A historic baseball Babe Ruth signed and gave to a gravely ill Essex Fells boy will soon be for sale.

The Yankees' legend wrote "I'll knock a homer for Wednesday's game" on the baseball for 11-year-old "Little" Johnny Sylvester, who was kicked in the head by the horse he fell off during the summer of 1926.

Grey Flannel Auctions will host the auction for the ball from Jan. 20 to Feb. 6, which would have been Ruth's 119th birthday. The most a Ruth ball has been sold for was $388,375 in Baltimore in 2012.

After sending the Sylvester the ball, Ruth went out and clubbed three homers against St. Louis in Game 4 of the 1926 World Series. It was his first career three-homer game.

Three days later, Ruth sent a handwritten note to Johnny, saying he'd try to hit him another home run, "maybe two." Ruth hit that homer in Game 7 of the series, which the Cardinals eventually won.

A few months after, Ruth personally visited Johnny. Sylvester eventually recovered. He died at age 75 in 1990.

The ball and other items will be on display at the Yogi Berra Museum in Montclair from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. from Jan. 22-26 and Jan. 29 to Feb. 2.