Ruth’s ‘called shot’ jersey poised to become the most expensive sports collectible
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Dan Hajducky, ESPN
CLEVELAND — Up close, the front and back of Babe Ruth’s faded, gray flannel New York Yankees jersey is peppered with stains. A felt, navy “NEW YORK” arches across the front, a lone No. 3 is affixed on the back. The name “Ruth G.H” is embroidered in red thread inside the collar. Earlier this year, a process that matches archival photographs with those details was used to pinpoint the jersey to Game 3 of the 1932 World Series — Ruth’s legendary “called shot” game — and set it on course to break the record paid for a sports collectible.
Advertised by Heritage Auctions as the “1932 Babe Ruth Game Worn New York Yankees World Series ‘Called Shot’ Jersey,” bidding for Lot No. 80162 opened at $7.5 million and on Friday stood at $15.1 million — and with a standard 20% buyer’s premium, the amount is $18.12 million. The auction is scheduled to close Sunday.
Chris Ivy, director of sports auctions for Heritage Auctions, which is brokering the sale, told ESPN in May that he wouldn’t be surprised if the Ruth jersey exceeds $30 million. In July, at the 44th National Sports Collectors Convention in Cleveland, Ivy said the amount could rise even beyond that area.
The anticipated sale price of the jersey, which previously sold at auction in 2005 for $940,000, has skyrocketed amid a game-used memorabilia market boom fueled by an authentication process called photo-matching. Long used for art and collectibles such as vintage guitars, the use of photo-matching for game-used memorabilia — attempting to match idiosyncratic details of bats, jerseys, cleats or other objects according to details seen in historical photos — can significantly increase the market price.
A Babe Ruth bat that wasn’t photo-matched sold with Heritage for $400,800 in 2018. Last year, Henry Yee, a photo expert with Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA), a card grading company and autograph/memorabilia authenticator, matched the bat to photos from 1921, when Ruth set single-season and career home run records. It soon sold for $1.85 million with Hunt Auctions, still a record for a baseball bat.
In 2021, 44% of the 25 most expensive pieces of memorabilia were photo-matched, according to Altan Insights, a company that provides data and quantitative analysis to help investors understand the collectibles market. By 2023, the figure rose to 92%. Across sports collecting, the growth of and reliance upon photo-matching has mirrored an industry trend toward acquisition of game-used items. Experts say photo-matching isn’t just a convenient step beyond verification or a tool that leads to higher auction yields. In an industry rife with fraud, they say it’s a necessary measure, giving prospective buyers a greater degree of confidence in the authenticity of items they’re seeking to purchase.
But the process of photo-matching has limitations, and companies don’t always agree on what their teams see. Even for the Ruth jersey, one company did not definitively photo-match the item.
So how does photo-matching work and how foolproof is the process? Top-dollar memorabilia usually is authenticated and matched by multiple companies, often competitors. What if they disagree? Those are the kinds of questions that have surfaced around the Ruth jersey auction — and the stakes are high, as collectors attempt to navigate a shifting sports collectibles market that industry analysts project could reach into the hundreds of billions within the next decade.
PHOTO-MATCHERS CLOSELY examine unique markings such as stitching, fabric frays, stains or imperfections on memorabilia, comparing those details against archive photos in an effort to pinpoint where the item was used and its significance.
Companies such as Resolution Photomatching rely on checks and balances. People hired to do the job train four to six weeks before working on a single item, and they use a three-round system: one researcher utilizes databases to screen images that might include the item; another checks those flagged images; a third makes a call. Resolution often pores through tens of thousands of images per photo-match.
“The IRS doesn’t have photo-matching as a [job] classification yet,” said John Robinson, owner and founder of Resolution, “so their official classifications are ‘historians.’ One of our researchers’ young daughters called him a ‘sports history detective.’ That might be the best description.”
In the case of the Ruth jersey, as with other sports memorabilia on the market, provenance plays a vital role in verifying an item’s authenticity. In the early 1990s, a woman in Port St. Lucie, Florida, called Grey Flannel Auctions about a jersey she had found in a safe deposit box with “Ruth G.H” sewn on its collar. Ruth was a fixture on Florida golf courses after retiring in 1935. After a round with the woman’s father, Ruth purportedly ceded the jersey.
It was sold privately twice as a 1930s road Ruth jersey before a public auction with Grey Flannel in 2005 more definitively pinned it to the 1932 World Series. The description noted: “Not one of these experts can definitively say that it is not Babe Ruth’s 1932 World Series jersey.”
