My cousins once discussed the option of purchasing their parent’s New England lake cottage. It was a classic old summer home in New Hampshire on Lake Sunapee. The subject of price was soon broached. One of my cousins declared, “You can’t put a price on sentimentality.” “Uh, wrong,” I thought. People put prices on sentimental items all the time.
It’s about to happen again. Next week, a baseball jersey once worn by the legendary Babe Ruth is coming up for sale. Admittedly, this isn’t just “any old jersey.” Photo-matching indicates it’s the one Babe wore as a Yankee in the third game of the 1932 World Series against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. That means it’s the jersey he wore while standing at home plate signaling, he would be hitting the ball out of the park via center field. It became known as the “Called Shot” in baseball.
There’s some question as to whether he was actually indicating his pending swat or not. Some say he was pointing to the Cub’s dugout or to pitcher Charlie Root. Hard to say. Either way, he sent the ball 440 feet over the center field wall for a home run – Ruth’s last career World Series homer....
1932 was long before fans and collectors would all but kill to own a home run ball, a game-played bat or a game-worn jersey. For years, the jersey Babe wore that day languished as merely another old, used baseball shirt with dirt on it. In the 1930s and ‘40s, such items were even often sent down to be used by players in the minor leagues. No one really cared. Fast forward 90 years.
In 2024, these are the things of collector dreams. A signed ball by Ruth in nice condition can now sell for $10,000 to $30,000. A bat, photo-matched to once being used by Babe Ruth, sold last year for $1.85 million. Next week, it’s predicted those will all be chump change.
The “Called Shot” jersey in question has hand stitching, including the lettering for “NEW YORK’ on the front. It also has a stain or two…perhaps from a hot dog the Babe might have been eating? Doesn’t matter. Estimates from Heritage Auctions, the firm handling the sale, are high. Floor bidding is to begin at $7.5 million. In the end, they expect it to bring a mind-blowing $30 million.
The last time that jersey was sold was in 2005. Then it brought $940,000. To show how sentimentality can skew a person’s sense of reality, consider $940,000 compounded at five-percent annually over 20 years. It would have grown to $2.5 million – nowhere near $30 million.
With the stratospheric wealth of some in the tech world, movie stars, or sports celebrities, maybe $30 million is “fun money.” In fairness, the value of the jersey may continue to climb. At that same five-percent interest calculation, it would have to increase $1.5 million per year to keep pace with other investments. I suppose we’ll see.
With the sale of Ruth’s jersey, it’s fortuitous the USPS just released a new baseball-related stamp honoring Hank Aaron. The “Forever” stamp is worth the current postal rate of 73-cents (as well as whatever the rate may be in the future). It features an image of the Atlanta Braves slugger at bat ready to take a swing.
Nicknamed "Hammerin' Hank", Aaron was a right fielder who played 23 seasons from 1954 until 1976. He was the first to break the National League home run record previously set by Ruth with 755. He still holds the record for the most runs batted in (RBI’s).
Though football, soccer, tennis and other sports are eagerly followed by fans, baseball continues to attract the most interest, particularly when it comes to sports cards and postage stamps. Over the years, a number of baseball stamps have been issued featuring the likes of Ruth, Lou Gherig, Mickey Mantle, Jackie Robinson, Roberto Clemente and others.
Such stamps have been snapped up by companies who subsequently assembled them in frames sold to collectors at ballparks and elsewhere. As a result, many of those stamps have become scarce and are worth far more than their face value.
It’s hard to say if that will be the case with the Hank Aaron stamps. Maybe. But, it’s safe to say they will eagerly be purchased, used and collected by baseball fans. Sentimentally speaking, it’s a home run in the baseball stamp lineup.
For more collecting information and advice, log on to: http://prexford.com/.