Babe Ruth's Parker?

[Kevin McCormack]

Like a lot of other "Famously Owned Parkers", it was but an interesting aside to its original owner. They didn't coddle and preserve it for future collecting value for guys like us, who dwell on either its art form or mechanical sophistication and durability. For many former original owners, they took as good a care of it as they did their Model 12 Winchesters, Remington Model 32s, and/or their A.H. Fox model BEs. E.G., "A a gun is a gun is a gun." Little did they know we would be waiting in the wings to deify their former ownerships, nor much care where they went or who wound up with them. We are very lucky to have salvaged what we've found over the years. Consider the original (but "rode hard and put away wet") condition of the great Max Fleischmann A-1 Special 20 ga. 2-bbl. set before "restoration." Had to be one of the greatest and hardest hunted Parkers of all time. To this day I remain thankful that I saw it in all its glory prior to being put in "new gun condition."

[Old and Reliable]

[QUOTE=John Dallas;9620]I don't know either, but I can make an educated guess on the "F"--- I am in the same camp with Col. Day- but as the Military loves those alpha codes- I am going to take a SWAG here and guess it is in the same sector as BOHICA- maybe not. Perhaps Mr. Murphy will enlighten us at a later point in time.

As others have mentioned their love for my two favorite sports teams: The Yankees and The Packers- here's a true Babe Ruth story- circa 1925. Miller Huggins was the Yankees manager then, the owner was Col. Rupport of the Genesse Brewing Co.- and he was a stickler for his players "toeing the line"

The Yanks were playing a double-header against the Indians at home- Babe misses batting practice, shows up 5 minutes before the game, a Zigfeld blonde on each arm, a big cigar in his mouth, and smelling like a brewry. The Colonel tells Huggins: "I want you to have a word with the Babe"- and of course, Huggins says "Yes Sir"--

Long story short, the Yankees beat the Tribe 14 to 2, Babe has two homers and 5 RBI's- they head for the locker room and the Colonel taps Huggins on the shoulder and reminds him about that "word thing"-- Oh, yeah, Huggins exclaims- Hey, nice game there Babe"!!

I love baseball and the characters of those days- and Babe and Mickey Mantle- two great players who never took care of themselves and paid the price too early. And Lou "Iron Man' Gehrig, who did, and got a bad break and never complained about it to the end.

[Brush Buster]

Probably a foolish question ,but don't you suppose this day and age we live in ,there could very well be a " DNA " test that could be done on the wooden parts to see if there is any of the Babes DNA on the gun ?Just thinking out of the box here ?

[Dean Romig]

I once bought a sixteen gauge top-action 0-frame hammer gun from him. It was not as he described it and I told him so. We discussed all of this in a short phone conversation, we arrived at an agreeable price and I didn't send the gun back to him.

[CSL]

Anyone can tell a good gun story, but backing it up is an entirely different "ball-game" - Pun intended... Over the past few years I've read many claims of guns and photos of said guns attributed to the "Sultan of Swat", but to date all photos I've examined have fallen far short of the center field fence... Holding a double barrel shotgun in a "raccoon skin coat" is by No means 100% confirmation of anything. I want to see a well defined Parker hinge pin, a dolls head, forend hardware, or "G" grade engraving in a photo before I accept the fact that "maybe" it "might" be George H. Ruth's Parker... A couple years ago someone was selling an L.C. Smith Specialty grade said to have belonged to Babe Ruth backed-up by a photo they claimed showed Ruth holding the same long barreled Smith after a hunt, however the story quickly lost credibility when the photo was closely examined by those in the know.

When someone claims they are selling a gun of significant historical provenance along with a photo of a famous person holding the same gun, I would strongly encourage buyers to examine every possible detail of the photo, and if not sure, ask for help before you write the check based on a hopeful guess and a sellers well rehearsed promise... I'm still waiting to see a Russian staff officer, or any Russian in a photo with the Czar's Parker...

Best, CSL
____________________________

[Forrest Smith]

http://www.sportingcollectibles.net/fs-blk-wht.htm

Scroll down toward the bottom of the pictures, and alas there is the Babe with a Parker (with some noise about the stock in the same area as that advertised). There are quite a few photos out there of the sultan of the swat with a Parker of some kind.

I don't have a dog in this fight-but would not a PGCA Letter reveal a reference to an order with a trigger gaurd notation?

[Old and Reliable]

[QUOTE=Dave Suponski;9615]Forrest,Thanks for the Ruth photo's a nice treat. We,re a big baseball and Yankee's family here. As far as this "so called" Ruth gun goes without any hard provenance its just a Parker shotgun.

In fact in a couple of weeks I can come up with a couple G Grades with Babe Ruth engraved on the trigger guard ! Or any other "Hall of Famer" for that matter....[- great fotos- and afew observations- on the three man line up foto, the Bo-Sox player to the far right of Babe- he's using his middle finger on the trigger of his double- the gent in the middle- a Colt's .32 autoloader perhaps- and Babe shooting as a leftie with a double- but a Parker? Not sure--

The next foto of the Babe with the deceased alligator/crocodile- well, the Yankees had their Spring Training grounds down in Avon Park, FL. back then, in the great "Murder's Row" era- wonder if that's where the foto was taken?

[Ed Blake]

Heck with the Bambino's Parker, I'm waiting for Plaxico Burriss' Glock.

[Brian Dillard]

Originally Posted by Ed Blake

Heck with the Bambino's Parker, I'm waiting for Plaxico Burriss' Glock.

I almost wet myself...Ed, that's funny!

[Chris T.]

I spoke to this guy last year about a DH that was supposed to be in about 90% condition. He wouldn't send me any pictures, he told me I wouldn't be disappointed and if I didn't like to sent it back. I figured if he couldn't be bothered with the pictures I would never get my money back. The deal seemed too good to be true, so... I let it go and hoped it wasn't.