How much would you pay?

[SimplyBerwyn]

Babe Ruth jersey auctioned for $4.4 million, becomes most expensive sports memorabilia ever

On Sunday, the memorabilia auction house Lelands.com bid a record-breaking $4,415,658 for the earliest jersey worn by Babe Ruth known to still exist, a circa 1920 New York Yankees road model he wore in his first season after coming over from the Red Sox. The jersey's price surpassed the $4,338,500 paid in 2010 for Dr. James Naismith's founding rules of basketball — called the "Bible of Basketball" — making Ruth's the most expensive sports memorabilia in history. SCP Auctions, which ran the sale, had been speculating it would go for at least $1 million.

Other Ruth items were sold, including a 1930s-era cap Ruth wore that David Wells owned and used in a game in 1997 that went for $537,278. One of Ruth's game-used bats went for $591,007.

Coincidentally or not, Ruth's old house in Sudbury, Mass., is for sale too — and it's listing for only $1.65 million. Oh, real estate, you poor thing. For a further comparison, Ruth earned $910,696 total as a player from 1914-1935. Accounting for inflation, that amount in current dollars is about $15.3 million. In other words, one of Ruth's jerseys costs more than a quarter of his lifetime salary.