A baseball glove Hall of Famer Babe Ruth wore sold at the annual Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory auction Saturday for a record $1.53 million, according to Dan Hajducky of ESPN.
The piece of memorabilia shattered the previous record for sums paid for a baseball glove, previously held by a mitt once owned by Lou Gehrig, which fetched $387,500 in 1999.
Ruth personally donated the glove to St. Louis Browns third baseman Jimmy Austin. Austin's niece Susan Kolokoff entered the glove for auction.
"My childhood memories with my 'Uncle Jim' are extremely dear to me," Kolokoff said in a statement obtained by ESPN. "The glove had rested in a box for the last 30 years until we learned of its history."
Hunt Auctions originally believed the glove was a vintage Babe Ruth store model entered for consignment. However, they were able to authenticate the mitt using a picture of Ruth wearing a glove with identical tobacco staining and an audio recording of Austin discussing the glove while pounding its leather.
