*Babe Ruth Thread*

[julusnc]

I just thought its time for the Bambino to have his own thread.Please friends list tidbits and facts to extend the lifes history and knowledge of Babe Ruth for others to enjoy.
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------------INDEX

------PAGE----------SUBJECT

--------1-----------Biographical info
--------2-----------Career Info/Discussion
--------3-----------Articles on Ruth
--------4-----------Hitting
--------5-----------Pitching
--------6-----------Fielding
--------7-----------Pictures
--------8-----------Pictures
--------9-----------Stories/Off Field Stuff

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

------------INDEX

------PAGE----------SUBJECT

--------1-----------Biographical info
--------2-----------Career Info/Discussion
--------3-----------Articles/Literature Chapters
--------4-----------Hitting
--------5-----------Pitching
--------6-----------Fielding
--------7-----------Pictures
--------8-----------Pictures
--------9-----------Stories/Off Field Stuff

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Posted by: william_burgess@usa.net


Babe's Genealogy:

Name Born Born Died Died

George Herman Ruth,Sr. (father) - Jan.31 1871 1918 Aug.25
Mary Margaret (Mamie) (Ruth) Moberly - Aug. 2 1900 1992 Jul.1 (sister)
Dorothy Helen (Ruth) Pirone(daughter) - Feb.2 1921 1989 May.18
Julia (Hodgson)(Ruth) Stevens - Jul.7 1916 alive (adopted)
(Clara Merritt) Claire (Hodgson) Ruth - Sept.11 1897 1976 Oct.25 (wife2)
Helen (Woodford) Ruth (1st wife) - Oct. 1897 1929 Jan.11
Catherine (Katie) (Schamberger) Ruth - Jul. 1873 1912 Aug.11(mother)


Dorothy was actualy Babe's real biological daughter. Story was in her book, My Dad, The Babe.

Babe fans: you might want to download or copy these. They are pretty hard to find. VERY hard to find, really.

Bill Burgess
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Posted by: jbmunion

Dear Bill,

I scene your line on Ruth's genealogy. I am actually blood related to Ruth. My Grandfather, John Manley Beefelt and George Herman Ruth were first cousins. In fact my grandfather spent time at St. Mary's industrial school for boys just as Ruth at the corner of Wilkens and Caton Avenue in Baltimore. The details you are sharing in regards to Ruth are slim in detail, the Babe Ruth musuem has a large list of relatives to Ruth, unfornately its so intermingled with his adopted childrens family's it tough to tell who's actually related and who isn't.
The rumor of African American blood is rumor, its fact. It has been passed down in our family for generations. One of the biggest coverups is the endless hazing Ruth endured during his playing days. Even Ruth dismisses the abuse in describing the Chicago bench leading up to the called shot. Every American relizes what Chicago meant by "Big Ape" and "Baboon". Ruth was above it all. Its one of the reasons he was so great.
Its the biggest reason for the rejection of Bonds and Aaron. Bonds is A@# and everyone knows it, Aaron is just elusive, and without personality. Americans spoiled by Ruth, thirst for a large then life, bosterous, loveable hero. In truth it has nothing to do with race, they just want their homerun champ to be alive, and human.
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The rumor of African American blood is rumor, its fact. It has been passed down in our family for generations.

Posted by: SHOELESSJOE3

That one line in bold letters is confusing, or is it just me. Are you saying it's a fact that the rumor is just a rumor.
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Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

Thats how I read it.

Regarding the racial names, in all fairness, they do take on a different meaning if the person is in fact black. Still, it does rarely get mentioned, and doesn't get much play, probably because Babe never made a big issue out of it himself. Oh there were moments, especially where Cobb was concerned, but he dished some and took some. From what I understand about "ape," it had more to do with Tarzan of the Apes. A play on his lack of "social graces" shall we say.
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Its the biggest reason for the rejection of Bonds and Aaron. Bonds is A@# and everyone knows it, Aaron is just elusive, and without personality. Americans spoiled by Ruth, thirst for a large then life, bosterous, loveable hero. In truth it has nothing to do with race, they just want their homerun champ to be alive, and human.

Posted by: Appling

I agree -- it took a special kind of guy to be the loveable, "larger than life" hero that we know as Babe Ruth. Who else in MLB history had special skill and also had the outgoing personality to sell it? I think of just a few: Dizzy Dean? Reggie Jackson? Kirby Puckett?

Do any of today's super-stars fit that mold?
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Posted by: william_burgess@usa.net

I think that the answer to 'How he did it?' could be many answers.

1. Babe swung much harder than others of his day. Joe Jackson did too, and they were the great exceptions.

2. Babe's bat was much larger/heavier than other's bats. I think I remember seeing the figure of 48 oz. Not sure, but it was compared to the tongue of a covered wagon.

3. Babe had a lot of upper body strength, so he could swing that big bat real fast through the strike zone.

4. Babe had ridiculous self-confidence. He also had the ability to concentrate, shut out everything else, and focus on that moment. He never doubted himself. Wasn't subject to the stress/doubts others were.

5. Was tested and found to have rare physical gifts. Hand/eye coordination, reflexes, vision better than 20/20. Also tall for his time.

6. Like many others, Babe honed his skills, instincts, smarts for around 10 yrs., 9-19 yrs. old, before he hit the Big Time. That's a long time to perfect the many aspects of his overall game.

I believe that the pitching of that day lacked the higher speed we see routinely today. So one with Babe's physical gifts, strength, etc. was able to tee off on 80-90 mph fastballs, and big roundhouse curves.

Babe did less well against junk, off-speed, dinky breaking balls, such as Hub Pruett's screwball.

I think it would be obvious that Babe would not be successful with the old 'big swing'. He'd have to adopt a smaller, lighter bat, a more compact swing, but I agree with Randy, that his basic hip rotation, giving him that massive torque would have still generated incredible ball/bat impact.

But I also think Ruth would have met with some success against the good high-speed pitchers today. Guys like Clemens, R. Johnson, Martinez, Maddux, N. Ryan don't always make their best pitches. They can't throw 95+ every pitch, can they? NO. They must, like all others, rest and throw their share of 85-95 mph fastballs. And the good hitters wait for THOSE pitches. Just like they waited for Walter Johnson to rest up and conserve himself.

So, for those reasons, I do think Babe could hit Clemens, Johnson, Ryan, Martinez, etc.

But he'd have to use his good sense, make the right choices, and make some efforts to keep himself in better shape.

Like Randy, I too am intrigued by how high Babe could have risen against the juiced ball, low strike zone, assisted by body armor, gloves, and all the modern advantages.
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5. Was tested and found to have rare physical gifts. Hand/eye coordination, reflexes, vision better than 20/20. Also tall for his time.

Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

Article about Ruth getting tested at Columbia University

http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Fullerton/

Bill, I think if he played today, he might tone down the hitch a little, he'd start out with his feet spread further apart, he'd cut down the stride, and of course use a lighter bat. Those are easy adjustments though. The main parts could remain. The thought of him being able to crowd the plate with body armor, helmet, and enjoy todays strike zone off of these inexperienced pitchers...is intriguing.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Posted by: Metal Ed

Wait, am I thinking of Julia Ruth here? Whoever was in the "All Century Team" video talking about her father, that's who I meant. I remember looking at one of his daughters and thinking how much she looked like her father, without actually being ugly. It's weird.

Here's Julia. She looks like a cross between the Babe and Drew Barrymore:
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/photos/Ruth_Babe_MLD68.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/excerpts/major_league_dad12.stm&h=405&w=318&sz=41&tbnid=G10BEvEnJugJ:&tbnh=121&tbnw=95&start=10&prev=/images%3Fq%3Ddaughter%2Bbabe%2Bruth%26hl%3Den%26lr %3D
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Posted by: william_burgess@usa.net

I hate to tell you this, at this late date, but Julia was not Babe's biological daughter. Babe married his second wife, Clair (Merritt) Hodgson, in 1929, and the next year, he adopted Clair's daughter, Julia, who had been born in 1915, to Clair and Frank Bishop Hodgson.

Babe's only biological daughter, Dorothy, was a product of a laison, between Babe and Juanita Jennings, and was born in 1921. It was thought that she was adopted by Babe/Helen, but Babe kept his love child a secret his entire life. If Clair had found out, she could have used it to blackmail Babe.

Bill Burgess
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Do you think his first wife and daughter would say that?

Posted by: william_burgess@usa.net

His 1st wife, Helen Woodford? Naw, they married too young.

His first daughter, Dorothy, who was believed to be their adopted daughter, but turns out to be Babe's true biological daughter? Yeah, she would say that. She DID say that, over and over in her book, My Dad, the Babe, by Dorothy (Ruth) Pirone, 1988. He was her hero, forever & forever.

She either forgave all his human frailties or more likely never even saw them.
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Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

This sounds accurate. Its likely that she understood him, and that is paramount. After all, she was sharing her father with every other kid in America at the time. He turned neither her, or them away. His spontaneous nature would have made for a fun dad.

From Dorothy's book, My Dad, The Babe:

By the early 1930s my father's popularity had reached an all-time high, and the demands on his time were endless. I had to realize that, with all his commitments, I was not going to be his number one priority. We did not have the intimate relationship that many fathers and daughters shared.
Because he did not spend as much time with me as most fathers would have, the times we did share were all the more special: decorating the Christmas tree, playing cards, going on picnics on his days off, or listening to "The Lone Ranger" on the radio. He loved to come home and throw his huge raccoon coat at me to see if I could catch it - which was almost impossible, since the coat weighed more than I did. I would always end up on the floor underneath the coat, while my father laughed and laughed.
If I was lucky he would take me on road trips, usually to Boston, Philadelphia, or Washington, D.C. His teammates Ben Chapman, Lefty Gomez and Frank Crosetti did their best to entertain me on the train rides by singing songs. During these trips I was incredibly happy; my father would call me "Butch" and "Duck," but when he was angry it was always "Dorothy."
Sometimes the Yankees would send Dad five or six dozen balls at a time for him to autograph. My job was to make sure that the ink from the fountain pen did not smear. Then, when the balls dried, I would rewrap them and put them back in the box.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Posted by: El Halo

One thing I've never heard mentioned here about Ruth (possibly because it's generally a touchy subject) is his race. I have a friend who's a Red Sox historian who swears up and down that Ruth had a black grandfather, and points to at least one instance from a Boston newspaper around 1917 where Ty Cobb referred to Ruth using a racial epithet ordinarily describing blacks. He says that it was a kind of under the surface common knowledge in baseball circles at the time that Ruth was "passing" as white, and that part of Kenesaw Mountain Landis' six week suspension of Ruth in 1922 was based, in addition to Ruth's barnstorming, on Landis' discovery of Ruth's ethnic heritage, and his taking time to decide what to do about it.

It's not an idea that I've heard widely discussed elsewhere, although I know that certain African American themed stores in New York City sell posters of the famous photo of Babe sitting in the dugout with the words "HE WAS" in huge letters at the bottom of them. It would certainly be another great legacy for Babe if he were to be considered the first black baseball star, though of course he never had to deal with any of the things Jackie had to go through.

Anybody else have an opinion on this?
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Posted by: Appling

I too read that Ruth may have had some black ancestry. But can you imagine Landis in 1922 having the power to eject from organized baseball someone as popular as Ruth? He would probably disguise his real reason but eject Ruth (for LIFE?) -- taking extreme action supposedly because Babe disobeyed baseball's rule on barnstorming. (Of course Ruth wasn't the only MLB player on that barnstorming tour. That may be why Landis finally decided not to eject Ruth from baseball -- and to keep "secret" any information on Ruth's ancestry.)

Is there any chance that public opinion at the time would have allowed Landis to do something like this?
__________________
Luke
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Posted by: westsidegrounds:

There were instances of racial slurs beside's Cobb's. One time it got so bad that Ruth went into the other team's clubhouse after a game and told the other team, in reference to their repeated use of the "n" word: "Hey, you can call me anything you like, c********r or whatever, but lay off the personal stuff." Nobody replied, and Ruth left.
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Posted by: william_burgess@usa.net

I have dug into Ruth's genealogy as a researcher, and have discovered nothing whatsoever to support the myth that Babe had black blood.

Both his parents were born in Baltimore, were German, and there is a famous photo of Babe around 1916, in his Dad's highly attractive Baltimore tavern, and Babe's Dad looks just like Babe, and no sign of racial mixing.

I dismiss this stuff as crap. Babe was German Catholic. And many have commented and there are photos to support it, that Babe was very city white in his body pigmentation. All this is based on his broad knose, husky, gravelly voice, simple, innocent mentality, and his wanton carnal over-indulgences. Nothing more.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Posted by: william_burgess@usa.net

The Babe: A Personal Glimpse

As a final contribution to this tribute to the Babe, I'd like to donate this piece, where I put as many little-known facts of the Babe's life into this as I knew of. Hope it entertains.

George Herman Ruth, Jr. was born February 6, 1895, in Baltimore. His father, George Herman Ruth, Sr. was born in Baltimore also, on January 31, 1871. His mother, Catherine (Schamberger) Ruth was born in Baltimore in July, 1873. The Ruths were German Catholics. His parents were married on June 25, 1894. So apparently, Babe was conceived before the Wedding Day. Babe was born in his mother's home at 216 Emory St., now home to the Babe Ruth Museum.

Babe was baptized a month after he was born, March 1, 1895, by Father J. T. O'Brien at the Catholic Church down the street from where he was born.

Babe's sister, Mary Margaret (Mamie) (Ruth) Moberly, was born Aug. 2, 1900 and died on July 1, 1992, in Hagerstown, MD 21740 at age 91. She had married married Wilbur Moberly.

After Mary Margaret, Katie had 6 other children before she died in 1912, but they all died at birth or at an early age.

As soon as he could stand, he was difficult to handle. So his Dad dropped him off at St. Mary's industrial School on June 13, 1902. He was only 7. He was raised Catholic, and the Xaverian Brothers saw to it that he went to Mass, etc. He was assigned shirt-making as his future profession. And Babe always knew a good quality shirt after that, and sewed his own collars too.

The Xaverian Brothers, hadn't known that Babe had already been baptized, and baptized him again on Aug. 7, 1906, by Father Francis. On May 9, 1907, he received the sacrament of Confirmation. He received his first Holy Communion on Aug. 15, 1906. Babe was taken in hand by Brothers Gilbert and Mathias. Brother Mathias taught Babe how to play baseball. Babe caught and pitched for the school team.

One of the reasons that Babe's Dad had put him in the school, was the fragile health of his mom. She died August 11, 1912, at the age of 38. Babe was still at the school and aged 17. 18 months later, he signed his 1st pro contract. Her death certificate states "exhaustion" as cause of death.

Lest any misunderstanding arise from what has been written here, the core essence of this man was love, not rancor. He was always seeking the love from life, that which he was denied from day one. And he was always willing to give it out, to all near him. He never held his love/goodwill/affection back from anyone. Man, child, animal.

Babe was signed by Jack Dunn, who owned the minor league team, the Baltimore Orioles, on Feb. 27, 1914, as a pitcher. Before the mid-season, Dunn would sell him to the Boston Red Sox, as a pitcher.

On July 11, 1914, Babe debuted with the Boston Red Sox. He got into 5 games, and batted 10 times, got 2 hits. He started 3 games, went 2-1, as his W-L, pitched 23 innings, gave up 21 hits, and struck out 3 batters, walked 11. Not bad for a 19 yr. old kid. He was 6'2, weighed a svelte 180 lbs.

On August 15, 1914, Dunn sent Babe to Providence, to acquire a little seasoning. Babe won 11, lost 2 while there. They won the pennant. Carl Mays had been his team mate, and both were brought back to Boston to stay.

He probably faced 1,000 batters, hit 11 of them, had 11 wild pitches. He also hit .231, with 28 hits, 1 HR, 2 doubles, 10 triples.

The next season, he became a full-time pitcher star, and from 1915-17, he was the best LH pitcher in the AL. It was also noticed that, on occasion, he hit the ball so hard and so far, that the fans got excited. The right-fielder on the team, Harry Hooper, encouraged him to convert to the OF, and play every day. Manager Ed Barrow scoffed at such a notion at first, but by 1918, had been persuaded to play Babe in the OF, between his pitching assignments. It was a decision which would alter the course of the game.

During his year in the minors, with Baltimore, Babe married Helen M. Woodford. She had been born in East Boston, MA in Oct. probably 1897. They were married on Oct. 17, 1914. They would stay married until her accidental death in a fire, on Jan. 11, 1928. But they were separated since the early 1920's.

Babe says that his Dad never visited him at the school, but Babe visited home often, but always was returned to the school soon after. During the 1915 World Series, in Oct., Babe visited his Dad's bar, and a famous photo was taken. The resemblance between father/son was striking. Babe's Dad apparently didn't care about his son in the least, and was killed outside his bar, trying to mediate a scuffle, on August 25, 1918. He was stabbed with a knife by his brother-in-law, who claimed it was self-defense, and was later determined to be an accident. Babe was 23.

Life passed quickly. Babe had made good as a pitcher, and was signed by the Boston Red Sox in July, 1914. He was good from his first day. A born ballplayer, by 1917, he had shown good promise as a hitter, and he wanted to stop pitching. As stated earlier, his manager, Ed Barrow, who had previously managed Detroit in 1903-04, wouldn't hear of it. He insisted Babe take his regular turn on the mound every 4th day, in between his OF assignments. Babe balked. Said his arm was tired. He even once ran away to Philadelphia in protest. They had to go get him and bring him home.

But he was a handful. Refused to obey any curfew, etc. By 1920, Babe had become a great HR champion and was sold to the hated rival Yankees, who converted him into a full-time OF, which he wanted. And the NY press welcomed him to NYC like a conquering hero.

After the 1920 season ended, Babe went to California to play ball in the Pacific Coast L, and had an affair with Juanita Jennings, a Latino beauty. She got pregnant. Babe told her if she ever came East, to look him up. She called him not long after, from Cal. Told him she was knocked up. Babe convinced her to come to NYC to have the baby. She trusted him and came. Babe made arrangements to have her put up in a nice apartment, and then the hospital to have the baby.

This was all hush-hush, because he was married, and having a huge sports season. A scandal might have turned his fans against him. And he couldn't afford that, since his drawing power was what gave him a lot of his value.

So the baby girl, Dorothy was born, and Babe coerced Juanita into giving up her baby, so Babe could raise her. Babe arranged for him and his wife Helen to adopt the baby legally. And everyone assumed baby Dorothy was not his biological baby, even Dorothy herself, until told the news by Juanita herself in Oct., 1980, 2 weeks before she died. This info is found in Dorothy's book, "My Dad, The Babe," by Dorothy Ruth Pirone, with Chris Martens, 1988, pp. 194.

Juanita, as a strategy to stay near to her daughter, found ways to be near her. From 1960 to 1975, Dorothy took care of her, never suspecting her to be her true, biological mother. Two weeks before she died, she revealed to a shocked Dorothy that she was, in fact, her mother, and showed her photographic proof, as evidence. It was quite a shock, but a relief also.

In 1923, Babe, estranged from wife Helen, who went back to Boston, met a young, 26 year old, attractive, Georgian woman, named Claire Hodgson, a divorcée. Babe was immediately taken by her, and they became a couple right away. But Babe couldn't afford to tell her the truth about Dorothy, since Claire could have held that info over his head, as a weapon.

When Babe met her, he was 28, but thought he was 27, due to a mixup of his birth certificate. So Claire believed him to be 27. Claire herself was 26, having been born near Athens, GA on Sept. 27, 1897. For reasons unknown, Claire always falsified her age. She introduced herself to Babe as being 23, and always told him and others that she was born Sept. 27, 1900. Georgian birth records confirm the truth. She was born Clara Merritt. http://baseball-fever.com/showpost.php?p=489705&postcount=391

[http://baseball-fever.com/showpost.php?p=489681&postcount=390]

Not long after Babe married her, Claire moved her mother, her 2 brothers, & daughter, Julia, into their Riverside Dr. apartment, with Babe & his daughter, Dorothy.

They were presumably very nice people. One of the brothers, Eugene Merritt, presumably jumped to his death, in a suicide from the 15th floor, on January 12, 1936, at the young age of 45. He had been very ill from WWI, and had since been a shoe salesman (1920); clerk in Siegel Pharmacy, & conductor on Hudson Tube railroad.

Incidentally, by one of the quirks of fate, Claire had known very well a 20 yr. old Ty Cobb back in her childhood in Georgia, and had flirted with him around 1907, when she was only 10. In his biography, by Al Stump, Cobb wrote, "I met a girl named Claire Hodgson, and for a while it got interesting."

When estranged wife Helen died in a fire in 1929, Babe was freed to marry Claire, which he did on April 17, 1929. She had a daughter Julia, by a previous marriage. Julia was born in 1915. Babe adopted Julia, and Claire adopted Dorothy. Babe & Claire got along reasonably well. But by 1937, he had had enough of her domineering ways, and had taken up with a tall, attractive redhead named Loretta, and lived with her for months at a time every year, in a small hamlet in NY called Greenwood Lake. He loved to fish, hunt, and enjoyed the taverns, restaurants, bars, lodges, etc.

Around 2 weeks before Babe died, 2nd wife Claire, went to his hospital room, with her lawyer in tow, and had Babe sign papers. It was a new will, which transferred his main assets, a trust fund for Dorothy, which he had since 1928, to herself, Claire, as the beneficiary. It had $400,000.

So Claire stole Dorothy's inheritance, and lived on it the rest of her life. But Loretta surprised Claire, by showing up at the hospital before Babe died. She demanded $25,000. from Babe's will, or she'd go to the NY Times with her story. She got the money.

Much of the information in this article came from the following sources, which are specialized documentation, available to the public through SABR.

My Dad, The Babe, by Dorothy Ruth Pirone, with Chris Martens, 1988

Babe Ruth: The Dark Side, by Paul F. Harris, Sr. He is a native Baltimoran, a retired attorney.

Babe Ruth and the New York City Press: 1919-1932, by Craig Lynn Irons, 1996.

The Life That Ruth Built, by Marshall Smelser, 1975. (Info on Babe's minor L. career.)

The 2nd/3rd 2 papers are available via SABR (Research Exchange, Len Levin, 282 Doyle Avenue, Providence RI 02906-3355.)
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Not long after Babe married her, Claire moved her mother, her 2 brothers, & daughter, Julia, into their Riverside Dr. apartment, with Babe & his daughter, Dorothy. They were presumably very nice people.

Thought some of my readers might be curious to learn what became of this warm, little family.

Dorothy Helen (Ruth) Pirone(daughter) was born Jun.7, 1921, in NYC, & died May 18, 1989, at the age of 68, in Durham,CT. Born St. Vincent's Hospital, 7th in Greenwich Village. Married Daniel J. Sullivan, on January 11, 1941, a Brooklyn employee of the Railway Express Co. Had daughter on Nov. 8, 1941. Had 4 other children. She married Dominick Pirone, a NY contractor, in NYC, on December 8, 1948. She was separated from him from 1965-71. Raised Arabian horses in Durham, CT.

Hubert L. Merritt (Claire's brother) was born October 8, 1894, in Georgia, and died October 14, 1948, in NYC, at the age of 51. Arrived in NYC in 1920. Worked for Harry M. Stevens Co. 1923-48, had served as a soldier, Camp Funston, Riley, Kansas.

Eugene Merritt (Claire's brother), was born July 24, 1890 in Georgia & died January 12, 1936 at the age of 45 in NYC. Was shoe salesman(1920); clerk in Siegel Pharmacy, conductor on Hudson Tube railroad. d. suicide,jump from NYC 15th, floor while he was residing with his sister, Claire, mother, Cassie Merritt, brother-in-law, Babe Ruth and Ruth's biological daughter, Dorothy and Claire's daughter, Julia.

Julia Hodgson)(Ruth) Stevens (Claire's daughter) was born July 7, 1916 in GA, & is still alive & living in Conway, NH at the age of 89.

(Clara Mae Merritt) Claire (Hodgson) Ruth ( wife 2), 5'2. Was born September 11, 1897 near Athens, GA. & died October 25, 1976, in NYC 10024, at the age of 79. Married the Babe April 17,1929. Claire always claimed 1900 as her birth year, when it was really Sept., 1897. She was flirting with Ty Cobb before he married another in August, 1908, that would have made her 10. After 1937, Babe spent long periods away from home with his girlfriend. d. cancer

Cornelia (Carrie) Lou (Rylle) Merritt (Claire's mother) was born March, 1872 in Gainesville, GA & died April 13, 1943 in NYC at the age of 71. The Merritt clan arrived in NYC, after the father died in Georgia on May 29, 1920.
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Others in the Babe story.

Frank Bishop Hodgson (Claire's 1st Husband) was born December 25, 1883 & died February 16, 1921 at the age of 37 in Fulton County, GA. Was a small hotel owner.

Juanita (Jennings) Ellias (Dorothy's mother) was born November 29, 1894 & died October, 1980, at the age of 86 in Durham, CT. Bore Babe his only biological child.

Colonel James Monroe Merritt, (Claire's father) was born March, 1862, in South Carolina, and died May 29, 1920, in Barrow County, GA. Was a lawyer, teacher.
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I'd like to continue some of Babe's story.

I'd like to pick it up in Nov., 1920. At that time, his future 2nd wife, Clara Merritt, then Claire (Merritt) Hodgson, arrived in NYC, with her 5 yr. old daughter, Julia, and her 20 yr. old black friend/maid, Marie Martin, and checked into the Waldorf.

She immediately sought work as a model, with Christie, the famous portrait artist. She posed from 9AM to sundown, and also posed for Harrison Fisher and Penrhyn, but mostly for Christie, for $10./day. She soon was able to move herself, Julia and Marie into a 4 room flat on 70th Street bet. Brdwy./Columbus.

Her father died May 29, 1920, in Georgia, and her mother then moved to NYC, to stay with her. Christie had connections, which led to Claire getting a small part in a Brdwy show, Dew Drop Inn. One day, one of the cast asked if she and another would like to go to the ballgame, and see the Yanks and Babe Ruth. It was in 1923. Dew Drop Inn was on tour in Washington. They went to Griffith Stadium. She went, met Babe, wasn't too impressed, but Babe started to call her regularly.

When Babe met her, she was tiny. 5'2, 100 lbs., 26 yrs. old, brunette, attractive. Coming from Georgia, she had an accent like Jimmy Carter. She'd have pronounced it, Jimma Cata. Talked just like Ty talked. Soft Atlantan tones.

And so began Babe's long courtship and going steady with future 2nd wife Claire. From 1923-1929, they dated as a steady couple. But on the road, Babe did what his liberty allowed him to do. Women constantly threw themselves at him. But when he was in town, NYC, he presumably behaved himself. At some point, Claire's 2 brothers re-located from Georgia to NYC, and they all lived together. Not the Babe, of course. He was still married, but separated from 1st wife Helen.

Babe became a regular staple at the Merritts' home. This went on for 7 years, until one day, word came that Babe's wife, Helen had died in a Boston fire. Babe was frantic to get his daughter, Dorothy, with him. He knew she was his biologically, but no one else did, beside Juanita Jennings, who at that time was not in the picture.

Babe married Claire on April 17, 1929, and on Jan. 14, 1930, he formally adopted Claire's daughter Julia, and she formally adopted Babe's daughter Dorothy. Only thing was, Claire never knew Dorothy was Babe's actual biological daughter. She always introduced Dorothy as "our adopted daughter, Dorothy"! Tacky as hell. Dorothy always hated that, but Claire intended for all to "know" that Dorothy wasn't the "real thing".

Another interesting arrangement was that Claire suggested to the Yankees' that she be allowed to go on the road with the team. The Yanks took her up on her offer. It worked to their mutual advantage.

So from 1929-34, whenever the Yanks left town, Claire went along, and the Yanks' paid for a separate room for Babe/Claire. This kept Babe out of mischief. Prior to this, he'd always sleep with a woman, come in to the team hotel around 5-6AM. Now, he'd have his wife to ride herd over his amorous dalliances. She got to run clearance between Babe & his female groupies, and the Yanks no longer needed to watch his curfew.

Another little tidbit, is the rift/feud between the Babe and Lou Gehrig.
Sometime in 1933, 14 yr. old Dorothy was visiting the Gehrig's home in New Rochelle, NY. Lou's Mom Gehrig, commented on how she usually looked like a ragamuffin, compared to how sharply-nattily Claire's daughter, Julia usually looked. Well, another Yankee wife over-hears the remark, and mentions it to another Yankee wife, and ka-boom. Word filters back to Claire, who feels shamed and PISSED. Next day, Babe brings up the remark to Lou.

Now Lou is passive and easy-going. There could be a long list of things he can roll with. Telling his mother to mind her own damn business is not on the list. Lou was a Mama's boy all his life. By choice. Now, let me be clear here. No one can ever be criticized for defending one's mother. God forbid. And there is a list a cosmic mile long, of things which are worse than being a Mama's boy.

But this is what caused the feud. Babe told Lou to never talk to him again, off the field. But Babe was Babe. Later, he tried to approach Lou and make up, but Lou brushed him off. Babe had been something of an idol/hero to Lou, and a good pal besides. So when Babe turned on him, it had hurt him deep.

This silly situation remained until July 4, 1939, on Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day at Yankee Stadium. When Lou uttered his famous heart-felt words, "Today, I feel like the luckiest man on the face of the Earth", Babe walked over and hugged him. Lou didn't shrug him off. So the rift ended that day. And Babe visited him after that too.

Another tidbit is the interplay between Babe and Leo Durocher. Leo was all glove, no bat. At the end of the 1926, '27 seasons, the Yanks brought Leo up to warm the bench at the close of each season. He got into no games, however, which is why it doesn't appear in the record books that he was on those teams.

Babe liked to kid the guys and when Leo came up, Babe dubbed him "The All-American Out". Man did that burn Leo's butt?! But since it came from Babe, what could he do but grin and bear it?

One day, a players very expensive wrist watch disappears from the Yankee clubhouse, and Babe accuses Leo of light-fingering it. Leo is furious & humiliated, but again, what can he do? Babe is Babe, and he's the "All-American Out." So, he denies it vehemently, but . . . what can he do?

Leo plays a slick glove for the Yanks at SS/2B, for '28-29, is released to the Reds, drifts to the Cards, and ends up in Brooklyn for 1938. Comes June 17, 1938, Babe is hired on by Larry MacPhail, Brooklyn GM, as a 3rd base coach. Babe was hired to appear in all exhibition games, and give a 10 minute hitting exhibition before each regular and exhibition game. Pay? $15,000./per season.

Babe mistakenly assumed he'd be made manager the next season. Came a moment during the season, Babe was thought to have missed a signal, which cost the Dodgers the game. Babe mistakenly assumed that Durocher had told reporters about it. Ruth next day, stormed into the clubhouse and told Durocher, that "whatever happened in the clubhouse, stayed in the clubhouse", and that feeding a missed signal to the press was dirty pool. Leo charged Babe, and bulled him into the lockers behind him. Other players, of course, came between them and intervened.

But next season, when manager Burleigh Grimes was let go, for finished 7th, Babe read that the new manager would be - Leo Durocher! After reading it in the morning editions, Babe sat in his kitchen and wept. He never called MacPhail, and MacPhail never called him. He was out of Baseball once again.

No contract arrived in the mail, and Babe assumed Durocher didn't want him. Durocher confirms that he didn't want him or need him. Durocher further claims that he never told the press about the missed sign, and also that he never told MacPhail to not rehire Babe. Durocher claims that the press just assumed a missed sign, but he never confirmed it to them.

