Babe Ruth glove sold for record $1.53 million
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There has not been a baseball glove quite like this one.
At Saturday’s 19th annual Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory auction, a glove worn by Babe Ruth was sold for a whopping $1.53 million, shattering the previous record paid for a baseball glove.
That record is believed to belong to a glove Lou Gehrig used that was sold with Soethby’s in 1999 for $387,500, per ESPN. A Jackie Robinson glove believed to be used in the 1955 and 1956 World Series also sold for $373,000 by Steiner Sports.
Hunt Auctions handled the Ruth glove, which was personally donated by Babe Ruth to St. Louis Browns third baseman Jimmy Austin, where it has remained with his family all these years.
“My childhood memories with my ‘Uncle Jim’ are extremely dear to me,” Susan Kolokoff, niece of Jimmy Austin, said in a statement from Hunt Auctions, per ESPN. “The glove had rested in a box for the last 30 years until we learned of its history and heard the amazing audio recording.”
The audio recording is from 1964 and you can hear Austin discussing the glove and pounding its leather with his hand.
The glove was manufactured by Spalding for Ruth circa 1927-1933 when he played for the New York Yankees and was deemed a possible match after a photo was discovered during the authentication process.
Babe catches a record. Significant Babe Ruth professional model glove c. 1927-33 from the Jimmy Austin collection drew national and international bidding interest. The glove was authenticated and deemed as a possible match by @PSAcard pic.twitter.com/IeBEjdsUwk
— Hunt Auctions (@HuntAuctions) November 12, 2022
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