Rare 'Murderers' Row' era Babe Ruth jersey can set record on auction block
One of Babe Ruth’s game-worn New York Yankees jerseys is going on the auction block and is expected to fetch more than $4 million, potentially the highest price ever paid for a piece of sports memorabilia.
The gray road uniform is rare because it marks the only time in franchise history when “Yankees” was etched across the front of the jersey.
“There's only about six of these known of any quality. This is from that late [1920s], that Murderers' Row-era” David Hunt told FOX Business’ Dagen McDowell on Monday, adding that it has the potential to exceed the record price of $4.4 million.
“Murderers' Row,” the nickname of the heart of the Yankees lineup in 1927, included Earle Combs, Mark Koenig, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Bob Meusel and Tony Lazzeri. It is widely considered as one of the best teams in history.
Hunt also explained the process a piece of memorabilia must go through in order to have its authenticity verified.
“It's almost a scientific process. You look at the tagging, the originality, the numbers, the letters. Anything that can tell us different clues about how it got there and, you know, it's not an easy, you know, sort of a process but as long as you're careful and you look at the historic photographs ... matching up is pretty simple,” Hunt said, noticing that the Ruth jersey is "guaranteed" authentic.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX BUSINESS APP
Other rare items up for auction include one of The Great Bambino’s game-used bats that has his home runs carved into the barrel.
“It actually became interesting because he hit so many home runs. It started to encroach up onto the barrel which was illegal. He says 'I can't do this the umpires are going to throw me out.' So he did for about two years and as such there was only about four or five of these known -- really a rare piece,” said Hunt.