All he wanted to do was be a part of the game he adored. In some way a part of the ML scene. That he was never given another opportunity saddens me deeply. He and Ty. Ty and he. Both WERE baseball, and had the smarts and desire to contribute. Such waste. Baseball has made such errors of judgment in its past. I've forgiven it, but still feel sad that those who loved it so profoundly were brushed off so shabbily.

Hope someone is reading this. I'm enjoying the retelling of it. Is anyone out there enjoying this? Let me know.

Most of this material came from the following:

The Babe and I, by Mrs. Babe Ruth, with Bill Slocum, 1959, Prentice-Hall, Inc.

My Luke and I, by Eleanor Gehrig and Joseph Durso, 1976

My Dad, The Babe, by Dorothy Ruth Pirone, with Chris Martens, 1988

Nice Guys Finish Last, by Leo Durocher, 1975
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Excerpts from Claire's book:

Babe's 2nd wife, Claire had some choice words for Ed Barrow in her 1959 autobiography, The Babe and I. Here are a few of her choice morsels.

"Barrow, as Babe's manager in Boston, and later as general manager of the Yankees, was his particular bete noir. Here was enmity from the start, with no quarter on either side over a quarter century. Huggins had to handle Babe at Babe's most riotous. Hug never succeeded. Ruppert was a constant foe at contract time and always backed Huggins, despite Houston's espousal of the Babe's rather weak case. Landis, as Commissioner of Baseball, was a cruel and ruthless judge. McCarthy exerted no discipline, just implacable loathing which was reciprocated.

I do not see them all as blackly as they appeared to Babe. I think both Huggins and Ruppert tried very hard to understand their lucrative problem child. (pp. 61)

"But Barrow did one thing for Babe Ruth. Barrow took Babe, who might well have become the greatest pitcher of all time, and made of him the greatest hitter of all time. And that took one thing Barrow had in abundance, courage. Taking Babe from the mound is not the obvious move it seems. It was obvious he was a remarkable hitter and even before Barrow came on the scene Carrigan and Barry occasionally took advantage of an opportunity to use Babe's bat more than once very four days by giving him an occasional job at first base or in the outfield. But neither man ever dared think of Babe as anything but a pitcher. Taking Babe off the mound was like telling Paderewski (Polish pianist Ignace Paderewski) that he should try the violin. (pp. 62-63)

If for nothing else, the Babe and his friends can always be grateful to Barrow for having the courage of his convictions. And, frankly, I can think of nothing else to be grateful to Ed for. (pp. 64)

But the Babe always felt that the basic problem he faced in dealing with Ruppert was Ed Barrow.

Ed, tough as a hickory nut, wise in the knowledge that baseball law made Ruth helpless in all salary fights, was always set against big salaries for Babe. Ed's friends said Barrow was without rancor in the matter. He was merely doing his job, which was to run the Yankees as economically as possible.

Babe felt Barrow's attitude was personal. They had fought in Boston and again in New York. They were bitter fights and the men hated each other. (pp. 142)


Bill Burgess

[Sultan_1895-1948]

How about some recomendations for the best Ruth biography... I've never read one.

Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

Babe by Robert Creamer <---- must read
Babe Ruth by Tom Meany
Babe Ruth as I Knew Him by Waite Hoyt
Babe Ruth Story (autobiography) original copyright 1948
Launching the Legend by Jim Reisler
Young Babe Ruth - Brother Gilbert
(recommended by SHOELESSJOE3) - The Babe in Red Stockings
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Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

Hal Wagenheim also wrote a good biography on Ruth. Not sure of the exact title since I loaned it to my brother, but I think its called Babe Ruth "His life and Legend" or something like that. Its ranks right behind Creamers for me. Meany's is the worst out of the bunch imo. I tend to like the ones that tell stories straight up, holding nothing back and not being hesitant to debunk certain myths. Meany's is clearly biased.
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Posted by: SHOELESSJOE3

Surprised that this book on Ruth is seldom mentioned. I agree that those mentioned are worthy, I have them all but don't leave this one out. One of my favorites on Ruth, lots of info and many, many comments by other players regarding Ruth. I think it's one of the best.

"The Life That Ruth Built", by Marshall Smelser. Any Ruth fan, even if not a fan of his, if you love the game, you have to have this one.
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BTW, just picked up a book at the public library. "Fouled Away The Baseball Tragedy of Hack Wilson." Never took much interest in Hack but I have to admit on reading this book, an interesting charactar on and off the field.

Posted by: blackout805

Plus it mentions an exhibition game where Hack played against Ruth :D
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Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

Any idea on what they did after the game? Probably attended church and drank kool-aid together ;)
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Posted by: -Kyle-

Sultan, what is your opinion on the The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth Leigh Montville , by factwise and readablewise?
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Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

Its alright. Nothing extraordinary. If you haven't read a Ruth bio, you certainly should NOT choose that one to start with. It basically re-hashes old work done by Creamer, Smelser, and Wagenheim. A few new tid-bits in there though. Worth buying and reading as an addition to an already established collection. It'll be hard for anybody to write a new bio on him that covers anything new. Some books branch off and go with "specialized" writing, either talking about just his pitching years (Babe in Red Stocking) just his 60 homer season (Babe Chases 60), just him and the '18 Red Sox (Babe Ruth and the 1918 Red Sox), just dealing with him and the media (Launching the Legend), him and his records (Babe Ruth's Incredible Records and The 44 Players Who Broke Them), his early years (Young Babe Ruth - Brother Gilbert), and the new one coming out about all his "would be" dingers that weren't dingers because of fence distances (Bill Jenkinson's). So many directions to go with him, all of them intriguing. Personally, I'm still waiting for an accurate made-for-TV mini Series that covers everything. That'd be one extensive project for sure.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Posted by: bkmckenna

Was Ruth's parents ever interviewed about his childhood?
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Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

Not that I'm aware of. However, there are some quotes from his sister Mamie I believe. Pretty much what we already know though. The skipping school, the hectic workload his parents took on, etc.

What specifically are you interested in?
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Posted by: bkmckenna

I was just reading the beginning of Big Bam and the author was saying that not much is really known about the young Ruth besides tidbits that Ruth said through the years which may or may not actually hold a great deal of truth. The author says that Ruth's sister actually spoke more intelligently (that is having facts add up) about Babe's youth and family events.

For example:
Babe own autobiographies spend little time on his youth.
Babe often had pat, rehearsed answers to questions about why he went to St. Mary's.
Babe claimed to have an older brother that died but Mamie discredits this. In fact, Babe's parents were only married 7 months before he was born.

Basically, I have never really felt that Ruth was too forward about why he went to St. Mary's and perhaps Ruth never really understood the family situation as maybe an adult looking in would. He was very young and his answers always came around to him being a bad boy when in all reality the failing was his parent's.

Ruth went to St. Mary's on a couple occassions. Seems to me if the problem was his incorrigibility it would have been corrected (since he was so young, 6 or 7) unless he had some sever mental failing which I don't believe he did. This leads me to believe the problem really rested with an unstable home, specifically, some sort of problem with the mother which can only be guessed at today.

If I had to surmise I'd say that both parents were alcoholics and the mother may have had some mental problems as well.
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Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

They had seven kids after Babe and only one survived infancy (Mamie). He was sent to St. Mary's on a Friday the 13th in 1902. I think it had everything to do with the environment and his lack of guidance. He apparently just wouldn't go to school. But there is a story that one day there was a brawl in the saloon and a gunshot was fired. A neighbor got in touch with city authorities and the place was deemed unfit to raise a kid. Either way, he ended up there and only stayed in for about a month the first time. Went back in for a short time, and then stayed home until Christmas of 1904. When he went back after that, he stayed in for four years. Came out in 1908 and shortly after his mom died in 1910 he went back in again.

I'm with you on his mother. I think she did have mental problems. Losing 6 children couldn't have helped, and when Babe came back home he still misbehaved.
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Posted by: bkmckenna

Thanks for the info - I have little doubt that the atmosphere bred Ruth's rebelliousness.
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Posted by: william_burgess@usa.net

Who Was Babe Ruth's Childhood Idol?

(The Heroes' Heroes, The Literary Digest, January 2, 1932)

Well, then, who was Babe Ruth's hero?

"Christy!" boomed the Babe. "Sure, Christy Mathewson."

As we read on, we find the Home-Run King paying this tribute:

"Maybe there was a greater pitcher than Matty, but I doubt it.

"And if anybody had suggested it to me when I was a kid in Baltimore and he was pinning the boys' ears back in the National League, I probably would have taken a sock at him, because I was a rough kid in those days. Maybe I didn't always know my lessons, but I always knew how many games Matty had won and lost. I read everything about him that I could get my hands on.

"By the time I got up to the big leagues Matty was just about getting through as a pitcher, but I got to know him when he was managing the Reds, and saw quite a little of him after that, when he was coaching for the Giants and later, when he was president of the Braves. A great pitcher--and a great fellow who made an impression on baseball that won't wear off as long as the game lasts." (The Heroes' Heroes, The Literary Digest, January 2, 1932)

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Here is a roster of all those Fever members who've expressed the opinion that The Babe was the greatest player ever.
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Ruth - 97

ElHalo--------TC2, WM,RH,LG,HW6
four tool player--TC2
Sultan, 1895-1948-TC2,WM3,HW4
SABR Matt-TC2,BB,TW,WM,HW6
Double X - WM2, TC, TW, HW5
RuthMayBond-TC2,WM4,HW6
Jalbright-TC,HW4,WM6
Captain Cold Nose-TC,WM,HW
Julusnc--TC-2,HW,WM
Edgartohof--TC2,WM3,HW5
dgarza-TC2,Gibson, WM10
blackout805-TC2,HW7,WM9
ShoelessJoe3
Sirmudgeon,TC,WM3,HW6
Flash143817--TC2,TW3,WM4,HW5
CyNOtSoYoung-TC2,WM3,HW5
pacewon-TC2,WM3,HW7
rockin500-TC,WM,HW
uthminsta-TC2
BoofBonser26-TC2,WM4,HW6
NeverJustAGame-TC2,HW,WM,TS,BB
coasttocoast-TC2,WM,HW,OC
dudeman-TC2,HW,WM
TheOnlyRyan -TC-2
Catfish--TC-2
Wee Willie-TC2,WM3,HW5
baseball bum-TC2,WM,HW
runningshoes53--TC2
Myankee4life, TC2,WM3,HW8
Chisox73-TC,WM,HW4
give it a ride-TC2,WM,HW
baseball Pap-TC,HW3,WM7
StLCards2,TC2,WM3,HW5
Yankee Legend-TC,WM,TW,BB,HW13
Cyclone792-TC,HW,TW,BB,WM
torez77-TC,HW4,WM5
Pghfan987-TC2, WM3,HW4
Murderer's Row-TC,TW,HW,WM9
Kyle-TC, HW,WM,BB,OC7
abacab---WM2,TC3,HW4
darkplague17-BB,TC3,HW9
Plask Stirlac-TW,TC3,HW10
Pretorius -WM,TC3,BB,HW5
pjf-LG,TC3,WM
Baseball Guru-WM,TC3,HW7
catcher24--WM, TC3
Luke Appling-HW2,TC-3,WM7
The Amazing Met-WM2,TC3,HW4
Dodger-WM,TC3,HW5
moviegeekjan-WM,TC3,HW
Honus Wagner Rules-HW,WM,TC4
Don’tworry-WM3,TC4,HW5
ChiSox-BB,WM,TC4,HW7
sschirmer-WM,HA,TC4,HW6
Mac195---WM,TW,TC4,HW5
CharlesBlalack,TW,HW,TC4,WM6
wrgptfan------Ruth, TW,BB,LG,TC5,HW8
BillyF29-MM,TW,WM,TC5,HW7
BoSox Rules-BB,WM,TC5,HW6
Naliamegod-HW,WM,TW,TC5
Babe Is The Best-TC5
Metsfan11--TC-6
west coast orange and black
Jackie42
NeverJustAFan
whatswailing
BABBMALLEY29
bluezebra
Santotohof
WLH99raiders--
depstein
basebll79
nationalpastime1980
MikeCameron
westsidegrounds
Dayton Dog
froshman2002
doublepar
Halos
nascaran5
714 on beer and dogs
Exposfan556
Bluesteve32
Brooklyn
barzilla
Schlabotnik
Astro
Hoffy
tonjes
ballparks
carnivore
piwvolk
Mordeci
RedSoxVT92
64 Cards
Knick9
Tony Starks

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

From: My Dad, The Babe

Babe was a good father, given the circumstances. He never deliberately neglected me, and I know he loved me. He was just uncomfortable showing it, for fear of repercussions from Claire. So not only was I deprived of many of the tangible objects that were normal, expected parts of most little girls' lives - nice new clothes, a bicycle - but I also received little of the love and affection that any child needs while growing up. I know it may sound hard to believe, because it took me a long time to figure it out myself, but Claire had a hold on my father that would never be broken.

I found out later that, before Babe and Claire were married, they had lived together for seven years - while he was still married to Helen. It was reported in the press that Dad and Claire were close friends, but no one knew exactly how close the relationship went. Then it was morally inexcusable for a man and a woman to live together without being married, so any rumors of their intimate relationship were quickly squelched by my father.

Claire grew tired of the mistress role after a while and threatened to expose the sordid details of their lengthy affair to the newspapers if my father did not marry her. Babe, fearful of a besmirched reputation, allowed himself to be blackmailed in this fashion.

Claire realized early on that her trump card was my father's perception of himself, and the fact that he truly believed that the evidence against him which Claire had accumulated over the years would be damaging to his career and reputation. Many of you reading this might think, "Why would an athlete as celebrated as Babe Ruth be so worried about Claire's threats?" To answer this question, I must explain how my father viewed himself and what he had to lose.

Dad did not see himself as an extraordinary person. Going to the ballpark was a job, much the same as everyone else's. He felt he was just an ordinary person trying to earn a living.

His good friends weren't the affluent and influential: they were cabdrivers, paperbodys, doormen and small businessmen. Before every game he would stop at a corner fruit market on 168th and Lexington Avenue and buy a head of cabbage. He kept it on the bench in a bucket of ice and each inning wore a fresh leaf under his cap to keep cool.

Babe would not have enjoyed being chauffeured around in a stretch limousine with tinted windows, had they existed at the time; instead, he loved to drive down Broadway in a convertible, waving to the people. One of his favorite stops was at Seventh Avenue and 123rd Street in Harlem. There, a scoreboard in the window of a store gave updated out-of-town scores. Huge crowds would gather while he double-parked and waited for the scores.

The difference between my father and most celebrities was that Babe was approachable. That's one of the reasons he became the hero of the common man - he had time for everyone. But Claire wanted nothing to do with that aspect of his life. She resented his rubbing elbows with the working person, feeling that she and Babe were above everyone else. But my father never felt that way. The only time I ever remembering him shunning autograph seekers was at Lou Gehrig's wake.

Babe was not impressed by foreign dignitaries or presidents and treated them as if they were also on his level. When he met Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, he tapped her on the shoulder and said, "Hi ya, Queenie." He was not being disrespectful, only friendly. Another time he asked President Calvin Coolidge, "Hot as hell, ain't it, Prez?" And when he visited King George V of England, his friends and the king's staff tried to make him wear a morning suit, according to protocol. He said, "No thank you. I'll wear my blue suit and white silk shirt with the collar open. What's good enough for my president is good enough for your king."

Through it all, my father's greatest concer was the "little kids with the dirty faces," a reference to the less fortunate children who idolized him. As a youth Babe was no different, and he believed that his success gave every one of these kids hope for the future.

Even though Dad was thought of as god-like, he was really very down to earth. I guess he best represented Everyman; so in his mind, he did feel like he had a lot to lose should Claire ever follow through with her idle threats.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Posted by: hellborn

I have to admit that I am guilty of not having read a full biography of the Babe...I have an excellent picture book that summarizes his career and life, but it is not really a biography. Interesting that I have read biographies of Hornsby, Cobb, Wagner, Moe Berg, and even Eddie Waitkus, but not Ruth. Anyway, I just picked up a cheap copy of "The Year the Red Sox Won The World Series" (referring to 1918), which is a collection of newspaper clippings, and was stunned to read this.

Father of Babe Ruth Is Killed

Baltimore, Aug. 25 - George H. Ruth, 45 years old, father of Babe Ruth, pitcher for the Red Sxos, died at the University Hospital early today as the result of a fractured skull, which he received in a fight with his wife's brother, Benjamin H. Sipes.
Sipes was arrested later and is being held pending the action of the coroner.
According to the police, Sipes called at the home of Ruth, shortly before midnight Saturday and told the latter that he was not treating his sister right. Words soon followed and Sipes left the home.
Sipes went over and stood in front of Ruth's cafe'. Ruth came out and swing his fist, catching Sipes in the face. The blow staggered the man for a moment and as he recovered he was hit a second time by Ruth.
Then, according to witnesses, Sipes struck his assailant in the face. Ruth collapsed and fell to the sidewalk, his head striking the curbing. He was carried into his house and first aid treatment was administered. When he didn't respond he was rushed to the hospital, where he died. (Boston Post)
.........
I was stunned...Ruth missed a few days, but returned to play OF and hit a 2 run 2B on the 31st and then clinched the pennant with a win on the 1st. Why is Hornsby's mother dying before the '26 Series so well known, but not this? Or, am I just ignorant? Well, I know the answer to that...

Other interesting things...Cobb was not expecting to return to baseball after the Army, more or less announced his retirement...there is a reference to the Yankee "Murderer's Row", with Home Run Baker, Del Pratt, and Gilhooley (didn't he whack Nancy Kerrigan?) mentioned in particular. Guess that term wasn't invented in '27!
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Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

It is well known brotha.

Shame on your for not having read a full Ruth biography. And when you choose to read something, you read that? Pick up Creamer and Smelser immediately :D

Here's what went down according to Creamer:

The team had Sunday off, and Babe and Helen planned to go out to the beach. But word came Sunday morning that Babe's father was dead. On Saturday night in Baltimore a family quarrel had ruptured into tragedy. Babe's father and his second wife had taken her sister in to live with them. The sister's husband had been arrested a few weeks earlier on charges of statutory rape with a sixteen-year-old girl. He was now out on bail and, as a matter of fact, was downstairs in the bar that evening. A brother of the two women, a Baltimore fireman, stopped by Saturday night to see if the sister needed any money and became angry when she told him of the ways her husband had mistreated here. The fireman went downstairs to the bar, accosted his brother-in-law and began a harangue about his various inadequacies. An argument followed and Ruth, senior, angry at all the noise in his tavern, came over to stop the dispute. He and the fireman had a few sharp words, and when the man left, Ruth followed him outside. They got into a fight, in the course of which Ruth fell and hit the back of his head. He was carried into the bar and then was taken to University Hospital, where he died.

Babe and Helen took a train to Baltimore for the wake and the funeral and did not return to Boston until late in the week. He missed three games, the first time since his illness in May that he had gone more than one day without playing. It was his last extended visit to Baltimore, which he never again thought of as home. His father and mother were dead, his only sister was eighteen, a grown woman, and his stepmother had the bar. He was Babe Ruth of Boston now.

Yeah, Murderer's Row was coined for the '19 team by a cartoonist.
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Posted by: hellborn

Thanks for enlightening me, bro. But, you can't harangue for my choice of book when I live in Bosox Nation...and, it was really cheap at Building 19!
:clapping
I am also very fascinated by any primary source history book.
I do dearly love "The Babe; A Life in Pictures", but it just doesn't go into great detail. The last baseball book I read was "The Catcher Was A Spy", and I'll probably read the TW autobio when I get back to a baseball book. Trouble is, I have about 20 general history books piled up...the one I'm finishing now is called "The Formation of Hell", and, no, it's not about rooting for the Bosox between 1918 and 2004. :grouchy
I will get to Ruth at some point...I do love the guy.
On the last point, did you mean the '18 team? The clipping I referred to was from that year...
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I do dearly love "The Babe; A Life in Pictures", but it just doesn't go into great detail

Posted by: SHOELESSJOE3

This is one of the best as far as pictures of the Babe are concerned, I agree it's short on info, pics it is near the top.

The two books mentioned by SULTAN, "Babe The Legend Comes To Life" by Bob Creamer and " The Life That Ruth Built" by Marshall Smelser are the tops if your looking for details, info.

I pick up any book, news archive, old magazine or scrap of information, any source that I could find on the Babe, a life long study for me.

Nobody like him, simple yet complex man in some ways. Every time I think I've read all that could possibly be writtten about him something new comes out. It's like he never went away.
What all around talent, hard to believe one man could pitch and hit like him.
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On the last point, did you mean the '18 team? The clipping I referred to was from that year...

Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

Nah, I meant '19. Duffy Lewis didn't come til '19 and join Peckinpaugh, Pipp, Baker, Bodie, and Pratt. The '18 team hit only 20 dongs. The '19 team hit 45.
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Posted by: hellborn
Well, the term must at least go back to '18, because the clip in my book is from then.
Maybe it was a general term for a batting lineup and came to apply only to the monster Yanks lineups over time?
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Posted by: FatAngel
The term `Murderer´s Row` was in use since at least the 1860´s for a lineup of strong hitters.
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Posted by: SHOELESSJOE3

The earliest mention, use of the term " Murderers Row" was in a N.Y.Times article July 5, 1918. It was in reference to the N.Y.Yankees a line up that had Roger Peckinpaugh, Ping Bodie, Wally Pipp and Frank "Home Run" Baker." I can't say thats ther earliest reference but it's the earliest I could find.

Also came across a name that was used a few times in some articles in 1918 in reference to Babe Ruth, "The Boston terror."

[Sultan_1895-1948]

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Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

RUTH (1914 - 21)

1914

March 7 Babe’s fifth day as a professional, and his first game as a professional was an intra-squad spring training game in Fayetteville, North Carolina. After several days of bad weather, things cleared up long enough for the Orioles to split into two teams, the Buzzards and the Sparrows. Word got around Fayetteville and hundreds of townspeople showed up to watch.

The game was held at the Fair Grounds; Ruth played shortstop and pitched for the Buzzards. In his second time at-bat, he would give a glimpse of things to come for years and years.

In his write up that night, Roger Pippen of the Baltimore News-American wrote: “The next batter made a hit that will live in the memory of all who saw it. That clouter was George Ruth, the southpaw from St. Mary’s school. The ball carried so far to right field that he walked around the bases.”

Baltimore Sun headline the next day: “HOMER BY RUTH FEATURE OF GAME”

American headline the next day: “RUTH MAKES MIGHTY CLOUT”

The Fayetteville fans were amazed by Ruth’s blast. They had been talking about a drive that Jim Thorpe hit in that same park years earlier, and it was well known that Thorpe’s shot was the longest ever. Now, they all agreed that Babe’s homer had gone at least 60 feet further than Thorpe’s. Babe crossed home plate before the fielder picked up the ball in a cornfield that grew in deepest right.

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1915

May 6 - First homer of big league career hit off Jack Warhop. It went into the upper right field stands at the polo grounds.

Early June - Second homer of career also off Jack Warhop. It came during a game in which Ruth pitched a five-hitter, winning 7-1. This home run went even further than the first.

Late June - In Boston, Ruth hit his third home run of the year into the distant right field bleachers at Fenway. Only one ball had ever been hit to that spot before.

July 21 - St. Louis was the location of his fourth dinger that year. It went completely over the right field bleachers, out of the ballpark and across the street that paralleled the right field fence. It was the longest homer ever hit in St. Louis. According to Sid Keener, the ball broke a plate glass window across the street. In that game, Ruth also had two doubles, a single, drove in three of his teams four runs, and pitched a complete game and winning 4 – 2.

1915 Notes- Ruth had 29 hits in 92 AB in 1915. Of his 29 hits, 15 were for extra bases, four of them home runs. Nobody else on the Boston club had more than two and the entire Boston team had nine. The AL leader that year had seven, and the highest AL team total was 31.

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1916

June 9 - Against Detroit, Ruth was on the mound and held a 4 – 1 lead going into the eighth. He eventually lost 5 – 6, but had a perfect day at the plate, including his first round tripper of the year.

June 12 - In St. Louis, Carrigan sent Ruth in to pinch-hit with 2 runners on base, down 3 – 0. Ruth homered over the bleachers in right field to tie the score.

June 13 - Ruth pitched against the Browns and won 5 – 3. He had another perfect day at the plate, and hit another home run; his third in three games.

1916 Notes - Strangely, these were the only home runs he hit all year, and for the first time, Carrigan openly talked about using Ruth in the outfield. Until now he had always remained traditional in terms of batting Ruth in the ninth spot, and only pitching him.

By 1916, Babe was baseball's best left-handed pitcher on baseball's best team. He posted a 23-12 record with a 1.75 ERA including nine shutouts. In the World Series that year against the Brooklyn Robins, he gave up a run in the first inning, drove in the tying run himself, and then held the Robins scoreless for 13 innings until Boston scored the winning run in the 14th.

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1917

The Sox played eleven games from Memphis to Kansas City before opening day on April 11.

Ruth won his first eight games on the mound to start the season, and was 10 – 1 by the end of May.

On April 21st he pitched to a complete game victory against New York at Fenway, and had three long extra base-hits off the outfield wall. One was to left field, one was to deep left center, and another to right field.

Ruth only had two homers in ’17 but late in August he was keeping up with the studs, hitting .348. Only Cobb, Speaker, and Sisler were hitting higher at the time.

On May 7th at Griffith, Ruth beat Walter Johnson 1-0. Ruth threw a two hitter and drove in the only run with a 400 foot sac-fly.

His first homer of the year came at Fenway Park, and was the first hit ever to reach the center field bleachers.

After he came back from the "Brick Owens Incident" suspension, he threw a one-hitter against Detroit on July 11, to put Boston into first place. He walked four and struck out eight. Five of those eight strikeouts came with runners in scoring position. He was 2-3 at the plate with a triple.

His second homer of the year came in a game at the Polo Grounds on September 15th. Thousands of newly inducted soldiers were on hand. It was an event; military bands played, drums were banged, and bugles were blown on. Ruth was on the mound for the game, and carried a two hitter into the ninth inning leading 8 – 0.

In the sixth inning he hit a long fly over the right field roof that brought the soldiers to their feet. It was a foul ball though. On the next pitch he singled. In the ninth inning, he hit a legit homer up into the right field stands that drew a huge ovation.

With a huge lead, and understanding the situation, Ruth gave the soldiers their money’s worth. He layed the ball in for the Yankees, allowing a few runs to score. The soldiers cheered after every hit, and run grinned and laughed as they begged for more. Finally, with the score 8 – 3 and a couple Yanks on base, he turned it on again, and got the last man out. He walked of the field waving to cheers.

Ruth finished 24-13 and was first in complete games, second in games won, third in innings pitched and in fewest hits per nine innings.

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1918

Boston Post, 1/12/18

"Ruth's power as a turnstile clicker is well known over the A.L. circuit...the Baltimore boy is a trifle temperamental. He does things in a 'different' manner from most ballplayers. He has a walk all his own. He has a way of talking all his own. When he comes to bat the outfielders drop back to the far barriers usually with their backs up against the walls and fences. He is the type over which the small boy and the tired businessman go wild...Everyone knows how strong he is. He bends things of metal in his hand as if they were switches and he has a hand grip which crushes you when he puts on full pressure."

First exhibition game against Brooklyn, Babe hit two home runs in only two at-bats and played first base very well. That spring, Babe had 21 at-bats and nine hits. Four of those nine hits were home runs (one a grand slam), which added to Barrow's dilemma, considering he also had the best left-handed pitcher in the game on his hands. On days he would pitch, Ruth was busy successfully developing something of a "slow ball" to keep the hitters off balance.

April 15 - For the third straight year, Babe took the ball on opening day and won. On this opening day, the Sox beat Philadelphia 7-1. In his first AB of the year, with men on first and third, Ruth singled sharply to right field scoring Whiteman. He also hit a long sac fly to left field for another RBI. On the day he was 1-for-3 with two RBI. On the mound he went the distance, giving up four hits with three strikeouts, two walks, and just one run.

April 19 - In his second pitching start of the year, Babe gave up 13 hits and five earned runs (one run through six innings) in nine innings. In the fifth inning, before he singled, he hit a high pop foul near first base. The ball was hit so high that the Boston Herald wrote, "Ruth...sent up the highest foul I ever saw, so high that it came down with snow on it, slippery, so slippery Pratt muffed it." In the sixth inning he got an RBI on a long sac fly with Everett Scott on second base. Many who saw it thought Scott could have scored from first. The ball was absolutely crushed and Babe was pretty upset when it landed in leather just at the fence. Pitching, he gave up two runs in the seventh after this, perhaps because he was still upset. The game was well in hand. He was now beginning to wow spectators even with his loud outs.



May 4 - In Ruth’s fifth pitching start of the year, he hit his first homer of the year. It was off of Allen Russell who had struck Babe out on three straight spitballs his first timeup. Russell laughed at him after the strikeout and Babe told him, "Don't get chesty, I'll be up a few more times this afternoon and I may not look so funny." Babe came to bat in the seventh and with Scott on first base, he crushed a rising liner just foul into the upper deck. He headed back to the batters box and as he picked up his bat he told umpire Bill Evans, "I'll hit this one right back, Bill, and it will be fair by such a wide margin there will be no doubt about it." The very next pitch he hit even further than the first into the upper deck and it was a good 100 feet fair. In his next AB, as the tying run, he sent another shot just foul into the upper deck. This brought Huggins out of the dugout to talk with his pitcher. He motioned for the outfielders to move back and they did. Didn't help. Ruth hit a long double off the wall scoring Agnew, but they lost as Hooper grounded out to end the game 5-4. On the mound Babe went the distance giving up eight hits, three walks, and two earned runs.

May 6 - Exactly three years to the day after his first Major League homerun, and in the same ballpark as that first homerun, Ruth hit his second in two games. (The May 4th game was on a Saturday, and there was no baseball played in New York on Sundays.) Babe was batting sixth and playing first base...the first time in his big league career that he'd appeared at any position other than pitcher. In a scoreless game, Ruth came to bat in the fourth inning and put the Sox ahead with a long upper deck homer. The Boston Herald the next day, "Babe Ruth continues to thrill the New Yorkers with his potential batting strength. They scoffed along Broadway when we sent them the story that there had been a $150,000 offer for Ruth. Now thy (SIC) appreciate his worth. He'd be a better investment for the Yankees than would be Ty Cobb. How the Babe would maltreat that rightfield stand, the upper tier and the none too distant barriers."

May 7 - In Washington, Babe plays first base again but this time bats cleanup. For the second time in his career, he hit a homer in three straight games. This dinger was a majestic poke over the right field wall that went into a “war” garden where it scared a dog into barking. It was the first homerun anyone had hit in Washington that season, and it was Babe's first home run off Walter Johnson.

The next day he hit a double. The day after that he pitched to a ten inning 4 – 3 loss, but had a perfect day at the dish. He had a single, three doubles, and a triple.

May 10 - Babe plays outfield for the first time, patrolling Duffy's Cliff in Fenway. Leads to his famous quote, “Gee, it’s lonesome in the outfield. It’s hard to keep awake with nothing to do.” Bob Dunbar of the Boston Herald wrote, "He handled three base hits which went to his district...in the fielding style which recalls Tris Speaker. He drove home the impression, already rather general, that he is a natural born ball player. Before the end of the season he may be playing shortstop or catching."

