Kris Bryant had a pretty amazing rookie year. The All-Star is the likely Rookie of the Year winner and set a high bar for the rest of his career. In doing so, he also won over hordes of fans, some of which are willing to prove it with quite a bit of money.
In a recent auction, the jersey Bryant wore in the first two NLDS games against the Cardinals went for an astounding $15,512.76. It was the highest priced sale of any piece of Cubs memorabilia since the team launched their Cubs Authentics website in 2012.
Bryant’s jersey wasn’t the only high-priced item. A Kyle Schwarber NLDS jersey went for $14,510, and Addison Russell’s jersey went for $1,828. Even jerseys from Kyle Hendricks and Javier Baez sold for over $800.
The high-dollar amounts illustrate the magnitude of what the Cubs accomplished with their first National League Championship Series appearance in 12 years, as well as the high expectations that collectors have for game-used apparel of the team’s prized young talent.
The jersey prices may have broken the Cubs in-house record, but they are far from the highest priced piece of sports memorabilia. Various Babe Ruth items have gone for more than $1 million. Ruth’s “called shot” jersey, from the Yankees World Series against the Cubs, was sold for $940,000 in 2005.
An Ernie Banks game-worn jersey sold in August through an auction not affiliated with the Cubs for $137,865.
The money raised in the selling of Bryant, Schwarber and the rest of the Cubs jerseys benefit Chicago Cubs Charities. Another auction has already opened on the website. A game-worn Jake Arrieta jersey is going for more then $3,000 and a Jorge Soler jersey for more than $1,000. A game-used Kris Bryant bat has a bid of $1490.