1932 Babe Ruth Game Worn New York Yankees World Series "Called Shot" Jersey, SGC Superior - Photo Matched!...

Click the image to load the highest resolution version.

Sold on Aug 24, 2024 for:

Sign-in or Join (free & quick)

Get one of these:

Share this lot

Track Item Printable Auction Results

Sell One of These

Description

Auction Info

Guides & Info

Description

The ultimate treasure of our national pastime!

1932 Babe Ruth Game Worn New York Yankees World Series "Called Shot" Jersey, SGC Superior - Photo Matched! It has been called the greatest moment in baseball history, a characterization unharmed by the fact that nobody knows for certain if it actually happened the way the popular story goes. No shortage of evidence exists to bolster the arguments of both sides of the debate, with Babe Ruth himself supplying his own statements of affirmation and denial, but the supremacy of The Called Shot in the lore of our national pastime has always been less about whether or not the story was literally true and much more about the fact that so many people have believed that it could be. The heart of the matter is the almost religious belief that there could exist a man so divinely endowed with talent that he might proclaim and fulfill a prophecy like that on the sport's grandest stage. Babe Ruth was just such a man.

We all know that The Called Shot was far from the first such tale of the Babe's ability to summon magic at will. Ruth's fans had accepted this as an article of faith as far back as 1926, when the legendary slugger made a home run promise to a hospitalized youngster named Johnny Sylvester and subsequently delivered in triplicate. In the biographical film released just weeks before his passing in 1948, Ruth's home runs in that Fall Classic were given the tint of the miraculous, freeing the sick child from his infirmity, thus effectively beatifying the Bambino as an American saint. Two and a half years later, Ruth made headlines with a home run clout the day after his marriage to Claire Merritt, a wedding gift that fans and sportswriters alike were more than willing to assign to the Babe's mystical command over the otherwise fickle nature of baseball's whims.

Of course, the kind of mystery that permeates the history of The Called Shot has long since been driven to extinction by the modern ubiquity of the camera's eye. Just a single, grainy film reel can be entered into evidence for this event, captured at an angle that leaves the direction of Ruth's gesture unclear. The doubters are just as likely to claim the footage proves that Ruth's hand points only toward the Chicago Cubs dugout as believers are to insist that it validates the popular center field narrative. So let's take a moment to recall the details of the story that are not in dispute.

The simmering tension between the holders of each league's 1932 pennant had already reached a steady boil by the time the World Series relocated to Wrigley Field following the Yankees' victories in each of the first two games in the Bronx. Ruth himself had actively stoked the flames himself before the first pitch of the World Championship summit had been thrown, castigating the Windy City visitors for their vote to deny his good friend and former Yankees teammate Mark Koenig a full share of the World Series bonus due to his midseason hire. The Cubs, Ruth informed them to their faces, were "a bunch of cheapskates, nickel-nursers and misers," a sentiment echoed by the rest of the pinstriped combatants. Return fire came in attacks on Ruth's advanced age (he was thirty-seven at the time) and suggestions that he had been denied a managerial role due to his lack of intelligence.

Over 5,000 fans met the teams' separate trains as they arrived in Chicago for Game Three and security was insufficient to protect Ruth from the hostility of the city's natives. They had read Ruth's interview in The Chicago Daily Tribune: "Sure, I'm on 'em; I hope we beat 'em four straight,'' Ruth raged. "They gave Koenig a sour deal in their player cut. They're chiselers and I'll tell 'em so." Curses and saliva rained down upon the target of their rage at Union Station, the latter an apparently coordinated attack by the female supporters of the National League Champions. "I've seen some nutty fans in my life," Ruth later wrote, "but never quite like those girls...But what annoyed me most was their spitting and their bad aim. Poor Claire received most of it."

Ruth answered insult with injury in the opening frame at Chicago, stepping to the plate in the top of the first with two men on and no outs and crushing Charlie Root's third offering to deep right center to take a quick three-run lead. A Cubs run in the bottom of the inning was answered by a solo shot from Lou Gehrig in the top of the third, but the Cubs would respond with two in the bottom of the third and another run in the fourth to even the score at four runs apiece, setting the stage for a home run that would be the Ruth's second of the game, the last of his postseason career, and the most famous of his 729 in Major League play. It traveled nearly 500 feet giving the Yankees a 5-4 lead which they would never relinquish.

"To me, it was the funniest, proudest moment I had ever had in baseball," Ruth acknowledged. "I jogged down toward first base, rounded it, looked back at the Cub bench and suddenly got convulsed with laughter. You should have seen those Cubs. There they were-all out on the top step and yelling their brains out - and then [I] connected and they watched it and then fell back as if they were being machine-gunned."

Charlie Root would throw one more pitch in that World Series, which Lou Gehrig likewise deposited deep into the outfield bleachers. The Cubs' will was irreparably broken, and the Yanks would complete their four-game sweep the next day.