That year’s World Series between the Yankees and the Chicago Cubs became famous for Ruth’s supposed “called shot,” which occurred during the fifth inning of Game 3. With the score tied 4-4, Ruth stepped to the plate at Wrigley Field and pointed; whether he intended to point at pitcher Charlie Root, to the Cubs’ dugout or to the outfield remains a historical uncertainty. But on a Root curveball, Ruth hit a home run an estimated 440 feet to center.
“There wasn’t anything ironclad that definitively linked it to the ‘called shot’ until recently,” Ivy said. “A lot of information has come out in the last 20 years — new imagery, footage, photographs — things that could be used to potentially make that connection. Authentication is extremely important.”
Ivy confirmed that a New Jersey man bought the jersey in 2005 and kept it until now.
“But we don’t want to just rely on our in-house experts,” he said. “We want impartial third parties to evaluate the material — not only because we stand behind everything we sell, but the more confidence bidders have, the more they’re willing to bid.”
In a 2024 letter registering the Ruth jersey photo-match, MeiGray Authenticated said the jersey was photo-matched to two Getty Images pictures and a photo from the Chicago Daily News “showing Ruth standing at the dugout with Lou Gehrig and Joe McCarthy.” The letter said the photos were taken Oct. 1, 1932, before and during Game 3 of the World Series at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
The authentication company PSA grades on average 40,000 cards a day and boasts roughly a 75% market share. In February, PSA began offering photo-matching within PSA/DNA, its memorabilia authentication division. According to PSA president Ryan Hoge, the Ruth jersey is PSA’s first photo-matched object to come to auction.
Steve Stindt, general manager of PSA/DNA, said provenance goes only so far.
“You can have a nice letter from somebody’s great grandpappy who got the jersey from so-and-so and it’s been in their family, right?” Stindt said. “At the end of the day, it’s not a court of law. [Photo-matching] is definitive, collectors have been asking for it and it’s good business for us. We’re showing the item in our hand, taking an image of it, spotting it in a photograph of the player wearing that same item, pointing out unique characteristics in each.”
Having a legitimate photo-matching service was a direct response to the recent growth of the game-used market, according to Stindt. The photo-matching process isn’t in lieu of verification, it’s a step beyond, Hoge said: “Yes, it’s real … and here’s why we think it is tied to a specific game or event.”
On top of image libraries it has access to, PSA boasts a catalogue of thousands of previously authenticated original photographs. MeiGray, which said it has a contract with Getty Images, offers a lifetime warranty and letter of authenticity for items. The company has provided photo-matching for three of the top five game-used memorabilia sales ever.
“This jersey [as reported prior] is supposed to be from the ’32 Series, so that’s where we started,” said Jim Montague of MeiGray’s authentication team. “We researched seasons before, seasons after to make sure we’re seeing unique differences.”
The company looked into how many uniforms the New York Yankees ordered, said Barry Meisel, president and COO of MeiGray.
“The Yankees ordered three road grays and three home whites over an entire year, carried one over into the following year,” Meisel said. “[We looked at] the nuances of where the manufacturer — in this case, Spalding — put its company tag. This is a road gray, so, it doesn’t have pinstripes. So you determine: Could this have been worn in ’32? Where are the buttons placed, the placket? Where’s the Y stitched?”
How the “Y” was positioned in the front of the jersey in relationship to the buttons and placket was unique, Montague told ESPN in May. Thanks to archival photographs, MeiGray had a Game 3 close-up that revealed “little nuances in the ‘N’ that also stood out.” It also sourced photographs from Chicago newspapers and museums.
“There’s a small little notch, almost where the ‘N’ wasn’t completely straight [and] the top of the ‘W’ had this curve as opposed to a flat edge — other images, we saw a flat edge,” Montague said. “The ‘E’ had this bend in it at the bottom of it that was sort of different. [There] were seamstresses stitching the names, numbers, the names in the collar, all by hand. They’re not doing it the same two times in a row [so] all these things together lined up, had us very confident this was the shirt.”
Ivy and Heritage took the jersey to Wrigley Field, where Cubs players and employees viewed it. Ivy said Cody Bellinger and Drew Smyly were particularly curious about the photo-matching process.
“They thought the fat strap was interesting,” Ivy said. “How the jersey had straps to keep it tucked in while Ruth was playing.”
MeiGray provided approval on the Ruth jersey in April. Another company, End-to-End, had photo-matched it in 2022. (End-to-End was founded by Blake Panarisi, who became PSA’s photo-matching lead in February; PSA also photo-matched the Ruth jersey in May.) But on the eve of the collectibles conference in Cleveland in late July, the media site cllct.com reported controversy over the Ruth jersey. Its owner had submitted it to Resolution Photomatching three times with a “no match” result.
