MLB

Babe Ruth’s 1918 contract sells for more than $1 million

Babe Ruth’s 1918 contract — inked two years before he became a Yankee — sold for more than $1 million at a Baltimore auction.

The high-end sale came one day after the 100th anniversary of the Bambino’s Major League Baseball debut on July 11, 1914, for the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park.

That contract, which went for $1.02 million, was the highlight of an auction of Ruth and other baseball players’ memorabilia on Saturday night at the Sports Legends Museum in Baltimore.

The Sultan of Swat, while best known for his exploits in New York, is also fondly remembered in Baltimore, the city where he was born.

The left-handed pitching phenom Ruth made a mere $2,500 in his rookie campaign — a little less than $60,000 in today’s money.

Ruth joined the Yankees in 1920 after Red Sox owner Harry Frazee sold him to New York for $100,000.

Babe Ruth’s 1918 contract with the Boston Red SoxGoldin Auctions

Other baseball items, Ruthian and otherwise that sold for big dollars included:

  • A bat used by Ruth, among a stash of pre-War World I bats, went for $214,000.
  • Ticket stubs from each clinching game of the Yankees’ 27 World Series titles went for $58,000.
  • A baseball signed by Ruth sold for $96,000.
  • The 1951 National League MVP award won by Brooklyn Dodger catcher Roy Campanella fetched $180,000.
  • A glove that Yankee great Mickey Mantle used from 1965 to 1966 went for $180,000.

Conspicuously, one item that didn’t sell was the first ball Ruth hit out of Yankee Stadium — albeit not in a game — in 1923.

The Yankees were renters during Ruth’s first few Big Apple years, playing as second-class roommates to the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds in upper Manhattan.

The Yankees built their own home in The Bronx, and before the stadium’s official opening, Ruth got a private tour and smacked a baseball over the wall.

Auctioneers had wanted $1 million for that ball, but online bidding only brought a single $95,000 offer, so the item was withdrawn.