Babe Ruth bat sells for over $1 million at auction

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SHOWS:

LAGUNA NIGUEL, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (FILE - NOVEMBER 25, 2019) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

1. VARIOUS OF BAT USED BY BASEBALL PLAYER BABE RUTH TO HIT HIS 500TH HOME RUN

NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (FILE) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

2. VARIOUS OF YANKEES STADIUM IN THE 1920S WITH BABE RUTH BATTING

LAGUNA NIGUEL, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (FILE - NOVEMBER 25, 2019) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

3. DAVE KOHLER, PRESIDENT AND CEO OF SCP AUCTIONS, HOLDING UP BABE RUTH BAT

4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) PRESIDENT AND CEO OF SCP AUCTIONS DAVE KOHLER SPEAKING SEVERAL WEEKS BEFORE AUCTION, SAYING:

"500th home run is a big, big category, obviously, in the baseball market, and Babe Ruth is the charter member. He started that on August 11, 1929. This is the bat that he used to hit that home run."

5. CLOSEUP OF BAT

STORY: Babe Ruth may have died more than 70 years ago, but the baseball slugger is still turning out big numbers.

The bat he used to hit his 500th home run in 1929 has sold for $1,000,800, officials for SCP Auctions announced on Sunday (December 15).

The bat, a gift from Ruth to a friend in the 1940s, was bought at auction in California by an unidentified buyer, SCP Auctions said.

It follows a bat, which the Sultan of Swat used in 1923 to hit the first home run out of the original Yankee Stadium, that sold for a record $1.3 million in 2004.

"Babe Ruth memorabilia continues to be among the most prized artifacts for all worldwide collectors," said SCP Auctions President David Kohler in a news release, "and this outstanding bat proved that once again."

Ruth hit 714 home runs in a 22-season career with the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees before retiring in 1935.

He became the first player to hit 30, 40, 50 and 60 home runs in a single season, and his slugging style forever changed the way baseball was played.

(Production: David Grip)