Resolution published a statement that read, in part, that it was the first company to research the jersey in 2019, and that the jersey was resubmitted in 2021 and 2022. “We would have loved nothing more than to have been able to call the jersey a ResMatch,” the statement read. “We passed up a very significant amount of money” in not doing so. The statement did note promising signs and that some characteristics of the jersey seemed to be “approximately the same” as in images, but there wasn’t enough for a match.
Robinson, the owner and founder of Resolution, said that for the company to photo-match an item, it “must see characteristics that are definitively identical and definitively unique.
“While we are always incentivized to make a ResMatch determination,” Robinson said, “we are unwavering in those criteria no matter the magnitude of the piece. In the situation with that piece, it is the latest of many examples that Resolution has the highest standards in photo-matching.”
Resolution works with Heritage often. A Walter Johnson jersey that hadn’t been photo-matched sold at auction for $352,000 in 2006. In May, Resolution pegged the jersey to a game from April 29, 1920, the first time Johnson faced Babe Ruth in a Yankees jersey. The jersey sold for $2.01 million. A not-photo-matched Magic Johnson jersey, circa 1980-85, sold for $10,285 with Infinite Auctions in 2019. Two years later, Resolution matched it to the clinching Game 6 of the 1980 NBA Finals and it sold for $1.5 million with Heritage. A 1958 Mickey Mantle jersey, which sold for $240,000 in 2021 before photo-matching, resold last August for $4.68 million with Heritage, making it one of the most expensive sports jerseys ever, after Resolution matched it to the 1958 season, including Opening Day.
“If that company had reasons that it did not believe that our work was accurate, it would have raised them,” Meisel said. “It did not. I don’t know if that company had all of the research we had. I respect everybody’s work, but in this case, we stand by our photo-match 100%.”
Heritage has provided documentation for Ruth bidders, including an April 2019 letter from Resolution to the New Jersey consignor stating: “In our opinion, the alignment of the buttons and seam with the custom stitched ‘Y’ in the ‘New York’ lettering on the front of the jersey appear to be approximately the same on the jersey worn by Ruth in multiple images analyzed as compared to the jersey presented to us.”
SOME OF THE most famed and expensive pieces of sports memorabilia, including autographed items, are steeped in muddy waters. Ruth, with his stature and the historical significance of his items, has been among the sports industry’s most forged. His secretary also signed for him.
Fraud can be difficult to spot, and advances in technology and the use of artificial intelligence have raised the prospect of additional challenges.
“I wouldn’t say they’re using AI yet, but eventually they will, it’s going to happen in every aspect of our lives,” said James Spence III, vice president of James Spence Authentication (JSA). “Right now, [forgers] are programming signatures into auto-pen machines. These machines have existed for well over 75 years, astronauts had them, presidents used to have them, major political figures — they would basically sign fan mail and mass quantity signatures.”
Brian Dwyer, president of Robert Edward Auctions (REA), said the company does vetting on the front end before items are even consigned.
“Sometimes when we take in memorabilia, it isn’t a question of if it’s real or not, it’s, ‘Has it been restored? Is there something hidden? Is there a repair?'” Dwyer said. “[That’s why] photo-matching is an exciting part of the hobby, still in the early stages. As these companies utilize technology, as more archives become available and the process gets refined, we’ll unlock a whole new realm of secrets.”
JSA, owned by grader and authenticator Certified Collectibles Group, doesn’t use AI to verify or match yet, but Spence and other authenticators say it’s imminent.
A representative from the FBI’s art crimes team said the agency works with authenticators and auction houses to identify problems such as forgery early, but with the boom in collecting, the potential for fraud follows. The FBI told ESPN that consumers have to put the kind of research into collectibles that they do when buying a house or car.
WITH GROWTH IN the game-used arena and projections that the collectibles market will hit hundreds of billions, business owners such as Michael Rubin, founder and CEO of Fanatics, are buying companies like Topps and auction arms like PWCC Marketplace, which has been rebranded as Fanatics Collect.
“We only started selling trading cards 2½ years ago,” Rubin said, with NBA and NFL trading card rights imminent in 2025 and 2026, respectively. “I’m going to do this for the rest of my life, so we’ve got many decades to do this.”
Ken Goldin, founder of collectibles marketplace Goldin and star of the Netflix show “King of Collectibles,” said photo-matching enhances an item’s value beyond getting something directly from an athlete.
