Babe Ruth’s ‘called-shot’ Yankees jersey sells for $24M at auction
All images courtesy of Heritage Auctions, HA.com
The New York Yankees jersey worn by Babe Ruth when he “called his shot” during the 1932 World Series sold in an auction for $24.12 million, a new record for the most expensive sports collectible. After a bidding war that lasted over six hours, the jersey, which Ruth wore when he pointed to the outfield and proceeded to hit a home run to deep center field, sold on Sunday at Heritage Auctions. The jersey was recently photo-matched by multiple third parties using images from Getty Images and the Chicago Daily News, which show Ruth wearing it in the Wrigley Field dugout on October 1, 1932.
Perhaps baseball’s most famous legend—and one of the most widely debated—Babe Ruth’s fifth-inning home run against the Chicago Cubs during Game 3 of the 1932 World Series has remained a culture-defining moment for the last 92 years.
As the story goes, with a two-strike count during his at-bat, Ruth gestured towards someone or something near the center field flagpole before smashing a pitch from Cubs pitcher Charlie Root to that exact spot.
Following his retirement, Ruth kept the jersey for many years before gifting it to a golfing friend in Florida during the 1940s. The jersey was passed down to the recipient’s daughter, who sold it to a sports memorabilia auctioneer for a “six-figure sum,” according to Heritage.
The jersey was then immediately sold to an unknown collector who held onto it until it was consigned to auction in 2005 as a “1932 Babe Ruth New York Yankees Game-Used Road Flannel Jersey Attributed To the Called Shot” and sold for $940,000. It was held in a private collection before it went to Heritage for auction.
Chris Ivy, director of sports at Heritage, said in a press release that the jersey is “the most significant piece of American sports memorabilia ever offered at auction.”
“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,” Ivy said.
“It is clear from 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.”
The sale breaks the record for a sports collectible tied to another Yankee icon. In 2022, Heritage sold a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie card for $12.6 million.
According to the New York Times, the previous record price for a game-worn piece of sports memorabilia was a jersey worn by Michael Jordan during Game 1 of the 1998 NBA Finals, which sold for $10.1 million in 2022.
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