1917 Babe Ruth Amateur Photo In Snap Shots Album

This is an amazingly historic piece of baseball history. This is an amateur photo of Babe Ruth up to bat early in his baseball career. The photo is marked "1917 Babe Ruth" and the batting stance is unmistakably that of Babe Ruth, with his hands low, his bat on his shoulder and his feet close together, awaiting the pitch. The field has palm trees lining the outfield and behind what looks to be a dugout, on the left, although it could be simply a gathering of players and spectators. This indicates that it is spring training or winter ball, and not a regular season game.

Measuring at 2 1/2 inches wide by 1 1/2 inches high, it is pasted on the on the first page of a photo album from what looks to be a vacation to Palm Beach Florida, from the rest of the pictures. The photo album cover and back are leather pieces bound together by a leather tie. The cover has an alligator by a palm tree and says "snap shots" on top. There are only 2 pictures marked with 1917, including this one, but there is plenty of evidence that they are all from the same time period and the same area. There is an era-correct Model T car in one the pictures, and another in a parade with a sign stating "Palm Beach -- Club." There is also a photo of an elephant with a sign that says "Suffrage Plank," which was the women's rights platform from 1912-1920, when women finally were given the right to vote. The rest of the photos are littered with photos of people, animals and places with palm trees in the background. The photos are the same size as the Babe Ruth photo, except a couple in the middle that are a little larger.

I'm guessing this one was marked in remembrance that is was Babe Ruth batting in the photo for the photographer to remember that experience. The photo and image are very small, so that info could have been lost over time. And there is another photo of 2 boys marked 1917 in the same handwriting.

If anyone has any further information on these photos, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks for looking.