Ruth, Wagner, and the stadium

Ruth, 1920

The Ruth portrait is dated 1920. The credit says public domain, Library of Congress Bain collection, Paul Thompson, pre-1929. The story on the piece says that in 1920, his first year as a Yankee, Ruth hit 54 home runs, more than every other American League team except one. It says the Red Sox had sold him to fund owner Harry Frazee's ventures, starting what the note calls an 86-year curse.

The number 54 and the year 1920 are the facts the print is built on. The sale is the fact the note adds. The photograph is a portrait from that season, not a picture of a home run. The Commons file is the source linked on the product.

Wagner, 1911

The Wagner portrait is dated 1911. The credit says public domain, Library of Congress Bain collection, LCCN 2008677272. The file name calls him John Peter Wagner, shortstop, Pittsburgh, National League. The story says his T206 tobacco card is the most valuable baseball card in the world, largely because he made the company stop printing it, and that this glass-plate portrait shows him at his peak.

The card and the portrait are different objects. The print for sale is the glass plate, Bain, 1911, Pittsburgh shortstop. The card story is what the piece attaches to his name. Both can be said without pretending the photograph is the card.

Opening day, April 18, 1923

Opening Day, Yankee Stadium, is dated 1923. The credit says public domain, Library of Congress Bain collection, LCCN 2014715917. The story says a record crowd of more than 74,000 filled the park on April 18, 1923, that the park was called the House That Ruth Built, and that Ruth hit its first home run that day.

Three Bain-file pictures, three years: 1911, 1920, and 1923. Wagner standing as a Pirate, Ruth in the year of 54 home runs, and the stadium on the day it opened. The Library of Congress numbers are on the credits. The Library does not endorse the shop.

Wagner's number is LCCN 2008677272. The stadium's is LCCN 2014715917. Ruth's credit names the Bain collection and Paul Thompson and does not add a separate LCCN on the piece. All three say public domain because they are pre-1929. The stadium story adds the crowd, more than 74,000, the nickname House That Ruth Built, and the home run the piece says was the park's first, on April 18, 1923.

The card attached to Wagner's name is not the print. The piece says the T206 card became famous largely because he made the company stop printing it, and calls that glass plate a portrait from his peak. Ruth's 54 home runs are a season total, not something a single portrait can show. The opening-day frame is the one picture of the three that includes the park. Together they are a short Bain shelf: a shortstop, a new Yankee, and the building that opened three years later.

Ruth's note says the Red Sox sold him to fund Harry Frazee's ventures, and it calls the championship drought that followed an 86-year curse. That sentence is the piece's, not a second source. The portrait remains a 1920 picture from the Bain and Paul Thompson file. Wagner remains a 1911 Pittsburgh shortstop. The stadium remains April 18, 1923, a crowd the piece puts above 74,000, and a home run it calls the park's first. Three years, three Bain files, and nothing added past the records.