Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig Show Personal Side in Rare Footage
Newly-uncovered film shows sports icons after 1927 World Series.
March 22, 2011— -- Rare off-the-field footage of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig together has emerged publicly for the first time.
The footage, shared with ABC News by television producer R.C. Raycraft, shows the baseball icons in a relaxed setting, visiting with a crowd of people.
The footage, more than 80 years old but still clear, shows Ruth smiling at the camera and Gehrig happily playing with a small child. The two are wearing baseball uniforms, but not the pinstripes of the New York Yankees. Raycraft says a yet-to-be-released section also shows Ruth climbing on the back of a pony and wearing a child's cowboy hat.
"I knew instantly, just from working with film for my career and the fact that it was a home movie and not a newsreel, that it was a one-of-a-kind item," said Raycraft, who has also written several books on baseball.
Raycraft said he learned of the footage after he was approached by a private owner at a large antiques show in Illinois, owned by his parents. Raycraft was there taping a television pilot on remarkable finds at antiques shows, but he had never seen anything quite like the few minutes of baseball history captured on 16-mm film.
Footage Captured After Historic World Series
Based on months of research, Raycraft said he believes that the film was shot in Iowa on Oct. 18, 1927, possibly in the backyard of a sportsmen's club. If so, the film would have been made just days after the end of the legendary 1927 World Series, in which the Yankees swept the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Ruth had hit 60 home runs that year, a record that stood until 1961.
Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig in Rare Film
"Ruth is king of the world at that point," said Raycraft, who hopes that the footage could eventually end up in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.