May 11 - In the seven games between May 4 and May 11, Babe hit at a .483 clip, going 14-29. he had hit three home runs and knocked in seven runs. On the year, he was leading the majors with a .487 batting average, three home runs, a triple and seven doubles. This was the best streak of his career to this point.

May 20 - Ruth came down with a bad cold. He had severe swelling of the larynx and was having trouble breathing and speaking. Rumors had him dying. He stayed in the hospital for a week, received flowers from Carrigan and the team captain, Hoblitzell. He pinch hit on May 30th.

June 2 - His first game back in the lineup, Babe pitched to a 4 – 3 loss, but hits a home run.

June 3 - Ruth plays centerfield in place of an injured Amos Strunk, and hits another dinger.

June 4 - Played centerfield again and hit another homer.

June 5 - Played centerfield again and hit another homer. His fourth in his first four games back from illness.

June 15 - The Bambino hits his 8th homer of the year and has 5 RBI.

June 25 - Babe hits his ninth home run of the year and was referred to in print for the first time as the “Home Run King.”

June 28 - Babe’s tenth clout of the year is the only hit the Sox have in a 1 – 3 loss in Washington.

June 30 - Hits number eleven off Walter Johnson. It comes with one man on in the tenth inning, and gives the Sox a 3 – 1 win. It’s the longest drive ever hit in Washington.

July 8 - He hits one two-thirds up into the bleachers with a man on first, in the 10th inning another game winner for the Bosox. However, he is credited with only a triple, different rules back then. Since the runner on first needed only 3 bases to score the "winning" run Ruth gets only 3 bases, a triple. Later that week he has one game with three doubles and two triples and one double in the very next game.

1918 Notes - Five of Ruth’s first 11 Major League homers were hit in the Polo Grounds. Ruppert was becoming increasingly aware of Babe’s popularity among New Yorkers and offered to buy him from Barrow. Barrow just shook his head and laughed.

Barrow came to manage the Sox in '18. Him and Ruth got off to a rough start. On the team train headed for Philadelphia, Babe, without asking, hopped off in Baltimore to visit his sister Mamie. This was on a day off; a Sunday. Barrow, assuming that Ruth could only be up to no good, became very irritated. A coach was eventually sent to retrieve Ruth, and the next day in front of the entire team, Barrow scolded him for his actions. This didn't make Babe happy. He threated to leave the team in favor of a shipyard team. He never did.

Barrow wanted him in the lineup because of the Sox’s offensive struggles, and because he had 50k of his own money invested in the team. He realized that the crowds were much bigger on days Ruth pitched, and they were coming out to see him hit.

After awhile, it took a toll on Ruth. He complained of being tired, but Barrow didn’t care much. He insisted that Ruth take his turn on the mound, claiming that if Babe got to bed on time, he wouldn’t be so tired. Any human, regardless of nightlife, would be worn out with that workload.

In 1918, he tied the A’s Tilly Walker for the home run title with 11, batted .300, and pitched the Red Sox to two wins against the Cubs in the World Series while setting a postseason consecutive scoreless innings record that would stand for 42 years.

He pitched his final game in the World Series with a badly bruised knuckle on the middle finger of his pitching hand. The finger became red and swollen, after horsing around on the train. Even though he tried to hide the injury from Barrow, he found out saying, “You damn fool. You know you’re supposed to pitch tomorrow, and you go fooling around like this.”

For only the second time that year, Ruth wasn’t able to complete a game but he did good enough to win, even picking a runner off at a key point. His scoreless streak came to an end in the eighth inning, leading 2 – 0, he gave up a walk and a single. An infield out brought in a Cub run, and another hit tied the score 2 – 2.

From: Babe Ruth and the 1918 Red Sox

Babe Ruth was among both the elite pitchers and elite hitters for most of 1918. He began spring training by homering in his first two at-bats. (in his first plate appearance-that is, in the first inning of a meaningless game in March - Dodgers manager Wilbert Robinson had Ruth walked intentionally.)

Every home run he launched during the season was described by the hometown press as "the longest hit ever seen on the local grounds" or some version thereof. His slugging prowess commanded headlines all year long and every opposing team feared him. He was routinely walked intentionally in the first inning; the St. Louis Browns gave Ruth an intentional pass in five consecutive plate appearances over two days.

When pitchers finally had to pitch to him, he made them pay. In one 10 game period during Boston's July homestand, Ruth hit .469 (15-32) and scored 10 runs; he hit four singles, six doubles, an five triples for a .969 slugging average.

Off the mound, Ruth alternated between left field, center field and first base, depending on which other Red Sox players were available. His glove work in the outfield was solid and he was remarkably adept at first base, recording a near-record 20 putouts in one game against Chicago, including a game-ending unassisted double play.

And then, every fourth day Babe would take his turn on the mound and prove that he was one of the game's toughest pitchers. After returning from his Fourth of July defection and resolving most of his differences with Ed Barrow, Ruth made 11 starts and won 9 of them, including the pennant-clincher against Philadelphia. In his last 10 starts of the season, he allowed more than two runs only once. What Ruth accomplished on the mound, at the plae and in the field from mid-July to early September was arguably the greatest nine-or-ten-week stretch the game has ever seen.

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1919

Before the start of the 1919 season, Babe wanted more dough. He wanted 10K. The same amount he was previously offered to jump to the federal league in 1914. Actually it was a 10K bonus along with 10K in salary, but because of the threat of being blacklisted, Ruth never jumped, and the jumpers eventually went without punishment. Babe's quote was "I just got jobbed out of twenty thousand dollars without a thank you from anybody and continued playing for my six hundred dollars."

In any case, for 1919 he wanted either 15K for one year or 10K for three years, and Frazee was only willing to go up to 8K. People were definately on Ruth's side, even suggesting that the other AL owners should chip in to make up the difference, since Babe helped fill their parks for them. It was also suggested that Babe's salary be raised through a public fund-raiser. He had certainly become a sensation.

April 4 In a spring training game at the old fairgrounds in Tampa against McGraw’s Giants, Ruth smashed what Barrow called many years later, “the longest home run in history.”

At the Tampa fairgrounds, the baseball diamond was layed out in the middle of a huge infield, surrounded by a racetrack.

Ruth played left field and batted fourth. In the second inning, he got a hold of one of Smith’s high fastballs, and hit a tremendous drive deep to right center field. Ross Youngs was an amazing athlete and was the Giants right fielder that day. By all accounts, he looked like a little boy chasing after the ball.

The ball cleared the low rail fence by a good distance, bounced across the racetrack, and eventually ended up in a neighboring hospital yard. After the game, Youngs stood where he saw the ball land and a group of writers stood by as someone scrounged up a surveyor’s tape. They measured the distance from home plate to the spot at 579 feet.

Opening Day - First homer in 1919 was an inside the parker in New York. The ball took a bounce and got by Lewis in center.

May 20 - First grand slam of the year (as you know, he set the record that year with four) came in St. Louis. The ball landed on Grand Avenue in right center, which was said to be the second longest ever hit there. The first longest, was courtesy of guess who, three years earlier.

May 30 - At Shibe Park, Babe starts the first game of a double header and pitches to a 10-6 win, despite giving up 12 hits including a HR to Tilly Walker. In this first game he had a double and two singles in five AB, but hit the longest foul (or fair) home run anyone had ever seen. It went to right field...going over the fence and across the street, landing on top of a 20th St. building, and finally touching down on Lehigh Avenue. In the second game he played left-field. In the first inning he hit a pop-up so high to the shortstop, that Red Shannon got dizzy and Babe ended up at second with a double. He came to bat in the eighth inning and was being heckled pretty bad by the Philadelphia crowd because he'd been struck out in the last AB. This time would be different, as he hit a long homer over the right-field fence for a dinger.

June 7 - At Fenway, hits three run shot into the right-field bleachers and is intentionally walked in his next AB.

June 17 - Homers at Fenway in the sixth inning.

June 30 - This was hit off Shawkey in the Polo Grounds and must have been extremely gratifying for Ruth. On June 28, with the Sox down 4-1 and two men on base, the Yanks brought Shawkey in to face Ruth and sent him down on a strikeout. This time though, the bases were loaded with Shawkey on the hill and Ruth made him pay.

July 5 - Hits two homers in one game for the first time in his career. Something he would go on to do 71 more times. At Fenway, his two homers came in the eighth and tenth innings, the second of which was his first HR to left-field that year. It was his ninth dinger and tied Cravath for the league lead. The Post wrote after this game, that if Ruth played in a smaller park like Cravath did, that he would hit a home run per day.

July 12 - After blasting a home run in the previous game, Babe goes yard again in the third inning. This came off just- brought-in-for-relief, Dave Danforth (relieved Dickie Kerr) and was Babe's eleventh homer of the year. It was "Ruthian" even by his standards, landing well beyond the fence just left of centerfield in Chicago. Based on where the ball landed, a paper the next day pointed out that the homer would have been a long one for even a right handed batter. In the ninth inning he hit a deep drive that was caught just in front of the right field wall by Shano Collins. He also had a single and a double, but the long homer to left meant that he had now homered in every AL park at least once in his career.

July 18 - Two homers in a game for the second time that year, and in his career. Babe came up in the fourth inning at Cleveland with a runner on, and according to the Post, he "sent the sphere flying over the rooftops on Lexington Avenue." In the ninth inning with the bases loaded and the Sox down 7 â?? 4, Cleveland manager Lee Fohl brought in lefty reliever Fritz Coumbe and ordered him to keep the ball down. Didn't work. Babe blasted another grand slam and this homer went even further than his first. It gave the Sox a 8 â?? 7 win and the next day Fohl resigned, which gave Speaker a shot to manage.

July 21 - Carl Mays was still away from the team. Ruth was forced to make a pitching start at Detroit. Through four innings he pitched well. In the third he walked Veach on a questionable call by umpire Dineen, and Ruth and Veach then exchanged some words, nearly resulting in a fight. Babe came from that heated argument to strike-out Heilmann, but his shortstop made two very costly errors. Down 6-1 in the ninth inning, he hit a solo HR over the rightfield wall and onto Trumball Ave. It was the longest homerun ever seen in Detroit.

July 24 - Fenway homer into the right-field bleachers on a 1-2 count off Bob Shawkey. Before the pitch, shortstop Peckinpaugh reportedly yelled, "You've got his number, burn the ball over and get him easy."

July 29 - At home against Detroit, Babe had already doubled twice in the game. He came to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and sent a Dutch Leonard offering into the centerfield bleachers at Fenway.

August 14 - Ruth goes 3 for 4 with a HR and two singles. His homer came in the seventh and cleared the right-field wall at Comiskey easily, landing in a nearby soccer field.

August 16 - Still at Comiskey, Ruth hits another one easily out of Comiskey to right, going even further than the one the day before. The Boston Post - "Babe took his full swing, which has any swing beaten since the famous Casey fanned, but big Babe didn't fan. He hit the ball a way up and way out."

August 17 - Babe pitches the first game of a double header at St. Louis. He goes the distance for the 2-1 victory. In the second game of the double header he played left-field and hit a two run homer in the first inning. They won that one 6-1.

August 23 - In Detroit Ruth hits his fourth grand slam of the year (a record that would stand for more than forty years). It was the longest homer ever seen at Navin Field. During this game another cool thing happened. Cobb, Heilmann, and Chick Shorten pulled off a triple steal with Cobb scoring on the front end.

August 24 - Still in Detroit, Babe get the pitching assignment and homers in his first AB. He also adds a solo shot in the sixth inning. Despite the two homers, the game went to extra innings, and in the eleventh inning, he came up with Hooper on base and drove him in with a single. Sox win 8-7.

August 25 - Babe hits another homer in Detroit, his fourth in three days and his 23rd of the year. He also singled and the Sox won 5-4.

Sept 1 - At home, he pitched in the first game of a double header and pitched a complete game 2-1 victory. In the seventh inning of the second game, with the score tied at one, he homered deep into the right-field bleachers. The Sox went on to win, and after the game Ruth was carried on fans' shoulders back to the dugout.

Sept 5 - At Shibe Park the Sox rolled. During the game they turned a triple play and set a ML record with 25 hits. Babe was 5 for 6 with a HR and double. His homer came in the third inning and landed on 21st Street. This 25th homer tied Freeman's record and came on the fifth anniversary of his first professional HR. In his next AB he hit a liner about six inches from the top of the wall and got a double.

Sept 20 - Pitched the first game of a double header at Fenway. He gave up three runs and nine hits when he was brought out in the sixth inning. The reason he was taken out...Hap Felsch had just doubled. There's a trivia answer for ya, the question of course being, what happened on Ruth's last pitch ever with the Red Sox. Anyway, Barrow took Ruth out and sent him to left-field in order to keep his bat in the lineup. It payed off. With the score tied at three in the ninth inning with one out, Ruth hit a low Lefty Williams pitch over the left-field wall for a game winning homer. Between games Buck Weaver passed by the Boston bench and commented, "That was the most unbelievable poke I ever saw." In the second game Ruth hit a long drive that supposedly bounced in the bleachers, but was only given a double by umpire Billy Evans.

Sept 24 - Homer 28 broke Williamson's record, and according to accounts, was the longest ever hit at the Polo Grounds, clearing a distant section of the roof. As typical of Ruth, it came in dramatic fashion, in the ninth inning with the Sox down 1 â?? 0. It tied the score, but the Sox eventually lost the game in the 13th inning.

Boston Globe the next day: "Babe Crashes Most Sensational Ever Hit at Polo Grounds. The ball cleared the roof and landed in Manhattan Field among a group of Native Americans playing lacrosse."

Sept 27 - This homer off Rip Jordan in the third inning at Washington, cleared the 45 foot wall in right field by a good 20 feet. It not only extended his new record by one HR, but it gave him a couple other things. He met his goal of homering in every park in the AL during the year, and it gave him the distinction of having hit the longest HR in every park as well. This HR could be an answer to another trivia question, the question being, what did Ruth do with his final official hit as a Red Sox player? After going 0 for 1 in game 2, he was replaced in left field by Roth, and didn't play in the final game of the season. He played an exhibition game in Baltimore on the 29th with Barrow's permission, instead of playing in the finale.


1919 Notes - Before he ever became a Yankee, Babe was touted as the greatest home run hitter the game had ever seen. He only had 49 career homers up to this point, but it was in the style, distance, and rate at which he hit them that simply amazed everyone.

He would pass Connor’s all time mark of 136 homers in 1921, just his third season as a full time player. Each of the nearly 600 home runs he would hit after that, only extended his own mark.

Babe’s 29 homers in 1919 soon became a modest figure. By the end of 1924, 30 or more home runs had been hit nine times, but five times by Ruth himself. By the end of 1928, 40 or more homers had been hit ten times, seven by Ruth himself. When he hit his 700th homer, only two other players had at least 300.

Reporters in 1919 began trying to out-do eachother in coming up with catchy nicknames for Babe. He became the "Clouting Hercules," "The Boston Battering Ram," "The Uncrowned King of Fenway Park." His mail at Fenway filled up clubhouse baskets, and Hollywood had already inquired about him making a film.

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1920

Babe’s 1920 season was remarkable as it was. It was even more amazing though, considering how often he was banged up. He did miss some games, but for the most part he played through injuries and sickness.

April - In the first couple weeks of the season, he pulled a ribcage muscle during batting practice. This was before the home opener. He tried to play anyway, but after striking out in the first inning he had to come out.

May - Ruth strained a leg muscle and shortly after caught a bad cold (flu). He missed a few games and came back sooner than expected.

June - The Yanks were playing the White Sox and Ruth was the runner on first base. After a ground ball was hit, he headed toward second, only to be hit square on the forehead by a Buck Weaver throw. Babe fell to the ground and was carried off the field. He was back in the lineup the next day.

July - He banged up his knee in an auto accident, and later in the month he jammed his wrist sliding into a base.

August - Babe twisted his knee sliding and was carried off the field. He was back in the lineup the next day. Toward the end of August, he began filming the movie “The Babe Comes Home,” and spent a lot of time driving back and forth to Haverstraw, NY. While he was in Haverstraw, he was stung on the arm by something. The sting became infected and he had to have it lanced. He missed several games at the beginning of September because of this.

-- After the season Babe wrote a letter from Cuba to Miller Huggins. Babe said that even though his 54 homers were a lot in ’20, that he would have had more had he been able to play more. He promised Huggins that he would play every inning in ’21.

Season Homers

Babe had 12 home runs by the end of May (far more than anyone had ever hit before).

Babe had 12 home runs in June, and 37 home runs by the end of July.

-- He only hit seven in the next five weeks, but came alive again in September and had 10 homers in his last 24 games.

-- His first 16 Polo Grounds homers in '20 all went into the upper deck, or over the roof.

Batting Averages

On June 20, it was .345

On June 28, it was .359

On July 1, it was .372

On July 11, it was .385

On August 4, it was .391

He cooled off a bit after that and finished with a .376 average, good for fourth in the league behind Sisler (.407), Speaker (.388), and Jackson (.382).

-- During 1920 Babe began to be walked more and more. Huggins finally switched Babe from fourth to third in the order, and put Meusel, a good cleanup hitter, in the fourth spot. It didn’t help much.

-- Typical was a game on July 11, when Ruth went to bat four times against Howard Ehmke of Detroit, and took the bat off his shoulder only twice. In the first inning with men on 2nd and 3rd and nobody out, he was walked on four straight pitches. In the third inning with nobody on, he swung and missed at the first pitch, and hit a home run on the next pitch. In the fifth and seventh innings, both times with the bases empty, he was walked on four straight pitches.

-- It became apparent that there was no way to pitch to him. In a June game, the Yanks were losing 5-3 in the eighth inning to the Red Sox. The Yanks had runners on first and third, and Babe was coming up to bat. The Sox wanted to walk him, but that meant putting the winning run on first base, and the tying run into scoring position. They decided to take their chances. Babe hit a triple off the right-center exit gate in the Polo Grounds to score both runners. Meusel followed with a double to score Ruth, and then Pratt singled in Meusel. Yankees win 7-5.

Hitting Streak

Babe’e 26 game hitting streak came in 1920. It lasted from June 26 and ended in the second game of a double header on July 13. In the final game he walked twice and struck out twice. After the last strikeout, he slammed his bat against the ground in frustration and cracked it.

Here’s some info on that streak courtesy of SHOELESSJOE3:

Can't figure this one out, 3 major news papers but there was no box score for a double header played on July 3, another DH played on July 5 and a single game on June 29. So thats a total of 5 games with no box scores. Like you I thought he would have a high number of walks but it was lower than I expected. Here is what I have, remember there are 5 games with no accounting for. With the total of probable at bats being around 90+ ( thats low) assuming an average of 3 or 4 in those 5 missing games a few more hits could make a big difference in that batting average for those 26 games

AB-----------78
Hits----------36
Ba.----------.461
BB-----------16
Doubles------5
Triples-------4
Home runs---10


Notable dates

May 1 Babe comes back from a pulled ribcage muscle and hits his first home run of the year. This homer was reported as going further than his record breaking #28 in 1919. Here is the N.Y.Times report: Babe Ruth hits his first home run as a Yank. Again just as he did in 1919, he clears the roof at the Polo grounds and the ball lands in Manhatten field. Ruth has cleared the roof almost a dozen times since 1916, no one else has. Only one ball has landed on the roof, hit by Joe Jackson.

June 19 - Ruth hits number 12 off of Walter Johnson. Here are the exact words written up in the N.Y.Times: " Ruth caught one of Johnson's bullet flings on the end of his bat and shot the ball against the facade of the upper deck in right fieild and almost tore away part of the roof".

July 9 - Babe Ruth day at the Polo Grounds. Babe was given a diamond watch by the Knights of Columbus. He pleased everyone by hitting a home runs and tipping his cap to where the council was sitting. Later that year he accidentally left the diamond watch in a hotel room. He sent wires to the hotel and ended up tipping the maid who found the watch $100.

July 15 - Tied his own record of 29 home runs.

July 19 - Broke his own record with #30 in the second game of a double-header. He hit #31 in that same game, and the next day hit another. In those two games he got out only once. The rest of the time he either walked or hit a home run.

August 16 - Babe was in the outfield when Mays hit Chapman.

Last Weekend of Season - Babe hit #50 in the first game of a double-header. He donated the bat he used to hit it with to the Near East Fund to auction it off. The money would be used for the starving Armennians in Turkey. He hit #51 in the second game of the double-header and hit two more home runs a couple days later. In the final game of the season he hit #54.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------

1921

Opening day - Against the Athletics, Ruth goes 5-5 with 2 doubles and a run.

April 17 - Babe hits his first homer of the year to beat the Athletics 2-1. He actually had to hit three home runs in this AB to receive his first. The first two balls he hit were home runs that curved just foul down the right field line.

April 25- His fifth and last home run in the month of April came at home against Walter Johnson.

May 7 - Ex-President Woodrow Wilson attended his first baseball game since 1916. On this day in Washington, he witnessed Walter Johnson serve up home run number eight to Ruth. It came in the 9th inning and started a rally which lead to a 6-5 Yankee victory. Reporters agreed that it was the longest ball ever hit in Griffith Stadium. Note: On his trips to and from Washington, Babe often stopped off at St. Mary's to hit some balls for the boys.

May 10 - Babe hits a game winning two-run homer in Detroit.

May 12 - Babe hits a homer and has a triple. Yanks win 11-10.

May 14 - Before this date the Yanks had played 21 games. At this point Ruth had 34 hits. Only fifteen were singles.

May 15-17 - During one of these Cleveland games, Babe's aggressive baserunning ended in Cleveland's shortstop Joe Sewell getting a nosebleed. Speaker took offense to the slide into second base, and both dugouts emptied. Nothing came of it as Ruth and Speaker were separated. When play resumed Babe was picked off second base. In this same game Babe ended up hitting home run number twelve.

May 25 - Homer number thirteen was hit in St. Louis and was the longest ever hit there. Its estimated distance was 550 feet.

May 29 - Babe hits number fourteen completely out of the Polo Grounds. Many Giants were in attendance, as they had an open day on their schedule.

June 3 - Ruth bangs out number sixteen in a loss to the Browns at the Polo Grounds. By this point, Babe had dropped out of the top five in batting average. No worries. The fifth place guy was at .394.

June 8 - Babe pays a fine of a hundred dollars with a single bill. It was for speeding at more than thirty miles per hour in his maroon Stutz. It was his second offense of the year, and he was sentenced to serve four and a half hours. This is the famous incident where Ruth has his uniform sent to the jail and hurries to the Polo Grounds once his sentence is over.

June 10-12 - Numbers 17-19.

June 13 - The Yanks had no starting pitchers rested, so Huggins let the team vote on who should start on the mound against the Tigers. Ruth volunteered. He hit home runs number twenty and twenty-one off Ehmke, struck out Ty Cobb, and went five innings, giving up four runs. He left in the sixth and finished the game in center-field.

June 14 - Numbers twenty-two and twenty-three off Hooks Dauss. At the end of June he had 12 homers and was again among the top five hitters in the league.

First eighteen days of July - Babe hits eight home runs.

July 30 - Homer.

July 31 - Hit a dinger at the Polo Grounds, which landed on top of the roof. The mid-July home run dry-spell left him only a day ahead of his 1920 pace.

August 8 - Babe hammers home runs number forty and forty-one. He needed fourteen more dingers in fifty-four games to break his record set in 1920.

August 10 - White Sox at Yankees. Ruth homered and had a bunt single.

August 17 - Babe smashes a home run completely out of Comiskey Park.

August 19 - Babe crushes another home run completely out of Comiskey Park.

Aug 30-Sep 3 - Yankees hosted the Senators for six games in five days. New York won all six games, scoring fifty-nine runs in the series. Babe had two home runs in these games.

Sep 8 - At this point Babe had fifty-three homers and was hitting .383, behind only Cobb's .390.

Sep 9 - Home run number fifty-four against the Athletics at Shibe Park. It was the longest home run ever seen in Shibe.

Sep 10 - Home run number fifty-five.

Sep 11 - Forty thousand jammed into the Polo Grounds and the press claimed that sixty thousand fans were turned away. Those fans who were turned away missed out on Babe's fifty-sixth home run.

Sep 26 - Yanks win 8-7 at home against Cleveland. Babe has two home runs, a double, five RBI, and three runs.

Oct. 2 - Number fifty-nine came at home against the Red Sox on the last day of the season. It was a three run shot that helped give the Yanks a 7-6 win.

1921 Notes

Babe had 5 home runs by the end of April, and never fewer than 10 a month for the rest of the year. His batting average was above .400 through the first month of the season, and stayed around .380 for the rest of the year.

He ended the season with the third best batting average in the league with .378, trailing only Heilmann and Cobb. Three years in a row he set and then broke his own record for percentage of hits that went for extra bases. Even though it wasn't his role, he stole seventeen bases. He also had several bunt singles during the year.

Of the 113 home runs of '20 and '21, Ruth hit fifty-five at home and fifty-eight on the road.

1921 World Series

Subway series; Yanks vs. Giants. Small ball vs. free swingers.

First game - Yanks win 3-0. Babe swings at the first pitch he sees in his first AB and lines an RBI single to center field. He also struck out twice and walked once in that game.

Second game - Yanks win 3-0. Giants pitched Ruth very carefully. He walked in three straight AB which made him and the fans frustrated. After the third walk, he stole second standing up. On the very next pitch he took off for third and slid in without a throw.

Third game - Yanks jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but the Giants broke out of their twenty inning scoreless streak by scoring four of their own in the third inning. The Giants scored eight more in the seventh inning and eventually won easily 13-5.

After this game everyone had learned that Babe had been injured. In game 2 he had scraped up his elbow while stealing third base, and it became infected. He drove in two of the Yankees runs in Game 3, but scraped the elbow again and had to leave in the eighth inning. The Yanks announced that Ruth would be out for the rest of the series.

Fourth Game - Giants win 4-2. Babe was in uniform but sat on the bench during BP. Nobody expected him to play, but as the team jumped up to take their positions, he went along, trotting out to left field. His arm was bandaged and from all accounts he kept fiddling with hit and held it awkwardly. He singled in the fourth inning, and hit a home run in the ninth inning, but it wasn't enough.

Fifth Game - Yanks win 3-1. Ruth played again but with a bandaged arm and a tube draining his wound. He was also playing that game with a bandage around one of his legs; because of a muscle pull he suffered before the season had ended. In the first inning Babe limped up to bat and struck out. In the fourth inning with the score 1-1, he surprised everyone by laying down a push bunt and beating out the throw to first. Meusel followed that with a double, and Babe came all the way around from first to slide home safely. Always a ham, Babe nearly collapsed as he stumbled toward the dugout.

Sixth and Seventh Games - Babe out of uniform. Yanks lost both games to fall behind 4-3 in the series.

Eighth Game - Babe was in uniform but did not start. He pinch hit in the ninth with the Yanks down 1-0, but struck out with the bases empty. Giants take series.

**Special thanks to ShoelessJoe3 for providing some key details**
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Posted by: SHOELESSJOE3

Great post Sultan, lots of work went into that one, kind of in the style of Bill Burgess. Bill puts his all into these sorts of formats, lots of research and he knows how to put it into print.

On Ruth, too bad most are not aware that he not only hit a ton of home runs and extra base hits but, it's when he hit many of them. I scan the news archives from his time, Boston Globe, New York Times, Chicago Tribune and Wsshington Post, the daily write ups and only there can one see that he was a force when games were on the line, big hits and strong throws from the outfield.
Aug 16 - Babe blasts another one of his “longest evers” in Chicago.

Years later, same month, August, same day, 16th, same city, Chicago, 1927, when Charles Comiskey rebuilt his Sox park this winter (1926) he said, "Well, nobody is going to hit one over those right field stands".

August 16, 1927 Ruth hits number 37 referred to in the Home Run Encyclopedia book as "Ruth's roof-topper". The ball clears the new edition, over the roof, crosses Wentworth Avenue and comes down in the center of a parking lot across the street. A dozen sports writers at the game attest that the ball cleared the 52 foot roof with plenty to spare.

At that time RF was 360 feet away and the roof was 75 feet high. I believe in that same season Gehrig hit one that landed on the roof, near the beginning of that roof.
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Posted by: william_burgess@usa.net

Randy,

May I join with ShoelessJoe? We are standing on our desks giving you a standing ovation. Many, many kudos, my great freind! :clapping :clapping :clapping :clapping :clapping
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Posted by: csh19792001

I agree with Bill. That must've taken forever, and kudos on the copious time you dedicated to finding all of this information and then reporducing it for the rest of us who are enamored with Ruth. Your contributions here have been chock full of recondite anecdotes and biographical info you certainly won't find at baseball-reference. :rolleyes:

Thanks sultan! :clapping
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Thanks fellas

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

RUTH'S MVP candidate and Cy Young (if there was one) seasons


1916 Cy Young Award - Johnson would have been only competition. Win Shares that year - Ruth 37, Johnson 36.

Babe's first ever New York HEADLINE came after the 1916 season, in The Times on December 10: It read simply RUTH LED PITCHERS (in reference to ERA). A week later The Times rated him best in the league, all things considered: "Babe Ruth of Boston carried off the pitching honors of the league." His opposing batting average was a mere .199.

Rank in league:

FIRST- SHO (9), ERA (1.75), H/9IP (6.40), GS (41)

THIRD- SO (170), Wins (23)

FOURTH- CG (23)

FIFTH- WHIP (1.075), W/L% (.657)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1918

Cobb would have been only competition. His numbers were 111 games/421 AB - .382/.440/.515 - 19doubles/4triples/3homers - 83 R/64 RBI

Ruth numbers were 95 games/317 AB - .300/.411/.555 - 26doubles/11triples/11homers (all before July 1 and all on the road. He hit a two-run shot in the bottom of the tenth that was ruled a triple because of scoring rules, should have had 12hr) - 50 R/66 RBI

Led the league in SA (.555), homers (11), and OPS (.966). Second in OBP (.411) and doubles (26), third in RBI (66), seventh in BA (.300). All of this done in just 317 AB.

Started 19 games and completed 18 with a 121+ ERA. His pitching was good enough that year to garner a spot alongside Walter Johnson on the Spalding Guide's 1918 all-star team.

World Series pitching.

48 of 95 hits for extra bases (Cobb - 36 of 161).

He filled in for the depleted Sox and led the to the pennant screams MVP. For the last six weeks of the season he took a regular turn in the rotation and played the field the other days.

Referred to as the "Home Run King" for the first time in 1918.

Was dubbed the "Mightiest Slugger of Them All" in 1918.

"The more I see of Babe, the more he seems a figure out of mythology." Burt Whitman, 1918

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1919 - Ruth - 43 WS

League Leader: - second place in red

OBP (.456) (.436), SLG (.657) (.530), OPS+ (219) (166), R (103) (96), TB (284) (279), HR (29) (10), RBI (114) (101), RC (128) (110), Xtra BH (75) (65) (note: 8th in B.A. (.322) - missed triple crown by 62 % points)

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1920 - Ruth - 51 WS

League Leader:

OBP (.532) (.483), SLG (.847) (.632), OPS+ (255) (181), R (158) (137), HR (54) (19), RBI (137) (122), RC (205) (179), Xtra BH (99) (86) BB (150) (97), TB (325) (316) (note: 4th in B.A. (.376) - missed triple crown by 31 % points, 2nd in pwr/spd)

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1921 - Ruth - 53 WS

League Leader:

OBP (.512) (.452), SLG (.846) (.606), OPS+ (239) (167), R (177) (132), HR (59) (24), RBI (171) (139), RC (233) (162), Xtra BH (119) (80), BB (145) (103), TB (457) (365), PWR/SPD (26.4) (21.8) (note: 3rd in B.A.)

