The Indianapolis 500 and baseball’s World Series are two of the most iconic and tradition-rich sporting events on Earth. The first Indianapolis 500 was held in 1911. The first World Series was in 1903.

The events have their very own months.

It’s the “Month of May” for the Indianapolis 500 and “October Baseball” for the World Series.

The Indianapolis 500 is a “Speed Classic.” The World Series is the “Fall Classic.”

Tuesday night, Game 1 of the 115th World Series was to begin with the Washington Nationals of the National League facing the Houston Astros of the American League.

The famed New York Yankees, owned by the Steinbrenner Family that includes NTT IndyCar Series co-team owner George Michael Steinbrenner, IV, were eliminated in Sunday night’s Game 6 of the American League Championship Series.

This year’s NTT IndyCar Series champion, Josef Newgarden, was guest of the New York Yankees just a few days after he clinched his second IndyCar championship in the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey on Sept. 22. Steinbrenner gave Newgarden a tour of Yankee Stadium, including some up-close inspection of some of the game’s most prized artifacts.

Newgarden got to hold Babe Ruth’s bat and got to feel and hold Lou Gehrig’s wool jersey.

Ruth may be the most iconic athlete from the 20th century and for three-and-a-half decades had the record for most home runs in a career at 714. That has since been surpassed by both Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds.

Gehrig was one of baseball’s greatest all-around players during one of the many periods of Yankees history known as the “Glory Days.”

Newgarden is an avid baseball fan, who played baseball when he was younger before getting involved in racing. To have a chance to hold Babe Ruth’s bat and feel a jersey worn by Lou Gehrig is something the Team Penske driver cherished.

“Just being able to see Yankee Stadium reminds me of Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the way each is able to preserve the history,” Newgarden told NTT INDYCAR Mobile. “You see the immortality of that team. I particularly liked the museum. That was really cool because I got to see the 27 World Series game balls and I got to hold Babe Ruth’s bat.

“Not a lot of people get to do that. It was really a neat experience.”

Newgarden explained how the grains on Ruth’s bat had been hardened by the number of times, and the power that he hit a baseball. In that sport, the harder the bat, the farther the baseball will go when the two make contact.

Newgarden also saw the evolution in uniforms from the 1920s and 1930s until today.

“Lou Gehrig’s jersey, it was fascinating to see the material it was made from,” Newgarden said. “Imagine wearing wool in the summer. They didn’t have multiple jerseys, they had one that they had to wear all year.”

The chance to combine the history of the Indianapolis 500 and the NTT IndyCar Series with the New York Yankees and its many World Series champions was one of the highlights of Newgarden’s celebration tour.