They’re calling it, “the most significant article of New York Yankees World Championship memorabilia that exists.”
Babe Ruth’s 1923 New York Yankees World Championship Watch will be auctioned later this month with a predicted sale price of $3 million and more.
The watch is one of the star items in Heritage Auction’s Summer Platinum Night Sports Auction hosted in Dallas on August 23 to 24.
The watch was presented to Ruth to celebrate the New York Yankees’ first ever World Series, won in Ruth’s debut season against local rivals the New York Giants.
A poignant dedication to Ruth’s great friend Charles Schwefel, to whom he gave this watch as Schwefel accompanied him through his fatal illness. Image courtesy of Heritage Auctions.
The 14-karat gold pocket watch is shaped as a pentagon. It’s a Gruen Verithin (Gruen were a very popular US watchmakers at the time, they ceased trading in 1958) model, engraved on the verso with an illustration of a baseball game in progress, framed with the legend: “Yankees, World’s Champions 1923.”
Ruth had his name engraved on the upper edge of the case shortly before he gave the watch away. He also added to engraving on the interior, adding “To My Pal Charles Schwefel” to the original “Presented by Baseball Commissioner to George H. Ruth.”
The 1923 World Series is a legendary one. A third consecutive derby series between the city rivals, it was rife with bitterness. The Yankees were tenants of the Giants (who won the 1921 and 22 series) in their Polo Grounds stadium.
In 1923 the Yankees had finally moved to their new stadium, despite some underhand political trickery from the Giant’s side stymieing the process. The Giants players refused to change in the Yankees changing rooms and walked to the games at Yankee Stadium already kitted up.
It must have been a long walk back.
Babe Ruth was the lynchpin of the new Yankees setup as he gave the Yankees their first world title and start the building of a Bronx dynasty that now has 27 World Series.
Heritage Auctions say of the watch: “This auction [offers] the greatest treasure ever to emerge from the team’s bulging trophy case. This is the official and only award presented to George Herman Ruth for his contributions in claiming the first New York Yankees World Championship.”
Ruth treasured the timepiece and gave it to his friend Charlie Schwefel who was by his side during his terminal cancer.
The watch comes with lots of provenance, including a letter from Schwefel’s nephew Lewis Fern. Fern sold the watch to a collector in 1988, and it was first auctioned in 2014 when it realised $717,000.
It is set to dwarf that price later this month.
Babe Ruth is perhaps the most valuable figure in all of sports collecting. In August 2024, the 1932 World Series “Called Shot” jersey, in which Ruth pointed to where he would dispatch the next pitch, sold for $24.1 million.