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1923 - Ruth - 55 WS, wins only MVP

League Leader:

OBP (.545) (.481), SLG (.764) (.632), OPS+ (239) (194), R (151) (133), HR (41) (29), RBI (131) (130), RC (216) (163), Xtra BH (99) (87), BB (170) (198), TB (399) (350), PWR/SPD (24.0) (22.2) (note: 2nd in B.A. (.393) - missed triple crown by 10 % points)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1924 - Ruth - 45 WS

League Leader:

B.A. (.378) (.359), OBP (.513) (.441), SLG (.739) (.533), OPS+ (220) (149), R (143) (115), HR (46) (27), RC (199) (129), Xtra BH (92) (72), BB (142) (102), TB (391) (306), PWR/SPD (26.4) (21.8) (note: 2nd in RBI - missed triple crown by 8 RBI, 3rd in pwr/spd, 4th in hits)

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1926 - Ruth - 45 WS

League Leader:

OBP (.516) (.445), SLG (.737) (.564), OPS+ (227) (154), R (139) (135), HR (47) (19), RC (187) (132), BB (144) (116), TB (365) (329), PWR/SPD (17.8) (16.9) (note: 2nd in B.A. (.372) - missed triple crown by 6 % points, 2nd in xtra base hits )

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1927 - Ruth - 45 WS

League Leader:

OBP (.486) (.475), SLG (.772) (.765), OPS+ (226) (221), R (158) (149), HR (60) (47), BB (137) (109), PWR/SPD (17.8) (16.9) (note: 2nd in RC, TB, RBI, xtra BH, 4th in pwr/spd, 7th in B.A.)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1928 - Ruth - 45 WS

League Leader:

SLG (.709) (.648), OPS+ (208) (194), R (163) (139), HR (54) (27), RBI (142) (142), RC (175) (169), Xtra BH (91) (87), BB (137) (105), TB (380) (367) (note: 2nd in OBP - 3 points behind Gehrig)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1929 - Ruth - 32 WS

League Leader:

SLG (.697) (.642), OPS+ (194) (173), HR (46) (35), RC (149) (149) (note: 2nd in RBI - (three behind Simmons), 3rd in OBP, TB, Xtra BH -- 5th in R -- 8th in B.A. -- 10th in BB)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1930 - Ruth - 39 WS

League Leader:

OBP (.493) (.473), SLG (.732) (.721), OPS+ (211) (203), HR (49) (41), BB (136) (128), (note: 2nd in R, RC, 3rd in TB, B.A., Xtra BH , 4th in RBI, 5th in pwr/spd)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1931 - Ruth - 38 WS

League Leader:

OBP (.495) (.451), SLG (.700) (.662), OPS+ (219) (195), HR (46) (46), BB (128) (127), RC (185) (183), R (163) (149) (note: 2nd in TB, RBI, and B.A. (.373), 3rd in Xtra BH)
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Posted by: william_burgess@usa.net
Thanks for using graphics. Layout, Bold-faced, color make the presentation so much easier and more interesting to read. Your reports look professional.
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Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

Thanks, it took awhile, but wanted to make it easy on the eyes. Sometimes when you're flooded with stats it can have a dizzying effect.
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Posted by: csh19792001

Who did Babe victimize the most? By my count he hit 15 homers off of Rube Walberg, but he could have hit just as many off of others....

NO DATE PITCHER OPP SITE INN
1 05/06/1915 JACK WARHOP NYA NYA 3
2 06/02/1915 Jack Warhop NYA NYA 2
3 06/25/1915 Ray Caldwell NYA BOS 2
4 07/21/1915 Bill James SLA SLA 3
5 06/09/1916 Jean Dubuc DET DET 3
6 06/12/1916 Jim Park SLA SLA 7
7 06/13/1916 Dave Davenport SLA SLA 3
8 08/10/1917 Bill James DET BOS 5
9 09/15/1917 Ed Monroe NYA NYA 9
10 05/04/1918 Allen Russell NYA NYA 7
11 05/06/1918 George Mogridge NYA NYA 4
12 05/07/1918 Walter Johnson WAS WAS 6
13 06/02/1918 Eric Erickson DET DET 6
14 06/03/1918 Hooks Dauss DET DET 1
15 06/04/1918 Bill James DET DET 6
16 06/05/1918 Johnny Enzmann CLE CLE 6
17 06/15/1918 Tom Rogers SLA SLA 7
18 06/25/1918 Allen Russell NYA NYA 1
19 06/28/1918 Harry Harper WAS WAS 7
20 06/30/1918 Walter Johnson WAS WAS 10
21 04/23/1919 George Mogridge NYA NYA 1
22 05/20/1919 Dave Davenport SLA SLA 2
23 05/30/1919 Scott Perry PHA PHA 8
24 06/07/1919 Hooks Dauss DET BOS 5
25 06/17/1919 Guy Morton CLE BOS 6
26 06/24/1919 Dick Robertson WAS BOS 7
27 06/30/1919 Bob Shawkey NYA NYA 6
28 07/05/1919 Jing Johnson PHA BOS 8
29 07/05/1919 Jing Johnson PHA BOS 10
30 07/10/1919 Urban Shocker SLA SLA 6
31 07/12/1919 Dave Danforth CHA CHA 3
32 07/18/1919 Hi Jasper CLE CLE 4
33 07/18/1919 Fritz Coumbe CLE CLE 9
34 07/21/1919 Howard Ehmke DET DET 9
35 07/24/1919 Bob Shawkey NYA BOS 8
36 07/29/1919 Dutch Leonard DET BOS 9
37 08/14/1919 Dickie Kerr CHA CHA 7
38 08/16/1919 Erskine Mayer CHA CHA 5
39 08/17/1919 Urban Shocker SLA SLA 1
40 08/23/1919 Hooks Dauss DET DET 3
41 08/24/1919 Doc Ayers DET DET 1
42 08/24/1919 Slim Love DET DET 6
43 08/25/1919 Dutch Leonard DET DET 6
44 09/01/1919 Jim Shaw WAS BOS 7
45 09/05/1919 Win Noyes PHA PHA 3
46 09/08/1919 Hank Thormahlen NYA NYA 8
47 09/20/1919 Lefty Williams CHA BOS 9
48 09/24/1919 Bob Shawkey NYA NYA 9
49 09/27/1919 Rip Jordan WAS WAS 3
50 05/01/1920 Herb Pennock BOS NYA 6
51 05/02/1920 Sad Sam Jones BOS NYA 6
52 05/11/1920 Roy Wilkinson CHA NYA 1
53 05/11/1920 Dickie Kerr CHA NYA 5
54 05/12/1920 Lefty Williams CHA NYA 5
55 05/23/1920 Carl Weilman SLA NYA 6
56 05/25/1920 Dutch Leonard DET NYA 1
57 05/26/1920 Hooks Dauss DET NYA 2
58 05/27/1920 Harry Harper BOS BOS 6
59 05/27/1920 Benn Karr BOS BOS 8
60 05/29/1920 Bullet Joe Bush BOS BOS 4
61 05/31/1920 Walter Johnson WAS NYA 8
62 06/02/1920 Tom Zachary WAS NYA 1
63 06/02/1920 Leon Carlson WAS NYA 8
64 06/02/1920 Bill Snyder WAS NYA 8
65 06/10/1920 Frank Okrie DET DET 3
66 06/13/1920 Elmer Myers CLE CLE 6
67 06/16/1920 Red Faber CHA CHA 8
68 06/17/1920 Lefty Williams CHA CHA 4
69 06/23/1920 Urban Shocker SLA SLA 6
70 06/25/1920 Herb Pennock BOS NYA 1
71 06/25/1920 Herb Pennock BOS NYA 9
72 06/30/1920 Lyle Bigbee PHA PHA 9
73 06/30/1920 Scott Perry PHA PHA 4
74 07/09/1920 Red Oldham DET NYA 5
75 07/10/1920 Hooks Dauss DET NYA 3
76 07/11/1920 Howard Ehmke DET NYA 3
77 07/14/1920 Dixie Davis SLA NYA 2
78 07/15/1920 Bill Burwell SLA NYA 11
79 07/19/1920 Dickie Kerr CHA NYA 4
80 07/19/1920 Dickie Kerr CHA NYA 9
81 07/20/1920 Red Faber CHA NYA 5
82 07/23/1920 Guy Morton CLE NYA 6
83 07/24/1920 Jim Bagby CLE NYA 4
84 07/25/1920 Waite Hoyt BOS NYA 5
85 07/30/1920 Elam Vangilder SLA SLA 9
86 07/31/1920 Urban Shocker SLA SLA 8
87 08/02/1920 Lefty Williams CHA CHA 4
88 08/05/1920 Howard Ehmke DET DET 2
89 08/06/1920 Hooks Dauss DET DET 3
90 08/06/1920 Hooks Dauss DET DET 6
91 08/14/1920 Jim Shaw WAS WAS 1
92 08/19/1920 Ray Caldwell CLE NYA 4
93 08/26/1920 Dickie Kerr CHA NYA 1
94 09/04/1920 Sad Sam Jones BOS BOS 3
95 09/04/1920 Bullet Joe Bush BOS BOS 6
96 09/09/1920 Stan Coveleski CLE CLE 3
97 09/10/1920 Ray Caldwell CLE CLE 1
98 09/13/1920 Howard Ehmke DET DET 6
99 09/24/1920 Jose Acosta WAS NYA 1
100 09/24/1920 JIM SHAW WAS NYA 1
101 09/27/1920 Eddie Rommel PHA PHA 1
102 09/27/1920 Eddie Rommel PHA PHA 6
103 09/29/1920 Dave Keefe PHA PHA 9
104 04/16/1921 Slim Harriss PHA NYA 6
105 04/20/1921 Allen Russell BOS NYA 7
106 04/21/1921 Roy Moore PHA PHA 9
107 04/22/1921 Eddie Rommel PHA PHA 4
108 04/25/1921 Walter Johnson WAS NYA 1
109 05/02/1921 Sad Sam Jones BOS BOS 9
110 05/06/1921 Eric Erickson WAS WAS 3
111 05/07/1921 Walter Johnson WAS WAS 8
112 05/10/1921 Jim Middleton DET DET 1
113 05/12/1921 Hooks Dauss DET DET 1
114 05/14/1921 Jim Bagby CLE CLE 8
115 05/17/1921 George Uhle CLE CLE 9
116 05/25/1921 Urban Shocker SLA SLA 7
117 05/29/1921 Dave Keefe PHA NYA 3
118 05/31/1921 Tom Zachary WAS WAS 9
119 06/03/1921 Dixie Davis SLA NYA 6
120 06/10/1921 Jim Bagby CLE NYA 3
121 06/11/1921 Jim Middleton DET NYA 7
122 06/12/1921 Suds Sutherland DET NYA 5
123 06/13/1921 Howard Ehmke DET NYA 3
124 06/13/1921 Howard Ehmke DET NYA 7
125 06/14/1921 Hooks Dauss DET NYA 1
126 06/14/1921 Hooks Dauss DET NYA 3
127 06/20/1921 Elmer Myers BOS BOS 10
128 06/23/1921 Hank Thormahlen BOS BOS 5
129 06/25/1921 Walter Johnson WAS NYA 5
130 06/26/1921 George Mogridge WAS NYA 3
131 06/29/1921 Bullet Joe Bush BOS NYA 1
132 07/02/1921 Allen Russell BOS NYA 7
133 07/02/1921 Elmer Myers BOS NYA 1
134 07/05/1921 Bob Hasty PHA NYA 6
135 07/11/1921 Dickie Kerr CHA CHA 6
136 07/12/1921 Dixie Davis SLA SLA 3
137 07/12/1921 Dixie Davis SLA SLA 7
138 07/15/1921 Elam Vangilder SLA SLA 6
139 07/18/1921 Bert Cole DET DET 8
140 07/30/1921 Stan Coveleski CLE NYA 6
141 07/31/1921 Ray Caldwell CLE NYA 6
142 08/06/1921 Red Oldham DET NYA 6
143 08/08/1921 Jack Wieneke CHA NYA 3
144 08/08/1921 Dickie Kerr CHA NYA 1
145 08/10/1921 Shovel Hodge CHA NYA 3
146 08/11/1921 Dave Keefe PHA PHA 4
147 08/12/1921 Bob Hasty PHA PHA 8
148 08/17/1921 Jack Wieneke CHA CHA 6
149 08/18/1921 Red Faber CHA CHA 7
150 08/23/1921 Ray Caldwell CLE CLE 1
151 08/23/1921 Ray Caldwell CLE CLE 3
152 09/02/1921 Eric Erickson WAS NYA 7
153 09/03/1921 Harry Courtney WAS NYA 3
154 09/05/1921 Benn Karr BOS BOS 9
155 09/07/1921 Herb Pennock BOS NYA 4
156 09/08/1921 Eddie Rommel PHA PHA 4
157 09/09/1921 Rollie Naylor PHA PHA 4
158 09/15/1921 Bill Bayne SLA NYA 5
159 09/16/1921 Urban Shocker SLA NYA 4
160 09/26/1921 Stan Coveleski CLE NYA 1
161 09/26/1921 George Uhle CLE NYA 5
162 10/02/1921 Curt Fullerton BOS NYA 3
163 05/22/1922 Elam Vangilder SLA NYA 8
164 05/30/1922 Fred Heimach PHA NYA 6
165 06/04/1922 Fred Heimach PHA NYA 5
166 06/08/1922 Charlie Robertson CHA CHA 1
167 06/09/1922 Harry Courtney CHA CHA 9
168 06/10/1922 Urban Shocker SLA SLA 3
169 06/19/1922 Duster Mails CLE CLE 1
170 06/26/1922 Jack Quinn BOS BOS 5
171 07/01/1922 Eddie Rommel PHA PHA 3
172 07/01/1922 Fred Heimach PHA PHA 4
173 07/01/1922 Fred Heimach PHA PHA 7
174 07/02/1922 Rube Yarrison PHA NYA 8
175 07/03/1922 Charlie Eckert PHA PHA 7
176 07/06/1922 Duster Mails CLE NYA 3
177 07/17/1922 Charlie Robertson CHA NYA 7
178 07/26/1922 Rasty Wright SLA SLA 7
179 07/26/1922 Bill Bayne SLA SLA 9
180 07/29/1922 Shovel Hodge CHA CHA 7
181 08/04/1922 Duster Mails CLE CLE 7
182 08/06/1922 Syl Johnson DET DET 6
183 08/09/1922 Bert Cole DET DET 9
184 08/16/1922 Syl Johnson DET NYA 5
185 08/18/1922 Lum Davenport CHA NYA 10
186 08/19/1922 Dixie Leverett CHA NYA 3
187 08/20/1922 Red Faber CHA NYA 1
188 08/20/1922 Red Faber CHA NYA 9
189 08/29/1922 Walter Johnson WAS NYA 4
190 08/30/1922 Ray Francis WAS NYA 1
191 09/05/1922 Herb Pennock BOS NYA 1
192 09/11/1922 Rollie Naylor PHA PHA 5
193 09/11/1922 Red Schillings PHA PHA 8
194 09/14/1922 Dixie Leverett CHA CHA 4
195 09/17/1922 Hub Pruett SLA SLA 6
196 09/19/1922 Herman Pillette DET DET 1
197 09/21/1922 Red Oldham DET DET 7
198 04/18/1923 Howard Ehmke BOS NYA 3
199 04/24/1923 Allen Russell WAS NYA 5
200 05/12/1923 HERMAN PILLETTE DET DET 6
201 05/15/1923 Rip Collins DET DET 3
202 05/17/1923 Bill Bayne SLA SLA 9
203 05/18/1923 Rasty Wright SLA SLA 7
204 05/19/1923 Hub Pruett SLA SLA 1
205 05/22/1923 Mike Cvengros CHA CHA 15
206 05/26/1923 Bob Hasty PHA PHA 3
207 05/30/1923 Walter Johnson WAS WAS 1
208 05/30/1923 George Mogridge WAS WAS 3
209 06/08/1923 Mike Cvengros CHA NYA 3
210 06/12/1923 George Uhle CLE NYA 1
211 06/17/1923 Hooks Dauss DET NYA 2
212 07/02/1923 Tom Zachary WAS NYA 1
213 07/03/1923 George Mogridge WAS NYA 15
214 07/07/1923 Elam Vangilder SLA SLA 1
215 07/07/1923 Elam Vangilder SLA SLA 8
216 07/09/1923 Dixie Davis SLA SLA 1
217 07/12/1923 Ted Lyons CHA CHA 6
218 07/14/1923 Dewey Metivier CLE CLE 8
219 07/18/1923 Ken Holloway DET DET 7
220 07/24/1923 Rube Walberg PHA PHA 9
221 07/27/1923 Rollie Naylor PHA PHA 1
222 08/01/1923 Sherry Smith CLE NYA 9
223 08/05/1923 Ray Kolp SLA NYA 1
224 08/05/1923 Ray Kolp SLA NYA 6
225 08/11/1923 Hooks Dauss DET NYA 9
226 08/12/1923 Syl Johnson DET NYA 1
227 08/15/1923 Urban Shocker SLA SLA 8
228 08/17/1923 Elam Vangilder SLA SLA 1
229 08/18/1923 Mike Cvengros CHA CHA 9
230 09/05/1923 Hank Hulvey PHA PHA 6
231 09/09/1923 George Murray BOS NYA 4
232 09/10/1923 Jack Quinn BOS NYA 4
233 09/13/1923 Ted Blankenship CHA NYA 1
234 09/16/1923 George Uhle CLE NYA 6
235 09/28/1923 Howard Ehmke BOS BOS 6
236 10/04/1923 Bob Hasty PHA NYA 1
237 10/05/1923 Rube Walberg PHA NYA 3
238 10/07/1923 Slim Harriss PHA NYA 1
239 04/20/1924 Walter Johnson WAS WAS 8
240 04/23/1924 Les Howe BOS NYA 8
241 04/25/1924 Bill Piercy BOS NYA 3
242 04/28/1924 Slim Harriss PHA PHA 7
243 04/28/1924 Stan Baumgartner PHA PHA 8
244 05/05/1924 Bob Hasty PHA NYA 1
245 05/10/1924 Sloppy Thurston CHA NYA 1
246 05/13/1924 Ted Lyons CHA NYA 1
247 05/15/1924 Ernie Wingard SLA NYA 6
248 05/23/1924 Bert Cole DET NYA 5
249 05/26/1924 Lil Stoner DET NYA 1
250 05/30/1924 Slim Harriss PHA NYA 3
251 05/31/1924 Sam Gray PHA NYA 9
252 06/06/1924 Doug McWeeny CHA CHA 5
253 06/12/1924 Syl Johnson DET DET 4
254 06/17/1924 George Uhle CLE CLE 4
255 06/21/1924 Jack Quinn BOS NYA 5
256 06/25/1924 Firpo Marberry WAS NYA 1
257 06/30/1924 Roy Meeker PHA PHA 1
258 07/01/1924 Dennis Burns PHA PHA 9
259 07/03/1924 Sam Gray PHA PHA 8
260 07/06/1924 John Martina WAS WAS 8
261 07/10/1924 Sarge Connally CHA NYA 7
262 07/11/1924 Leo Mangum CHA NYA 1
263 07/14/1924 Ernie Wingard SLA NYA 7
264 07/14/1924 Ernie Wingard SLA NYA 8
265 07/19/1924 Stan Coveleski CLE NYA 1
266 07/20/1924 Dewey Metivier CLE NYA 2
267 07/23/1924 Hooks Dauss DET NYA 11
268 07/26/1924 Sarge Connally CHA CHA 14
269 07/28/1924 Mike Cvengros CHA CHA 1
270 07/29/1924 Sloppy Thurston CHA CHA 5
271 07/31/1924 Dave Danforth SLA SLA 6
272 08/04/1924 Rip Collins DET DET 5
273 08/05/1924 Lil Stoner DET DET 5
274 08/06/1924 Earl Whitehill DET DET 4
275 08/08/1924 Bud Messenger CLE CLE 1
276 08/08/1924 Bud Messenger CLE CLE 6
277 08/24/1924 Dutch Leonard DET NYA 1
278 08/25/1924 George Uhle CLE NYA 5
279 08/28/1924 Tom Zachary WAS NYA 4
280 08/28/1924 Allen Russell WAS NYA 7
281 09/06/1924 Roy Meeker PHA NYA 6
282 09/08/1924 Curt Fullerton BOS BOS 8
283 09/11/1924 Howard Ehmke BOS BOS 8
284 09/13/1924 Ted Lyons CHA CHA 8
285 06/11/1925 Jake Miller CLE NYA 7
286 06/14/1925 Dutch Leonard DET NYA 3
287 06/16/1925 Earl Whitehill DET NYA 3
288 07/01/1925 Oscar Fuhr BOS BOS 3
289 07/01/1925 Buster Ross BOS BOS 7
290 07/02/1925 Eddie Rommel PHA NYA 5
291 07/08/1925 Dixie Davis SLA SLA 3
292 07/11/1925 Mike Cvengros CHA CHA 6
293 07/18/1925 Lil Stoner DET DET 1
294 07/20/1925 Rip Collins DET DET 7
295 07/28/1925 Ernie Wingard SLA NYA 7
296 08/18/1925 Lil Stoner DET DET 8
297 08/22/1925 George Uhle CLE CLE 4
298 08/23/1925 Benn Karr CLE CLE 6
299 08/24/1925 Jake Miller CLE CLE 7
300 09/08/1925 BUSTER ROSS BOS BOS 7
301 09/10/1925 Sam Gray PHA PHA 4
302 09/10/1925 Eddie Rommel PHA PHA 4
303 09/12/1925 Rube Walberg PHA PHA 9
304 09/18/1925 Joe Giard SLA NYA 7
305 09/24/1925 Sarge Connally CHA NYA 10
306 09/27/1925 Earl Whitehill DET NYA 6
307 09/28/1925 Ken Holloway DET NYA 3
308 09/28/1925 Hooks Dauss DET NYA 1
309 10/03/1925 Lefty Willis PHA NYA 5
310 04/20/1926 Walter Johnson WAS WAS 1
311 04/23/1926 Red Ruffing BOS NYA 7
312 04/24/1926 Del Lundgren BOS NYA 8
313 04/30/1926 Stan Coveleski WAS NYA 7
314 05/05/1926 Sam Gray PHA PHA 3
315 05/07/1926 Ken Holloway DET NYA 1
316 05/08/1926 Earl Whitehill DET NYA 5
317 05/10/1926 Sam Gibson DET NYA 5
318 05/13/1926 Joe Shaute CLE NYA 1
319 05/13/1926 Benn Karr CLE NYA 8
320 05/14/1926 Dutch Levsen CLE NYA 1
321 05/15/1926 Tommy Thomas CHA NYA 8
322 05/19/1926 Tom Zachary SLA NYA 3
323 05/19/1926 Win Ballou SLA NYA 8
324 05/20/1926 Milt Gaston SLA NYA 5
325 05/25/1926 Paul Zahniser BOS BOS 7
326 06/03/1926 Hal Wiltse BOS NYA 1
327 06/03/1926 Hal Wiltse BOS NYA 3
328 06/05/1926 Garland Buckeye CLE CLE 3
329 06/08/1926 Lil Stoner DET DET 3
330 06/08/1926 Ken Holloway DET DET 11
331 06/14/1926 Charlie Robertson SLA SLA 2
332 06/22/1926 Emilio Palmero WAS WAS 3
333 06/25/1926 Jack Russell BOS BOS 5
334 06/27/1926 Fred Heimach BOS NYA 7
335 06/29/1926 Sam Gray PHA PHA 3
336 07/09/1926 Sherry Smith CLE NYA 4
337 07/20/1926 Win Ballou SLA NYA 3
338 07/21/1926 Ted Blankenship CHA NYA 1
339 07/25/1926 Ted Blankenship CHA NYA 6
340 07/27/1926 Tom Zachary SLA SLA 2
341 07/30/1926 Win Ballou SLA SLA 3
342 07/31/1926 James Edwards CHA CHA 8
343 08/05/1926 Sherry Smith CLE CLE 1
344 08/06/1926 Dutch Levsen CLE CLE 5
345 08/09/1926 Augie Johns DET DET 7
346 08/11/1926 General Crowder WAS WAS 6
347 08/14/1926 Dutch Ruether WAS NYA 3
348 08/15/1926 Ted Wingfield BOS NYA 3
349 08/28/1926 Lil Stoner DET NYA 8
350 09/03/1926 Lefty Grove PHA PHA 4
351 09/11/1926 Lil Stoner DET DET 9
352 09/19/1926 Dutch Levsen CLE CLE 7
353 09/21/1926 Les Cox CHA CHA 9
354 09/25/1926 Elam Vangilder SLA SLA 5
355 09/25/1926 Win Ballou SLA SLA 6
356 09/25/1926 Joe Giard SLA SLA 9
357 04/15/1927 Howard Ehmke PHA NYA 1
358 04/23/1927 Rube Walberg PHA PHA 1
359 04/24/1927 Sloppy Thurston WAS WAS 6
360 04/29/1927 Slim Harriss BOS BOS 5
361 05/01/1927 Jack Quinn PHA NYA 1
362 05/01/1927 Rube Walberg PHA NYA 8
363 05/10/1927 Milt Gaston SLA SLA 1
364 05/11/1927 Ernie Nevers SLA SLA 1
365 05/17/1927 Rip Collins DET DET 8
366 05/22/1927 Benn Karr CLE CLE 6
367 05/23/1927 Sloppy Thurston WAS WAS 1
368 05/28/1927 Sloppy Thurston WAS NYA 7
369 05/29/1927 Danny MacFayden BOS NYA 8
370 05/30/1927 Rube Walberg PHA PHA 11
371 05/31/1927 Jack Quinn PHA PHA 1
372 05/31/1927 Howard Ehmke PHA PHA 5
373 06/05/1927 Earl Whitehill DET NYA 6
374 06/07/1927 Tommy Thomas CHA NYA 4
375 06/11/1927 Garland Buckeye CLE NYA 3
376 06/11/1927 Garland Buckeye CLE NYA 5
377 06/12/1927 George Uhle CLE NYA 7
378 06/16/1927 Tom Zachary SLA NYA 1
379 06/22/1927 Hal Wiltse BOS BOS 5
380 06/22/1927 Hal Wiltse BOS BOS 7
381 06/30/1927 Slim Harriss BOS NYA 4
382 07/03/1927 Hod Lisenbee WAS WAS 1
383 07/08/1927 Don Hankins DET DET 2
384 07/09/1927 Ken Holloway DET DET 1
385 07/09/1927 Ken Holloway DET DET 4
386 07/12/1927 Joe Shaute CLE CLE 9
387 07/24/1927 Tommy Thomas CHA CHA 3
388 07/26/1927 Milt Gaston SLA NYA 1
389 07/26/1927 Milt Gaston SLA NYA 6
390 07/28/1927 Lefty Stewart SLA NYA 8
391 08/05/1927 George Smith DET NYA 8
392 08/10/1927 Tom Zachary WAS WAS 3
393 08/16/1927 Tommy Thomas CHA CHA 5
394 08/17/1927 Sarge Connally CHA CHA 11
395 08/20/1927 Jake Miller CLE CLE 1
396 08/22/1927 Joe Shaute CLE CLE 6
397 08/27/1927 Ernie Nevers SLA SLA 8
398 08/28/1927 Ernie Wingard SLA SLA 1
399 08/31/1927 Tony Welzer BOS NYA 8
400 09/02/1927 RUBE WALBERG PHA PHA 1
401 09/06/1927 Tony Welzer BOS BOS 6
402 09/06/1927 Tony Welzer BOS BOS 7
403 09/06/1927 Jack Russell BOS BOS 9
404 09/07/1927 Danny MacFayden BOS BOS 1
405 09/07/1927 Slim Harriss BOS BOS 8
406 09/11/1927 Milt Gaston SLA NYA 4
407 09/13/1927 Willis Hudlin CLE NYA 7
408 09/13/1927 Joe Shaute CLE NYA 4
409 09/16/1927 Ted Blankenship CHA NYA 3
410 09/18/1927 Ted Lyons CHA NYA 5
411 09/21/1927 Sam Gibson DET NYA 9
412 09/22/1927 Ken Holloway DET NYA 9
413 09/27/1927 Lefty Grove PHA NYA 6
414 09/29/1927 Hod Lisenbee WAS NYA 1
415 09/29/1927 Paul Hopkins WAS NYA 5
416 09/30/1927 Tom Zachary WAS NYA 8
417 04/19/1928 Hal Wiltse BOS BOS 5
418 04/24/1928 Hod Lisenbee WAS NYA 3
419 04/24/1928 Hod Lisenbee WAS NYA 7
420 04/29/1928 Hod Lisenbee WAS WAS 5
421 05/01/1928 Firpo Marberry WAS WAS 1
422 05/04/1928 George Cox CHA NYA 6
423 05/10/1928 Willis Hudlin CLE NYA 6
424 05/12/1928 Lil Stoner DET NYA 6
425 05/14/1928 Elam Vangilder DET NYA 7
426 05/15/1928 Earl Whitehill DET NYA 5
427 05/15/1928 George Smith DET NYA 6
428 05/17/1928 Hal Wiltse SLA NYA 6
429 05/22/1928 Slim Harriss BOS NYA 6
430 05/24/1928 Ossie Orwoll PHA PHA 8
431 05/25/1928 Rube Walberg PHA PHA 1
432 05/25/1928 Eddie Rommel PHA PHA 7
433 05/29/1928 Lloyd Brown WAS NYA 4
434 05/29/1928 Lloyd Brown WAS NYA 7
435 05/31/1928 Bump Hadley WAS NYA 3
436 06/07/1928 Joe Shaute CLE CLE 9
437 06/10/1928 Red Faber CHA CHA 5
438 06/10/1928 Ted Lyons CHA CHA 9
439 06/12/1928 Grady Adkins CHA CHA 5
440 06/15/1928 General Crowder SLA SLA 3
441 06/17/1928 Jack Ogden SLA SLA 7
442 06/23/1928 Merle Settlemire BOS NYA 5
443 06/23/1928 Danny MacFayden BOS NYA 4
444 06/24/1928 Jack Russell BOS NYA 3
445 06/28/1928 Rube Walberg PHA PHA 1
446 06/28/1928 George Earnshaw PHA PHA 8
447 07/02/1928 Garland Braxton WAS WAS 6
448 07/08/1928 George Blaeholder SLA NYA 9
449 07/11/1928 Sam Gibson DET NYA 7
450 07/15/1928 George Grant CLE NYA 1
451 07/16/1928 Bill Bayne CLE NYA 3
452 07/18/1928 Ted Lyons CHA NYA 9
453 07/19/1928 Tommy Thomas CHA NYA 1
454 07/19/1928 Tommy Thomas CHA NYA 7
455 07/21/1928 Ed Walsh CHA NYA 7
456 07/23/1928 Danny MacFayden BOS BOS 6
457 07/30/1928 Jake Miller CLE CLE 6
458 08/01/1928 General Crowder SLA SLA 1
459 08/04/1928 Grady Adkins CHA CHA 5
460 08/14/1928 Grady Adkins CHA NYA 1
461 08/15/1928 Red Faber CHA NYA 4
462 08/25/1928 George Smith DET NYA 7
463 08/30/1928 Sad Sam Jones WAS WAS 7
464 09/08/1928 Garland Braxton WAS NYA 7
465 09/11/1928 Lefty Grove PHA NYA 8
466 09/15/1928 General Crowder SLA SLA 1
467 09/27/1928 Ownie Carroll DET DET 1
468 09/27/1928 Vic Sorrell DET DET 1
469 09/28/1928 Phil Page DET DET 8
470 09/30/1928 Vic Sorrell DET DET 5
471 04/18/1929 Red Ruffing BOS NYA 1
472 04/28/1929 Bobby Burke WAS WAS 7
473 05/04/1929 Hal McKain CHA CHA 7
474 05/05/1929 Grady Adkins CHA CHA 1
475 05/07/1929 General Crowder SLA SLA 4
476 05/10/1929 Vic Sorrell DET DET 5
477 05/19/1929 Jack Russell BOS NYA 3
478 05/23/1929 Milt Gaston BOS BOS 5
479 05/26/1929 Ed Carroll BOS BOS 8
480 06/01/1929 Grady Adkins CHA NYA 8
481 06/21/1929 Bill Shores PHA NYA 7
482 06/21/1929 Bill Shores PHA NYA 8
483 06/26/1929 Firpo Marberry WAS WAS 5
484 06/29/1929 Lefty Grove PHA PHA 5
485 06/29/1929 Lefty Grove PHA PHA 7
486 06/30/1929 Danny MacFayden BOS BOS 5
487 07/03/1929 Red Ruffing BOS NYA 7
488 07/09/1929 Lefty Stewart SLA SLA 4
489 07/13/1929 Hal McKain CHA CHA 5
490 07/15/1929 Ownie Carroll DET DET 9
491 07/16/1929 Vic Sorrell DET DET 3
492 07/17/1929 Earl Whitehill DET DET 3
493 07/27/1929 George Blaeholder SLA NYA 8
494 07/28/1929 Rip Collins SLA NYA 12
495 08/01/1929 Ted Lyons CHA NYA 6
496 08/06/1929 Bobby Burke WAS NYA 5
497 08/06/1929 Bobby Burke WAS NYA 7
498 08/07/1929 Howard Ehmke PHA PHA 2
499 08/10/1929 Milt Shoffner CLE CLE 8
500 08/11/1929 WILLIS HUDLIN CLE CLE 2
501 08/12/1929 Joe Shaute CLE CLE 3
502 08/16/1929 George Uhle DET DET 1
503 08/17/1929 Vic Sorrell DET DET 3
504 08/25/1929 Lefty Stewart SLA SLA 4
505 08/25/1929 Lefty Stewart SLA SLA 9
506 08/28/1929 Rube Walberg PHA NYA 1
507 08/29/1929 Firpo Marberry WAS NYA 8
508 08/31/1929 Bobby Burke WAS NYA 1
509 08/31/1929 Don Savidge WAS NYA 8
510 09/01/1929 Bill Bayne BOS BOS 1
511 09/07/1929 Ownie Carroll DET NYA 5
512 09/08/1929 Vic Sorrell DET NYA 4
513 09/10/1929 Earl Whitehill DET NYA 4
514 09/10/1929 Ownie Carroll DET NYA 9
515 09/18/1929 Jake Miller CLE NYA 1
516 09/18/1929 Milt Shoffner CLE NYA 8
517 04/25/1930 Milt Gaston BOS NYA 7
518 04/27/1930 Jack Russell BOS NYA 9
519 05/04/1930 Ed Walsh CHA NYA 8
520 05/07/1930 Jake Miller CLE NYA 4
521 05/11/1930 Vic Sorrell DET NYA 1
522 05/18/1930 Ed Morris BOS BOS 1
523 05/21/1930 George Earnshaw PHA PHA 1
524 05/21/1930 George Earnshaw PHA PHA 3
525 05/21/1930 Lefty Grove PHA PHA 8
526 05/22/1930 Howard Ehmke PHA PHA 3
527 05/22/1930 Eddie Rommel PHA PHA 4
528 05/22/1930 Jack Quinn PHA PHA 2
529 05/24/1930 Jack Quinn PHA NYA 5
530 05/24/1930 Rube Walberg PHA NYA 4
531 05/30/1930 Hod Lisenbee BOS NYA 1
532 06/01/1930 Milt Gaston BOS NYA 9
533 06/03/1930 Ted Lyons CHA CHA 4
534 06/04/1930 Pat Caraway CHA CHA 7
535 06/07/1930 Lefty Stewart SLA SLA 1
536 06/12/1930 Charlie Sullivan DET DET 4
537 06/15/1930 Belve Bean CLE CLE 6
538 06/19/1930 George Uhle DET NYA 7
539 06/21/1930 Chief Hogsett DET NYA 8
540 06/23/1930 Chad Kimsey SLA NYA 2
541 06/25/1930 George Blaeholder SLA NYA 3
542 06/25/1930 Herm Holshouser SLA NYA 5
543 06/27/1930 Jake Miller CLE NYA 3
544 06/28/1930 Ken Holloway CLE NYA 4
545 06/28/1930 Sal Gliatto CLE NYA 7
546 06/30/1930 Tommy Thomas CHA NYA 7
547 07/02/1930 Dutch Henry CHA NYA 5
548 07/04/1930 Firpo Marberry WAS WAS 1
549 07/18/1930 Sam Gray SLA SLA 5
550 07/20/1930 Milt Shoffner CLE CLE 4
551 07/21/1930 Jake Miller CLE CLE 3
552 07/24/1930 Guy Cantrell DET DET 8
553 08/01/1930 Hod Lisenbee BOS BOS 1
554 08/01/1930 Milt Gaston BOS BOS 9
555 08/02/1930 Firpo Marberry WAS NYA 5
556 08/03/1930 Rube Walberg PHA NYA 4
557 08/05/1930 Bump Hadley WAS NYA 6
558 08/10/1930 Dick Coffman SLA NYA 4
559 08/12/1930 Waite Hoyt DET NYA 3
560 08/17/1930 Dutch Henry CHA NYA 7
561 09/05/1930 General Crowder WAS NYA 9
562 09/12/1930 Whit Wyatt DET DET 2
563 09/20/1930 Tommy Thomas CHA CHA 7
564 09/27/1930 George Earnshaw PHA PHA 3
565 09/27/1930 George Earnshaw PHA PHA 4
566 04/14/1931 Ed Durham BOS NYA 7
567 04/20/1931 George Earnshaw PHA NYA 4
568 04/20/1931 George Earnshaw PHA NYA 8
569 05/06/1931 Carl Fischer WAS NYA 5
570 05/21/1931 Willis Hudlin CLE CLE 1
571 05/24/1931 Rube Walberg PHA NYA 6
572 05/26/1931 Hank McDonald PHA PHA 6
573 05/28/1931 Rube Walberg PHA PHA 4
574 05/31/1931 Lloyd Brown WAS WAS 7
575 06/05/1931 Sam Gray SLA NYA 9
576 06/06/1931 Jake Miller CLE NYA 3
577 06/19/1931 Dick Coffman SLA SLA 5
578 06/21/1931 Lefty Stewart SLA SLA 3
579 06/23/1931 Hal McKain CHA CHA 5
580 06/24/1931 Garland Braxton CHA CHA 3
581 06/25/1931 Tommy Thomas CHA CHA 1
582 06/28/1931 Willis Hudlin CLE CLE 8
583 06/29/1931 Milt Shoffner CLE CLE 6
584 07/02/1931 Waite Hoyt DET DET 8
585 07/04/1931 Carl Fischer WAS NYA 1
586 07/08/1931 Jack Russell BOS NYA 1
587 07/16/1931 Clint Brown CLE NYA 7
588 07/17/1931 Wes Ferrell CLE NYA 4
589 07/22/1931 Tommy Bridges DET NYA 1
590 07/22/1931 Charlie Sullivan DET NYA 6
591 07/23/1931 Earl Whitehill DET NYA 3
592 07/27/1931 Ted Lyons CHA NYA 6
593 07/29/1931 Red Faber CHA NYA 3
594 08/05/1931 Hod Lisenbee BOS BOS 3
595 08/06/1931 Rube Walberg PHA NYA 5
596 08/14/1931 Mel Harder CLE CLE 9
597 08/15/1931 George Uhle DET DET 16
598 08/16/1931 Art Herring DET DET 5
599 08/20/1931 Wally Hebert SLA SLA 9
600 08/21/1931 GEORGE BLAEHOLDER SLA SLA 3
601 08/23/1931 Jim Moore CHA CHA 2
602 08/24/1931 Tommy Thomas CHA CHA 1
603 09/02/1931 Hod Lisenbee BOS NYA 1
604 09/07/1931 Waite Hoyt PHA PHA 6
605 09/07/1931 Waite Hoyt PHA PHA 9
606 09/17/1931 Sam Gray SLA NYA 3
607 09/17/1931 Sam Gray SLA NYA 5
608 09/18/1931 Lefty Stewart SLA NYA 3
609 09/20/1931 Sarge Connally CLE NYA 2
610 09/25/1931 General Crowder WAS NYA 6
611 09/25/1931 General Crowder WAS NYA 8
612 04/12/1932 George Earnshaw PHA PHA 1
613 04/12/1932 George Earnshaw PHA PHA 4
614 04/16/1932 Bob Weiland BOS BOS 7
615 04/20/1932 Lefty Grove PHA NYA 3
616 04/23/1932 Rube Walberg PHA NYA 1
617 04/30/1932 Hod Lisenbee BOS NYA 8
618 05/18/1932 Clint Brown CLE NYA 10
619 05/19/1932 Carl Fischer WAS NYA 1
620 05/21/1932 Lloyd Brown WAS NYA 5
621 05/21/1932 Frank Ragland WAS NYA 6
622 05/24/1932 Rube Walberg PHA NYA 1
623 05/28/1932 Lloyd Brown WAS WAS 6
624 05/28/1932 Monte Weaver WAS WAS 6
625 05/29/1932 Frank Ragland WAS WAS 7
626 06/03/1932 George Earnshaw PHA PHA 5
627 06/05/1932 Bob Weiland BOS NYA 1
628 06/08/1932 Earl Whitehill DET DET 1
629 06/11/1932 Wes Ferrell CLE CLE 1
630 06/12/1932 Mel Harder CLE CLE 4
631 06/12/1932 Sarge Connally CLE CLE 9
632 06/13/1932 Jack Russell CLE CLE 5
633 06/23/1932 Wally Hebert SLA SLA 7
634 07/04/1932 Lloyd Brown WAS WAS 4
635 07/09/1932 Earl Whitehill DET NYA 6
636 07/13/1932 Wally Hebert SLA NYA 1
637 07/14/1932 Clint Brown CLE NYA 1
638 07/28/1932 Wes Ferrell CLE CLE 6
639 07/28/1932 Sarge Connally CLE CLE 7
640 07/29/1932 Clint Brown CLE CLE 9
641 07/31/1932 George Uhle DET DET 6
642 08/07/1932 Lefty Stewart SLA SLA 3
643 08/09/1932 Bob Cooney SLA SLA 6
644 08/14/1932 Monte Weaver WAS WAS 4
645 08/17/1932 Vic Sorrell DET NYA 5
646 08/19/1932 Tommy Bridges DET NYA 3
647 08/25/1932 Oral Hildebrand CLE NYA 6
648 08/26/1932 Wes Ferrell CLE NYA 7
649 08/28/1932 Ted Lyons CHA NYA 9
650 08/28/1932 Milt Gaston CHA NYA 5
651 09/05/1932 Eddie Rommel PHA NYA 4
652 09/24/1932 John Michaels BOS BOS 9
653 04/15/1933 Sugar Cain PHA NYA 1
654 04/21/1933 Johnny Welch BOS BOS 4
655 04/27/1933 Sugar Cain PHA PHA 5
656 04/28/1933 Lefty Stewart WAS NYA 6
657 04/30/1933 Bob Weiland BOS NYA 1
658 05/23/1933 Oral Hildebrand CLE NYA 1
659 05/28/1933 Sad Sam Jones CHA NYA 1
660 05/28/1933 Milt Gaston CHA NYA 1
661 05/28/1933 Red Faber CHA NYA 7
662 06/03/1933 Tony Freitas PHA NYA 8
663 06/06/1933 Bob Weiland BOS NYA 7
664 06/08/1933 Bobby Coombs PHA PHA 9
665 06/10/1933 Lefty Grove PHA PHA 1
666 06/10/1933 Lefty Grove PHA PHA 3
667 06/20/1933 Sad Sam Jones CHA CHA 6
668 06/23/1933 Dick Coffman SLA SLA 4
669 06/28/1933 Vic Frasier DET DET 8
670 07/04/1933 Lefty Stewart WAS NYA 9
671 07/07/1933 Vic Frasier DET NYA 1
672 07/09/1933 Schoolboy Rowe DET NYA 3
673 07/09/1933 Schoolboy Rowe DET NYA 5
674 07/09/1933 Tommy Bridges DET NYA 6
675 07/15/1933 Milt Gaston CHA NYA 5
676 07/15/1933 Whit Wyatt CHA NYA 7
677 07/29/1933 General Crowder WAS WAS 8
678 08/07/1933 Lefty Stewart WAS NYA 8
679 08/17/1933 George Blaeholder SLA SLA 3
680 08/19/1933 Chad Kimsey CHA CHA 3
681 09/17/1933 Monte Pearson CLE NYA 6
682 09/17/1933 Mel Harder CLE NYA 5
683 09/23/1933 Johnny Welch BOS BOS 4
684 09/28/1933 Lefty Stewart WAS NYA 4
685 09/30/1933 Tommy Thomas WAS NYA 7
686 10/01/1933 Bob Kline BOS NYA 5
687 04/18/1934 Tim McKeithan PHA PHA 8
688 04/21/1934 Bob Weiland BOS BOS 1
689 04/29/1934 Bob Weiland BOS NYA 8
690 05/04/1934 Tommy Bridges DET NYA 1
691 05/05/1934 Elden Auker DET NYA 4
692 05/05/1934 Schoolboy Rowe DET NYA 7
693 05/09/1934 Jim Weaver SLA NYA 3
694 05/28/1934 Jack Knott SLA SLA 7
695 06/03/1934 Sugar Cain PHA PHA 8
696 06/14/1934 Ivy Andrews SLA NYA 1
697 06/24/1934 Sad Sam Jones CHA NYA 2
698 06/27/1934 Milt Gaston CHA NYA 2
699 07/08/1934 Monte Weaver WAS NYA 5
700 07/13/1934 TOMMY BRIDGES DET DET 3
701 07/14/1934 Elden Auker DET DET 4
702 07/22/1934 Ted Lyons CHA CHA 2
703 07/31/1934 Fritz Ostermueller BOS NYA 7
704 08/04/1934 Bill Dietrich PHA NYA 5
705 08/11/1934 Fritz Ostermueller BOS BOS 8
706 09/01/1934 Lefty Stewart WAS NYA 1
707 09/03/1934 Bill Dietrich PHA NYA 1
708 09/29/1934 Syd Cohen WAS WAS 7
709 04/16/1935 Carl Hubbell NY BSN 5
710 04/21/1935 Ray Benge BRO BSN 1
711 05/21/1935 Tex Carleton CHN CHN 6
712 05/25/1935 Red Lucas PIT PIT 1
713 05/25/1935 Guy Bush PIT PIT 3
714 05/25/1935 GUY BUSH PIT PIT 7

