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This Infamous Sports Jersey Just Became the Most Valuable Sports Collectible Sold at Auction
































“This is essentially the ‘Mona Lisa'” the auction house specialist said of the famed jersey.

Babe Ruth’s game-worn jersey on display in Chicago’s Wrigley Field, where the ‘called shot’ game was played. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions.

Baseball behemoth Babe Ruth has earned yet another accolade. This weekend, the jersey that the โ€˜Sultan of Swatโ€™ purportedly wore during his fabled โ€˜called shotโ€™ of the 1932 World Series sold for $24.12 million with Heritage Auctions, making it the most valuable sports collectible in the worldโ€”and shattering records set by Michael Jordanโ€™s 1998 NBA finals jersey for the most expensive game-worn gear ever sold, and by a 1952 Mickey Mantle Topps Rookie card for the most expensive sports collectible of all time. Both previous records were set in 2022. Heritage Auctions was behind the gavel-smashing Mantle.

โ€œThis is essentially the Mona Lisa,โ€ the houseโ€™s director of sports auctions Chris Ivy told ESPN. โ€œItโ€™s a very mythical moment that crosses over not only in baseball history, but American history.โ€

A photograph of a jersey with a '3' on the back displayed before a photo of Babe Ruth

The rear-side of Ruthโ€™s jersey, foregrounded on his photo. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions.

Ruth was the most important athlete of his era. He had a penchant for showmanship that paved the way for successors like Muhammad Ali. The sluggerโ€™s 714 home runs between 1914 and 1935 set a league record which the Atlanta Bravesโ€™ Henry โ€œHankโ€ Aaron only broke in 1974.

The mythology surrounding Ruthโ€™s โ€˜called shotโ€™ home run during the 1932 World Series, however, transcended baseball. That yearโ€™s championship was highly contentious. The Cubs taunted Ruth mercilessly as he stepped up to the plate during game three (of four.) With a count of two balls and two strikes, legend has it that Ruth looked at his opponentsโ€™ dugout, gestured to center field, and claimed he was about to hit a home run right thereโ€”then promptly did.

The papers latched onto Ruthโ€™s โ€˜called shot.โ€™ He confirmed the story several times, too. But, the only concrete evidence that this all happened is a home video that someone in the crowd shot without sound. Itโ€™s not clear who Ruth was really talking to, or what he said, before hitting the home run. Ruthโ€™s stardom, however, fixed the moment in history.

An illustration of Babe Ruth at the plate pointing his bat towards center field, drawn from the perspective of the raucaous audience

An illustration dated to 1933 depicting Babe Ruth calling his shot in the fifth inning of the third game, 1932 World Series. (Photo by Transcendental Graphics/Getty Images)

A release from Heritage Auctions says Ruth held onto the jersey from that game until the 1940s, when he gave it to a golfing buddy. That recipient passed it along to their daughter, who sold it for six figures in the 1990s to โ€œan early sports auction pioneer.โ€ Then, that buyer sold the jersey immediately to an anonymous collector, who consigned the jersey again in 2005, when it was put up for sale as only โ€œattributed toโ€ the โ€˜called shot.โ€™ It sold for $940,000.

Heritage Auctions owes this weekendโ€™s astronomical priceโ€”reportedly achieved after a six hour bidding warโ€”to several assessments stating this jersey was, in fact, the one Ruth wore during the โ€˜called shot.โ€™ Debate around that claimโ€™s veracity have dogged the garment. The first authenticator that the New Jersey-based consignor contacted in 2019 couldnโ€™t provide a conclusive confirmation, but MeiGray and PSA offered subsequent claims by photo matching the jerseyโ€™s button placements and embroidered letters, as well as a small stain.

โ€œIt 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,โ€ Ivy noted in this weekendโ€™s release. According to the lotโ€™s page, the new owner is already accepting offers.

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