$30m expected for iconic Ruth shirt

Nearly a century after Babe Ruth supposedly called his shot during the 1932 World Series, the jersey worn by the New York Yankees slugger when he hit the home run to center field could sell at auction for as much as $30 million.

Heritage Auctions was offering up the jersey on Saturday in Dallas, and, at the time of going to press, bidding had reached $17.7 million.

Ruth's famed, debated and often imitated "called shot" came as the Yankees and Chicago Cubs faced off in Game 3 of the World Series at Chicago's Wrigley Field on Oct 1,1932. In the fifth inning, Ruth made a pointing gesture from the batter's box, before hitting the home run off Cubs pitcher Charlie Root.

"It is the most dramatic moment in World Series history, and it may be the most dramatic moment in all of baseball," said Michael Gibbons, director emeritus and historian at the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum in Baltimore.

The Yankees won the game 7-5 and swept the Cubs the next day to win the series.

That was Ruth's last World Series, and the "called shot" was his last home run in a World Series, said Mike Provenzale, the production manager for Heritage's sports department.

"When you can tie an item like that to an important figure and their most important moment, that's what collectors are really looking for," Provenzale said.

Heritage said Ruth gave the road jersey to one of his golfing buddies in Florida around 1940 and it remained in that family for decades. Then, in the early 1990s, that man's daughter sold it to a collector. It was then sold at auction in 2005 for $940,000, and that buyer consigned it to Heritage this year.

In 2019, one of Ruth's road jerseys dating to 1928-30 sold for $5.64 million in an auction conducted at Yankee Stadium. That jersey was part of a collection of items that Ruth's family had put up for sale.

The "called shot," was an extraordinary moment from a man Gibbons called "the standard-bearer for all of Major League Baseball." Ruth popularized home runs and, in fact, "out-homered complete teams," Gibbons said.

"It thrilled fans, but it also thrilled the country," he said.

"He was always uplifting, he was something very positive for this country to root for," Gibbons said.

Agencies Via Xinhua