Original Handwritten Laws Of Base Ball Sold For 3 26 Million At Auction

That $3.26 million sum makes the Laws of Base Ball the third-most valuable piece of sports memorabilia ever sold. The only two pieces of sports history to earn more are the Naismith Rules of Basketball, which was purchased back in 2013 for $4.33 million, and a 1920 jersey worn by Babe Ruth with the New York Yankees, which went for $4.4 million in 2012. The documents also stack up well against other valuable baseball documents, easily beating the $1.02 million a collector paid for Babe Ruth’s 1918 contract with the Red Sox in 2014. The Laws of Base Ball were written by Daniel Lucius “Doc” Adams and show how the burgeoning game of baseball was first played back in the mid-19th century, with rules and regulations that formed the foundation of the game as we know it today: The lucky owner of the historic find is keeping his or her identity a secret, according to SCP Auctions, the auction house that organized the sale. On Sunday a few other items of interest to baseball fans were sold as well, like a 1956 jersey and a pair of championship rings formerly owned by the Dodgers’ Don Drysdale.