Babe Ruth's 1916 Game-Used, Signed Glove Pulled from Auction 11 Hours Before Close | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors
Andrew Mccoy
Published Mar 25, 2026
A game-used Babe Ruth glove from the 1916 season was pulled from auction hours before bidding was scheduled to end.
According to sports business reporter Darren Rovell, Heritage Auctions decided to pull the glove 11 hours before the close of the auction.
Darren Rovell @darrenrovellJUST IN: 11 hours before the close of the auction, <a href="">@HeritageAuction</a> has pulled the autographed game-used 1916 Babe Ruth glove that the auction house called "the most significant game-used item ever to be placed upon the hobby's auction block."<br><br>No word on what happened. <a href="">
Chris Ivy, director of sports auctions for Heritage, said in a statement to Rovell the company pulled the glove "to conduct further research into its background."
Darren Rovell @darrenrovellBREAKING: Heritage's Chris Ivy on Babe Ruth glove: <br><br>"Heritage takes great care to ensure the authenticity and accuracy of every item we offer. While the Ruth glove has multiple third party authentications, we removed it to conduct further research into its background." <a href="">
In a Jan. 29 press release, Heritage Auction announced the glove was going to be available as part of the annual Winter Platinum Night Sports Auction that takes place from Feb. 24 to 25.
Other historic artifacts included in the more than 1,600 items featured in the lot were a near-mint-mint+ condition 1952 Mickey Mantle Topps rookie card and an unopened case of 1979 O-Pee-Chee hockey cards that contains "who knows how many" Wayne Gretzky rookie cards.
It also featured items from Michael Jordan, Hank Aaron, Tom Brady and more.
The glove used by Ruth was autographed twice and annotated from the 1916 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and Brooklyn Robins. He wore it while pitching a 14-inning complete game in Boston's 2-1 win in Game 2.
Ruth's first autograph on the glove was said to be from 1916. He wrote a second one decades later that read, "Glove I used in the 1916 World Series."
Heritage Auctions noted the glove is the earliest-known Ruth-used item. The previous one was a glove from his time with the New York Yankees.
Other Ruth items included in the lot were a postcard featuring the 1915 AL champion Red Sox and a game-used autographed bat from the 1928 and '29 seasons when he was a member of the New York Yankees.
