Called shot: Babe Ruth jersey sells for record $24.12M

Babe Ruth continues to be a record-setter.

It’s been 92 years since Babe Ruth stood near home plate and called where his hit was going to soar and the jersey he wore as he smacked the ball over the outfield wall right where he said he would hit the auction block, bringing in a record $24.12 million.

The bidding for the iconic piece of baseball memorabilia lasted more than six hours and was sold by Heritage Auctions.

The buyer has asked to stay anonymous.

Ruth beat out fellow Yankee Mickey Mantle with the sale, which had held the record for the most expensive sports collectible. Mantle’s 1952 Topps card had held the top spot selling for $12.6 million in 2022, Heritage Auctions said.

So how did they know it was the jersey that Ruth wore in Game 3 of the 1932 World Series?

Heritage Auctions said that several third parties photo-matched the jersey using two photos from Getty Images and a third from “The Chicago Daily News” that show Ruth, Lou Gehrig and manager Joe McCarthy in Wrigley Field’s dugout on Oct. 1, 1932. In that game, Ruth hit two homers including The Called Shot. He kept the jersey after he retired and eventually gave it to a golfing friend in Florida in the 1940s. The man’s daughter held onto it until the 1990s when it was sold for six figures and then immediately privately sold to an unnamed collector who kept it until he consigned it to auction in 2005. Called the “1932 Babe Ruth New York Yankees Game-Used Road Flannel Jersey Attributed To the Called Shot,” it sold for $940,000 and was in a private collection until this latest auction.

The jersey was sold on Aug. 25 as part of Heritage Auction’s Summer Platinum Night Sports Auction.

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