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

TEAM HR's

1921 –58
1920 –39
1919 –28
1918 –15
1917 –21
1916 –24
1915 –24
1914 –26
1913 –29
1912 –28
1911 –32
1910 –22

Baseball if a funny game Bill, you know that. Why try to explain anything that happens. 1911 went up because they added cork to the ball. Things stayed consistent and then gradually went down again. Some attribute this to trickballers counteracting the cork. HR's go up again in '19, but only to 28, about the same as it was after the original corking (if you remove Ruth, the MLB average goes down to 26). Maybe certain players had better years then normal, maybe it was just one of those things. The true difference was from '21 on, when the rule changes, along with Ruth's style being copied had a bigger impact then ever.

edit: And since you brought him up: Bill James seems to know very little about actual baseball. He might be great with statistics, but did he ever play? He also appears to have a vendetta against Ruth for some reason, writing about him corking a bat because some lame museum says its Ruth's bat. He didn't bother to figure out the truth. This, along with a few other things, renders his opinions rather meaningless in my mind.
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Posted by: william_burgess@usa.net

You must not be familiar with Bill James. Babe Ruth is his all time favorite player, and he lauds him every possible chance he gets. He evens goes to ridiculous lengths to prove this. That is my main beef with Bill. He ranks Babe #1, and Ty #5.

Here is a quote from Bill James.

"The problem is that if one does not wish to assert some particular point, but one wishes only to identify the greatest player who ever lived, one is drawn almost unavoidably to the conclusion that it was George Ruth. He was a greater hitter than anyone with the possible exception of Williams, and a better fielder, base runner and pitcher than Williams. . . . If one wishes not to enlist the selection of the number one man in the cause of one argument or another, but only to make a selection that accommodates the evidence, one must make Babe Ruth that selection."

Now here is the next sentence, going to ridiculous lengths.

"I think it is safe to say that, of the men who saw both play, probably 80% felt that Ruth was a better defensive player than Ty Cobb, not even counting the "defensive "value of his pitching. (Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, 1985, 1988, pp. 447)
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Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

Well, the first only shows to me that he has common sense, and a brain to go along with it. The second is questionable. 80% seems pretty high, wonder where he got that from. That "safe to say" comment sorta points to him just throwing it out there on his own. Ruth did have the better arm, but Cobb was much faster. I'd say they were both even on instincts/angles/intuition factors/ and I'd give Cobb a slight edge on actual "glove" skills. Considering Ruth played right and left, where his arm was more important, and Cobb played center, where his speed was more important, its all preference. They both were better fielders than most give them credit for, due to their hitting dominance.

Bill, I was referring to James' revised edition. He goes position by position, and writes about each player and where he ranks them. Some players info is longer then others, and the info varies. Under right fielders, where he has a chance to write something positive about Ruth as being #1, he writes some BS crap about a Louisville bat exhibit. For someone that seems so intent of getting things right, and the facts being the facts, he sure messed that one up. Lost all respect for him there. Doubt Ruth is his favorite player if he'd print BS like that.
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Posted by: william_burgess@usa.net

My good friend. Let me assure you that The Babe is Bill's favorite player, and has been for years and years. I would be the most shocked person in the world if he ever ranks anyone over the Babe.

Not only that, Bill loves Babe the person. He likes certain players, and you can tell that by how he writes so lovingly about them, and avoids most criticism of them.

Ruth, Wagner, Mantle, Gehrig, Walter Johnson, Musial, Mathewson are his teacher's pets.

If you want to read a negative report, read what he wrote on Ty, Hornsby. Bill likes "nice guys".
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Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

If I remember correctly (returned that book to the library, I need to buy it, good reference stuff), he ranked Morgan first at second base right? Don't remember where Hornsby was.

Is it your feeling Bill, that James holds Ty's personality against him above all else, even Cobb's amazing numbers? Or Does James just think Cobb played in a weak league or what? I still don't like the guy, I'll never get over that BS.
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Posted by: william_burgess@usa.net

Bill James has never been able to countenance Ty Cobb's personality. His silence as to his stats, achievements, etc. is a form of Cobb bashing.

In his latest Abstract, he lumped Ty in with Hornsby, Richie Allen and Hal Chase as being baseball's "biggest horse's asses." He would never have said that about The Babe. Most folks have known that for years.

He ranks Ty #5 all time, and formerly had him ranked, for peak value, 10th among position players. He had Joe Morgan ranked above him! I think that says a lot about how Bill James feels about Mr. Cobb. Even thinks Babe could out-field Ty!

Makes someone like me scratch my head in amazement. He currently ranks Oscar Charleston above Ty. He also loves to mention that Ty was once accused of throwing a game, and often mentions his "cheapness".

Get the picture.
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Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

I do Bill, and that is a most unfortunate thing. Its very dangerous for a man in his position to display such harsh judgements for a player of Cobb's caliber, especially when those judgements seem to stem from alterior motives.

As far as Cobb and Ruth fielding goes. I'd say that Ruth at his best was even with Cobb defensively. The catch; Ruth's best didn't last for many years like Cobb's did. Once Ruth began to lose some of his early swiftness, he was merely above average in the field, thanks in large part to his arm, hustle, and instincts. The gap separated through the second halves of their careers, thats what I'm trying to say. Advantage: Cobb
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Posted by: william_burgess@usa.net

Bill James/Ty Cobb:

Peak Value:----------Career Value: Position Players Only

1. Babe Ruth--------1. Babe Ruth
2. Honus Wagner----2. Honus Wagner
3. Mickey Mantle----3. Stan Musial
4. Lou Gehrig-------4. Hank Aaron
5. Joe Morgan------5. Ty Cobb
6. Stan Musial------6. Lou Gehrig
7. Ted Williams-----7. Willie Mays
8. Willie Mays------8. Ted Williams
9. Joe DiMaggio----9. Joe DiMaggio
10. Ty Cobb-------10. Mike Schmidt
(Bill James' Historical Baseball Abstract, 1985, 1988, pp. 448)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Overall Value: Position Players Only:

1. Babe Ruth
2. Honus Wagner
3. Willie Mays
4. Oscar Charleston
5. Ty Cobb
6. Mickey Mantle
7. Ted Williams
8. Josh Gibson
9. Stan Musial
10. Tris Speaker
(The New Bill James Historical Babseball Abstract, 2001, pp. 358)

If a contest is ever held to determine the biggest horse's ass in baseball history, there are really only seven men, four of them players, who could hope to compete at that level. The four players are Hornsby, Ty Cobb, Dick Allen, and Hal Chase. I think I might choose Hornsby.
(The New Bill James Historical Babseball Abstract, 2001, pp. 486)

The kicker in the above material is that Bill James' own stat formulas mandate that Ty Cobb was to be ranked #2 in all his rankings, yet Bill found himself emotionally unable to follow his own stat system. All Ty supporters write off Bill James rankings due to these profound failures. Does Bill James care?
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Posted by: csh19792001

-Bill James talks in disparaging tones on the quality/organization of of the Negro Leagues, calling it more or less a series of very loosely affiliated barnstoming "leagues" He also assails their shoddy (at best) record keeping.

-Bill James also repudiates any non-statistical analysis, unless, of course it comes to a few hyperbolic, out of context statement made regarding the prowess of Negro Leaguers (coming almost always from other Negro Leaguers who rarely saw or played against Major Leaguers- and at that, obviously only in exhibitions).

-Charleston played in a series of barnstorming type leagues drawing from a talent pool 1/10th the size of the Majors (a league of such esteemed quality that players would frequently switch teams more than once in a week, to fill in).

-So if it's commentary on a former Major Leaguer, it's chalked up to cronyism, nostalgia, and bias, but when it comes mostly from ex Negro Leaguers, it becomes not only credible, but something solid enough footing to deem someone the 4th greatest player of alltime, ahead of Ty Cobb?

Obvious double standards employed here, and his conclusions are bogus and self serving.

And the 80% figure opining in favor of Ruth is heresy. Almost everyone believed that Cobb was the greatest player ever, and that includes some of Babe Ruth's own teammates, and dozens upon dozens of people that saw both Ruth and Cobb play hundreds of games.

Ironically, it's actually roughly 80% for Cobb- and if you look closely, you'll notice that a vast majority of the Wagner supporters either A) didn't see Cobb much, because they played/managed almost entirely in the National League or B) didn't see Cobb play at all.

http://baseballguru.com/bburgess/Cob...supporters.xls

The results are on lines 491-495 of the spreadsheet.

I think James needs to give your work a serious (edifying) read, Bill.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Posted by: william_burgess@usa.net

John B. Sheridan on Relative Value of a Player:

John Brinsley Sheridan, St. Louis sports writer, 1888-1929
Sporting News, December 8, 1927, pp. 4, column 6


"A very good friend, and competent critic, writes from Houston,Tex., that so long as charge is made for admission to see baseball games, players are entitled to salaries commensurate with the paid attendance, that it is the players, who draw the money paid for admission to baseball games. I cannot wholly agree with this position. While it is true that Ruth, as a member of a championship team, does attract huge crowds, Ruth on the Boston Red Sox or St. Louis Browns would lose a great part of his drawing power.

Ruth is the only player I have known, except Waddell, to possess extraordinary personal drawing powers. Ruth plays every day. Waddell pitched once in four days. Spectators never were informed exactly as to what day he would pitch. Often when the day of Rube's appearance was announced, he failed to show up. Cobb, I figured, did draw 700 more people to the average game than the Detroit team minus Cobb would have drawn. Outside of Ruth, Waddell and Cobb, I have not known any individual player to draw large crowds.

Mike Kelly, Anson, Mathewson, Walter Johnson, were all more or less drawing cards. All of these men, except Johnson were members of teams always high in the championship races. They drew well with a championship team.

Put Ruth, Cobb, Kelly, Anson, Mathewson, Waddell, on a tail-end team on a barnstorming team in a bush park, no high-powered publicity, to what degree would their drawing powers be diminished? Let any of these men drop out of the limelight of the big leagues, and what would they draw? It is, in my opinion, entirely logical to attribute to the player, the players, or the team all drawing power displayed by the teams. Organized Baseball, regular scheduled games, good teams, in winning form, to play against, form the basis of the baseball structure. It is all very well to say "Americans love baseball." Not so. Americans do love organized league baseball. They don't care much for unorganized lot baseball, not even if every player on the lots was a Ruth.

Organization is the fundamental of the drawing power of baseball. Take away organization and you take away the drawing power of baseball. Ruth will pass on, as Kelly and Anson passed on, yet Organized Baseball will continue to attract its millions. Take away organization and a million unorganized Ruths will not draw the big money they will draw as members of Organized Baseball.

Then comes as part of organization, the good baseball city, the good team, the good park, a good press--the grand old ballyhoo.

The people who invest money, who organize winning teams, who construct good parks, who have good relation with the public and with the press, the result of is a favorable press, the great organized ballyhoo, contribute much to the drawing power of the individual player or of the teams.

When I remember the days of Fielder Jones' White Sox, the amazing personal attractiveness and, popularity of Comiskey, the manner in which that personally made and held friends, the Woodland bands, organized rooting, I believe that Comiskey's labor contributed much to the drawing powers of the White Sox. But for Ed Walsh, the White Sox did not possess a single outstanding individual drawing card. As a winning team, they constituted a strong, collective drawing card. As individuals, as a team they played winning but unattractive baseball.

The newspaper ballyhoo is of enormous importance. True, to draw, to create interest, to make ballyhooo possible, you must have (1) a winning team; (2) play an attractive style of baseball; (3) possess players who make good copy for the newspapers; (4) be fortunate enough to have with you baseball writers who are capable of putting on a good ballyhoo. A pleasant, commodious, clean, comfortable accessible park, has decided values in drawing power.

What value would Ruth have in the small Cubs' park at Chicago, compared to the enormous value he possesses in the huge Yankee Stadium? One-half, I believe, because Wrigley Field can accommodate only one-half as many people as the Yankee Stadium.

What is the value of the mere name New York as a drawing card? Considerable. That is a New York team will draw more people than a St. Louis, Detroit, Washington or Cincinnati team of equal standing and playing attractiveness. The words New York Cast have a distinct drawing value.

Ruth certainly does draw large additional sums at the gate as a component part of a potential world's championship team, of a New York team, as the best "ballyhooed" man in the world. What percentage of Ruth's unquestionable drawing power are attributable to (1) Ruth himself; (2) a world's championship team; (3) New York Cast; (4) the ballyhoo; (5) good teams to play against; (6) good parks to play in?

The fact that an attractive player, who does possess a drawing value of his own is a member of a New York team confers enormous drawing values upon him. The very name New York--the metropolis--has a distinct value. New York is the center of an enormous stable and floating population; of an amusement seeking population; such as no other city in the United States has. New York is the center of news distribution, of features, special stories, cartoons and all the rest of the ballyhoo.

The attractive player on a New York team gets the benefit of all this huge volume of publicity, of the enormous concentrated population, of the metropolitan district of the huge buying crowds, convention-attending crowds, of the crowds attracted by the general ballyhoo, which has attained infinitely greater volume in New York than anywhere else in the world. Surely, no one would claim that the ballplayer, individually, is entitled to cash in on these things

If drawing capacity counted, Lou Gehrig would not get $5,000. a year, although Gehrig followed Ruth closely in home runs, hit in more runs than Ruth did, etc. I have seen 15,000 women out, free on ladies day, to see Ruth. At the time, Gehrig was leading Ruth in home runs. No one seemed to know that Gehrig was in the game that day. It was Ruth, or the ballyhoo about Ruth, the Abysmal Brute ballyhoo, the stories told about his Rabeinisan life, of his exploits d'amour, not Gehrig, who drew the crowds.

Summing up, I'd say that the drawing power of Ruth is constituted thus:

Personality and prowess (Ruth himself)..... 25%
Prestige of a winning club in New York...... 30%
Good stands, pleasant surrounding............10%
Ballyhoo.......................................... ....35%
----------------------------------------100% total"
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Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

Just my 2 cents on this:

If we're talking about a players drawing card ability, then I'd break this down like this:

Personality and prowess (Ruth himself)..... 45%
Prestige of a winning club in New York..... 20%
Good stand, pleasant surrounding......... 5%
Ballyhoo ....................................... 30%
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Posted by: william_burgess@usa.net


-----------Yankees--------------------Giants
Year-------Attendance-----------------Attendance
1918 282,000 4th (126 g) 256,000 2nd (124 g)
1919 619,000 3rd (141 g) 708,000 2nd (140 g)
1920 1,289,000 3rd 929,000 2nd
1921 1,230,000 1st 973,000 1st
1922 1,026,000 1st 945,000 1st
1923 1,007,000 1st 820,000 1st
1924 1,053,000 1st 844,000 1st
1925 697,000 7th 778,000 2nd
1926 1,027,000 1st 700,000 5th
1927 1,164,000 1st 858,000 3rd
1928 1,072,000 1st 916,000 2nd
1929 960,000 2nd 868,000 3rd


1918 Red Sox - 249,513 - 126 games (war-shortened) - 1,980 per game - 1st place
1919 Red Sox - 417,291 - 140 games (war-shortened) - 2,980 per game - 6th place
1920 Red Sox - 402,445 - 154 games (full season) ----- 2,613 per game - 5th place

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Posted by: william_burgess@usa.net

A disproportionate amount of the best pitching of Babe's time, were on his side, and he never had to face it.

Another point, which many folks almost never bring up, is that The Babe didn't have to bat against some of the finest pitchers of his day, because they were on his own team.

On his Yankee's they had Carl Mays, Herb Pennock, Sam Jones, Waite Hoyt, Joe Bush, Ernie Shore, Urban Shocker, Wilcy Moore, Bob Shawkey. The 1st 6 had been acquired from the Red Sox, meaning, he had not had to face them when he was a Red Sox either. He did have to face Shocker for a good number of seasons.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Babe Pitching Against Ty:

Richard Bak's book, Ty Cobb, 1994, pp. 54, where TC's stats against the AL pitchers are listed, it lists Cobb as getting 22 x 67 = .328, against Babe.

Another article which appeared in Baseball Digest, Dec., 1975 by Don Kerr of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, says that Babe pitched against the Tigers on 23 occasions, and in those 23 games, TC went 32 x 84 = .381. However, not all of his ABs were against Babe, as Babe only had 14 complete games, among the 23. Babe's record is listed as 12-9, for those games.

