After six-hour bidding war, Ruth jersey sells for over $24m

DALLAS — The jersey Babe Ruth wore when he supposedly called his shot during the 1932 World Series, before hitting a home run to center field, sold at auction early Sunday for over $24 million.

Heritage Auctions said the New York Yankees slugger's jersey eventually sold for a record-breaking $24.12 million, following a bidding war that lasted over six hours when it went under the hammer in Dallas. The buyer wishes to remain anonymous, Heritage said.

The amount for which the match-worn jersey sold doubles that of the 1952 rookie card of Ruth's fellow Yankee, Mickey Mantle, which the Dallas-based auction house sold for $12.6 million in 2022.

Chris Ivy, Heritage's director of sports, calls the jersey "the most significant piece of American sports memorabilia ever offered at auction". He said in a news release that it was clear from the bidding 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," Ivy said.

Ruth's famed, debated and often imitated "called shot" came as the Yankees and Chicago Cubs faced off in Game 3 of the World Series at Chicago's Wrigley Field on Oct 1,1932. In the fifth inning of the heated game, Ruth made a pointing gesture while in the batter's box, before hitting a home run off Cubs pitcher Charlie Root.

"It is the most dramatic moment in World Series history, and it may be the most dramatic moment in all of baseball," said Michael Gibbons, director emeritus and historian at the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum in Baltimore.

The Yankees won the game 7-5 and swept the Cubs the next day to win the series.

That was Ruth's last World Series, and the "called shot" was his last home run in a World Series, said Mike Provenzale, the production manager for Heritage's sports department.

"When you can tie an item like that to an important figure and their most important moment, that's what collectors are really looking for," Provenzale said.

Heritage said Ruth gave the road jersey to one of his golfing buddies in Florida around 1940, and it remained in that family for decades. Then, in the early 1990s, that man's daughter sold it to a collector. It was then sold at auction in 2005 for $940,000 and remained in a private collection until being consigned to Heritage this year.

There's been debate for decades over whether Ruth really called the shot, but Gibbons said there's home movie footage of the game that shows Ruth pointing, though it's not clear whether he's pointing at the pitcher, center field or toward the Cubs bench. Regardless, he said, Ruth, who had a history of making predictions, clearly said "something's going to happen on the next pitch", and he made it happen. He added that Ruth himself said he'd called the shot.

"We certainly think that he did call his shot," Gibbons said.

News reel footage shows Ruth rounding the bases after the home run and making a pushing out gesture toward the Cubs bench, as if to say "I gotcha," Gibbons said.

The "called shot" was an extraordinary moment from a man Gibbons called "the standard-bearer for all of Major League Baseball."

"He was always uplifting, he was something very positive for this country to root for," Gibbons said. "Then he caps it all off by calling his shot."

Agencies