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Babe Ruth’s “called shot” jersey valued at hobby record $30 million at Heritage Auctions
Babe Ruth’s “called shot” home run in Game 3 of the 1932 World Series is one of the most famous stories—or tall tales—in baseball history.
Ruth’s “called shot” against Chicago Cubs pitcher Charlie Root has been argued and debated for decades—to the point that it has almost been accepted as fact that he indeed pointed toward centerfield before blasting Root’s fifth-inning fastball into the bleachers at Wrigley Field.
Whether fact, fiction or folklore, Ruth’s dramatic and controversial home run is considered one of the greatest moments in baseball history.
It is about to gain even more significance and fuel for debate as the New York Yankees gray jersey Ruth wore that day is coming to auction in the Summer Platinum Night Sports Auction Aug. 23-25 at Heritage Auctions.
Heritage expects the jersey to break the all-time record for sports memorabilia, with an estimated value of $30 million. Heritage also sold the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card (SGC 9.5) that holds the all-time record, selling for $12.6 million in 2022.
“Ruth’s World Series jersey is the most significant piece of American sports memorabilia to be offered at auction in decades,” says Chris Ivy, Director of Sports Auctions at Heritage. “Given its history, its mythology, we expect that when the final bid is placed, it will hold the record as the most expensive sports collectible ever to cross the auction block.”
The jersey, bearing Ruth’s famous No. 3, has been photo-matched to Game 3 of the 1932 World Series by MeiGray Authenticated, which matched it to two photos from Getty Images and a third from The Chicago Daily News showing Ruth, Lou Gehrig and manager Joe McCarthy in the dugout.
According to Heritage, Ruth gave the jersey to a Florida man following a round of golf. The man kept it until his daughter auctioned it nearly two decades ago. It had not been photo-matched until recently.
The infamous home run was Ruth’s second of the day. His first, in the first inning, fired up the crowd and led to the Cubs and its fans booing and taunting the Great Bambino.
When Ruth stepped to the plate in the fifth inning, he gestured toward something or someone—either the Cubs’ dugout, Root or perhaps centerfield, where he hit the historic home run. The “Called Shot,” the final World Series home runs of Ruth’s glorious career, has become part of baseball lore, celebrated and replicated for decades in books, movies and on little-league fields across the country.
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While newspapers of the day declared that Ruth had indeed called his shot, Gehrig, his Hall of Fame teammate, seemed to confirm it on a national radio show.
“He stands up there and tells the world he’s going to sock that next one—and not only that, but he tells the world right where he’s gonna sock it, into the center field stands,” Gehrig said. “He called his shot and then made it. I ask you, what can you do with a guy like that?”
Ruth then confirmed the growing legend in interviews and books, calling it “the most famous one I ever hit.” According to Ruth, he was so irked by the taunts of the Cubs and Cubs fans that he pointed toward center field before Root threw his first pitch.
“While he was making up his mind to pitch to me I stepped back again and pointed my finger at those bleachers, which only caused the mob to howl that much more at me,” Ruth said in his book “The Babe Ruth Story.” Root threw me a fast ball. If I had let it go, it would have been called a strike. But this was it. I swung from the ground with everything I had and as I hit the ball every muscle in my system, every sense I had, told me that I had never hit a better one, that as long as I lived nothing would ever feel as good as this.”
The home run led the Yankees to a 7-5 win that day and a series sweep to win its fourth World Series. Now the legend lives on as Ruth’s game-worn jersey from that day could make hobby history.