In their last face to face matchup as pitcher/hitter, June 14, 1921, Babe was credited with the win, 13-8. Babe hit 2 HRs, and Ty went 1 x 5. I may be wrong, but from memory, I believe that Babe walked Ty the first time, Ty got a hit the second time, and Babe struck Ty out in the fifth inning and last time they'd ever face each other from the rubber/box. And when he struck Ty out, Babe signaled the Yank dugout that he was done. The only reason he had asked to pitch, was to prove to Ty that he could still strike him out, since Cobb had been riding him pretty hard in the series. Then Babe trotted to his RF post. Babe was quite a showman.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Was Babe Ruth Lucky? Babe's Advantages/Disadvantages:

On the pitcher's thread, Randy took exception to when Chris compared Christy Mathewson to The Babe. Chris pointed out that Matty was pretty lucky in his career, to have so many good things come together to make him appear good.

Chris never responded but I think I'd like to take a crack at that topic. Was Babe lucky? Was he fortunate more than any other player?

I'd have to answer that with a "yes and no." All players have some good breaks and bad breaks. Babe certainly had his share, but he had some knocks to overcome too. So I'd like to try to itemize some of his breaks/knocks.

First some of his better fortune.

1. Babe was born in Baltimore, and his natural pitching ability was noticed early.

2. By arriving good to go as a fully-finished pitcher, when pitchers had all the advantages, he wasn't expected to hit, so he had the fortuitous opportunity to experiment with his swing. He could try different things, and he did.

3. By the time he was only 23, it was obvious he could hit for distance, and the transition to full time player continued, while his pitching served as cover if it failed.

4. Babe's BoSox team was a contender, allowing him to establish a good pitching record. His OF consisted of famed Lewis/Speaker/Hooper. The OF also featured a spot 500 feet out in right-center. This assisted Babe the pitcher, hurt Babe the hitter.

5. Babe was sold to a very rich owner. This owner's team happened to be in the largest market in BB. This owner was the most willing to spend his money than any other owner. Not only to buy Babe, but to surround him with an excellent supporting cast, who assisted him in reaching many pennants/WS.

6. Babe's owner was willing to invest in a ballpark, and designed it to let Babe hit many HRs, not that Babe ever needed that feature.

7. When Babe was in transition to go from pitcher to OFer, WWI was ending, [Nov. 13, 1918], and baseball was about to switch to a better, more resilient ball, which would showcase his skill so much better than the former ball ever did.

8. When the owners first saw the public's reaction to the increase in offense, they quickly went about encouraging that reaction. First by outlawing the tampering with the ball for the 1920 season, and secondly, by keeping fresh balls in play for the 1921 season. The Chapman tragedy was given as the excuse for this new rule. It didn't fool anybody.

Now let's see those factors which didn't favor The Babe.

1. His parents put him in a institution from an early age. Babe's mother's health was extremely fragile, and she died around 1912. So Babe was denied the normal familiar love/affection/security that most take for granted.

2. It took Babe an EXTREMELY long time before he met anyone who had his best interests at heart. True, the Xaverian Brothers taught him the game, but they didn't go with him out into the world.

3. Babe's child-like personality remained undeveloped throughout his 1st marriage, and early baseball career. Finally, he met his 2nd wife, Claire, in 1923.

Since Babe was a Catholic, he couldn't remarry while Helen lived. So, Claire was not in position to take him in hand and curb his absurd spending habits, until Helen finally died. So by 1929, Babe had his first domestic restraints, to save money, stay in shape, go easy on the binge eating/womanizing/partying.

4. While Babe did possess a supreme gift to hit HRs, he lacked good speed afoot.

5. The same National Mood which first made Babe a perfect stereo-type of public adulation, in 1919, switched when Wall Street crashed in late 1929.
When Babe asked for a raise to $80,000. many of his former fans were disgusted with him and dumped him as an idol. He was then seen as a greedy, selfish, mercenary man. As his skills started to deteriorate, his salary started to alienate many of his former fans.

6. He had the kind of personality/physique which clashed in one unfortunate way. At the conclusion of every season, he took it like a school child getting the summer off from school. He took it as a chance to start binge eating.

But from 1926 on, he paid more and more a price. When he first came up, he was a lean, hard 180 lbs. He was never suited to play ball at ANYTHING over 200. But his personality didn't allow him to reign in his eating/wenching passions. So, he played ball at 210/220 and up from 1926 and after. And his playing suffered the results, both in the OF and on the bases. He became a "swat & trot" slugger, instead of the slash and dash player he had the potential of being.

7. Babe had the fortune to play ball for rather culturally conservative men. Jake Ruppert, Ed Barrow, Joe McCarthy, Miller Huggins had zero tolerance for nonsense. After watching how Babe flaunted curfews under Miller Huggins, Ruppert/Barrow determined long before that Babe would never manage the Yankees. That was Babe's dream, never to be realized.

Ruppert was a stodgy, conservative German, and his type of employee was exemplified by Barrow, McCarthy, Gehrig, DiMaggio. When Babe couldn't accept not getting the Yankee manager's job after Huggins died in 1929, it was more and more a forgone conclusion, that after his offensive productivity dried up, he was gonna get shipped out at the earliest opportunity.

And it still makes me sick that he was never given a shot by any of the other 15 owners. Not a single owner was willing to take a risk, and invest in him, for even a single, solitary season. Just disgusting. Not lucky at all.

8. Babe got ill in late 1946, and it turned out to be throat cancer. He died in 1948, age 52, I think.
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Posted by: SHOELESSJOE3

I look at this one way, Ruth chose another brand of playing the game. His thinking, this is the way I choose to play join if you like. The fact that the rest of baseball took so long, till the late 1920s should not take anything away from him. How many times do we see the thinking, how did so and so perform during his time, under the same conditions that all others played under, bottom line.

That many others chose contact baseball while Ruth did not was their choice, in the end all of baseball went his way and it's been that way ever since.
That he led the league in slugging and home runs so often during the 1920s because he was one of the few long ballers is well taken. Still, the game was open to anyone. Would some of those high averages in the 1920s by contact hitters be as high if they started swinging for downtown, I doubt it.

1920-1930 Both leagues

Hornsby---.381
Heilmann--.362
Ruth------.355

The case would be greater had Ruth distanced himself in home runs and sacrificed batting average, say hit .290 or even .320.

When you look at his slugging and batting average in that decade Ruth was not only playing long ball and leaving the rest far behind, he was playing their game high batting average and close to the top.

I looked back on the years 1970-2004 and found that not one of the top ten in total home runs made the list of the top ten in batting average. Ruth did it all.
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Joe,

Thanks. Agreed. In my former anti-Babe days, I tried to argue against the Babe, and only saw his advantages. But now, partially thanks to you and Randy, and hopefully to my growing up process, I am now going back and taking another look at everything.

Posted by: SHOELESSJOE3

Thats a problem in this case and all cases, to determine or come to a conclusion, the degrees of advantages/disadvantages not like black and white numbers, always subject to differing opinions.

I always wonder about that "steal" of the Babe and all those other Red Sox "transplants" to the Yankees. What the heck was the Bosox organization thinking, maybe they did not care or was it all up to Frazee, to wreck the cream of the American League and build up the Yankee team.

Strange, wonder how many Yankee fans of today stop to think. Their great rivals the Boston Red Sox were the ones that planted the seed long ago that gave birth to the great Yankee team that grew stronger and stronger over all these years.

Who can say what the landscape of the game would have been like all these years if the Red Sox did not send Ruth to New York.

I keep hearing how Babe forced Frazee's hand to get rid of him, that he was problem both to Harry and some of his teammates. I think thats part true and part of Harry's attempt to deflect criticizm from some of the Boston fans.

He was young and a handfull but still you have to think hard before you do what Harry did. How do you dump a player who led the league, led both leagues in almost every offensive stat in one season 1919 then get rid of him the next season.
I've said it before and stick to it, Ruth a problem child or not, Harry Frazee blew it.
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Posted by: william_burgess@usa.net

Joe,

Most profound musings. A while back, I think it was Westsidegrounds who started a thread, wondering what would have happened if the White Sox Scandal hadn't engulfed BB.

If the White Sox had stayed viable, and Ruppert had been blocked in acquiring Ruth (based on an untenable conflict of interest for one owner to hold a mortgage on another owner's ballpark), the entire course of AL history in the 1920's would have taken an entirely unforeseen turn.

Most of us muse that the Yankee's would have had to wait a few years to establish a "dynasty".

The Red Sox may have continued to play competitive ball, but what would the Babe have done? Who could say? If Barrow had remained in Boston, maybe the Babe could have finished his conversion to a full-time OF as a Red Sox.

But that big Red Sox OF would have continued to be a problem for him as a hitter. They would have had to do something to bring that into line with accepted OF configurations.

If the ball hadn't been juiced, I think it might have been entirely possible for the Babe to hit 35 HRs per season, and been the only one doing it more than 15 times a season.

Here is what I base that on. In 1918, Babe hit 11 HRs with the old ball, but they were all at away parks. Not a single one at home in Fenway.

He hit those 11 HRs in 172 ABs. That's a HR every 15.63 ABs. Give Babe 550 ABs and we get 35 HRs! So that is why I say that Babe would have been real "out there" even with the old ball. If Fenway hadn't had that stupid monstrosity in its right-center OF perimeter, Babe would have probably hit another 11 homers at home in 1918, giving him 22 for the year.

These things are a good argument for standardizing odd ballpark configurations. Save us all a lot of wasted time with adjustments.

Bill Burgess
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Posted by: SHOELESSJOE3

That the park was for sure very difficult for any LH hitter in regards to the long ball, I agree Ruth would have had some tough sailing if he had moved off the mound, took to the outfield. In my post stating that Harry blew it when he sold Ruth that was not in my thoughts. What I meant was he sold a hitter who led in so many departments in the year before 1919. He sold a player who even as a part time pitcher was the most feared slugger on the Bosox and all of baseball.
Ruth was on a roll and he was very popular with the majority of Boston fans. I say majority, knowing there were some fans who were turned off by some of Ruth's demands. There is no doubt that the biggest part of Bostons let down at the gate after 1919 was because the big guy was gone. One look at Boston's attendance with Ruth, even before Ruth the early teens and then post 1919 shows it hurt the Bosox in attendance. During the 1920s Boston was pathetic at the gate at or near the bottom the whole decade. There were other Bosox players traded around the time Ruth left and that also hurt but the fans clamored for Ruth, at home and away, Harry did blow it.

Think of the revenue that Boston would have pulled in with Ruth in a Bosox uniform. Even had he hit less home runs staying in Fenway, the fans loved him, his style just his personality. Mistake Harry, BIG mistake, you sold off a gold mine.
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Posted by: william_burgess@usa.net

Randy, Joe, Mark,

Some of the conditions which were advantages to Babe as a pitcher, were also disadvantages as a hitter. This is peculiar, yet completely true.

When Babe came up in late 1914, as a fully-finished pitcher, good to go, he joined a good BoSox outfit.

In his 1st full season, 1915, he had the famous trio, Lewis/Speaker/Hooper patrolling his OF for him. And a hugely expansive OF it was. At that time, the OF perimeter featured a spot over 500 feet in right-center.

This huge OF both assisted Ruth the pitcher to keep his ERA down, and allow his famed OF trio to do their circus catches, but it also suppressed Babe's hitting numbers - DRASTICALLY.

And the better Babe appeared due to pitching in a good defensive forum at home, the worse he appeared offensively. So, one condition - huge OF - double-edged sword.

Speaker was gone after 1915, but the BoSox still retained Lewis/Hooper.

Lewis remained in the BoSox OF for 1916-17, and Hooper did through 1920. So pitcher Ruth benefited from their OF prowess, as long as they were there.

Another advantage I forgot about concerning Babe, the Yankee player. The Yankees appeared much better than otherwise, due to 2 unforeseen circumstances.

1. Following the Black Sox scandal, the White Sox dropped out of contention for the remainder of the 1920's.

2. The BoSox team was systematically transferred to the New York Yankees for the 1920's, assisting the Babe to reach many pennants/WS.

Take away 2 main competitors and of course, your drive to the top is greatly facilitated.

Bill Burgess

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

Ruth's career high in strikeouts for a season was 93. Very impressive when you consider he was playing a modern style of ball.

In 2004, 82 players had 93+ strikeouts.

Breakdown from 2004:

K's

120+ -- 34 times
130+ -- 20 times
140+ -- 14 times
150+ -- 6 times
160+ -- 4 times
170+ -- 2 times

In 1998, 94 players had 93+.
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Posted by: william_burgess@usa.net

As much as we are seeking to create a monument to the Babe, we must do it in proper context. Can't break the rules. Babe SOs were high for his era, because he was one of the few to use the "grooved power swing". So we can forgive him his high SOs.

And the same tool which gave him his high HRs aslo gave him his high SOs. When he retired, he led the MLs until Mickey Mantle took his title from him.

To compare his raw era numbers with those of 1990's isn't right. Unlike things. The later era had high HRs, high SOs and high offensive productivity.

Babe's SO record:

1918-58-1
1919-58-2
1920-80-2
1921-81-2
1922-80-2
1923-93-1
1924-81-1
1925-68-2
1926-76-2
1927-89-1
1928-87-1
1929-60-4
1930-61-5
1932-62-9
1933-90-2
1934-63-9
1935-24-?
Career-1330 SO-1st then, 78th now

Career Strike Outs - 38 yrs. - from 1926, when Babe took it from Tom Brown, (709), to 1964, when Mickey Mantle took it from him.
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Posted by: SHOELESSJOE3

Whats amazing is that he hit for that high career average with all those strikeouts. 8399 career at bats, 1330 times he struck out, no contact, no chance to hit safely in 1330 of those at bats and he hits .342 the 6th highest in modern times. All those home runs and only 5 hitters hit for a higher average.

Just shows how he must have hit the ball hard, real hard to come up with nothing in 1330 at bats and still hit .342.
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Posted by: SHOELESSJOE3

1920-1940

In that span
HR/100 PA
HR/100 outs
HR Percentage

Ruth is first, Foxx is second and Gehrig is third in all three the above.

Career strikeouts in that span 1920-1940 Ruth is first in SO, Foxx is second and Gehrig is fifth. It stands to reason the guys that go for the long ball on average will strike out more often.

Going on strictly math, the numbers the big guys strikeouts seem glaring and they are compared to the league but it has to be considered in their times they were being compared to a great number of contact hitters, different game in those times.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Posted by: william_burgess@usa.net

The Babe: 1918-1919: Wow!

I believe that in 1918-19, when Babe split his time between the mound and the OF, he did better at both, than anyone else could have done.

True, he wasn't the pitcher he was when he did only that one thing, and he wasn't the hitter that he became when he concentrated on that.

But, given his totally unique and singular circumstances, he did super. For those 2 seasons, he really was superman. So to speak. And he was doing it at a psychological disadvantage, in that he really didn't want to take his turn on the mound anymore. But he did it, because manager Ed Barrow would have benched him if he hadn't.

The only other ballplayers who might have conceivably been able to accomplish what Babe Ruth did in 1918-19, were Negro Leaguers. People like Martin Dihigo, "Smokey Joe" Williams, "Bullet Joe" Rogan, and Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe all hit/pitched remarkably well for their entire careers.

Would they have been able to do the same in the much tougher competitive level of the MLs? Impossible question to know properly. But if it were possible, they would have been the ones who had the potential. No other white MLer ever showed that kind of super potential besides George Herman "Babe" Ruth. He alone among white people, mastered those 2 skill sets concurrently, to that remarkable degree. It was like being born with the ability to pitch with either hand. Extremely rare to non-existent. I've been wanting to say that for a long time.

Bill Burgess
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Posted by: william_burgess@usa.net

Babe Ruth's hitting while as a pitcher:

Fever statman David Kent & I once had a fight over Babe's hitting while he was a pitcher. First Dave's pitch for Babe as a hitting pitcher.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dave Kent:
One of the absurd comments we hear in discussion groups is how Ruth had no offense to lose during his early years with the Sox. With the exception of his 10 plate appearances in 1914, he ranged from a good to a great batter.

In 1915 Ruth had 4 HR in 103 PA, the league leader had 6 in 439 PA.
In 1916 Ruth had 3 HR in 150 PA, the league leader had 12 in 617 PA.
In 1917 Ruth had 2 HR in 142 PA, the league leader had 9 in 668 PA.
In 1918 Ruth had 11 HR in 380 PA - tied for the league lead. Tilly Walker who also had 11 HR needed 466 PA to reach the same total.

In 1919 Ruth led the league with 29 HR almost tripling the totals of George Sisler, Tilly Walker and Home Run Baker.

In every year that he was in Boston, Ruth was the league leader in HR or had a better ratio than the league leader. This in a park in which it was very difficult to hit HRs.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bill Burgess:
One of the absurd things we hear in baseball discussions, is how much offense Babe Ruth lost to his deadball pitching seasons. How ridiculous? Babe lost no offense to his pitching time. He had no offense to lose. Judge for yourself.

Babe Ruth's Deadball Hitting Record
--------G----PA----HRs--HR/PA----BB--BB/PA--SO--SO/PA--BA--SLG
1915---42---103----4----25.75-----9--11.44---23---4.47--.315--.576
1916---67---150----3----25.00----10--15.0----23---6.52--.272--.419
1917---52---142----2----71.00----12--11.83---18---7.88--.325--.472
1918---95---380---11----34.54----57---6.66---58---6.55--.300--.555

Babe Ruth Live Ball Hitting
1919--130---542---29----18.68---101---5.36---58---9.34--.322--.657
1920--142---616---54----11.40---148---4.16---80---7.70--.376--.847
1921--152---693---59----11.74---144---4.81---81---8.55--.378--.846
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Great hitting is in the eye of the beholder. Judge for yourself.
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Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

------------------------------------29 Homers, 1919


Date Opp. Pitcher Against Place RBI's Final Score

Apr 23 Mogridge NYY NYY 2 W, 10-1
May 20 Davenport STL STL 4 W, 6-4
May 30 Perry PHA PHA 2 L, 3-4
Jun 7 Dauss DET BOS 3 L, 5-10
Jun 17 Morton CLE BOS 1 L, 2-3
Jun 24 Robertson WAS BOS 1 W, 5-2
Jun 30 Shawkey NYY NYY 4 L, 5-7
Jul 5 Johnson PHA BOS 2
Johnson PHA BOS 1 L, 6-8
Jul 10 Shocker STL STL 1 L, 3-4
Jul 12 Danforth CHI CHI 3 W, 12-4
Jul 18 Jasper CLE CLE 2
Coumbe CLE CLE 4 W, 8-7
Jul 21 Ehmke DET DET 1 L, 2-6
Jul 24 Shawkey NYY BOS 2 W, 4-3
Jul 29 Leonard DET BOS 2 L, 8-10
Aug 14 Kerr CHI CHI 2 W, 15-6
Aug 16 Mayer CHI CHI 2 L, 6-7
Aug 17 Shocker STL STL 2 L, 6-1
Aug 23 Dauss DET DET 4 L, 4-8
Aug 24 Ayers DET DET 1
Love DET DET 2 W, 8-7
Aug 25 Leonard DET DET 1 W, 5-4
Sep 1 Shaw WAS BOS 2 W, 2-1
Sep 5 Noyes PHA PHA 2 W, 15-7
Sep 8 Thormahlen NYY NYY 1 W, 3-1
Sep 20 Williams CHI BOS 1 W, 4-3
Sep 24 Thormahlen NYY NYY 1 L, 1-2
Sep 27 Jordan WAS WAS 2 L, 5-7



- left-handers
- grand-slams
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Posted by: william_burgess@usa.net

Randy,

You sound as if you might love The Babe as much as I admire The Rebel.
So I'll share a little gift here. Something few notice about the Babe in 1919.

We all know he hit 29 homers. What few take note of is that only 9 came at Fenway Park, due to part of it's RF fence extending all the way to 550 feet! All the other 20 came on the road.

Examined a little more, we find out that those 20 homers, on the road, in 1919 came from only 232 at-bats. So, from those few numbers, we can easily project that if The Babe had had a full season, playing at any other neutral ballpark, with that same ratio of 20 homers/232 at-bats, 1 homer every 8.62 at-bats, we come up with 47.41 homers, if he had 550 at-bats.

In simple words, if Babe had played outside Fenway Park in 1919, he would have hit 47 homers. We know this because he hit 20 homers in only 232 at-bats on the road.

Babe: 47 HRs: 1919. Enjoy.

Bill Burgess

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Posted by: blackout805

Baseballlibrary's Ruth-Cobb games (missing many from the 1920s):

July 16, 1914: The Tigers, minus Ty Cobb who is nursing a sore thumb, knock out rookie Babe Ruth in the 4th inning and trip the Red Sox, 5–2. It is Ruth's first loss.

July 31, 1916: Babe Ruth fires a two hitter, by Ty Cobb and Burns, for a 6–0 win for the first place Red Sox over the Tigers. Ruth adds two hits at the plate.

May 11, 1917: In Detroit, the Red Sox win 2–1 behind Babe Ruth. Ty Cobb leads off Detroit's 9th with a bunt single, and when the next batter grounds out to 3B, Cobb rounds 2B and continues towards third. Ruth, covering 3B, takes the throw and tags out Cobb so viciously that the star is on the ground for two minutes.

July 11, 1917: In Detroit, Boston's Babe Ruth tops the Tigers 1–0, allowing just Donie Bush's scratch single in the 8th. Ruth deflects the ball but the throw by the shortstop is too late. Ruth has a single and triple, but a pinch triple by Chick Shorten in the 9th drives home the only run. Ruth strikes out Bobby Veach, Sam Crawford and Ty Cobb in the 9th; for the last he shakes off catcher and player/manager Carrigan. In early 1942, in a speech in Los Angeles, Ruth will call this game his greatest thrill. [The Babe also relates to writer John Carmichael that his greatest game was the called shot in the World Series of 1932.]

August 27, 1917: At Detroit, Ty Cobb is 3-for-4 to lead the Tigers to a 5–1 win over the Red Sox and lefty Babe Ruth.

September 27, 1917: The Red Sox play a benefit game against an AL all-star team and Babe Ruth and Rube Foster combine for a 2–0 shutout. The AL squad features Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker, and Joe Jackson in the outfield. More than $14,000 is raised for the family of sports writer Tim Murnane, who died February 13th. Murnane had played and managed in Boston in the 19th century. Actress Fanny Brice helps sell programs and former heavyweight champ John L. Sullivan coaches 3B for the Sox. Ruth wins the fungo hitting contest with a drive of 402 feet, while Joe Jackson has the longest throw at an impressive 396 feet.

June 3, 1918: Boston lefty Hub Leonard pitches his second no-hitter, beating the Tigers' all-right-handed lineup in Detroit 5-0, and allowing just a first-inning walk. Babe Ruth, playing CF, slugs a first-inning HR, his second in two days. Ty Cobb, out a week with an injured shoulder, pinch-hits in the ninth and fouls out.

June 13, 1921: The first pitch to Ruth goes 460 feet into the CF bleachers in the Polo Grounds, the first HR ever hit to that spot. He adds HR number 21 in a 13-8 win over Detroit. He also pitches five innings for the win, giving up four runs, but striking out Ty Cobb. The next day Ruth hits two more HRs, his sixth and seventh in five games, in a 9-6 win.

August 10, 1924: Ty Cobb steals 2B once, 3B twice, and home once in the Tigers' 13-7 win over Boston that puts them on top in the AL, as the Indians beat the Yankees 7-1.

May 24, 1928: In the first game of a doubleheader in Philadelphia, a major-league record 13 future Hall of Famers take the field as the first-place Yankees take on the 2nd-place A's. This number does not include non-playing Hall of Famers Herb Pennock and Stan Coveleski, managers Miller Huggins and Connie Mack, nor umpires Tom Connally and Bill McGowan. [HOFs: Earle Combs, Leo Durocher, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Tony Lazzeri, and Waite Hoyt for New York; Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker, Mickey Cochrane, Al Simmons, Eddie Collins, Lefty Grove, and Jimmie Foxx for the A's.] Led by Lazzeri's three hits and six RBIs, the Yanks edge the A's, 9–7, handing the defeat to Lefty Grove. The A's win the nitecap, 5–2, behind rookie Ossie Orwell.

June 28, 1928: Babe Ruth slugs two HRs to lead the Yankees to a 10-4 victory over the Athletics, and Ty Cobb appears in his 3,000th career game.

September 11, 1928: In the Yankees 5–3 win at the Stadium, Ty Cobb makes his last appearance as a batter, popping out against Yankee Hank Johnson to SS Mark Koenig as a pinch hitter in the 9th. Babe Ruth's two run clout, off Lefty Grove in the 8th, seals the win for New York. The Bronx Bombers seal the fate of the A's with their 4th straight win over the Quakers, leaving the Mackmen in 2nd place, two 1/2 games back.
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May 24, 1928: In the first game of a doubleheader in Philadelphia, a major-league record 13 future Hall of Famers take the field as the first-place Yankees take on the 2nd-place A's. This number does not include non-playing Hall of Famers Herb Pennock and Stan Coveleski, managers Miller Huggins and Connie Mack, nor umpires Tom Connally and Bill McGowan. [HOFs: Earle Combs, Leo Durocher, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Tony Lazzeri, and Waite Hoyt for New York; Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker, Mickey Cochrane, Al Simmons, Eddie Collins, Lefty Grove, and Jimmie Foxx for the A's.] Led by Lazzeri's three hits and six RBIs, the Yanks edge the A's, 9–7, handing the defeat to Lefty Grove. The A's win the nitecap, 5–2, behind rookie Ossie Orwell.

Posted by: SHOELESSJOE3

I would have loved to have sat in on that game, what a group on one field, at the same time. A crowd that was beyond police control trying any way they could to get into the park. Over the right field wall came more than a few dozen, a wall that police had placed barbed wire to keep out the gate crashers. At one point a group jumped the wall and one spectator had his jacket caught in the barbed wire, left it hanging there. Some climbed the wall but instead of heading into the bleachers shimmied up the foul pole and sat on the pavillion. Every time one would climb this pole the crowd would roar, police looked the other way, what a circus atmosphere.

Thes two teams met again in Philadelphia in 1930 with many of the same stars as in that game in May 24,1928. Jimmie Foxx hit a triple that hit at the base of the wall at the 468 marker. He also hit one of the longest hit to left at Shibe landing on top of the roof in left field. Ruth hit 3 home runs in the first game. The second home run the longest to RF. Cleared the street and the roofs of the first row of houses across the street. Philly won both games 15-7 and 4-1.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

Wanted to get this down in print, as reference to anyone who brings up the Ruth corking thing in the future.

Leigh Montville, author of "Big Bam" breaks this down nicely.

"In the middle of the 1923 season, an interesting controversy developed. The Babe's favorite new bat was ruled illegal.

Slumping slightly, he had been convinced by retired Tigers outfielder Wahoo Sam Crawford to try a new bat called 'the Besty Bingle,' which Crawford had invented and was trying to market. Selling for eight dollars, as opposed to two dollars for the normal bat, the Crawford bat was constructed of four pieces of wood. The effect was supposed to make the bat stronger on all sides. The hitter no longer had to position the bat a certain way to take advantage of the strongest grain in the wood. The grain on this bat ran sideways.

Ruth started using the bat on July 2, and the slump was done. He had 27 hits, including six homers, in his next 65-at bats. Superstition and performance merged. Ruth loved the Besty Bingle. He was hitting close to .400 and had 28 home runs when American League president Ban Johnson declared the bat illegal on August 11.

'I can see no reason why Johnson should bar the Crawford model bat,' Miller Huggins said, filing an appeal. 'The rules simply state that the bat must be round, made entirely of hard wood and conform to certain dimentions.

'The new bat used by Ruth is made of hard wood and is perfectly round. The rules do not state that the bat be made out of one piece of wood. Ruth's bat is not a trick bat, but simply an improvement on the old style. A four-piece bat is much stronger than a one-piece affair and of course has more driving power.'

The league office offered an explanation eight days later. The problem with the bat was not with the four pieces of wood, but with the glue. The glue increased the velocity of the ball off the bat. If the glue were allowed, other substances, such as rubber, might also be inserted into bats. The appeal was denied. The Babe had been using a forerunner of the corked bat. Nevermind. On August 12, the first day back to a normal bat, against the Detroit Tigers, he went 3-for-4, including his 29th homer."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Leigh Montville, author of "Big Bam" breaks this down nicely.

"In the middle of the 1923 season, an interesting controversy developed. The Babe's favorite new bat was ruled illegal.

Slumping slightly, he had been convinced by retired Tigers outfielder Wahoo Sam Crawford to try a new bat called 'the Besty Bingle,' which Crawford had invented and was trying to market. Selling for eight dollars, as opposed to two dollars for the normal bat, the Crawford bat was constructed of four pieces of wood. The effect was supposed to make the bat stronger on all sides. The hitter no longer had to position the bat a certain way to take advantage of the strongest grain in the wood. The grain on this bat ran sideways.

Ruth started using the bat on July 2, and the slump was done. He had 27 hits, including six homers, in his next 65-at bats. Superstition and performance merged. Ruth loved the Besty Bingle. He was hitting close to .400 and had 28 home runs when American League president Ban Johnson declared the bat illegal on August 11.

'I can see no reason why Johnson should bar the Crawford model bat,' Miller Huggins said, filing an appeal. 'The rules simply state that the bat must be round, made entirely of hard wood and conform to certain dimentions.

'The new bat used by Ruth is made of hard wood and is perfectly round. The rules do not state that the bat be made out of one piece of wood. Ruth's bat is not a trick bat, but simply an improvement on the old style. A four-piece bat is much stronger than a one-piece affair and of course has more driving power.'

The league office offered an explanation eight days later. The problem with the bat was not with the four pieces of wood, but with the glue. The glue increased the velocity of the ball off the bat. If the glue were allowed, other substances, such as rubber, might also be inserted into bats. The appeal was denied. The Babe had been using a forerunner of the corked bat. Nevermind. On August 12, the first day back to a normal bat, against the Detroit Tigers, he went 3-for-4, including his 29th homer."

Posted by: SHOELESSJOE3

I had no knowledge there was an appeal. This same bat, that same season was used by Ken Williams. It was not only the "glue factor" that brought on the ban. Ban Johnson made the point that if the bat was allowed to be used that pitchers would soon begin to tamper with the ball, not sure thats a good point. There were already rules that would cover pitchers and the ball.

I don't have the info in front of me but I believe there was no rule barring use of a laminated bat in 1923, could be wrong I will check this out. I think a rule barring laminated bats came about in the late 1920's.
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Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

The excuse about it being a slippery slope for pitchers is ridiculous, I agree. There were already measures in place for that. I can see the case where MLB simply reached for some "glue" reason in the case of Ruth because of a slippery slope factor with bats.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Take him out of his time, with all the changes in the game over all these years, no one has yet to match him in over all hitting and slugging.

Posted by: csh19792001

The logical point to make, however, is it that if you were to take him out of his time, his production would not be nearly as incredible/seperated from the league. I see no reason to believe it would be, to be honest. If you guys have reasons you DO believe this to be true, I'd like to hear your case.

Ironic that you phrase that sentence above as you did. I have to be fair and present the entire argument.

Think of what Ruth was competing against when he put up those impossible seperation numbers... during Ruth's career, there were 8708 homeruns hit, 714 by him. Take him out, and that puts the league homerun percentage a .96%- less than 1 homerun every 100 at bats.

