Sometimes players ascend the state of just being human. As their legend grows, so does their mortality. Babe Ruth is one such athlete. Yes, he was the biggest sportsperson of his life. However, almost a century after his debut, Ruth holds an almost untouchable place within every sports fan’s heart. So much so that his memorabilia constantly fetches record prices – like the New York Yankees one that just got sold. 

Babe Ruth’s “Called Shot” Yankees jersey has become a part of sporting history. It was perhaps the one auction that every fan was looking at. Ruth’s legendary jersey that he wore in 1932. Just how high will its price go? Well, the answer is quite simple. Babe Ruth’s “Called Shot” Yankees jersey fetched a humongous $24.12 million. Heritage Auctions held the sale and the price includes the standard 20% buyer’s premium. So what makes this jersey so special?

Simply put, it’s the iconic incident attached to it that makes this Ruth jersey so important. The legendary hitter wore it during game 3 of the 1932 World Series. That’s right! Babe Ruth was wearing this very shirt when he memorably called his own shot against the Chicago Cubs. In what was the sporting world’s biggest moment – Babe Ruth pointed at the center field flagpole. Two strikes later, Ruth hit a home run at the exact spot he pointed at. Imagine the pandemonium it caused.

That naturally added to the mystique of Babe Ruth. Here was a man so confident in his abilities that he could point and hit.  So naturally, the jersey was expected to break records when it was made available. And break records it did – this is the highest that any sporting memorabilia has ever been priced. “This is essentially the Mona Lisa, it’s a very mythical moment that crosses over not only in baseball history but American history, pop culture history,” Chris Ivy said. That brings us to the question – what are some of the biggest sporting memorabilia to have ever been sold?

Michael Jordan, Babe Ruth, and Mickey Mantle’s hugely priced items

While Babe Ruth’s “Called Shot” New York Yankees jersey is naturally fetching a huge price, other similar items have been auctioned before. One of them was the legendary Mickey Mantle’s 1952 Topps card. That ultra-rare card went for $12.6 million and pretty much set the record for the highest-priced sports memorabilia. So as it stands, Babe Ruth has just almost doubled the previous record high. 

Then there’s Michael Jordan’s 1998 NBA Finals game 1 jersey. Despite being perhaps the biggest sportsperson of the last 50 years, Jordan’s jersey could get only a fraction of what Ruth’s shirt did. MJ’s jersey ultimately fetched $10.1 million in 2022.  Argentina’s late World Cup-winning icon Diego Maradona’s “Hand of God” jersey fetched $9.3 million. That was perhaps one of the most pivotal and polarizing moments in Argentina’s 1986 World Cup win. But even then, its price couldn’t compete with the ridiculous highs of Ruth’s jersey. The reason is quite simple – Ruth is not just an American icon, he is a world icon.

“A Babe ‘called shot’ jersey could be, if not the, most important sports relic in American history, in world history,” said Barry Meisel, the President and COO of MeiGray Authenticated. Perhaps it is. After all, it is Babe Ruth – a human who showed everyone a way to become immortal. So who wouldn’t want to hold a piece of that immortal legacy in their hands, right?