Throughout the history of baseball many great players have graced the baseball diamonds across America.

     Players such as Lou Gehrig, Ty Cobb, Henry Aaron, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Sandy Koufax, Roger Clemens, Honus Wagner, and scores of others will long be remembered. But the one player who has always stood out has been Babe Ruth.

     It was George Herman “Babe” Ruth who almost single-handedly saved baseball from fading into obscurity. No matter how many of Ruth’s hitting and pitching (yes, he was a pitcher early in his career) records have been broken, he is still Mr. Baseball.

     Even though Henry Aaron and Barry Bonds may have passed Ruth’s hallowed career homerun record, and his season homerun record have been surpassed by a few players, Ruth’s name will always be remembered. And he was a prolific signer of baseballs and other baseball items until his death in 1948.

     You may see many Ruth signed baseballs in auctions or in sales, but the one ball that has not yet surfaced is Ruth’s home run in Game 3 of the World Series against the Chicago Cubs.

     The Cubs indeed were in the 1932 World Series, but, as you can imagine, did not win. In fact, they haven’t won in a long, long time. But that’s another story.

     The homerun that Ruth hit in Game 3 of that World Series is often termed the “called” shot.

     As legend has it, Ruth pointed to the centerfield stands, and on the very next pitch hit a ball to that same location to which he had just pointed.

     Fact or fiction that this incident really occurred? No one knows for sure, but it makes for a great story.

     There have been many Ruth stories that have surfaced through the years, and this is certainly one of them.

     Did he really point to centerfield? If so, why did he? Will we ever know?

     How much could this ball be worth? Real tough to say, but it might fetch a cool $1.5 million in an auction. Naturally, it will depend how many bidders there are, and if a bidding war develops, as it did with the McGwire 70^th homerun ball.

     And of course, there are many people who do not believe the whole scenario of Ruth “calling” his Game 3 shot, so that if the ball does show up in an auction it will be considered “suspect” by many.

     If you feel that you may own this ball make sure you have the proper documentation. And believe me, the baseball Hall of Fame would gladly take the ball off of your hands.

     Even though you may not have the “called” shot Ruth ball, any Ruth-signed ball is valuable, very valuable.

     I have seen several balls signed by both Ruth and Lou Gehrig. Some collectors prefer a single-signed ball, while other collectors prefer balls signed by more than one star, such as Ruth and Gehrig on a ball.

     Babe Ruth is baseball, and baseball is Babe Ruth. And Babe Ruth and baseball are memories.