During Ted's career, taking out his contribution, the league homerun percentage was 1.98%. Instead of one (himself only), or three or four (late in Ruth's career) players using his style, you probably had at least a hundred guys playing the homerun style of baseball by the time Williams was mid career. Looking at the pictures of guys like Max Carey, Harry Hooper, and dozens of others from the 20's, you see most choked up 6 inches on the bat. I've never seen anything like that from circa 1950 (ok, maybe an outlier like Nellie Fox).

The point is that Williams was consistently facing sliders, splitters, sinkers, etc. Most importantly, though, was the slider. In Hitter: The Life and Turmoils of Ted Williams, Ed Linn discussed how much the development of the slider (which took place mainly after WWII) impacted hitting. I'm not going to re-type it all here, be suffice it to say, many guys couldn't adjust very well at all, and offense dropped off in the postwar period (see below). The slider was a seminal addition to the pitcher arsenal.

Williams playing against better trained ballplayers with much bigger gloves, playing on much better fields. All of this assuredly conspired to hurt him a ton offensively in comparison to Ruth. Williams was also playing against an integrated league for over a decade, and he had to face far more specialists and relief pitchers than Babe did simply due to the evolution of the game in that direction, and he never played a day after expansion. If one specialist screwballer named Hub Pruett could complete stop Ruth (struck him out what, 10 out of the first 12 times he faced him?), what would a league with many, many specialists and junkballers do to Ruth's numbers?

In the early 1920's, only a few spitballers had been grandfathered in (9 in the American League to be exact), and now instead of using one ball per game we had a brand new, white ball put in many times during the game.

So now we have no more trick pitches, pitchers are going in stripped of ALL of their weapons, and they're almost all going up there throwing two pitches (a fastball and a curve). And to add insult to injury, now they have to face this behemoth who has an offensive style that nobody has ever dealt with before, disenfranchised of all of their weapons!

Here is the American League (avg/slg/obp):

1939-42
.268 .390 .341

1946-60
.259 .380 .336

Or, look at it even more big picture.

1903-1919
.251 .326 .314

1920-39
.283 .403 .351

1940-1960 .
.259 .376 .334

Enormus disparities there due to all of the factors I continue to cite which control the ebbs and flows of the game.

The transition to the liveball era is actually very much akin to the change in the game that took place from 1892 to 1893, however less dramatic in nature: due to the change to 60'6" and the addition of the mound, and it took pitchers a long, long, time before they were able to develop the weapons (also with the rule changes) that brought the game back into balance once again. As a result, incredible offensive records were allowed to be compiled during the 1893-1902 era, much as they were during the 1920-39 timeframe. The foul strike rule was enacted in 1901 in the NL, 1903 in the AL, and all of that ended very quickly.

Williams was facing pitchers who had vastly more experience facing, learning how to face (and developing weapons to combat/counteract) the "homerun or nothing" approach to offense. Knowing that, and taking into consideration league quality and conditions of the game, it's fair to say that Ted Williams was at least as great as Ruth as far as being the quintessential hitter/slugger dyad.

When you think about it, Williams is the last player to truly dominate offensively as the old timers did. Well, except Bonds from age 37 on, but we all know how that was allowed to transpire.
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Posted by: csh19792001

Was this purposefully ignored, Joe? I put a ton of time and background work into it, in response to something you said.

I've yet to hear a cogent argument as to why Ruth would do as well playing his entire career in the deadball era (or any subsequent timeframe, post 1940, for that matter). What I have heard when this issue has been raised in the past has mostly been just wishful thinking, for the most part.

I've also yet to hear a convincing case as to how he was a decidedly better hitter/slugger than Ted Williams, when everything is considered.
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Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

I'll let Joe respond, but during that post, you pick little things and magnify it to make your case. Williams faced more sliders yes, but he didn't face trick pitches or freak deliveries, and didn't face as many "slurves" which is a tougher pitch than the slider imo. The slider breaks on one plain, the slurve breaks on two.

I believe zone was also larger when Ruth played (strict shoulders to knees), the ball wasn't as lively, and bats hadn't come far in terms of technology. You really lost me in your original post when you brought up Pruett. Every hitter, no matter how great faces someone with a particular style or approach that gives them troubles. A lefty like Pruett found something that he exploited. Ruth, perhaps to stubborn to make changes, or simply lacking the charts, graphs, video to break it all down, but eventually he figured him out. That one case is not a knock on Ruth so much as it's a testament to Pruett imo. His screwball was pretty nasty by all accounts. Ruth did hit lefties very well historically because of his ability to drive the ball the other way with power. Some of his longest homers came off lefties and nearly one-third of his career homers were off lefties, going by memory I want to say 223.

Lets also keep in mind the dimensions that Williams enjoyed in Fenway, which was much larger when Ruth played there. Until he was sold to New York, his home/road splits for homers was 38/11 favoring road. As you know, the Sox actually brought in the fence and installed that bullpen just for Williams, and it was no longer 550 to center.

You should start a Williams vs. Ruth thread if you want to really get into every aspect and break it all down. If you think Williams was a better all around hitter, then I would politely disagree and wait til you start that thread to expand further. Good work on that original post though, I can tell you put some time into it, which always deserves a nod.
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Williams faced more sliders yet, but he didn't face trick pitches or freak deliveries, and didn't face as many "slurves" which is a tougher pitch than the slider imo. The slider breaks on one plain, the slurve breaks on two. The zone was also larger when Ruth played, the ball wasn't as lively, and bats hadn't come far in terms of technology.

Posted by: csh19792001

What's your source here on the slurves, or the prevalence of them during Babe's prime vs. Ted's? The ball might not have been as lively, although I've never read that, either. One thing is for certain, though- the pitchers and pitching developed quite a bit during Ted's career.

About the trick deliveries- as I said, only a few pitchers in Babe's league during the 20's (9 of them) were even allowed to use spitter. Ball manipulation techniques were banned entirely, with a pitcher expelled from the game and subject to a 10 game suspension if caught defacing the ball in any way. These factors are certainly other important components contributing to the record setting offensive setting of the time.

Here are the American League spitballers who were purportedly grandfathered in:

Doc Ayers
Ray Caldwell
Stan Coveleski
Red Faber
Dutch Leonard
Jack Quinn
Allan Russell
Urban Shocker
Allen Sothoron

What's your source on the strikezone being larger in Babe's time versus Ted's? If anything, evidence all points to it being smaller during the 1919-39 timeframe, given the incredible shift (in favor of offense) the game had taken.

You really lost me in your original post when you brought up Pruett. Every hitter, no matter how great faces someone with a particular style or approach that gives them troubles. A lefty like Pruett found something that he exploited. Ruth, perhaps to stubborn to make changes, or simply lacking the charts, graphs, video to break it all down, eventually figured him out. That one case is not a knock on Ruth so much as it's a testament to Pruett.

My point was that specialization had not really developed, and neither had pitchers en masse to compensate for the completely new equipment and new rules which drastically shifted the focus (and altered the style of) the game.

It is a testament to Pruett, but consider that the guy was 29-48 lifetime with a lousy ERA. My point was that if one very mediocre specialist completely baffled Ruth for most of his career, what if the league was full of guys like him (although they'd probably more talented) him who could exploit Babe's (very few) weaknesses?


You should start a Williams vs. Ruth thread if you want to really get into every aspect and break it all down. If you think Williams was a better all around hitter, then I would politely disagree and wait til you start that thread to expand further. Good work on that original post though, I can tell you put some time into it, which always deserves a nod.

Thanks for the kudos. It did take awhile. I'm not really interested in starting a thread on Ruth vs. Williams at the moment because we've done it before, and I doubt I'd get many new, insightful responses given that we already had that specific topic on board. I don't think you guys were around for that one, and I'm interested to hear what new people (esp you Ruth savants) have to say. :)

But hey, maybe I will anyway.

Aaron Gleeman is a member here and a writer over at The Hardball Times (great site, btw). Thought you guys who haven't seen this might be interested. It doesn't even discuss contextual factors, but it does assess the profound impact of losing 5 full seasons (3 right in his prime) had on Ted's career. Quite edifying.

http://www.baseball-fever.com/showpost.php?p=131932&postcount=22

Enjoy.
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What's your source here on the slurves, or the prevalence of them during Babe's prime vs. Ted's? The ball might not have been as lively, although I've never read that, either. One thing is for certain, though- the pitchers and pitching developed quite a bit during Ted's career.

Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

From what I've read, the slurve was the breaking pitch of choice for most in Ruth's time.

Also, read any autobiography or any book in general about the differences in these eras. It's a common theme that the ball was more lively in Ted's day.

As far as the strike zone. Most catcher's in Ruth's time didn't crouch all the way down because the strike zone was actually called to the shoulders. It was much larger. Over time, as more and more power hitters came along, pitchers began working lower and lower in the zone. Gradually, the umpires started calling what was being thrown and sooner or later you had a smaller zone. Now, it wasn't as small in Ted's time as it is now, but it was definately "by the book" in Ruth's time.
Here are the American League spitballers who were purportedly grandfathered in:

Doc Ayers
Ray Caldwell
Stan Coveleski
Red Faber
Dutch Leonard
Jack Quinn
Allan Russell
Urban Shocker
Allen Sothoron


Let's not be naive and think these were the only pitchers. Ballplayers were smart and cunning enough back then to gain an edge, even if the rules prohibited it.

It is a testament to Pruett, but consider that the guy was 29-48 lifetime with a lousy ERA. My point was that if one very mediocre specialist completely baffled Ruth for most of his career, what if the league was full of guys like him (although they'd probably more talented) him who could exploit Babe's (very few) weaknesses?

Pruett's career mark and career ERA means nothing. Baseball is a quirky game like that. Some hitters hit better in certain parks. Some do better off certain pitchers. Maybe they can pick up the ball sooner, or have figured out how they like to work them. It was a fluky thing that eventually was figured out.

The league woudn't be full of "specialists". It would be full of guys who weren't good enough to be starters. You're getting into this "what if" game and really you can speculate all you want as to what would have happened. The fact is that everyone faced the same competition in their own eras. Take Williams back and he would be a different hitter but he would make adjustments. He would have to adjust to the different strike zone, different balls, different pitching, and different bat weights and response. Overall knowledge wouldn't be where he knew it to be. He would not be able to take his same approach at the plate. Take Ruth forward and he would need to, and would make proper adjustments imo. Both were freaky.

Btw: that was an interesting post, the link you provided. Let's remember the time that both Ted and Ruth lost. Ruth lost early developmental years at the plate, and Teddy lost a few of the most important years of a players career.
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Btw: that was an interesting post, the link you provided. Let's remember the time that both Ted and Ruth lost. Ruth lost early developmental years at the plate, and Teddy lost a few of the most important years of a players career.

Posted by: csh19792001

Fair enough on the other points- I'll take your word for it on the slurves and the purportedly larger strikezone of Babe's day. I have seen pictures of old time catchers- most still stood while the pitch was being delivered. I'm not sure when this practice died out, though, to be honest.

As to the losing time thing, though, I can't agree with that. Babe gets full credit for his pitching (and offensive contributions) from age 19-24 and never missed a game due to military service (although I have seen him 1918 pictures in uniform). Williams lost 650-700 games, including 3 years from ages 25-27).

In fact, it's Babe's pitching value that puts him ahead of everyone in history in terms of statistical value, (well, Bonds may end up ahead of him according to most measures when all is said and done, but I could care less about that). Ty Cobb has the most offensive value of any player in history, at least according to Win Shares.

If you take away Babe's pitching years (or 4.5 of Babe's offensive seasons, for that matter), consider how far off in the alltime rankings and how many records he would not have been able to set in the early 20's.

The fact is that everyone faced the same competition in their own eras.

Right, but we're comparing the two, so my questions are:
1. Why do you believe the overall level of competition in Ruth's era was as strong as Ted's?
2. (more specifically) Why do you believe conditions were as difficult for hitters/sluggers (esp. homeruns hitters) in general Babe's time in
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I never said that Ruth would do as well playing his entire career in the deadball era, how could he. How would Foxx, Greenberg and heavy hitter do better facing trick deliveries, a less lively ball and a beat up, scuffed up ball left in the game as long as the cover remained intact.

Posted by: csh19792001

Right, and how would a loping, slow, stubborn Ted Williams do against those brutal conditions? That's my problem with calling Williams that greatest hitter ever: he has the awesome numbers, but he couldn't have been the best had he been forced to be a complete offensive player, as Cobb and Wagner were.

In the worst of conditions (1905-1918), before Spalding changed the baseball and while pitchers could do whatever they wanted to the baseball (using 1 lopsided, blackened ball per game), Ty Cobb won 11 batting titles and had a career line of .371/.434/.516 (the league average was a horribly anemic .250/.315/.323 during that timeframe). He hit an impossible .387 during the teens WITH power, leading in slugging 8 times during that stretch.

And the point that I always make is that hitting is much more difficult (and important) than drawing walks, which actually makes OPS a pretty flawed poor indicator of true hitting ability. A .271 hitter with equal slugging and OBP looks the same in value to a .371 hitter, ceterus paribus, via OPS. Obviously this is not true, ergo, Cobb's OPS+ of 185 through the end of the deadball era actually sells him short.

All of the greatest offensive players of Cobb's time were mainly contact hitters (nothing remotely resembling Ruth in style), and yet Cobb still managed to completely dominate for over a decade. From 1919 until the late 20's, Ruth had no more than 1 or 2 serious contenders truly playing his brand of ball. If Babe Ruth were starting out in a league replete with dozens of guys (and really all of the best players) incorporating his style, would he have dominated nearly as much as he did? Obviously not.

For this and other reasons, I choose Cobb as the greatest hitter of all time.
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Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

Going back to the Ruth/Williams thing that Chris brought up, and to play the "what if" game:

Let's assume that Teddy Ballgame played in the late teens and throughout the 20's. As things stood, every hitter after Ruth simply walked down the path that Babe created, so it is unlikely that Williams would have had the same approach as he did. Perhaps he would have had the same courage as Babe, and had blazed the same trail in terms of power, but it is doubtful. Even if he had, it probably wouldn't have been to the same degree, wouldn't have left the same impression on the game, and wouldn't have had such an impact on fans.

Having said all that, if Williams had played back then, he would not have been able to skate by on solely offense. Not that his lack of other skills would push him out of the league, but growing up, he would have needed to be a more complete player, and I believe would have been had he not been influenced by Ruth the way he was. Expectations from players were different back then. Even though Ruth introduced a new brand of ball, his game was all around skillwise. By the time things evolved to Williams' era, being only a hitter had become accepted.

Ruth for instance, had grounders and fly balls hit to him by the hour at St. Mary's which helped him become a skilled fielder. His arm was strengthened by throwing nearly year round as a youth, and various hitting games honed his hand-eye and bat control skills.

These "what if" games are always sketchy and I really try to stay away from them, but if Williams didn't work on his other skills, he would most likely have become a first baseman in an earlier era. His playing first base would only lower his value, especially for most on this board. Had he worked on the other skills, there's no telling how much it would take away from the hitting skills we knew him to have.

Had he stayed an outfielder, he would have had more ground to cover in the larger parks, would be using a smaller glove, and would be expected to have a stronger arm. The common practice of cut-off men were not the norm back then. Fielders were expected to make the long throws from all fields.

Then we come to baserunning. Williams, along with his great hitting, would be expected to be aggressive which would lead to his thighs being torn up by the rocky infields. Medicine hadn't come too far and injury prevention/rehab was nearly non-existent. Much was made about Mantle having to wrap his legs up for most of his playing days, but nobody ever mentions that Ruth played most of his career dousing his thighs with alcohol and wrapping them before each game. This was due to his aggressive baserunning on the rocky infields, and his unwilingness to wear sliding pads under his pants. Cobb wore specialized slliding pants though, and his legs were also tore up, just not as bad as Ruth's.

Williams would hardly have an off day, playing exhibition games even when an open day arrived on the schedule. He would also be playing numerous double headers during the year. Who knows how that would affect him. Actually who knows how much ANY of this would affect him, it's all speculation.

He would be using a heavier bat which would require him to bulk up a bit and work on muscle stamina to maintain performance throughout the exhibition games, and regular season games. He would need to do all of this in a time when workout knowledge and methods were in the infancy stage. No batting cages or scouting charts might have affected him too.

Then there's the pitching. Williams would be facing top tier pitchers on every team, but he would be seeing more of the same pitchers more often. This could both help and hurt him, as the pitchers would gain a good understanding of his weaknesses throughout his career. They would both be constantly making adjustments to eachother, and Williams would certainly need to become a more complete hitter. The larger strike zone would demand it. Ruth had more than twice as many singles as homers in his career because he was willing to take what was given and had the ability to adjust and hit to all fields.

Hitting in larger outfields where the fielders are playing more shallow, many of Ted's line drives and would-be bloop hits would be outs. His batting average wouldn't stand out much, but most likely his power numbers would given the skill we knew him to have. Again, this is tough because do we assume Ruth was there as a trailblazer or not. Maybe someone like Ruth would have come along to be an influence, but if not for Ruth, then who. If not for Ruth, then probably no Gehrig as we knew him, or Simmons, or Foxx, or some others. Luckily it went the way it did, and the history books are written.

That's the tough thing about bringing Teddy Ballgame back in time. The Teddy that we're bringing back might not have been the same Teddy. As it stood, he had those years of natural baseball evolution in terms of knowledge, technique, and game style. It's an interesting subject though. Still, I like to take players for what they actually did, and leave it at that.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Posted by: Sultan_1895_1948
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Sherry Smith, pitcher -

"Ruth's eye was so good, there was little alternative. If Babe got balls somewhere near where he liked to hit them, he would bat .450. He seldom gets a good ball. A pitcher is foolish to give him a good ball, especially with men on base."
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Rube Bressler, pitcher-A’s, Reds, 1914-1920

“Ruth was great too, but he was different. Totally different – easygoing, friendly. There was only one Babe Ruth. He went on the ball field like he was playing in a cow pasture, with cows for an audience. He never knew what fear or nervousness was. He played by instinct, sheer instinct. He wasn’t smart, he didn’t have any education, but he never made a wrong move on a baseball field. One of the greatest pitchers of all time, and then he became a great judge of a fly ball, never threw to the wrong base when he was playing the outfield, terrific arm, good base runner, could hit the ball twice as far as any other human being. He was like a damn animal. He had that instinct. They know when it’s going to rain, things like that. Nature, that was Ruth!”
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Charlie Barry, Athletics, catcher

“Ruth thought there was a lot more to baseball than hitting home runs. He was a ballplayer.”
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Lee Allen, writer

“So Babe could do everything required of a player. His strong left arm provided a wonderful weapon when he became an outfielder, and few were the runners who dared test it. In most ball parks right field is the sun field and in order to prolong his career, the Yankee management usually played him in left field when the club was on the road. But at Yankee Stadium it is left field that bears the heaviest burden of the sun, so when the New York team was at home, Babe could most often be found in right.

Owing to the necessity for avoiding the rays of the afternoon sun as much as possible, the grandstand of Yankee Stadium had to face the northeast. This made left field the sun field, and Ruth was to be used mostly in right when the Yankees were at home.”
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Waite Hoyt

“Will there ever be another Ruth? Don’t be silly! Oh, sure, somebody may come along some day who will hit more than 60 home runs in a season or more than 714 in a career, but that won’t make him another Ruth. The Bambino’s appeal was to the emotions. Don’t tell me about Ruth; I’ve seen what he did to people. I’ve seen them – fans – driving miles in open wagons through the prairies of Oklahoma to see him in exhibition games as we headed north in the spring. I’ve seen them: kids, men, women, worshipers all, hoping to get his famous name on a torn, dirty piece of paper, or hoping to get a grunt of recognition when they said, ‘H’ya, Babe.’ He never let them down; not once! He was the greatest crowd pleaser of them all! It wasn’t so much that he hit home runs, it was how he hit them and the circumstances under which he hit them. Another Ruth? Never!
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George Dauss

“I have pitched a ball to Ruth that was at least a foot and a half off the plate on the outside. But Babe reached out with those long arms of his and pulled the ball into the right field stand.”
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Babe Ruth

“They tell me I swing the heaviest bat in baseball. It’s not only heavy but long, about as long as the law allows. And it weighs 52 ounces. Most bats weigh under 40. My theory is the bigger the bat the faster the ball will travel. It’s really the weight of the bat that drives the ball, and I like a heavy bat. I have strength enough to swing it, and when I meet the ball, I want to feel that I have something in my hands that will make it travel.

Do you see these hands? I got those (callouses) from gripping this old war club. When I am out after a homer, I try to make much of this solid ash handle and I carry through with the bat. You know, in boxing when you hit a man, your fist usually stops right there. But it is possible to hit a man so hard that your fist doesn’t stop. When I carry through with the bat, it is for the same reason. The harder you grip the bat, the faster the ball will travel.”
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Chester Thomas, Red Sox catcher

“Babe hits the ball so hard, that is does things no other batter can make it do. A line drive from his bat over the infielder’s heads will take a quick drop to the ground and carom off at a strange angle. If he hits the ball on the ground, it seldom bounds true because there is so much English on it.”
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The New York Times describing Ruth's first career home run off Jack Warhop, Thursday May 6, 1915

“For Boston, the big left-handed pitcher, Babe Ruth, was all that a pitcher was supposed to be and more. He put his team into the running with a home run rap into the upper tier in right field…First up in the third, with no apparent effort, he slammed a home run into the stands.”
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Babe Ruth, interviewed for Baseball Magazine, February, 1918

“When I was a kid, I used to play baseball most of the time. There was no 154-game schedule for us. The year that we didn’t get in more than 200 games was a slack season. On most good days, when we had the time, we staged a doubleheader and sometimes on Sundays we had three games. I wasn’t a pitcher in those days until I was pretty nearly through my course. My main job was catching behind the bat. I also played first base and the outfield. Three hundred averaged didn’t cut much ice in those days. I used to hit .450 or .500. I kept track one season and found that I made over 60 home runs. The last two years I pitched and got along pretty well. But I never lost my taste for hitting and don’t ever expect to.”
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Ben Egan (caught Ruth in 1914 Orioles camp in Fayetteville)

“Forget him? How can I ever forget him? It would be pleasant to say that I developed Ruth as a pitcher, but that would be nothing but hogwash. Babe knew how to pitch the first day I saw him. I didn’t have to tell him anything. He even knew how to hold runners on base. Believe me, those priests at that school he went to must have taught him something. Or maybe he taught himself. I don’t know. All I know is he was the best-looking kid I’d ever seen and I couldn’t wait to tell Dunnie about him.

You see, Dunn wasn’t at that camp when we opened up. He had put me in charge of the team, but there was also a coach, Sam Steinman, who took it upon himself to issue orders to the players. One day, when it rained, he told us all to work out in the armory, in a room so small we were all in danger of being skulled by thrown balls. That made me mad, so I sent a wire to Dunn in Baltimore and told him there was dissension and that he had better get down there.

Two days later he showed up, and one of his first things he said to me was, ‘Ben, how does that kid from the orphanage look?’ and I said, ‘Dunnie, you won’t be able to keep him a half-season. He’s got wonderful control, just perfect, and he can hit a ball a mile, but he’s a wild kid.’

‘What do you mean, wild?’ Dunn asked, and I said, ‘Oh, he’s just high spirited.’

Just then, as we were walking down the street, Ruth came along on a bicycle, tried to pas a hay wagon and crashed into the back of it. When we got to him, he was laying there in the street. ‘Kid,’ Dunn told him, ‘if you want to go back to that home, just keep riding those bicycles.’

Ruth wasn’t a bad kid, just wild. If he saw a bicycle on the street, he’d get on it and ride off. One morning he found a horse hitched to a post, so he mounted it, rode down the sidewalk and right smack into a Greek confectionery, scattering the employees and the customers all over the place.

I remember the game especially against the Phillies. Ruth was pitching, and Josh Devore was in right field for the Phils. I was a base runner on second, and Sherry Magee, who was playing second, kept beckoning Devore to come in more so he could nab me at the plate if Ruth should single. But Babe then hit the ball so far over Devore’s head we never could find out where it landed. The ball struck in a potato patch, but it rained during the night, and when we went out the next morning to see if we could find the ball, we found it was impossible to locate it.”
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Miller Huggins, winter of 1920

“Babe is nearly made of iron than any other player I ever saw. I believe he could suffer a broken leg and still go out there and hit home runs. Several times last season he took his place in the field and hit home runs while suffering intense physical pain from a strained back, and later in the season while his mosquito bit was threatening him with blood poisoning. In all my twenty years in the game I never before came upon a player who was even willing to take such risks, much less going through with them.”
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Umpire Billy Evans, Spring of 1921 when asked about Ruth’s chances of breaking his homer record

“Well, now, I just don’t know. I really doubt that he will ever hit more than fifty-four; but after all, I didn’t think he would ever hit more than his twenty-nine. But I know this much – every one of his fifty-four was earned. I think he hit twenty of them at the Polo Grounds and only two went into the lower stand.”
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Babe Ruth, winter of ’25

“I am through all right. Through with the pests and the good-time guys who’ve cost me a quarter of a million dollars. I’m going to make good all over again. I used to get sore when people called me a sap and tried to steer me right. They told me about John L. Sullivan and what happened to him, but I just laughed to myself. I was going to be the exception, the popular hero who could do as he pleased. But all those people were right. Now, though, I know that if I am going to wind up sitting pretty on the world I’ve got to face the facts and admit I have been the sappiest of saps.”
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Colonel Ruppert, spring of ’26

“I never saw Babe in better condition. Babe learned a lesson last year when he clashed with Huggins. He admitted his mistake manfully and is willing to make amends. It would be unfair to other players to say that the success of the Yankees depends entirely on Ruth’s comeback. But batting like he did in 1924 and playing every day, he will help the team wonderfully.”
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Posted by: blackout805

Taken from a Buck O'neil PBS interview:

Q-Is there one moment in all of baseball you wish you could have seen?

"I wish I could have been there when Babe Ruth pointed and hit the ball out of the ballpark in the 1932 World Series. I wish I could have seen that. But I did see something I admired just about as much, with Satchel Paige and Babe Ruth. This was in Chicago, after Ruth came out of the major leagues. He was barnstorming, playing with different teams, and he played us. Satchel was pitching and Ruth was hitting. Satchel threw Ruth the ball and Ruth hit the ball, must have been 500 feet, off of Satchel. Satchel looked at Ruth all the way around the bases and when Ruth got to home plate, you know who shook his hand? Satchel Paige shook Ruth's hand at home plate.
They stopped the game and waited, he and Satchel talking, until the kid went out, got the ball, brought it back and Satchel had Babe Ruth autograph that ball for him. That was some kind of moment."
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Posted by: william_burgess@usa.net

Walter Johnson on The Babe:

"He is tall, heavy and strong. His weight is in his shoulders, where it will do him the most good. He is a tremendously powerful man...He grasps the bat with an iron grip and when he meets the ball, he follows through with his full strength and weight. For his size, Joe Jackson is as hard a hitter as Ruth, but that margin of 30 pounds in weight and enormous reserve strength enables Ruth to give the ball that extra punch, which drives it further than anybody else."

Ruth's 12th homer in 1920 was spectacular. It was the first homer Walter had allowed in over 2 years. It came with 2 men on, in the sixth inning of a 7-7 game, and gave the Yanks a 10-7 win. Johnson threw a hard curve and Ruth hit the ball off the facade of the Polo Grounds roof. The Times the next day reported that the ball "nearly tore away part of the roof." The hype machine was in full force, and Ruth's play gave them no reason not to.

More Walter on Babe from Baseball Magazine -

"Ruth is the hardest hitter in the game. There can be no possible doubt on that point. He hits the ball harder and drives it further than any man I ever saw. And old timers whose memory goes back to days when baseball was little more than 'rounders,' tell me they have never seen his equal."

Johnson contemplates "Ruthmania" -

"There was an odd angle to the Memorial Day games which illustrate what a curious sport baseball really is. In the first encounter, Duffy Lewis smashed a home run into the stands, which tied up the score. There was very little commotion. A minute later, Truck Hannah drove out another homer, which won the game. The excitement was nothing unusual. Then in the second game, Ruth hit his home run when the game is already won, and there is particularly nothing at stake, and the crowd gets so crazy with excitement, they are ready to tear up the stands. Strange, isn't it?"
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People have asked me if I didn't consider Babe Ruth the greatest of natural hitters. I certainly do not. There are many times when Babe looks terrible at bat. I've seen him miss a ball by two feet. Nobody ever saw Joe Jackson miss a ball two feet. Babe has his particular specialty where no one can equal him. He can hit a ball harder than anybody who ever lived. But why go outside that specialty and make claims for him that aren't true?

Babe is certainly a terrific slugger. No one can convince me that his equal ever lived since baseball graduated from the rounders stage. I, for one, do not expect to live long enough to see any other player come up who can hit the ball, day in and day out, as hard as Ruth. Some kind friends have claimed that Lou Gehrig can hit the ball nearly as hard as Babe. Perhaps he can, but if so, it's just nearly. Gehrig may be second best, but he's not and never will be Babe's equal in sheer slugging. (Walter Johnson interview, Baseball Magazine, October, 1929)
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Babe Ruth is the most dangerous hitter I ever saw, but he is not the best hitter. Like Ty Cobb, Babe has other talents which help out his batting. He is so big and strong that sheer strength works for him just as speed worked for Ty Cobb. Ty would beat out an infield hit by fast footwork. Babe will beat out an infield hit by sheer strength, for he will top a ball and still drive it through the infield for a hit. (Walter Johnson, Baseball Magazine, June, 1925, pp. 291)

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Posted by: william_burgess@usa.net

Ruth: How Long His Records Lasted

Like Babe's records? Here are a few for your collecting pleasure. Enjoy.

Babe Ruth's 13 most famous records.

Career Strike Outs - 38 yrs. - from 1926, (1330)when Babe took it from Tom Brown, (709), to 1964, when Mickey Mantle took it from him.

Season HRs - 42 yrs. - from 1919 - to 1961, when Roger Maris broke it with 61, albeit with 7 extra games.

Career RBIs - 43 yrs. - from 1932, when Babe took it from Cobb, (1938), to 1975, when Aaron took it from Babe. (2213)

World Series consecutive scoreless innings pitched - 44 yrs. - from 1916-18, when Babe took the record of 27 innings away from Christy Mathewson, when he pitched 29 2/3 innings, to 1960-62, when Whitey Ford pitched 33 innings and took the record from Babe.

Career Slugging Ave. - 81 yrs. - from 1923, when Babe took it from Rogers Hornsby, (.536)to the present. (.690) Still stands.

Career HRs - 53 yrs. - 714 - from 1921, when Babe took it from Roger Connor, (138), to 1974 when Hank Aaron broke it. (714)

Career Walks - 71 yrs. - from 1930, when Babe took it from Eddie Collins, (1499), to 2001, when Rickey Henderson broke it, (2062), but didn't hold it too long, since Barry Bonds broke it in 2004, and still adds to it by the game.

Single Season At-Bats per HR - 77 yrs. - from 1919, when Babe took it from Ned Williamson, (15.44) to 1996, when Mark McGuire to it from Babe. (8.13)

At Bats per HR - 81 yrs. - from 1917, when Babe took it from Gavvy Cravath, (33.20) to 1998, (11.76), when Mark McGuire took it from him. (10.61)

Single season Walks - 81 yrs. - from 1920, when Babe took it from Jimmy Sheckard, (147) to 2001, (177), when Barry Bonds took it from Babe. (198)

Single season Slugging Ave. - 81 yrs. - from 1920 (.847), when Babe took it from Hugh Duffy, (.694), to 2001, when Barry Bonds took it from Babe. (.863)

Highest World Series BA. - 76 yrs. - .625 from 1928 to present. Still Stands. He went 10 x 16 in a 4 game series, with 3 homers, 3 doubles, and 9 runs in 16 AB.

