A Babe Ruth home run bat realised $717,000 in Heritage Auctions' Platinum Night sports memorabilia auction.
 Babe Ruth's performance in the 1921 season changed baseball forever |
The lot crossed the block in New York on February 19-22. Ruth used the bat (described by Heritage as a "massive forty-seven ounce war club") to hit the 59th home run of his incendiary 1921 season with the New York Yankees.
His jaw dropping performance changed baseball overnight.
Frank "Home Run" Baker (whose record Ruth smashed in 25 games), said mid season: "I wish him all the luck in the world. He has everybody else, including myself, hopelessly outclassed."
It was accompanied by a letter of provenance that reads: "To my Friend 'Fred P. Weber, Phoenix, Arizona.
"It gives me great pleasure to present you with this-my trustworthy bat with which I batted out my 57th and 58th [corrected to 59th] home-runs at the Polo Grounds-New York City on September 26, 1921 and broke my own world's home run record. Yours in Baseball, [signed] 'Babe' Ruth."
The sale included a wealth of artefacts from across sporting history - including the gloves worn by Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston in the infamous 1965 Phantom Punch bout, which sold for $956,000.
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