“Take a [game-used] Michael Jordan Chicago Bulls jersey and it comes with, say, third-party authentication — not photo-matched — maybe that jersey is $30,000 [to] $50,000,” Goldin said. “Let’s say you have a letter from Jordan’s teammate who says, ‘I was handed this jersey personally by Michael after a game,’ and it’s a trusted teammate? That’s going to add 50% to 75% to the value. But if you took that jersey, with the authentication, the letter, and photo-matched it to a specific game? It almost doesn’t matter what game it is. Jordan could’ve scored 16 points or they lost … it’s instantly a $500,000 jersey.”
Collector Rob Gough, who purchased a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card for a then-record $5.2 million in January 2021, said he has shifted his focus and spent nearly $30 million on game-used memorabilia in the past year.
“Photo-matching is extremely important,” Gough said. “I want [items] matched, ideally by multiple companies, too.”
Gough bought Wilt Chamberlain’s rookie year uniform; the jersey Wayne Gretzky scored his final point in; a Kobe Bryant jersey from Game 1 of the 2010 NBA Finals, his last; Victor Wembanyama’s first NBA jersey from summer league. Gough notes that Heritage has a 1951 game-worn Jackie Robinson jersey up for auction, currently at $2.82 million.
“But it’s not photo-matched,” Gough said. “So, for me, it’s just a nonstarter. I’m out.”
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Buster Olney
The Boston Red Sox might be the best embodiment of the emotional swings that teams go through in this era of major league baseball.
Ten days ago, they had dropped nine of their past 12 games, and industry executives were eyeing the strongest parts on Boston’s roster in case the team was forced to start dealing players before the July 31 trade deadline. But instead, right-hander Hunter Dobbins notched two wins against the New York Yankees, Roman Anthony arrived in the big leagues (finally) and the Red Sox are back to .500, fostering a run at the postseason, real or imagined.
Then, a Father’s Day trade, out of the blue: Craig Breslow, the head of baseball operations for the Red Sox, shipped Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants. He addressed all the necessary business at once — dumping the contract of the unhappy Devers, adding pitching depth, and creating opportunity for the team’s young position players by opening the team’s DH spot.
He and the Giants’ Buster Posey completed what seems destined to be the biggest trade of the summer. In doing so, they shifted more onus onto some of their peers. Here are seven more who have the most at stake as trade season heats up.
Mike Hazen, general manager, Arizona Diamondbacks
Hazen will have a lot of say about what happens at this year’s trade deadline because if Arizona decides to trade talent, he’ll dangle a highly marketable set of players. Josh Naylor (Could the Mariners be interested? Or the Giants?), Eugenio Suarez (Yankees would be in on him), Merrill Kelly and Zac Gallen would become some of the best options, and other GMs like to trade with Hazen because they find him communicative and decisive.
But Hazen has also seen success when his team has been on the fringe of contention. Two years ago, the D-backs won 84 regular-season games and, after upsetting the Phillies in the playoffs, came within two victories of winning the World Series. Arizona just lost Corbin Burnes and reliever Justin Martinez to major injuries, but with an extraordinary core of talent, could Hazen add help, rather than trade away players? Knowing that Burnes will miss most or all of next year, could Hazen start constructing the team’s 2026 rotation? A lot is riding on his choices this trade season.
Arizona’s chances for making the playoffs, according to FanGraphs, are 34.9%.
David Dombrowski, president of baseball operations, Philadelphia Phillies
Over the past couple of years, Dombrowski installed two younger starting pitchers into his rotation, 28-year-old left-hander Cristopher Sanchez and 27-year-old Jesus Luzardo, acquired in a trade with the Marlins. Meanwhile, Andrew Painter, the highly regarded 22-year-old right-hander the Phillies held out of the Garrett Crochet trade talks last summer, has reached Triple-A.
However, the Phillies’ group of position players is older, with Bryce Harper in Year 7 of the 13-year deal he signed and Kyle Schwarber and J.T. Realmuto in the last years of their respective contracts. The team’s window is now. Jose Alvarado could return from his PED suspension before the end of the regular season, but he will be ineligible for the postseason. The Phillies need bullpen help, just as they did last season, and Dombrowski will need to augment that group before the deadline.
“He’s been through this plenty of times before,” one of his peers said. “He’ll make deals. He always does.”
Jerry Dipoto, president of baseball operations, Seattle Mariners
Seattle has been wildly inconsistent while sorting through some rotation injuries. George Kirby has gradually improved over the five starts since being activated from the injured list, and Logan Gilbert was just activated off the IL and will start Monday against the Red Sox. If not for Aaron Judge, Cal Raleigh would be the front-runner for the American League MVP Award.
