“I could wake the spirits”

Don't count the Yanks out of the World Series just yet: They still have the Sultan of Swat.

Yankees fans have spent decades leaving “donations” at Babe Ruth's grave – everything from baseballs, baseball cards, sunflower seeds to bottles of whiskey, hoping to bring good luck to the Bronx Bombers.

As the Yanks take on the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Fall Classic, they step up their game.

“I thought I'd say hello and maybe I could wake up the spirits,” superfan Pete Lombardo said Monday at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Westchester County, decked out in full Ruth regalia with his wife and 22-month-old daughter . “Hopefully Ruth goes to the Bronx and says, 'What's going on, guys?'

“On the way up I joked and said I was going to sacrifice my firstborn so the Yankees could win the World Series,” Lombardo said, looking like his toddler. “Is that ok?”

The Bambino Gravesite has long been something of a mecca for Yankees supporters.

The Yankee legend, who died in 1948, has captivated the team's fan base ever since, most notably with a now-defunct “Curse of the Bambino” that supposedly kept the hated Red Sox away from baseball's promised land for decades.

The Sox traded Ruth to the Yankees for cash in 1919, one of the most lopsided deals in baseball history that launched the Yanks' dynasty and made them the game's greatest team. The Sox won the 1918 World Series with Ruth, but the trade marked the start of a decades-long losing streak.

The “curse” ended when the Sox finally beat the Bombers in 2004 – but the fans aren’t giving up.

In recent days, the gravesite has been decorated with more than 50 baseballs – one with the words “Go Yankees 2024”, a large can of Budweiser, an airline-sized bottle of Jack Daniels, a Yankee baseball cap and a mini bat helmet, one old leather baseball glove, two US flags and a handful of mass cards.

Also in the mix are a mini pumpkin labeled “Go Yankees,” a handful of rocks and pennies, and a full bag of David sunflower seeds — a popular treat among ballplayers.

“You have to see my office!” said Lombardo.

The 36-year-old father, a season ticket holder and data science engineer with Farmingville-based Northwell Health, said he took the day off work for the trip and got his family to join in by incorporating a trip to the pumpkin patch upstate.

“This is my first time here,” he said. “I always wanted to come. I thought the perfect day was coming.

“Babe Ruth is a legend,” Lombardo added. “Whenever I’m in Monument Park, I have to rub his head. Do you know, Babe Ruth's monument? Yes, he is the greatest Yankee that ever lived.”

He turned to his daughter Elizabeth and asked, “Can you say let's go to the Yankees?”

The toddler clenched his fist.