There have been several record-breaking sports memorabilia auctions over the past few years. Back in 2022, Heritage Auctions sold a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle baseball card for a whopping $12.6 million. It was one of the most expensive sports cards ever sold at auction. In that same year, a game-worn sports jersey worn by Michael Jordan during his first Chicago Bulls game of the 1998 NBA Finals sold for $10.1 million. These sales set the sports collectibles market on fire and ensured collectors and investors alike that this market is definitely growing. Back in 2022, very few could have predicted any sports collectible selling for anywhere near $20 million, let alone more. But on Aug. 24, all bets were off. It was on this date that Heritage Auctions conducted a sale for the infamous Babe Ruth called shot game-worn jersey. This jersey was worn by Ruth when he supposedly called where he was going to hit the ball during Game 3 of the 1932 World Series, which he played against the Chicago Cubs. Anticipation was high for the jersey, which was authenticated via photo-matching by several different experts. Bidding was fierce, and when all was said and done it sold for a little over $24.1 million. This makes this jersey the most expensive sports collectible in history! Just to put this in perspective, the most expensive coin ever sold at auction was a 1933 Saint Gaudens $20 gold piece. This coin sold at auction through Sothebys back in 2021 for an eye dropping price of $18.9 million. Its interesting to see certain sports memorabilia rival prices paid for more historic collectibles, and it would be intriguing to see what that 1933 Saint Gaudens coin would bring in todays market. Collectors should be wary of thinking that all sports memorabilia is on fire right now. This particular Babe Ruth Jersey is in the top 0.1 percent of the sports memorabilia market, and just because an item like this sold for a record-breaking sum does not mean that all sports memorabilia is going to sell for a significant premium right now. It is a miscalculation to assume the high end of any collectibles market mirrors what is occurring in the lower end to mid segments of the same market. Pop culture collectors are readily aware of this because if a higher end seven-figure comic book sells for a record sum, it rarely has any effect on the lower end of the market at all. That said, sports cards and, more specifically, sports memorabilia have been quickly evolving into a more mature market over the past few years. What was once seen as childs play is now big business with modern sports card manufacturers creating special serialized limited edition one-of-a-kind cards hidden in special premium priced packs. Gone are the days of a pack of baseball cards costing less than a dollar. Todays collectors are much more risk tolerant and willing to pay hundreds of dollars or more for a pack of cards with the chance to pull a one-of-a-kind card that can sell for thousands of dollars when graded by a top tier third-party grading company. This has transformed the market dramatically with online streaming platforms offering live pack breaks that participants can buy a slot in to attempt to get one of these coveted limited-edition cards. Collecting modern-era sports cards has now become almost like a legalized form of gambling. Manufacturers have learned from the heavy overprinted cards that nearly destroyed the sports card market back in the early 1990s, and they have now swung the pendulum all the way in the opposite direction. Manufacturers now use mass-produced scarcity to convince modern-era collectors that since some cards are limited in their production run they should have just as much value and collectability as the coveted vintage cards that are worth money simply due to their demand and true scarcity. This, in my opinion, has created chaos and uncertainty in the market, while educated investors set their sights on truly scarce memorabilia and cards like the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card or the T-206 Honus Wagner card that have true demand and rarity. In conclusion, it should be interesting to see what this market does over the next several years. Will younger collectors go after the memorabilia of the all-time greats of yesteryear like Mickey Mantle or Babe Ruth? Or much like the $10.1 million paid for the Michael Jordan jersey, will younger generations covet their own well-known sports stars? Given that Babe Ruth died in 1948, I think the market can handle both the stars of yesterday breaking auction records while todays stars also make an impact. Regardless, the high-end sports market is definitely going to be one to watch! Shawn Surmick has been an avid collector since the age of 12. He currently resides in his hometown of Boyertown, Pa., and is a passionate collector of antiques and collectibles. His articles focus on various topics affecting the marketplace.