But despite Raleigh’s power, the Mariners are struggling for offense at first base (their group has a wRC+ of 90, 22nd among the 30 teams) and DH (24th in wRC+, at 89). There is a clear need for a thumper, whether it’s Ryan O’Hearn or Josh Naylor — or someone of that ilk. As with the Orioles a year ago, the Mariners’ farm system is loaded, and Dipoto can present a buffet table of options to rival executives looking for a match.
Chris Young, president of baseball operations, Texas Rangers
Last July, with the Rangers coming off their first championship in 2023, Young waited and waited for a turnaround that never came before the trade deadline, refusing to deal. This year’s problems are a little different, but still similar. Jacob deGrom is dominating, but the offense has been shockingly sparse, with Texas ranked 26th in runs scored. There are reasons for hope: Evan Carter, impacted by injuries over the past 18 months, is hitting .387 in June (although he has been experiencing a wrist issue in recent days), and Wyatt Langford is getting better. It’s also hard to imagine Marcus Semien hitting .224 all year.
Young bet on a turnaround last summer. Will he do so again this year?
Mike Elias, general manager, Baltimore Orioles
The hole the Orioles have dug this season might be too deep to escape — they’re 6½ games out of the last AL wild-card spot. The Orioles were just 2½ games out of the wild-card race in 2022 when Elias chose to trade talent away rather than acquire it. But the context is different now, with Baltimore’s group of prospects older. By year’s end, Adley Rutschman will have four years of service time.
One way or another, Elias has to start building a rotation for next season. Maybe dealing Ryan O’Hearn and/or Cedric Mullins and others will help.
J.J. Picollo, general manager, Kansas City Royals
With the recent spate of losses, Kansas City is under .500 — and their playoff chances are 13.3%, per FanGraphs. Picollo’s track record is well-established: He has done what he can to win, signing free agents such as Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha and Carlos Estevez, and more recently, promoting top prospect Jac Caglianone and bypassing the opportunity to manipulate his service time.
But Cole Ragans is out indefinitely because of a strained shoulder, and Lugo has an opt-out on his deal after this season — and at 35 years old, it makes sense for him to take advantage of his leverage. Maybe that’s a contract extension with the Royals, or maybe that’s testing free agency. If the Royals’ recent malaise takes root, Lugo would be coveted in the trade market.
Jed Hoyer, president of baseball operations, Chicago Cubs
Chicago is so good — its offense so dynamic and versatile, its defense so efficient — that one evaluator believes that the question for Hoyer is not whether the Cubs will make the playoffs (their playoff chances, per FanGraphs, is 88.5%), but what will make them more dangerous in the meaningful games they’re bound to play at the end of the season. Especially with Kyle Tucker, the heart of the offense this year, headed for free agency in the fall.
Pitching is needed, with Justin Steele out for the season. The talented-but-young Ben Brown has an ERA of 5.71, and Colin Rea has been inconsistent. The Diamondbacks’ Kelly or Gallen might be a perfect fit, while the Orioles’ Zach Eflin would be an upgrade.
The Cubs’ payroll is well under the luxury tax threshold — 12th highest in the majors — but Chicago’s offer to Alex Bregman wasn’t competitive, even though he would’ve been a perfect fit. Rival evaluators wonder if Cubs ownership will green-light the sort of pricey acquisition that could help this team compete for its second title in the past decade.
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Kristen Shilton
There is an art to becoming a full-time NHL starting goaltender.
There is art, too, in being a successful NHL backup.
It requires embracing the unknown. It’s preparing to play without actually playing. There are long stretches of no puck touches — but the expectation of delivering your best at a moment’s notice.
That kind of pressure isn’t for everyone. But Edmonton Oilers‘ goaltender Calvin Pickard isn’t just anyone. He has forged a career excelling in secondary roles, the classic blue-collar contributor exemplifying work ethic and a straightforward mentality. One day at a time. One game after another.
It’s not easy. Pickard just makes it seem that way.
“I guess you’d say he’s one of the rare goalies,” Oilers forward Evander Kane said. “He’s just a normal guy. He’s really popular in [our] room.”
And how. Pickard has helped save Edmonton from back-breaking deficits in this NHL postseason not once, but twice. And Pickard could be on track to keep the Oilers alive again as they face elimination in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET, TNT/Max).
That’s as pressure-packed as it gets, yet Pickard’s most recent efforts showcased a goalie at his peak.
Pickard entered the Final as Edmonton’s No. 2 behind Stuart Skinner. He looked on as the Oilers split the series’ first two games, and then entered troubled waters. Skinner started again in Game 3, and Florida pounded Edmonton 6-1. Coach Kris Knoblauch replaced Skinner with Pickard late in that debacle, where all Pickard could offer was cleanup duty.
