A baseball jersey worn by Babe Ruth in a legendary film clip has been sold for $24.12 million at auction to become the world’s most valuable sports collectible.
During game 3 of the World Series of 1932 Babe Ruth, at bat, seemed to indicate where he would strike the next pitch. He duly hit the next delivery for a home run over center field.
This moment, the “called shot” has become the most famous sequence in baseball history.
The name stitched into the jersey is just one piece of evidence testifying to its origins.
The jersey sold by Heritage Auctions of Dallas on Saturday, August 24 was the one Ruth – a New York Yankee – wore in that moment.
It was matched to the film, date, and fixture with photography.
It took a six-hour bidding battle to find a new home for the jersey.
It is not the first time it has been sold.
Ruth gave the jersey away in the 1940s. The recipient – a golf pal – left it to his daughter. She sold it to a sports auction house in the 1990s. They paid a six-figure sum and sold it to a private collector for an unknown (but presumably profitable) price.
In 2005 it was publically sold as the “called shot” jersey. It realised $940,000 at Grey Flannel Auctions.
Now, it is the most valuable item of sports memorabilia yet sold.
Back in 1932 baseball jerseys were practical, unglamorous items.
The $24.12 million it has raised is around 25-times the return last time it was sold.
It is almost double the previous record for sports-related memorabilia, the $12.6 million paid in 2022 for a baseball card showing NY Yankee Mickey Mantle.
What’s so different about this sale?
The key standout is the strength of the evidence presented on the “called shot” claim.
Three photographs taken on the day of the game were used to prove that this is the actual jersey Ruth wore.
Heritage Auctions Director of Sports, Chris Ivy, called the sale: “the most significant piece of American sports memorabilia ever offered at auction.”
He added: “It has been an honor and a privilege to work with this incredible piece of American history, and I am proud that it will now be part of one of the finest private collections in the world.
“It is clear by the strong auction participation and record price achieved that astute collectors have no doubt as to what this Ruth jersey is and what it represents. The legend of Babe Ruth and the myth and mystery surrounding his ‘called shot’ are united in this one extraordinary artifact.”
One mystery will always remain: the extent to which Ruth’s gesture that day really was a point to where he was going to deposit the ball.
The sale will certainly cement the legend further though.
