Iconic Babe Ruth jersey sells for record $24 million
By Lauren Rapp, CNN
(CNN) — The jersey that legendary New York Yankees player Babe Ruth wore when he hit one of baseball’s most famous home runs sold for $24.12 million on Sunday — making it the world’s most valuable sports collectible.
Dallas-based Heritage Auctions said the jersey achieved the record — previously held by a 1952 Mickey Mantle baseball card that fetched $12.6 million in August 2022 — after a “thrilling bidding war” that lasted over six hours.
Ruth was wearing the road gray No. 3 jersey when he played against the Chicago Cubs in the 1932 World Series. He appeared to gesture toward something in center field just before hitting a fifth-inning home run into the bleachers. Over the last 92 years, the “Called Shot” has become infamous in baseball lore, being “endlessly celebrated, imitated and replicated,” the auction house said in a press release. However, where Ruth was actually pointing — at something deep in the field, like the flagpole, or at the Cubs pitcher — has been contested over the years.
“The ‘Called Shot’ is something we’re still talking about almost 100 years later, which is incredible,” said Chris Ivy, director of Heritage’s sports auctions, in a call with CNN prior to the sale. “And we’re discussing it because of the controversy, because of the mystery.”
“Did Ruth really call the shot?” he added. “We know he points because there’s some grainy footage from someone out in the stands, but from that footage, you can’t see which direction he’s pointing.”
Baseball games would not be televised until 1939, according to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, leaving journalists to be the first to report what happened that day. According to Heritage Auctions, sports editor Joe Williams is credited with the first headline that reported Ruth called the shot, likening it to a billiards game, and Ruth quickly embraced the story.
The auction, held over the weekend, showcased other historic sports memorabilia including one of Michael Jordan’s “Last Dance” Chicago Bulls jerseys and a signed and game-used bat from baseball great Jackie Robinson.
Another “Last Dance” jersey, which Jordan wore during the 1998 NBA Finals, sold for a record $10.1 million in 2022, making it the most expensive basketball jersey to sell at auction, CNN previously reported.
Opening bids for Ruth’s “Called Shot” jersey had already surpassed $14 million, almost a week before it became available at auction. Heritage Auctions estimated it could go for as high as $30 million.
The iconic Yankees garb has been authenticated twice, according to the auction house, and can be photo-matched to two pictures from Getty Images and a third from The Chicago Daily News showing Ruth, teammate Lou Gehrig and manager Joe McCarthy in the dugout.
Ivy described the “Called Shot” jersey “the most significant piece of American sports memorabilia ever offered at auction,” in a press statement.
Ruth’s famed baseball career spanned 22 seasons and included 714 home runs and seven World Series titles. While the pitcher and outfielder is best known for his time with the New York Yankees, he won three of his World Series titles with the Boston Red Sox. In 1936, he became one of the five inaugural members elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
In 2019, a Babe Ruth jersey from 1928-1930 fetched $5.64 million at auction, making it the most expensive pieces of sports memorabilia ever sold at the time. It broke the previous record — another Ruth jersey — that went for $4.4 million.
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