered by Steve Keyman who is a well known baseball collector. The last photo is obviously of Babe Ruth on his last day as an active Yankee...great color shot that I just thought I would include. This tag was purchased out of a collection of many different objects. It came out of an antique store many years ago in St. Petersburg, Fla. Tampa Florida is the spring training home of the Yankees since 1996. Prior to that they trained on the East Coast of Florida in North Fort Lauderdale.