Yankees World Series Lore Sets Record At Auction

If you have a spare eight figures, you may just be able to score your next game day garb for your next New York Yankees game.

Dallas-based auction house Heritage Auctions announced that the Yankees jersey that Babe Ruth wore during Game 3 of the 1932 World Series sold for a record $24.12 million, making it the world’s most valuable sports item sold at auction. That nearly doubles the previous record set by another Yankee-related item, a 1952 Mickey Mantle card also offered by Heritage, which went for $12.6 million in 2022.

“It is clear by 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,” Heritage director of sports Chris Ivy said in a statement. “The legend of Babe Ruth and the myth and mystery surrounding his ‘called shot’ are united in this one extraordinary artifact.”

Not only does the jersey come from Ruth’s penultimate World Series game, but it was also used in one of the most iconic and discussed moments in baseball history: the jersey is prominently featured in Ruth’s long-debated “called shot” home run against the Chicago Cubs, part of a 7-5 Yankees victory en route to their fourth World Series title.

Facing a hostile Chicago crowd and dugout at Wrigley Field, Ruth paused a fifth inning at-bat to gesture in a pointing manner. Two pitches later, the Sultan of Swat hit a tie-breaking solo home run to center field, leading to a legend that Ruth “called his shot.” Other theories claim that Ruth was simply pointing at the Cubs’ dugout or at pitcher Charlie Root.

The home run standing the test of time over nine decades makes it no surprise that the jersey Ruth wore during the incident would be such a coveted item. It was one of many items offered in Heritage’s Summer Platinum Night Sports Auction, which also featured valuable Yankee-related items such as Mantle’s jersey from the 1952 and 1953 World Series and the ball that Joe DiMaggio used to earn his 2,000th career hit in 1950.

The modern Yankees will return to the site of Ruth’s called shot next month, as they’ll face the Cubs on Sept. 6-8.