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

Baseball behemoth Babe Ruth has earned yet another accolade. This weekend, the jersey that the ‘Sultan of Swat’ purportedly wore during his fabled ‘called shot’ of the 1932 World Series sold for $24.12 million with Heritage Auctions, making it the most valuable sports collectible in the world—and shattering records set by Michael Jordan’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.

“This is essentially the Mona Lisa,” the house’s director of sports auctions Chris Ivy told ESPN. “It’s a very mythical moment that crosses over not only in baseball history, but American history.”

The rear-side of Ruth’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 slugger’s 714 home runs between 1914 and 1935 set a league record which the Atlanta Braves’ Henry “Hank” Aaron only broke in 1974.

The mythology surrounding Ruth’s ‘called shot’ home run during the 1932 World Series, however, transcended baseball. That year’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 opponents’ dugout, gestured to center field, and claimed he was about to hit a home run right there—then promptly did.

The papers latched onto Ruth’s ‘called shot.’ 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. It’s not clear who Ruth was really talking to, or what he said, before hitting the home run. Ruth’s stardom, however, fixed the moment in history.

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 “an early sports auction pioneer.” 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 “attributed to” the ‘called shot.’ It sold for $940,000.

Heritage Auctions owes this weekend’s astronomical price—reportedly achieved after a six hour bidding war—to several assessments stating this jersey was, in fact, the one Ruth wore during the ‘called shot.’ Debate around that claim’s veracity have dogged the garment. The first authenticator that the New Jersey-based consignor contacted in 2019 couldn’t provide a conclusive confirmation, but MeiGray and PSA offered subsequent claims by photo matching the jersey’s button placements and embroidered letters, as well as a small stain.

“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,” Ivy noted in this weekend’s release. According to the lot’s page, the new owner is already accepting offers.

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