There are no words sufficient to express the pride with which we at Heritage Auctions present this jersey to the collecting community, the single item that most comprehensively emblematizes the mystique and mastery of baseballs' greatest figure. Photography captured that afternoon in Chicago provides the manner of ironclad certitude that the film footage could never supply to the apocryphal tale, perfectly matching the subject jersey and assuring beyond any doubt this is the road grey flannel that George Herman Ruth was wearing as he authored the most captivating masterpiece of American sports.

Physical examination:

The jersey is constructed of heavy (estimate 6-8 ounce wool) gray flannel that is fully consistent with authentic New York Yankees road jerseys of the era. Midnight navy felt forms "NEW YORK" in gentle arch across chest, with Ruth's iconic number "3" applied in identical format to verso. Interior collar bears a square "Spalding" label in a format used by the sporting goods manufacturer circa 1926 through 1933. There is no size marking, which is correct for the production era. Immediately to the left, "Ruth G.H." is embroidered directly into the jersey body in a manner likewise consistent with other known exemplars. Both the tag and embroidered name are not sewn through to the back of the jersey, indicating they were applied prior to the finishing of the collar construction, thus appropriate in every regard to Spalding's standard operating procedure.

The jersey measures to a size 46, appropriate for Ruth's frame in 1932. Seven pearl gray buttons appear at chest, each deemed to be original to the jersey. The bottom of the placket features two vertical slots that resemble buttonholes, but they are present for the utilization of a tie-down or "fat strap," in hobby parlance. Ruth used this design feature in his later, heavier years to keep his jersey tucked into his pants, the equivalent of a hockey "fight strap." The rear bottom of the jersey reveals the original sewn application where that strap was anchored, but only a portion of the strap remains to present day.

Game wear is characterized as "moderate to heavy," but the garment remains in well above average condition for its advanced age. General toning throughout is a welcome indicator of age and perhaps the staining of infield clay to some degree. Minimal separation of the anchor stitching of the number "3" on verso appears at the divot of the numeral's spine. An oval-shaped hole at left shoulder, about 1.75x1" at its largest dimensions, has been expertly patched at interior by a conservationist so as to render that minor fault virtually invisible. Professional cleaning instituted in recent years has likewise improved the general aesthetics.

The Superior grade as assessed by SGC is applied only to fully original jerseys demonstrating solid game wear and surviving in a strong state of physical preservation.

Photographic verification:

The most ironclad assurance of authenticity is delivered in photographic format, with industry-leading photo matching authenticators MeiGray supplying three photographs of Ruth in the October 1, 1932 World Series Game Three at Wrigley Field wearing this jersey. The placement of the letter "Y" in "YORK" is demonstrated to be in perfect alignment with the buttons and curve of the front placket. Other unique attributes utilized in the matching include a small notch on the left size of the "N" in "NEW," a bend in the bottom of the "E" and a slight tilt in the middle peak of the "W."

It should be noted that these small nuances were also used to exclude other jerseys of this format worn by Ruth in the period, ensuring that this jersey is a definitive match to the following:

1.) A pre-game photograph offering superior clarity due to the photographer's close proximity to the subject.
2.) Babe Ruth circling the bases moments after hitting his first inning home run, bringing home fellow Hall of Famers Earle Combs and Joe Sewell, to take a 3-0 lead before the first out was recorded.
3.) Babe Ruth after his second home run of the day, the legendary "Called Shot," launched in the fifth inning.
4.) A second photo matching letter from PSA matches the jersey to the pre-game photograph and the "Called Shot" photograph.

Lastly, a photo matching letter from End-to-End Match includes matches to World Series Game Three pre-game, and Ruth's two home runs, as well as the following:

1.) June 9, 1932 regular season vs. Detroit Tigers at Navin Field. Ruth singled, walked twice and scored a run.
2.) October 2, 1932 (World Series Game Four). This was Babe Ruth's final World Series game, clinching the World Championship. He was hit by a pitch in the first inning (perhaps in retaliation for his Game Three heroics) and singled home a run in the seventh.

We must report that the End-to-End photo matches utilize both the placement of the front lettering and some staining (likely dirt of tobacco juice) which has since been greatly reduced or eliminated by a subsequent professional cleaning, so some of those staining data points have been lost.

Provenance:

The jersey was acquired by a well-known hobby pioneer around 1990 from an elderly lady in Florida whose father had been a golfing buddy of Babe Ruth near the Yankees' Spring Training grounds of St. Petersburg. She stated that the jersey had been a gift from Ruth to her father during Ruth's retirement.

LOA from SGC, Superior. Photo match LOA from MeiGray. Photo match LOA from PSA. Photo match LOA from End-to-End Photo Match. LOA from Heritage Auctions.

Read the full story here