Long before Major League Baseball players were awarded World Series rings to mark their victories, teams celebrated championship titles by gifting their athletes commemorative watches. One of the most coveted of these World Series timepieces was owned by legendary New York Yankee outfielder Babe Ruth, whose Gruen Verithin 1923 World Series championship pocketwatch was auctioned on February 22, 2014, in New York City, by Dallas-based Heritage Auctions. The watch, significant in that it was “the first piece of championship hardware that Ruth ever won,” went for $717,000.