Babe Ruth ‘called shot’ jersey sells for record £18.1m

The jersey worn by baseball legend Babe Ruth when he “called the shot” during the 1932 World Series has become the most expensive item of sports memorabilia sold at auction.

Ruth’s jersey sold for £18.1 million ($24.12 million), eclipsing the £9.53 million ($12.6 million) paid in 2022 for a 1952 Topps baseball card featuring New York Yankees outfielder Mickey Mantle.

The previous record for a jersey sold at auction was basketball legend Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls jersey from the 1998 NBA Finals, which sold for £7.64 million ($10.1 million) in 2022.

Chris Ivy, director of sports auctions at Heritage Auctions, called it “the most significant piece of American sports memorabilia ever offered at auction.”

“If this were a work of art, it would be like buying the Mona Lisa,” Ivy added.

Ruth, infamously traded by the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees in 1920, wore the jersey while playing for the Yankees during Game 3 of the 1932 World Series against the Chicago Cubs.

He famously “called the throw” while batting toward center field, before hitting a home run off Cubs pitcher Charlie Root.

The Yankees won the series 7-5 and it was Ruth’s last home run in a World Series.

Ruth, widely regarded as the greatest baseball player of all time, won the World Series seven times.

He retired in 1935 and died in 1948 at the age of 53.