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You are here: Home / Sports Memorabilia News / 1920 Babe Ruth Jersey Could Fetch $1 Million Plus

1920 Babe Ruth Jersey Could Fetch $1 Million Plus

February 28, 2012 By Rich Mueller

The earliest known game worn Babe Ruth jersey is going on the auction block.   SCP Auctions announced Monday that it would offer the 1920 Ruth shirt in its spring auction slated to begin Monday, April 30.  Ruth joined the Yankees after being sold by the Boston Red Sox in January of that year.

Babe Ruth 1920 jersey YankeesThe unrestored road jersey carries Ruth’s stitched name inside the collar and had been displayed inside the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum for several years.It has been authenticated by MEARS.

SCP executives believe bidding will stretch into seven figures.

“This is simply the finest sports artifact we’ve handled in our 30-year history,” said SCP Auctions President David Kohler.  “It has it all. You would be hard pressed to dream up a more desirable baseball artifact. The historical impact of Ruth’s emergence in the Big Apple in the early 1920s, combined with the jersey’s superb original condition, makes this a sports treasure of the highest order.”

1920 Babe Ruth photoThe jersey had been in a private collection for many years, then displayed at the Ruth Museum in Baltimore from 2004 to 2009.  A collector purchased it and has now decided to sell, according to Yahoo Sports.

Only a handful of other pieces of vintage baseball memorabilia have eclipsed the million dollar mark. Topping that list is the PSA 8-graded Honus Wagner tobacco card sold by SCP  for $2.8 million in 2007.  Some industry experts have speculated that the Ruth jersey could raise the bar set by the Wagner card and make sports memorabilia history as the most expensive single item ever sold.

“It has a definite aura about it,” added SCP Auctions Managing Director Dan Imler. “It is hard to put a value on an item of such singular importance.  Ruth was a man of mythic proportions.  More than any other man, he transcended sports, achieving a nearly unrivaled status as an American icon. In the process, he changed the game of baseball forever. To think this jersey was worn by him during the most pivotal years of his career, and arguably the most consequential years in baseball history, makes this one of the finest sports artifacts we’ll see in our lifetime.”

Bidding will be conducted online at SCPAuctions.com and is slated to close May 19.  The spring auction will also feature hundreds of other historically-significant sports memorabilia items and cards. For more information on how to participate, visit www.scpauctions.com or call (949) 831-3700.

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About Rich Mueller

Rich is the editor and founder of Sports Collectors Daily. A broadcaster and writer for over 40 years and a collector for even longer than that, he's usually typing something somewhere. Type him back at [email protected]

Filed Under: Sports Memorabilia News Tagged With: auction, babe ruth birthplace, game, Jersey, scp auctions, Spring, vintage baseball memorabilia, Wagner, wagner card

Reader Interactions

Trackbacks

  1. “the memorabilia auction… « fivesport says:
    May 21, 2012 at 2:26 pm

    […] According to Yahoo.com “the memorabilia auction house Lelands.com bid a record-breaking $4,415,658 for the earliest jersey worn by Babe Ruth known to still exist, a circa 1920 New York Yankees road model he wore in his first season after coming over from the Red Sox. The jersey’s price surpassed the $4,338,500 paid in 2010 for Dr. James Naismith’s founding rules of basketball — called the “Bible of Basketball” — making Ruth’s the most expensive sports memorabilia in history. SCP Auctions, which ran the sale, had been speculating it would go for at least $1 million.” […]

  2. Meekospark – Your Daily Dose Of Entertainment » Babe Ruth jersey auctioned for $4.4 million, becomes most expensive sports memorabilia ever says:
    May 21, 2012 at 11:51 am

    […] On Sunday, the memorabilia auction house Lelands.com bid a record-breaking $4,415,658 for the earliest jersey worn by Babe Ruth known to still exist, a circa 1920 New York Yankees road model he wore in his first season after coming over from the Red Sox. The jersey’s price surpassed the $4,338,500 paid in 2010 for Dr. James Naismith’s founding rules of basketball — called the “Bible of Basketball” — making Ruth’s the most expensive sports memorabilia in history. SCP Auctions, which ran the sale, had been speculating it would go for at least $1 million. […]

  3. Babe Ruth jersey auctioned for $4.4 million, becomes most expensive sports … - News of 2012 | News of 2012 says:
    May 21, 2012 at 2:58 am

    […] On Sunday, the memorabilia auction house Lelands.com bid a record-breaking $4,415,658 for the earliest jersey worn by Babe Ruth known to still exist, a circa 1920 New York Yankees road model he wore in his first season after coming over from the Red Sox. The jersey’s price surpassed the $4,338,500 paid in 2010 for Dr. James Naismith’s founding rules of basketball — called the “Bible of Basketball” — making Ruth’s the most expensive sports memorabilia in history. SCP Auctions, which ran the sale, had been speculating it would go for at least $1 million. […]

  4. Babe Ruth Jersey Already Has $366,000 Bid | Sports Collectors Daily|Sports collecting news says:
    May 9, 2012 at 9:32 pm

    […] as Sports Memorabilia News,Vintage Sports Card News Just hours into the bidding, a 1920-era Babe Ruth Yankees jersey has already become one of the more valuable pieces of sports memorabilia ever to come up for […]

  5. Babe Ruth Yankees Jersey Expected to Fetch Seven Figures at Auction | Collectors’ Quest says:
    February 28, 2012 at 2:00 pm

    […] April 30, reports SportsCollectorsDaily, a 1920 Babe Ruth road jersey from the beginning of his stint with the New York Yankees will be […]

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