Babe Ruth Jersey: Most Expensive Sports Collectible Ever Auctioned

The legend of Babe Ruth and the myth and mystery surrounding his ‘called shot’ are united in this one extraordinary artifact.

Heritage Director of Sports Chris Ivy, after a more than six-hour bidding war took place for a New York Yankees jersey worn by baseball legend Babe Ruth. Ruth reportedly wore the jersey in Game 3 of the 1932 World Series against the Chicago Cubs, when he “called his shot” and hit a famous home run.

Why It Matters: At a Dallas auction on Sunday, Heritage Auctions sold the gray road jersey for $24.12 million. The sale makes Ruth’s jersey the most expensive sports collectible ever sold at auction, nearly doubling the previous record of a 2022 sale in which a 1952 Mickey Mantle baseball card went for $12.6 million. Heritage Auctions said that sometime around 1940, Ruth gave his jersey to a friend he played golf with; the friend’s daughter later sold the jersey to a collector in the early 1990s. The last time the jersey made it to auction was in 2005, when it sold for $940,000.

Read More: Babe Ruth jersey of ‘called shot’ fame sells for record $24 million (NPR)