Edmonton moved on to Game 4 with a 2-1 series deficit, carrying an undeniable whiff of fragility that was about to be painfully exposed.
Knoblauch passed over Pickard for Skinner as his starter. The result was disastrous. Skinner gave up three goals on 14 shots in the first period, for an .824 save percentage. Edmonton limped off the ice down 3-0 and Knoblauch had to do something.
Enter Pickard.
The 33-year-old took over Edmonton’s crease and backstopped them to a shocking comeback as the Oilers scored three second-period goals for a 3-3 tie heading into the third. Pickard was excellent holding off the Panthers’ attack with tough, critical stops that gave the Oilers a chance to offer some goal support at the other end. And Edmonton’s eventual 5-4 victory in overtime would not have been possible without Pickard’s 22 saves.
2:24
How ‘clutch’ Calvin Pickard helped spur Oilers to Game 4 win
Steve Levy and Kevin Weekes break down the Oilers’ comeback win in overtime in Game 4 to even the series with the Panthers.
It was simple enough then that when the series returned to Edmonton tied 2-2 going into Game 5 on Saturday that Pickard would have at least 24 hours notice of his next playing time. That it was happening in the Cup Final could rattle other goalies who hadn’t actually started a full game in five weeks.
But then again, Pickard isn’t a typical backup. He’s built differently.
“I guess you could look at [Game 5] as the biggest game in my life, but the last game was the biggest game in my life until the next one,” Pickard said. “It’s rinse and repeat for me. It’s been a great journey; I’ve been to a lot of good places. Grateful that I had the chance to come to Edmonton a couple years ago, and this is what you play for. I’m excited.”
The game itself didn’t go to plan for Edmonton. The Oilers fell behind early — again — and this time no number of eye-popping stops by Pickard (including a massive one on Carter Verhaeghe in the first period) could save Edmonton from itself in a 5-2 loss.
Pickard’s stat line was weak — giving up four goals on 18 shots for a .778 save percentage — but Knoblauch wasn’t convinced he was the problem. Nor would Knoblauch commit to him for Game 6.
“I’m not going to make that decision right now after a tough loss tonight,” the coach said after Game 5. “But from what I saw, I think Picks didn’t have much chance on all those goals. Breakaways, shots through screens, slot shots. There was nothing saying that it was a poor performance.”
It was Pickard’s first loss in the postseason, a testament to his body of work. It wasn’t so long ago he was in control of the Oilers’ crease. A stronger team effort in front of Pickard could have him shining there again Tuesday; Edmonton has been outscored 15-8 in its past three games, a frustrating reality given the Oilers’ depth of offensive talent and defensive capabilities.
“The quality of opportunities were really good [in Game 5], so there’s no fault at Calvin at all on any of those goals,” Knoblauch said. “When the pressure’s not on [the goalies] that they have to make every single save to keep this close or keep us ahead [it’s better]. It’d be nice to get some goal support. [Game 5] was a case where we were having difficulty generating offense. It’d be nice to have that lead and play knowing that they have to open things up when they’re trailing.”
THE OILERS WERE in a bad spot midway through the first round.
They’d entered the playoffs among the field’s Cup favorites after making the Final a year ago, falling there in Game 7 to the same franchise they’re battling now. The Oilers rebounded in a strong regular season, finishing third in the Pacific Division with 101 points.
It was worrisome then that they started the postseason with a thud, falling behind 2-0 in their first-round series against the Los Angeles Kings. Skinner was Edmonton’s starter at the time, and had given up 11 goals in those two defeats. Pickard had watched (almost) all of it happen from the bench, save for a brief appearance late in Game 2.
Knoblauch tapped Pickard to start in Game 3. Cue another comeback.
Pickard helped the Oilers reel off four straight wins to vanquish the Kings and send Edmonton to the second round. He peeled off another pair of wins against the Vegas Golden Knights to spot Edmonton a 2-0 series lead — only to sustain a lower-body injury in Game 2 that would cut his magical postseason run off at 6-0-0 with an .892 save percentage and 2.76 goals-against average.
Edmonton again turned to Skinner, who responded with a sensational run of his own leading the Oilers through their Western Conference finals series against the Dallas Stars. The now-healthy Pickard was more of a spectator again. Biding his time had become second nature.
“The last couple of years, [Skinner] has played much more than I have,” Pickard said. “So, practice time is huge for me. [Our staff] has me dialed in when I’m not playing and doing different drills to replicate situations in games, and for when that chance comes.”
