Babe Ruth's 500th homer bat expected to fetch $1M at auction

The bat that Babe Ruth used to hit his record-breaking 500th home run is going up for auction.

Ruth became the first player to reach 500 career homers with a solo shot off Willis Hudlin at Cleveland's League Park on Aug. 11, 1929.

The Yankees legend gifted the Louisville Slugger to his friend Jim Rice, the former mayor of Suffern, New York, in the mid-1940s. Rice's son, Terry, said the bat sat in the corner of the family's den for years before it was eventually passed on to him.

"It was always there. It was part of life," Terry told Beth Harris of the Associated Press. "No one said I couldn't touch it. I never took it out and played baseball with it.

"For an inanimate object, it's beautiful. It's in perfect condition."

The bat still has marks showing where it made contact with the ball and where Ruth knocked mud off his cleats.

SCP Auctions, the company auctioning off the bat, estimates it could sell for over $1 million. Terry said he hopes the Yankees or Baseball Hall of Fame will show interest in buying it.

Bidding will open Nov. 27 and run through Dec. 14.