Almost 70 years after his death, baseball legend Babe Ruth is still breaking records – this time with a staggering $US5.6 million ($8.1 million) price for a jersey he wore when playing for the New York Yankees in the Roaring Twenties.

“The legacy and significance of Babe Ruth to the game of baseball and American popular culture is unmatched by any other figure in the history of this country,” the president of Hunt Auctions, David Hunt, said in a statement on Saturday.

The grey flannel road jersey that Ruth wore in the 1920s was auctioned off at New York’s Yankee Stadium. It has “Ruth” stitched inside the collar, and still has all its original buttons.

The baseballer’s family had consigned a large trove of Ruth items for auction.

The sale beat the previous record for sports memorabilia held by another Babe Ruth jersey, which sold at auction for $US4.4m ($6.4 million).

Born George Herman Ruth Jr in 1895, Babe Ruth’s professional baseball career spanned 22 seasons in Major League Baseball from 1914 through 1935.

Also known as “The Sultan of Swat”, he began his major league career as a left-handed pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, but achieved his greatest fame as a slugging outfielder for the New York Yankees.

The identity of the seller and the buyer have not been made public.

-with AAP