Babe Ruth’s “called shot” jersey from the 1932 World Series sold for $24.12 million over the weekend, becoming the most expensive piece of sports memorabilia ever. But what are currently the most expensive game-worn jerseys in other sports, what could be the item to break the new record, and what could be the first women’s sports jersey to break the $1 million mark? We asked the experts.

Most expensive jerseys, by sport

Basketball: Michael Jordan 1998 NBA Finals Game 1 Chicago Bulls jersey — $10.091 million (sold on Sept. 15, 2022)

This previously held the record for most expensive piece of sports memorabilia (not including trading cards) ever, before the Ruth jersey soared past it. “The Last Dance,” ESPN’s 10-part documentary on Michael Jordan and the 1997-98 Bulls, first aired in 2020 and supercharged the already robust interest in Jordan items, as well as items related to the 1998 Finals. Two years later, the jersey that Jordan wore in Game 1 of the series, which featured heavily in “The Last Dance,” hit the auction block.

Jordan scored 33 points in Game 1, but the Utah Jazz beat his Bulls 88-85 in overtime. Yes, the most expensive piece of…

The San Diego School of Baseball was backed by hitting stars such as Tony Gwynn and Alan Trammell, but it was the pitching minds that gave the early 1980s baseball camp its charm — and its legacy.

Brent Strom and Tom House had been teammates at the University of Southern California and then, later, journeyman pitchers in the major leagues. Aside from lineage, they also shared deep-seated hunches that there was more to learn about baseball than previous generations had taught.

So when the day’s instruction was over, they sat in the dugouts of Grossmont College or ventured to a local watering hole, tossing ideas back and forth: the things they loved about the game, the things they thought were wrong, the things they wanted to change.

Once, during a baby shower for another coach’s wife, the men were scolded when they were found in the corner of a room, playing back film of pitchers. They were all obsessives, and the San Diego School of Baseball was their offseason oasis — a place where they could gather and discuss, without judgment and scorn, some of the very concepts that decades later would alter the balance of baseball.

“A summit,” House called it, “of smart baseball minds.”

Before PITCHf/x and Statcast could measure progress, before internet message boards and…

Shortly after haggling his way out of free-agent purgatory and into a new contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Kiké Hernández asked his wife, Mariana, to investigate another market. She contacted former Dodger Rich Hill’s wife, Caitlin, with a request: Could the Hernándezes live in the Hills’ house again? 

The Hills had bought the property, located in the Toluca Lake neighborhood, in 2017, soon after Rich signed a $48 million contract. The family decided not to sell it after Hill’s final season with the team in 2019. The house has since become a popular destination among Dodgers personnel. Catcher Austin Barnes lived there one season. Manager Dave Roberts has inquired about its availability. When Hernández rejoined the team at last year’s trade deadline, he moved into the house, which is a convenient 20-minute drive from Dodger Stadium, with access to three different highways. 

“It’s very appealing, because of the location,” Hill said. 

But that’s not its only selling point; almost as important is that the homeowner understands his tenants’ nomadic baseball lifestyle.

When searching for a place to live, players often rely upon each other’s recommendations, connections, and familiarity with baseball’s unique schedule and travel. That has led to a…

The Hall of Fame is made for players like Adrián Beltré. As a pure hitter, reliable slugger and slick third baseman, Beltré had few peers: No other infielder in the history of baseball has 3,000 hits, 400 homers and five Gold Glove awards. Beltré, now 44, was a lock for the Hall of Fame.

As a first-time Cooperstown candidate, Beltré did not need to follow the breathless tracking of public ballots this winter. Yet he still could not feel secure, he said, until his wife and son assured him on Tuesday that election day looked promising. He could savor it.

“That made me relax a little bit more, and I kind of forced myself to try to enjoy this moment,” Beltré said from his home in Southern California, moments after achieving his sport’s greatest honor. “It was going to be a nice moment, and probably the last moment in baseball that I was going to accomplish, being at the pinnacle of the game.”

Beltré had company at the summit on Tuesday, with Todd Helton and Joe Mauer joining him in the new class of Hall of Famers. Former manager Jim Leyland, elected by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee last month, will also be inducted at the ceremony July 21.

Candidates must receive 75 percent of the ballots from 10-year members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of…

Rachel Balkovec, the first woman to manage in affiliated baseball, has left the New York Yankees for an even bigger task — leading the Miami Marlins’ minor-league player development, according to a league source.

Balkovec, 36, had been the Yankees’ Low-A manager for the 2022 and 2023 seasons, guiding some of the organization’s brightest prospects, including Jasson Domínguez, with whom she had an especially close relationship. Domínguez reached the majors last year at age 20. Balkovec went 122-136 with a .473 winning percentage.

“The best person on the job was Rachel. It’s a credit to her,” general manager Brian Cashman told The Athletic in 2022.

The Yankees hired Balkovec as a minor-league hitting coach in November 2019. She had previously worked with the Houston Astros and St. Louis Cardinals in strength and conditioning.

Balkovec was a softball catcher at Creighton University and the University of New Mexico, graduating with a degree in exercise science.

She joins the Marlins as the club undergoes changes in its front office. GM Kim Ng departed after owner Bruce Sherman planned to hire a president of baseball operations to work as her boss. Ultimately, the team hired Peter Bendix from the Tampa Bay Rays to fill the role of president. The team had let go of Geoff…

Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the 25-year-old free-agent star pitcher from Japan, dined on Saturday night at the Connecticut home of New York Mets owner Steve Cohen, league sources confirmed.

