Back in the days before everybody from your Uncle Ned to the gorilla at the municipal zoo had an Ipad and spent their days swishing a finger back and forth across an incandescent plastic screen people used to write things down on paper. This amazing St. Bonaventure College album is a testament to and celebration of a time when citizens of all descriptions from the bottom rung of the social order to kings potentates and sultans would record their thoughts and impressions in elegant cursive writing that highlighted the social grace and pace of the times. In the case of this spectacular 16-by-13-inch memory book and photo album from St. Bonaventure College that translates into 66 pages of brown interior pages (about 20 are blank) loaded with imprinted artwork wonderful black-and-white and sepia-toned photographs and most prominently literally hundreds of signatures from St. Bonaventure staff family and friends. And one of those friends was Babe Ruth who visited the campus in the fall of 1923 a scant five days after the Yankees had nailed down their first World Series title with their young slugger having batted .368 in the six-game affair which included 3 home runs and 8 walks. Even with his impressive $6143 check as the player's share for winning the Series The Babe headed out almost immediately on the barnstorming tour as was his custom for virtually all of his career. Apparently in the area to watch a football game the man who probably signed his name more often than any of his contemporaries was even more careful with this entry than he would typically be on a photo or a baseball thus creating one of the nicest cleanest Ruth signatures you could ever imagine a gem that stands out among more than 150 mostly fountain pen signatures from St. Bonaventure friends and alumni from across the country. While the album signing pages provided columns for Date Name Home Nickname Birthday Ambition Photo and Happy Thoughts The Bambino provided his signature and a playful entry under Happy Thoughts which not coincidentally appeared directly below the autograph of Jack Scott the ace of the New York Giants who had been on the losing end of that historic World Series five days earlier. That may have been part of the reason the two ballplayers wound up on the St. Bonaventure campus near Olean N.Y.: two of the Giants most-famous figures - John McGraw and Hughie Jennings - were St. Bonny alums and the college's athletic field bore their name: McGraw-Jennings Field. Scott was a bit more effusive in his entry with his Ambition column including the following: "Beat Babe Ruth." The column of Happy Thoughts was commandeered by the Babe and ventures all the way to irony: "Sad Thoughts Losing World Series." Forlorn though he may have been Scott seemed affable enough to pose for two marvelous 3-by-4 1/2-inch photos with the Babe; another photo shows Ruth addressing the crowd from the front of a university building and yet another shows the Offical Babe Ruth Car that was provided for the darling of the baseball world. In all there are more than four dozen photos in the album most installed five or six to an album page with the ornate corner tabs that were typical of the era. The album pages also include some team photos of the football and basketball teams newspaper clippings rosters etc. In all a fascinating glimpse into one of the great - albeit tiny - Catholic colleges of the period enhanced mightily by the inclusion of one very famous non-Catholic ballplayer of considerable renown. The album pages are mostly intact though there are the occassional tears and some paper loss. The string bindings are not in place and there is the expected wear to the heavy front and back board covers but the imprinted St. Bonventure official seal on the cover is in wonderful condition despite some fading of the adjacent type with the school name.

Full LOA by PSA/DNA