Babe Ruth in 1942. Image credits: Wikimedia Commons
Around 1940, Babe Ruth gave one of his old Yankees road jerseys to a golfing friend in Florida. Early on Sunday, August 25, 2024, it sold at Heritage Auctions in Dallas for $24.12 million, a record for any sports collectible sold at auction. Ruth hit his famous home run in the fifth inning of Game 3 The story begins at the Chicago Cubs’ Wrigley Field. 49,986 people attended this game and the Cubs’ players had been provoking Babe Ruth ever since the World Series started, according to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. That day Root had given away two home runs each to Ruth and Lou Gehrig and the Yankees had beaten them 7-5, according to the Society for American Baseball Research. Artnet says the consignor from New Jersey contacted an authenticator in 2019, who did not provide any clear results of the examination. MeiGray and PSA relied on photo comparison to link the jersey to Game 3, looking at details such as the button location, embroidered letters and a stain, according to Artnet. So, Heritage and other authenticators analysed photos in order to connect the jersey to Game 3, but the identification process was not unambiguous. Heritage auctioned the jersey very early on Sunday, August 25, 2024, in Dallas, following a bidding contest that lasted more than six hours to an unknown buyer, according to The AP. NPR added that the amount paid was close to double the previous highest sale of sports memorabilia, which was a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle baseball card sold at Heritage for $12.6 million in 2022. This is more expensive than the most expensive game-worn jersey, Michael Jordan’s NBA Finals shirt in 1998, that was sold for $10.1 million in 2022.
Decades later, that jersey was identified as the one Ruth wore for his famous “called shot” home run in Game 3 of the 1932 World Series. It was said that in the fifth inning, according to the Associated Press, he had thrown a gesture from the plate and had hit a home run against Charlie Root at deep centre field. Ruth himself endorsed many accounts of the event in the past and he even alleged that he had called his shot, according to NPR. There was only one contemporary account that directly mentioned it, although others referred to the act of pointing, according to the Hall of Fame. Two home videos by Matt Miller Kandle Sr. and Herold Warp capture Ruth in high spirits, according to the Hall of Fame. Artnet notes that the video does not have any sound, while AP claims that, according to Michael Gibbons from Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum, it is uncertain whether Ruth was pointing at the pitcher, centre field, or the Cubs players. Heritage said several third parties matched the jersey using three photos taken before and after the game, but one of those companies ruled before the auction that its photo matching could not confirm a match, according to NPR. Chris Ivy, the Director of Sports at Heritage, called it the most important piece of American sports memorabilia ever auctioned, according to The AP.
Nothing about the gesture suggested it was a big deal. It was a grey flannel shirt from a career that had already produced plenty of them. The Associated Press states that they also beat the Cubs the following day. Cubs first baseman Charlie Grimm, Pat Pieper, the Wrigley Field announcer and Gehrig supported Ruth’s account. There is room for debate on the visual evidence as well. The authentication process became another topic of discussion. Artnet had him referring to it as essentially the Mona Lisa in a statement to ESPN.