Pickard has learned how to leverage his reps, perceiving each one as meaningful even when the outcome is a foregone conclusion.
“Getting the time in Game 3 [of the Final] at the end, even when it was out of hand there [with the score], it’s still good ice time for me to get out there and see game action,” Pickard said. “That propelled me to be ready for Game 4. [Any of that] practice time’s huge.”
It’s also fitting for a goalie like Pickard — who can revel entering a rout — to be on the path to a potentially distinctive feat. According to ESPN Research, the last time multiple goalies on a Cup-winning team recorded decisions in a Final for non-injury related reasons was when the Boston Bruins alternated between Gerry Cheevers and Eddie Johnston in 1972. Cheevers started Game 1, Game 3 and the clinching Game 6 in that series.
Skinner and Pickard are also only the second tandem in NHL history to have each recorded at least seven victories in a single postseason, joining Marc-Andre Fleury (nine wins) and Matt Murray (seven) during the Pittsburgh Penguins‘ Cup run in 2017.
But Pickard’s road here wasn’t quite like his predecessors — or his current goalie teammate.
Pickard was drafted by Colorado in the second round at No. 49 in the 2010 NHL draft. His first and only season as a starter for the Avalanche was in 2016-17, when he filled in for injured Semyon Varlamov.
Colorado exposed him that summer in the expansion draft and Pickard was selected by Vegas, with the idea he’d be Fleury’s backup. But the Golden Knights also selected Malcom Subban off waivers and put him behind Fleury instead. Pickard was then put on waivers and picked up by the Toronto Maple Leafs, who sent him to the minors.
From there, the New Brunswick, Canada, native kept moving around, waived by Toronto and then Philadelphia before a brief stint in Arizona. In July 2019, Pickard signed as a free agent with the Detroit Red Wings — his fifth team in two years — and still couldn’t take hold in the NHL. He toggled between the Red Wings and the American Hockey League for three seasons.
In July 2022, Pickard arrived in Edmonton … sort of. He signed a two-year, two-way deal with the club and spent his first season in the AHL. Pickard finally saw sustained NHL play the next season as the Oilers grappled with struggling starter Jack Campbell, giving Pickard his most games in the league (23) since 2016-17. That was enough to keep him on as Skinner’s backup this season.
The rest, as they say, is history. Pickard’s patience through the process has impressed those teammates now relying on him to pull them through to a Cup title.
“He’s been doing this for a long time, he has a ton of experience and been to a lot of different dressing rooms,” Kane said. “That can help you along when you do come on to different teams, making a little bit of an easier transition. Now you’re just seeing that off-ice translate on to the ice with his performance, and how much he’s helped us to where we are here today … in the Stanley Cup Final.”
If people weren’t paying attention to Pickard when he stepped in for Skinner against the Kings, there’s no doubt all eyes are on him now. It’s attention that Pickard has earned.
“[Pickard is] someone who’s just kind of stuck with it all along and he’s been a true pro and a great person all the way through,” Edmonton captain Connor McDavid said. “I think good people get rewarded and he works as hard as I’ve seen. Couldn’t be more deserving.”
KNOBLAUCH ISN’T ONE to be rushed.
He has been cagey about naming a starter throughout the Final. That will hold true again for Game 6.
“[It’s] a conversation with the staff, obviously our goaltending coach, Dustin Schwartz, but with all the assistants, the general manager,” Knoblauch said. “[We’ll] kind of weigh in how everyone feels and what’s best moving forward. It’s not an easy decision. We’ve got two goalies that have shown that they can play extremely well, win hockey games and we feel that no matter who we choose, they can win the game.”
Pickard’s numbers in the series (.878 SV%, 2.88 GAA) are stronger than Skinner’s (.860 SV%, 4.20 GAA) and they are on par for the entire postseason (Pickard holds an .886 SV% and 2.85 GAA to Skinner’s .891 SV% and 2.99 GAA). Their records, though, are quite different: 7-1 for Pickard, 7-6 for Skinner.
So, who gives the Oilers their best chance to win Game 6 and drag Florida back to Edmonton for a second straight Game 7 finale between these teams in the Cup Final?
If Pickard does get the call, it will be a culmination of 10 years of consistent effort to be trusted when there’s no tomorrow. There’s only the present moment — where the right backup goalie has always been trained to stay ready.
1:26
Weekes perplexed by Oilers: ‘They look like a shell of themselves’
Kevin Weekes calls out the energy level by the Oilers in their Game 5 loss to the Panthers in the Stanley Cup Final.
