Babe Ruth's Bat from 1923 Exhibition Game Sells for $1.3M at Auction

A legendary piece of baseball history recently sold for a whopping number at an auction.

According to The Athletic, a bat owned by Babe Ruth that was matched to a photo from a 1923 exhibition game was sold for over $1.3 million through Robert Edward Auctions this past weekend. The description of the bat said Ruth used it to hit a home run in the October 1923 benefit game.

The sale falls a bit shy of the record for a Ruth-used bat. In April, Hunt Auctions announced the private sale of a bat used by Ruth circa 1920-21 for $1.85 million, which set the record for any player's baseball bat. The previous record of $1.68 million also belonged to Ruth for a bat sold in Aug. 2022.

The bat sold this past weekend reportedly "shows signature signs of use by Ruth, including a left-barrel contact area and a scored handle." The bat was verified by PSA/DNA, which "was able to determine that the knob, handle and barrel dimensions of the bat are 'easily recognized' as 'His Model,' which was later assigned the model number R2" that was used frequently by Ruth.

Thanks to the advances in the verification process, it can be expected that other bats will be sold for big numbers in the future. One used by Ruth to hit a home run in an actual game is likely to break the all-time record.