Babe Ruth's 'Called Shot' World Series Yankees Jersey Could Sell for $20M+ at Auction

Babe Ruth's New York Yankees jersey that was used during the famous "called shot" homer in Game 3 of the 1932 World Series could sell for more than $20 million at auction.

Heritage Auction has the jersey listed with a current bid of $15.1 million, with a note detailing the "most ironclad assurance of authenticity" from photomatching authenticators MeiGray.

Per The Athletic's Rustin Dodd, the final sale price could exceed $20 million by the time bidding ends on Saturday.

This would make it the most expensive piece of game-worn sports memorabilia ever sold, nearly doubling the current record of $10.1 million for Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls jersey from Game 1 of the 1998 NBA Finals.

However, Dodd noted there is some divide among experts over the authenticity of the Ruth jersey. John Robinson, the owner of Resolution Photomatching, had been asked by a man in New Jersey to confirm the validity of the jersey back in March 2019.

According to Dodd, Robinson declared it not to be a match based on their standards after conducting a three-round research process.

Chris Ivy, the director of sports auctions at Heritage, told Dodd it was "unfortunate" that Resolution "would want to come out and say something like that" and he's "100 percent confident" in the vetting process they went through to authenticate the jersey.

"We're 100 percent confident that this jersey is an authentic 1932 Babe Ruth game-worn jersey," Ivy said, "and we're 100 percent confident that it's the jersey he was wearing in game three of the 1932 World Series for his 'called shot.'"

The Heritage Auction website notes 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." The woman said the jersey was "a gift from Ruth to her father during Ruth's retirement."

Jim Montague, MeiGray's vice president of authentication, told ESPN's Dan Hajducky in May they noticed a few specific details in the authentication process that made them certain the jersey was the real thing:

"How the Y was positioned on the front of the jersey in relationship to the buttons and the placket on the jersey. Back then, everything was hand-stitched on. There are seamstresses putting names and numbers and stitching the collar, stitching of the names in the collar, they're doing it by hand. When you see certain placements, you have [something] unique. They're not doing it the same two times in a row."

Dodd noted multiple other photomatching companies, in addition to MeiGray, also declared the jersey to be a match.

In the 92 years since the World Series between the Yankees and Chicago Cubs, there has been a debate over whether or not Ruth actually called his shot.

There's no dispute that he did point before hitting a home run, but there was some back-and-forth jawing between Ruth and Cubs players throughout the game that has led to speculation he may have been pointing at someone in the field during his at-bat in the fifth inning.

Regardless, Ruth hit a solo homer in the at-bat to put the Yankees ahead 5-4. They would go on to sweep the Cubs for their first World Series victory since 1928.

It would be the final World Series appearance of Ruth's career before retiring in 1935.