The San Francisco Giants acquired three-time All-Star Rafael Devers from the Boston Red Sox on Sunday in a stunning trade that sent a player Boston once considered a franchise cornerstone to a San Francisco team needing an offensive infusion.
Boston received left-handed starter Kyle Harrison, right-hander Jordan Hicks, outfield prospect James Tibbs III and Rookie League right-hander Jose Bello.
The Red Sox announced the deal Sunday evening.
The Giants will cover the remainder of Devers’ contract, which runs through 2033 and will pay him more than $250 million, sources told ESPN.
The trade ends the fractured relationship between Devers and the Red Sox that had degraded since spring training, when Devers balked at moving off third base — the position where he had spent his whole career — after the signing of free agent Alex Bregman. The Red Sox gave no forewarning to Devers, who expressed frustration before relenting and agreeing to be their designated hitter.
After a season-ending injury to first baseman Triston Casas in early May, the Red Sox asked Devers to move to first base. Devers declined, suggesting the front office “should do their jobs” and find another player after the organization told him during spring training he would be the DH for the remainder of the season. The day after Devers’ comments, Red Sox owner John Henry, president Sam Kennedy and chief baseball officer Craig Breslow flew to Kansas City, where Boston was playing, to talk with Devers.
In the weeks since, Devers’ refusal to play first led to internal tension and helped facilitate the deal, sources said.
San Francisco pounced — and added a force to an offense that ranks 15th in runs scored in Major League Baseball. Devers, 28, is hitting .272/.401/.504 with 15 home runs and 58 RBIs, tied for the third most in MLB. Over his nine-year career, Devers is hitting .279/.349/.509 with 215 home runs and 696 RBIs in 1,053 games.
Boston believed enough in Devers to give him a 10-year, $313.5 million contract extension in January 2023. He rewarded the Red Sox with a Silver Slugger Award that season and made his third All-Star team in 2024.
Whether he slots in at designated hitter or first base with San Francisco — the Giants signed Gold Glove third baseman Matt Chapman to a six-year, $151 million deal last year — is unknown. But San Francisco sought Devers more for his bat, one that immediately makes the Giants — who are fighting for National League West supremacy with the Los Angeles Dodgers — a better team.
To do so, the Giants gave a package of young talent and took on the contract that multiple teams’ models had as underwater.
Harrison, 23, is the prize of the deal, particularly for a Red Sox team replete with young hitting talent but starving for young pitching. Once considered one of the best pitching prospects in baseball, Harrison has shuttled between San Francisco and Triple-A Sacramento this season.
Harrison, who was scratched from a planned start against the Dodgers on Sunday night, has a 4.48 ERA over 182⅔ innings since debuting with the Giants in 2023. He has struck out 178, walked 62 and allowed 30 home runs. The Red Sox optioned Harrison to Triple-A Worcester after the trade was announced.
Hicks, 28, who has toggled between starter and reliever since signing with the Giants for four years and $44 million before the 2024 season, is on the injured list because of right toe inflammation. One of the hardest-throwing pitchers in baseball, Hicks has a 6.47 ERA over 48⅔ innings this season. He could join the Red Sox’s ailing bullpen, which Breslow has sought to upgrade.
Tibbs, 22, was selected by the Giants with the 13th pick in last year’s draft out of Florida State. A 6-foot, 200-pound corner outfielder, Tibbs has spent the season at High-A, where he has hit .245/.377/.480 with 12 home runs and 32 RBIs in 56 games. Scouts laud his command of the strike zone — he has 41 walks and 45 strikeouts in 252 plate appearances — but question whether his swing will translate at higher levels.
Bello, 20, has spent the season as a reliever for the Giants’ Rookie League affiliate. In 18 innings, he has struck out 28 and walked three while posting a 2.00 ERA.
The deal is the latest in which Boston shipped a player central to the franchise.
Boston traded Mookie Betts to the Dodgers in February 2020, just more than a year after leading Boston to a franchise-record 108 wins and a World Series title and winning the American League MVP Award.
Devers was part of that World Series-winning team in 2018 and led the Red Sox in RBIs each season from 2020 to 2024, garnering AL MVP votes across each of the past four years. Devers had been with the Red Sox since 2013, when he signed as an international amateur free agent out of the Dominican Republic. He debuted four years later at age 20.
Boston is banking on its young talent to replace Devers’ production. The Red Sox regularly play four rookies — infielders Kristian Campbell and Marcelo Mayer, outfielder Roman Anthony and catcher Carlos Narvaez — and infielder Franklin Arias and outfielder Jhostynxon Garcia are expected to contribute in the coming years.
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