It’s believed that the dinner went well, with the participants enjoying the hospitality and free-flowing conversation leading to a generally good connection. During the meeting, the Mets were again able to share with Yamamoto why they believe they’d be the right spot for him. The Cohens hosted Yamamoto seemingly in hopes of offering a nice, personal touch, one that may help distinguish the Mets from the other clubs locked in competition for the righthander’s services.

The in-person meeting, first reported by the New York Post, was the latest example of Cohen and the Mets doing whatever it takes to try and land Yamamoto, the highest-ranked (No. 3) unsigned free agent on The Athletic’s Top 40 free agent big board. Earlier this month, Cohen and president of baseball operations David Stearns flew to Japan to meet with Yamamoto.

Stearns, manager Carlos Mendoza, pitching coach Jeremy Hefner and Cohen’s wife, Alex, also attended the dinner. Meanwhile, Yamamoto brought his own translator. Overall, the meeting was a step forward for the Mets, who have put Yamamoto at the top of their list of…

NASHVILLE — Jim Leyland buttoned up his forever jersey on Monday, the one with “Hall of Fame” in script across the front. He sat on a ballroom dais at the Winter Meetings, flanked by Hall officials as his wife, Katie, beamed with pride from a few feet away. So did former rivals and colleagues like Tony La Russa and Joe Torre.

Leyland, 78, was one of them now: a certified Hall of Famer, elected by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee on Sunday night. A phone call from the Hall’s chairman, Jane Forbes Clark, welcomed him to Cooperstown.

“My wife said, who is that? I said, ‘It’s Jake from State Farm,’” Leyland said, his deadpan wit still sharp. “Anyway, I had 294 texts last night, from friends and people all over the world, really. … I can’t tell you how fortunate a ride it’s been.”

As joyous as the occasion was for Leyland, it was striking to see the other, empty side of the dais. That’s where Lou Piniella should have been.

At MLB’s Winter Meetings in Nashville, attention has shifted to the Hall of Fame’s newest electee. Jim Leyland addressed the media Monday, reflecting on his life in baseball and looking ahead to July’s Induction Ceremony.

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— National Baseball Hall of Fame and…

Josh Beckett savors the outdoors. Hunting and fishing fill up much of his retirement days. Some are spent playing golf with his 5-year-old son. It’s a simple but sweet life with his wife, Holly, and their three children on a small ranch outside of San Antonio, Texas.

As his son drains putts on the green, Beckett notices something. A carefree disposition in the child. A lack of pressure. Beckett sees a younger version of himself. His mind is brought back two decades, back to when he was a 23-year-old starting pitcher for the Florida Marlins.

“Maybe there’s some validity behind not knowing what you’re doing,” Beckett told The Athletic in a phone interview.

One recent morning, Beckett is on the road driving. As he steers through the Texas roads, he’s keen to open up about the 2003 Marlins. His answers are drawn out, his tone enthusiastic. Certain memories bring laughter. Time may have passed, but the magnitude of his accomplishment isn’t lost upon him.

Wednesday marks the 20th anniversary of the night Beckett cemented his place in baseball history: Game 6 of the 2003 World Series against a Yankees lineup that featured Derek Jeter, Alfonso Soriano, Jorge Posada, Jason Giambi and Bernie Williams. Starting on three days’ rest with his team one win from the franchise’s…

NEW YORK — Major League Baseball postponed Wednesday’s Tigers at Phillies and White Sox at Yankees matchups due to “clearly hazardous air quality conditions in both cities,” the league announced. The decision came after conversations throughout the day with medical and weather experts.

The game in New York will be made up Thursday as the first in a single-admission doubleheader, beginning at 4:05 p.m. ET. The game in Philadelphia will be made up at 6:05 p.m. ET on Thursday, when both clubs were scheduled to be off.

In Toronto, the Blue Jays closed the roof of their stadium for their game against the Astros due to poor air quality. Several other minor-league games, as well as a WNBA game and an NWSL game, have also been postponed.

More than 200 wildfires burning in Canada, many of them in and around Quebec, have blanketed the eastern and northern United States in smoke and caused air quality levels to plummet in impacted areas. The National Weather Service issued an air quality alert. The NWS warned of “widespread haze” and smoke, mainly before 11 p.m. ET.

The Environmental Protection Agency pegged the air quality index at 392, earning its “Hazardous” designation, as of 4 p.m. ET. A moderate air quality index is typically around 100.

Earlier Wednesday, New York City…

At 2015’s All-Star Game, Major League Baseball honored the four greatest baseball players — as voted by fans — who were still alive. It was a majestic, emotional scene for many as Hank Aaron, Johnny Bench, Sandy Koufax and Willie Mays made their way out onto the field. But it only made Lindsay Berra angry.

Sitting next to her grandfather, Hall of Famer Yogi Berra, Lindsay joked about it as the two got ready to watch the game. But inside she was upset. Yes, Aaron, Bench, Koufax, and Mays were terrific players. But to omit her grandpa, who had 10 World Series rings — more than any of the quartet — to go with 18 All-Star appearances and three American League MVPs? It felt wrong. It felt like the world only knew him as the funny, oft-quoted baseball character and not as the greatest catcher of all time.

That’s exactly what “It Ain’t Over,” a documentary about Berra’s life and legacy, aims to fix. The film — whose title pays homage to one of Berra’s most famous Yogisms — traces Berra’s origins in St. Louis as a boy to his time serving in World War II to becoming a Yankees legend. It follows his love story with wife, Carmen, his son Dale’s cocaine problem and a feud with George Steinbrenner that kept the Yankees legend away from the Bronx for years.

“It…