Wednesday, February 24, 2010

1991 Topps Babe Ruth

On October 6, 1991, NBC aired the TV biopic Babe Ruth. I have absolutely no recollection of this event. You can read about it on IMBD. I saw these cards on another blogger's site and then found the set on eBay. Topps produced these cards using the same design layout as their regular 1991 release. I don't know how they were distributedStephen Lang played Babe Ruth. If the name looks familiar to you, he played Col. Quaritch, the gung-ho alien destroyer in Avatar.
On the back it says "Stephen Lang stars as baseball's greatest hero in the NBC Movie BABE RUTH."
Bruce Weitz plays Yankees manager Miller Huggins. The back notes that Weitz played on the 1954 Little League World Championship Team from Norwalk, CT. He currently plays a regular character, Anthony Zacchara, on General Hospital.
Lisa Zane's recent work includes a regular role on a British TV show called Biker Mice From Mars. IMDB describes the plot as "Martian Mice, who ride motorcycles, crash land on Earth and help fight against the Catatonians". I wonder if this is available on DVD.
Jacob Ruppert, the owner of the Yankees was responsible for buying the Babe from the Red Sox for $125,000. There's not much to say about Donald Moffat. He's had some other TV work and now, at 70 years of age, may be retired.
Neil McDonough currently plays Dave Williams on Desperate Housewives.
Rod Carew helped Lang, who is right-handed, to bat left-handed for the movie.
On the back of the card it says "And who better to play the immortal Ty Cobb than Rose, the man who surpassed Cobb (4,191 hits) as baseball's all-time most prolific hitter (4,256 hits)". Who indeed? This is one of the last baseball cards that Rose will appear on.
"And, while they often clashed in the early '20s, it was the respect that Huggins ultimately won from Ruth that turned the '27 Yankees into baseball's greatest team".
"Every time Babe swung the bat it was all or nothing at all," says Stephen Lang. I'm not sure that's completely accurate since the Babe had a career .342 batting average.
On the back it says "Did Babe call his shot? You decide."

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have a collection of these cards do you have an idea of what they are worth? Please feel free to email your response at brooklynusmc91@yahoo.com

Anonymous said...

At the time I was told that they were given out at the movie premier. I also remember being told that there were 500 sets made. I cannot verify any of my info, it came from a card dealer.

pereamark@hotmail.com said...

anyone know where you can a copy of the movie?