Career On-Base Ave. - 24 yrs. - From 1923, when Babe took it from John McGraw, (.474), to 1947, (.474), when Ted Williams took it from Babe, (.483).
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Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

Some more...

------Record----------------Number----New Record-----Yrs Lasted-----Broken By

Career Xtra-Base H-----------1,356----------1,377-----------28----------Musial

Musial had 24 extra-base hits in his final year (1963) to break the mark. Worth noting that Musial's had 10,972 career AB compared to Ruth's 8,398 (2,574 more).



------------Record----------------------Number----New Record---Yrs Lasted------Broken By

ML single Season SHO by Lefty (1916)-------9----------10-------------17--------Carl Hubbell (1933)



--------------Record---------------------Number---New Record----Yrs Lasted-----Broken By

AL single Season SHO by Lefty (1916)-------9----------10-------------69--------John Tutor (1985)



----------Record--------------Number---New Record----Yrs Lasted-----Broken By

Most HR by pitcher (1915)-------4-----------9-------------16--------Wesley Ferrell (1931)



---------------Record-----------------------------Number------New Record

ML single season Xtra base hits (1921)--------------119--------Never Broken

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Most grand slams in a single season (1919)------------4

Least erros in LF (1919)-----------2------------1-------31----Hoot Evers (1950)

Most put-outs RF---------------378----------394-------48--------Del Unser (1971)

World Series 5 game pitching record for fewest hits allowed (6), lasted 33 years until Allie Reynolds broke it.

Lowest career World Series ERA (.087) lasted 28 years until Harold Brecheen broke it.

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Never Broken: HR titles (12), SA titles (13), BB titles (11), R titles (8), RBI titles (6), single season R post 1900 (177), complete game WS pitching victory (14 innings, 1916).

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Posted by: william_burgess@usa.net

Babe Ruth's Decline Phase:

Although Babe hit well up until almost the end of his fabled career, he had peaked by 1924. I posted below some of his league-leading categories, and how he had stopped leading the league after 1928 in some of them. He still looks very good, but he's coming back down to the rest of the league. And those trends are what all must look at. When it came to the following categores, Babe led his league in the following yrs.

extra-base hits, 1918-21, 23-24, 28
Runs,-----------1919-21, 23-24, 26-28
Total Bases,-----1919, 21, 23-24, 26, 28
RBI,-------------1919-21, 23, 26, 28t
strike outs,------1918, 23-24, 27-28
times on base,---1919-21, 23-24, 26, 28, 31t
power/speed #,--1921, 23, 26

To be sure, from 29-33, Babe was still a force to be reckoned with. In the above categories, he was a top 10 player for most of those seasons, simply not the league leader as before.

I got the above information from BB-reference. Now back to my point. Does the above record by Babe look great. You bet it does. Few if any can dream of approaching it. To denigrate Babe's greatness isn't the point of the exercise. The point is to compare one to their league! To see where one is relative to the competition.

And to view Babe's page in TB or MacMillan, appears he had no decline, due to the era, and the Live Ball 1930 phase 2, lifting all that periods hitters into an inflated level. But when one sees the above, it is clear that the Babe did indeed have a decline in his productivity, RELATIVE TO LEAGUE.

I one time posted that by the end of the 1920's, the league had caught up with the Babe, and got my ass roasted for my troubles. Point: Relative numbers show what the unadjusted numbers do not.

And from the above, it IS clear that the league did indeed catch up with the Babe by 1929. It shows 5 power categories, where he was able to lead his league in his prime, but could no longer do after 1928. He was 33 yrs. old, determined to hold on as long as he could, but could not lead his league in those 5 power categories, as he had done when he had strode & conquered, in his peak, 1919-24. This was due to the application of relentless pressure from Gehrig, Foxx, Simmons, Gehringer, Goslin, Meusel, Blue, Heilmann, Manush, etc.

Babe fought hard. As the reigning champ, he fought manfully, as expected, since he had a warrior's heart. But even the best slugger we ever produced, found out, that in the end, even the best sucumb to age and youth. Time is an adversary which is not subject to casualties.

This was not an anti-Babe bashing excercise, but a decline phase exercise, which requires Relative stats.
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Posted by: Sultan_1895_1948

What of Ruth's durability?

Through 1973 only sixty-one of ten thousand ballplayers had played twenty full seasons in the majors, and twenty of those sixty-one were pitchers.

Of the men on major-league rosters in 1915, Ruth's first full season, only three played after 1934 and none after 1935.

From '20-'34 Babe's schedule called for 2,310 games. He appeared in 2,083.

Throw in the exhibition games and his percentage gets even higher. The majority of the exhibition games were scheduled with clauses in place, which promised Ruth would be on the field. Off days didn't exist for a guy like him.
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Posted by: bobp

Anyone know who took over for Babe in LF when he left his final game on May 30, 1935?
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Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

May 30th in Philadelphia? I'm gonna guess Hal Lee.

What an ending to a brilliant career huh. Striking out in the top of the first, and hurting his knee going after a fly ball in the bottom of the first. Never to play again. It should have ended in Pittsburgh :rolleyes:
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Posted by: bobp

Lee is my guess as well. Just wondered if anyone knew for sure.

Also, various sources indicate that Ruth's last AB was a weak grounder to 1st baseman Dolph Camilli.
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Posted by: SHOELESSJOE3

I would say Lee did replace The Babe in that game played May 30. Just two days before that game, May 28 Ruth was 0 for 3, injured his leg and was replaced on that day by Hal lee.
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Also, various sources indicate that Ruth's last AB was a weak grounder to 1st baseman Dolph Camilli.

Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

Really? Which sources. I always understood it to be a strikeout in the top of the first, then the he hurt his leg in the bottom of the first, coming out for good. Now you're gonna make me go check my "sources." :cool:
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Posted by: bobp

http://www.philadelphiaathletics.org/history/baberuth.htm
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http://www.philadelphiaathletics.org/history/baberuth.htm

Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

Interesting. I question the accuracy of that website though, and here's why.


Thanks to Hollywood, many people feel that was Ruth's final Major League game (3 homer game) - circling the bases in triumph one last time before going into the dugout, entering the clubhouse and calling it a career. The scene, undoubtedly, provides a storybook conclusion to a fabled tale. Wouldst that it was true; but regrettably, it is not. Maybe Ruth should have called it a career at that point, but perhaps sensing that the old magic was back, he hung around for one more game. After leaving Pittsburgh, the Braves next stop on their road trip was Philadelphia.


I just looked up that time frame. Just one source. The only source IMO that is really necessary. Creamer.

Ok. Saturday May 25th was the three homer game in Pittsburgh. He was 4-4 with 3 dongs, a single, and 6 RBI, but they lost anyway 7-11.

That indeed was the final game in Pittsburgh, and Babe indeed wanted to call it quits after that. Duffy Lewis, the Braves traveling secretary at the time, and good friend of Babe's encouraged Babe to quit right there also. It would have been a fitting ending.

"'I can't,' he cried. 'I promised that son of a bitch (Fuchs) I'd play in all the towns on this trip.' And there was still Cincinnati and Philadelphia to go." (Creamer)

The next day was NOT in Philadelphia, it was in Cincinnati where they held a Babe Ruth day and Crosley had the biggest crowd since opening day. This is sunday May 26th. Babe struck out three times and popped up. He pinch-hit on Monday, and on Tuesday left the game in the fifth inning, with a sore knee.

This takes us to Wed. May 29th, the first game in Philadelphia. Again, a Babe Ruth day was held and he was presented with a huge floral baseball. He walked twice and struck out twice, and the Braves won to break an 8 game losing streak.

Now, we come to the game. The game your website claims happened immediately following the 3 homer game. This is Thursday May 30th. First game of a double header, he was in the starting lineup. "He struck out in the first inning. In the field, in the bottom of the first he hurt his knee going after a fly ball and left the game. He never played again. His career ended not with a bang in Pittsburgh, but a wimper in Philadelphia." (Creamer)

From what I gather, Fuchs was a greedy ******* who wanted Babe to play, despite being badly hurt, fat, and old, just so he could boost a sagging gate. He figured that even though the team sucked, at least if Babe continued to play, he could make some dough.
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Posted by: bobp

OK, so now we have differing accounts.

(Small point: it's not my website, just a site I found.)

My original question was "who took over in LF when Ruth left the game?" I know I can buy the box score from the game ... but I wanted to see if anyone already knew the answer.

Now we have an additional question: "What happened in Ruth's final AB?"

Looks like I'll have to spend the $10 to find out!! :( Then, I'll get the answer to both questions.
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Now we have an additional question: "What happened in Ruth's final AB?"

Looks like I'll have to spend the $10 to find out!! :( Then, I'll get the answer to both questions.

Posted by: william_burgess@usa.net

Randy already answered you.

What an ending to a brilliant career huh. Striking out in the top of the first, and hurting his knee going after a fly ball in the bottom of the first. Never to play again. It should have ended in Pittsburgh.

As much as he wanted to quit after the game in Pittsburgh, he stayed on because he had given to Boston Braves owner, Judge Emil Fuchs his promise that he'd not quit until after Memorial Day. They had scheduled a double hitter in Philly for that weekend, and had advertised Babe playing in Cincinnati before that, and the Cincy fans had never seen him play. So he was trying (and succeeding) in keeping his word, even if it wasn't fun to do so, or feeling appropriate in terms of historically going out with a bang.

I think Babe keeping his word is more admirable than taking the easy way out. Even if it meant being embarrassed by NL stars like Dean/Hubbell.

Bill Burgess

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Posted by: william_burgess@usa.net

Larry MacPhail, GM of the Dodgers, announced on June 17, 1938, that he'd hired Babe, for the rest of the 1938 season to be the third base coach for the Dodgers. His 1st game he appeared in a Dodger uniform on the field was June 18, 1938. He was supposed to appear in all the exhibition games, and give a 10 minute hitting exhibition before each regular & exhibition game. He was suckered again into believing that he'd be manager the following yr. But they changed their minds and gave the job to Leo Durocher, who Babe had dubbed the "All-American Out", when Leo had been a Yankee.

Babe had also accused Leo of stealing an expensive watch from the Yankee clubhouse, when one turned up missing. Leo never forgot those things. So when he got the job for the Dodgers, Babe wasn't around the following year. (Information found in "The Babe and I", by Mrs. Clair Ruth, with Bill Slocum, 1959)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Babe & The Yankees:

The Yanks did offer him the Newark minor league team slot, but he turned them down. He did have his pride, but I feel he wasn't way out of line.

Babe asked his boss, Jake Ruppert on several occasions for the job. At first, when Huggins passed in late season, 1929, Babe just assumed he would be offered the gig.

But they offered it first to Eddie Collins, who said no, then they offered it to Art Fletcher, who also turned it down. They finally asked Bob Shawkey, who took it for 1 season only. Babe assumed he get it after that, but they asked Joe McCarthy. They told Babe at the time that they believed that if he managed it would hurt his on-field game.

Babe really could not accept that a man who had never played in the MLs would get it ahead of him. Babe had a solid argument. He had seen Speaker, Hornsby, Sisler, Collins, Schalk, Cobb, Bucky Harris and Dave Bancroft all become player/managers in the 20's.

He couldn't understand how his previous behavior was being held against him. Cobb & Hornsby had never been saints either, yet got promoted. His anger/resentment was so intense that he never missed a chance to snipe and take cheap shots at Joe whenever possible. That made him poison in Barrow's and Ruppert's eyes.

He had a chance to manage Detroit, but he messed it up. Before Detroit boss Navin gave it to Cochrane, he floated rumors about Babe coming onboard. Babe was going to Hawaii and stopped over in San Fran. Babe called Navin and asked about the job. Navin was non-committal, and told Babe to call him when he got back from his trip. Babe pressed him for a commitment right then and there, and Navin said, "In that case, the answer is NO." Babe blew it.

On the ship going to Japan, Connie Mack noticed how Babe was with his wife. Connie mentioned, "If I ever let Babe manage my team, his wife would be running the show in 2 weeks."

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

Babe's "called shot" home run. October 1, 1932

It's important to note that while he may not have actually called his shot, his intentions were well known.

A few things about that series. It was really Gehrig would outshined Ruth, but like he so often did, Babe found a way to overshadow Gehrig with his larger than life showmanship and flair for the dramatic.

Whether you're aware of them or not, I'll paraphrase some key details about the issues of the series, from Creamer.

--- He was twice out of the lineup for extended periods of time during '32. In the middle of July he either tore or badly strained his right hamstring chasing after a fly ball. He was in the hospital for a few days and missed just over two weeks of the season.

In September, he had a sharp pain along his right side. He continued to play, but the pain got worse. He thought he had appendicitis. Not clear what it was, but there was no operation and he was kept in bed for several days with a fever. Ten days before the World Series he was back in uniform and felt weaker than ever.

He took BP against a young pitcher, and couldn't hit the ball into the stands. His quote, "I'm so weak I don't think I could break a pane of glass, but I'll be okay in a few days. They had me packed so deep in ice I haven't thawed out yet."

It was doubtful that he would even be able to play in that '32 World Series. In five games before the series, he was 3-16 without a homer. He found a way though, and for game one, he was the starting right fielder.

--- Mark Koenig was with the Yankees during '32, and was sent down to the minors. The Cubs picked him up late in the year, and Koenig played 33 games for them down the stretch. He fielded great at SS and hit .353 in those 33 games, helping the Cubs to win the pennant.

So when the Cubs were deciding to divide up their World Series pot, they voted to only give Koenig a half share. Other things of note: Rogers Hornsby was fired as Cubs manager about 2/3 through the season and received nothing. Frank Demaree, a young outfielder, who only played 23 games for the Cubs that year, but played center and batted fifth in 2 of the World Series games, including hitting a homer, was given a quarter share.

This is what initially caused the bad blood. Ruth was at the forefront, and was followed by other Yankees who were very vocal about their displeasure of Koenig only receiving half share. They called the Cubs cheapskates, the Cubs fired back, some more stuff was said, and the Cubs fired back directly at Ruth, calling him old, fat, washed up, and of course, the old stand by insult for him, "******."

--- The insults were flying heavily as the Yanks won the first 2 games in NY. The series then went to Chicago for game three. When Babe arrived with Claire at the train station, thousands of fans were crammed around them. Nothing unusual. Babe fought his way through and got to a cab. Escorted by motorcycle cops, and eventually ending up at the hotel, Babe and Claire were entering the hotel, when a woman spit on them. It is rumored that Babe was so upset by this, that he told Claire that night , "I'm going to hit 'em where it hurts most."

--- So we come to the game and the jockeying is worse than ever. As Creamer writes, "It is an argument over nothing, and the fact that Ruth did not point to center field before his home run does not diminish in the least what he did. He did challenge the Cubs before 50,000 people, did indicate that he was going to hit a home run and did hit a home run. What more could you ask?"

--- Later on, Ruth told Chicago sportswriter John Carmichael, "I didn't exactly point to any spot. All I wanted to do was give that thing a ride out of the park, anywhere. I used to pop off a lot about hitting homers, but mostly among the Yankees. Combs and Lazzeri and Fletcher used to yell, 'Come on, Babe, hit one.' So I'd come back, 'Okay you bums. I'll hit one!' Sometimes I did. Sometimes I didn't. Hell, it was fun."

--- After his initial comments about Koenig, Babe complained that the Chicago press had brought the fans down on him with stories about the bench jockeying. "They wrote about me riding the Cubs for being tight and about me calling them cheapskates," he said. "Well didn't you?" he was asked. "Well, weren't they?" he answered with irrefutable logic. Then he grinned and said, "Jesus, I wish I had known they only voted that kid Demaree a quarter share. Would I have burned them on that one."

--- Babe's first AB came with men on first and second and nobody out. Root threw a pitch outside for ball one, another one inside for ball two. Then he threw a fastball on the outside corner, and Babe hit a 3 run homer into the right field stands. The Yanks were up 3-0.

--- Gehrig hit a homer in the third with the bases empty to make it 4-0, and Ruth followed by hitting a towering drive which was caught right at the right centerfield fence.

--- The Cubs rallied in the bottom of the fourth inning, and the fourth of their runs especially delighted the crowd, since it came when Babe missed a shoestring catch. The razzing only got worse from there. A lemon was thrown at him in the on deck circle, as he waited to bat in the top of the fifth. Wasn't that big of a deal. In pregame, many lemons were thrown in his direction. He laughed and threw them back into the stands, in a good mood. Him and Gehrig put on a display in batting practice that outdid what they had done 5 years earlier in Pittsburgh. Babe hit nine balls into the stands, and Gehrig seven. After he was done hitting, Babe yelled to the Cub bench , "I'd play for half my salary if I could hit in the dump all the time." Gomez commented, "With that wind, I could hit a home run today."

--- As the game had just started, the Cubs' trainer yelled to Babe , "If I had you, I'd hitch you to a wagon, you potbelly." Ruth commented after the game, "I didn't mind no ballplayers yelling at me, but the trainer cutting in-that made me sore." Back to the fifth inning, the yelling and booing got louder and louder as he stepped in to face Root for the third time with a grin on his face. Shoeless already covered what happened during the AB.

Here are some shots from that video you mention Joe.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Here are some shots from that video you mention Joe.
Posted by: SHOELESSJOE3

In the very next game of that 1932 World Series, Ruth's chief tormentor Guy Bush was the starting pitcher for the Cubs. First inning, first at bat Bush hits Ruth on the arm.

This at bat was shown in that Ken Burns special. As Ruth trots to first, he makes flicking motions where he was hit on the arm, as one would do to brush away an insect. He yells to Bush, ' Hey, lop ears, was that your fast ball." In reality Ruth was hit very hard, his forearm was bruised and swelled up.

I know some are aware of this but for those who are not. Guy Bush and Ruth meet again in 1935, Bush pitching for Pittsburgh and Ruth with the Boston Braves. Bush tells of how he almost shows pity for Ruth. He's old, sick with a cold, limping a bit but says he will show no mercy, not from me. To get to the point Ruth hit his third home run of that game, his last number 714. The ball is hit where no ball have ever been hit up to that time, over the roof at Forbes Field.
Bush tips his cap as Ruth rounds third and says to himself, 'I've seen everything now Babe. He hit that ball over the triple deck, it was the longest cockeyed ball I ever saw in my life."

Limping badly rounding the bases he did not return to the Braves bench but sat down with the Pirates so he would have a shorter walk to his outfield position at the end of the inning.

Put him on center stage and there was never a performer like him. You got your moneys worth when you paid to see the Big Guy.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

Speaking of Babe....

Jimmy Reese, Babe's roomate with the Yanks in 1930

I went with Babe to visit St. Mary's, and they took us into a room with straps lined up against a wall. They said, "These are the straps we used on Babe Ruth."
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In one game against Cleveland, manager Tris Speaker had Babe walked with the bases loaded, two outs, and his team only leading by two runs. That's how much they thought of Babe.
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I couldn't sleep because the phone rang all night long - and none of the calls were for me. In the middle of the night, Babe would come strolling in the room and say, "What's goin' on?" I'd respond, "Oh nothing, except that I have about four hundred phone messages for you."
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We were scuffling in the clubhouse one day before a ballgame when Babe decided to lock me in a locker. It so happened that he hit a home run that afternoon. He came up to me and said, "Well, you're going in the locker again tomorrow." He did that for three consecutive days, because he hit a home run all three days. It got to the point where I was hoping he wouldn't hit one out of the park, because I was getting tired of being locked in that locker.
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We were playing pool one night in his apartment, and he owed me twenty dollars. Mrs. Ruth comes in the room and says, "Babe, dinner is ready." Babe said, "I can't go until I get even." After he won the next game, he said, Okay, now we can eat." He just didn't like to lose. Another time, he wouldn't let Lou Gehrig go to sleep until he got even in a game of bridge.
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On golf: He could hit the ball four hundred miles, but he had no control. They said they shouldn't charge him green fees, because he never used the course.
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Ben Chapman, Yankees outfielder, 1930-1934

It was always in the paper and I agreed with them: "As Babe goes, so go the Yankees." In other words, he was the bell cow.
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I don't think anyone hit'em as far as Babe did. He was the first one to put a ball into orbit.
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The farthest home run I ever saw him hit was in Birmingham. It went completely out of the stadium and over the railroad tracks. I've never seen anybody hit a ball like that. You couldn't measure most of Babe's, because they went 475 to 500 feet on the average. If he were playing today, he'd hit 90 home runs.
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I remember him hitting that first home run in the 1933 All-Star game, because I replaced him in the outfield that day. He hit that one about nine miles.
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I had some disagreements with Babe because he would always make me play the sun field. If it was right field, then I played there. I really didn't mind as long as I was getting to play every day.
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Lefty Gomez, Yankees pitcher, 1930-1943

I think it's safe to say that no one hit home runs the way Babe did. They were something special. They were like homing pigeons. The ball would leave the bat, pause briefly, suddenly gain its bearings, then take off for the stands.
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One time we were driving through puddles in St. Petersburg when Babe's car stalled because the wires were soaked. You know who ended up pushing that car to the gas station? Me! Babe sat behind the wheel and laughed, "Faster, Gomez, faster!"
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When Babe was dying of cancer, I remember total strangers stopping in front of the hospital to say a prayer for him.
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Mark Koenig, Yankees shortstop, 1925-1930

He had such a beautiful swing, he even looked good striking out.
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On Babe's third hr in the third game of the 1926 World Series: The pitcher had Babe struck out, but the umpire ruled the pitcher had "quick pitched" him or something, so he called it a ball. Wouldn't you know, Babe hit the very next pitch into the right field stands for his third homer of the game.
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Bill Klem, home-plate umpire for the third game of the 1926 World Series

The three home runs Babe hit in that game were the three farthest balls I ever saw hit.
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Eliot Asinof, author, Eight Men Out

When I was eight years old, my father would take me to Yankee Stadium. I distinctly remember Babe Ruth hitting home runs early in the game, prompting about half the fans to head for the exits. All they wanted was to see Babe Ruth hit a home run.
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Johnny Vander Meer, Reds pitcher, 1937-1949

He may have had a hang-up on name, but he had a fantastic memory for faces and places. If he went by a road or town once, he wouldn't need a road map the next time. He had an incredible memory from eyesight.
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He would always wave the right way or say the right things. He used to drive around in this sixteen-cylinder Cadillac that had to be close to thirty feet long. One day, Babe and I were racing through the Catskills. There happened to be a policeman parked on the side of the road who recognized Babe and yelled , "Hi ya, Babe!"
Well, I'm right behind him, and as soon as the cop sees me, he flags me down for speeding. Babe saw what happened, whipped his car around and came to my rescue. "It's okay, officer," he said confidently. "He's with me."
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Joe Sewell, Yankees third baseman, 1931-1933

One day we were playing in St. Louis, and Babe hit one across Grand Avenue and on top of a three story building. I was on first base and I stopped before I got to second to watch it. That was the farthest ball I ever saw hit. It must have been a half-mile high.
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When Babe hit sixty home runs in 1927, no one even pitched to him. I played for the Indians back then, and we threw the ball in the dirt, behind his back, over his head, anywhere but over the plate. If everyone pitched to him, he would've hit 100.
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I was in New YOrk the day they retired his uniform. Babe came into the clubhouse with his attendant, and I turned and said to my son, "Go over and get a good look at him, because he's not going to be with us much longer." He did about three months later.
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I got five hits in five times at bat against Lefty Grove, and I was a left-handed hitter. My fifth hit that day was a home run into the right-field stands. Up until this point, Babe had failed to hit a home run. I'll never forget Babe waiting for me at home plate. He shook my hand and said, "Well kid, they call came out to see me hit a home run today, and you picked me up." He was a tremendous team player who thought a lot of his fellow man.
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Hank Greenberg, Tigers first baseman, 1933-1946
I had the good fortune of playing two years against Babe Ruth. He was in a class by himself. He overshadowed Foxx, Gehrig and the rest of them. Ruth was the only player I knew that when he came out on the field, everybody stopped. It was like the star came on center stage. When he went to take batting practice, nobody looked at anything but Babe. When you've got that type of magnetism, you know you're the star.
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Bob Lemon, Indians pitcher, 1941-1958

When I was twelve years old, I played hooky from school and rode my bicycle fourteen miles to Long Beach, California, just to get Babe Ruth's autograph. After the exhibition, in which Babe hit about two dozen balls out of the park, he was signing balls in the parking lot. I couldn't believe who was standing next to him waiting for an autograph - my father. I rode like hell to get home before he did. In later years we used to practice with that ball when Dad wasn't around. He kept looking at it from time to time and wondering why the name on theball kept fading.
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Bill Dickey, Yankees catcher, 1928-1944

I saw him hit balls so high to the infield that nobody wanted to catch them. The players would fall down and Babe would end up with a triple.
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I was scared to death of Ruth and Gehrig. I was trying to hit the ball as far as them, and I could never do that as long as I live. Miller Huggins came up to me and said, "You're trying to hit the ball as far as Ruth and Gehrig, aren't you?" I said, "Yes sir." Huggings then told me to get an Earle Combs model, choke up on the bat, and hit to all fields. It really helped me.
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I came into the clubhouse one day and my shoes were nailed to the floor. The only guy there was Tony Lazzeri, and he told me Babe had done it. Back in those days shoes cost sixteen dollars a pair, which was a lot of money. I was a rookie and really didn't know what to do.
The next day I bought myself an egg and put it in one of Babe's shoes. Everyone in the clubhouse knew what I was up to and waited anxiously for Babe to come in. We all watched as Babe got dressed, and, wouldn't you know, the last thing he put on was the shoe with the egg in it. You could see his face clearly, as he looked around in disbelief. He turned the shoe upside down and emptied the egg out onto the floor. He got really mad and turned red. Then he walked to the opposite end of the clubhouse looking for the guilty party.
Well, I called out in this little fine voice, "Babe, I put that egg in your shoe." He turned around real fast and came running right up to me. I thought he was gonna take a swing at me, but all of a sudden he broke out in a big laugh, and all you could hear was laughter throughout the clubhouse.
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We were riding through my home town in Arkansas on a train, when all of a sudden the train comes to a halt. do you know, the people in town found out Babe was on that train and had flagged it down?
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Mel Allen, Yankees broadcaster, 1930s-1980s

The first time I saw Babe Ruth play was in Detroit against the Tigers. I was only a teenager at the time but I'll never forget that day.
The Yankees were trailing by about five runs when Babe made the final out in the top of the eighth inning. After the Tigers were retired in their half of the eighth, Babe ran in from the outfield and sat on the Tigers bench: laughing, knee slapping, and having a good time. You really weren't allowed to sit in the opposing dugout, but the umpires let it go because it was Babe.
Well, in the top of the ninth, the Yankees stage a big rally and bat around. All of a sudden it's Babe's turn to hit again. The bases were loaded when he stepped to the plate and hit the first pitch deep over the center-field fence. The Yankees scored six runs or so in the inning and went on to win the game. I'll never forget how Babe laughed like crazy as he ran around the bases.
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Many people have told me that the reason they brought their infants to see Babe, as he lay in state in the rotunda of Yankee Stadium, was because one day they wanted to tell them they saw the great Babe Ruth.
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Honus Wagner, 1924

No all-American team would be complete without Babe Ruth, either as a regular or extra man. His hitting alone gives him a place. And, let me tell you, Ruth is a much better fielder and a faster man on base than a lot of people think. He looks slow on account of his immense size, but that boy can get about. Babe Ruth is without a doubt the longest hitter that baseball ever knew.

I have seen all the long range boys but nobody in the world could ever hit a ball like Ruth. Many pitchers are justly afraid of pitching to Ruth. They fear he may hit a ball directly back at them that would be fatal. They pass him for that reason as any other. If I had him in the two-three hole you can bet I'd let him walk rather than put one in the groove.
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Bucky Harris, Washington Manager

"He could beat you single-handed, had good baseball instinct and brought into the game something that nobody else had."
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Rube Walberg

"He could hit any kind of pitching and field with the best of the outfielders. If the score was tied and the Yankees needed a stolen base to put them in scoring position, the Babe would be the boy to deliver it although he wasn't a Ty Cobb on the base paths."
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Waite Hoyt, picking greatest of all time

"I pick Ruth for all-round unlimited general skill and drawing ability."
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Lawton (Whitey) Witt

"He made few mistakes on the playing field, and how he could hit."
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Jimmie Foxx, picking greatest of all time

"Ty was about washed up when I came up, while Ruth was the hottest man in the majors. I'd say Babe Ruth."

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Subject: Are there any records that will never be broken?

Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

>>>.690<<<
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Posted by: csh19792001

Well, I used to think that was completely unassailable, then I saw Barry Bonds (age 37-40, mind you) go out and slug .809 for a full four years. He slugged .781 for the 5 year period of 2000-2004.

In fact, Sultan, from 1998-2004 Barry slugged .731, and that includes the year he was injured. Barry hooked up with Team Balco in 1998. What if he'd hooked up with them much earlier? From the beginning of his career through 1997, Barry's slugging percentage was an excellent .551- outstanding, but not other-wordly.

From 1995 till the end of his career (2001) Mark McGwire slugged .683, and that's with a relatively poor BA. Up till 1995, McGwire's career slugging had been a paltry .523. He all but admitted steroid use before Congress, and all the evidence points towards him using, regardless.

See, this is what happens-steroids completely distort the record books in this way, and bring into play .690, which for 60+ years was considered completely untouchable. Now I'm not sure it is anymore.
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Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

I see where you're coming from Chris, but that number is set in stone. Teddy Ballgame isn't within 55 points of it.

For the players you speak of though, it took a few of the greatest power hitters ever, in an era that favored slugging, in only a short span, under suspicious goings on.......to even come close.

We're talking .690 in a career, where everything is taken into account.

Just for fun, let's only include Babe's seasons from 1919 on. Before then, he had spurratic AB, not really getting into a rhythm, and his attention/focus was split.

Leaving all of his decline in there, but just starting from 1919, we have 5446 TB in 7720 AB. That's a career .705 SA.

Of course we can't do that, but the argument could be made.

Anyway, it's in stone. No worries.
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Well, I used to think that was completely unassailable, then I saw Barry Bonds (age 37-40, mind you) go out and slug .809 for a full four years. He slugged .781 for the 5 year period of 2000-2004.
Posted by: Honus Wagner Rules

One day a hitter of the caliber of Bonds, Pujols, or Frank Thomas will play in Coors Field and it will be an amazing experience for baseball fans. Put the 2001 Barry Bonds in Coors Field and he easily hits .400.
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One day a hitter of the caliber of Bonds, Pujols, or Frank Thomas will play in Coors Field and it will be an amazing experience for baseball fans. Put the 2001 Barry Bonds in Coors Field and he easily hits .400.
Posted by:bkmckenna

amazing or kind of a joke
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I see where you're coming from Chris, but that number is set in stone.

Anyway, it's in stone. No worries.
Posted by: csh19792001

Good. That's what I hope too. :waving
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Posted by: west coast orange and black

from 2001-04bonds slugged .809
from 2000-04 bonds slugged .781
from 1998-04 bonds slugged .731
from 1995-01 mcgwire slugged .683

the great albert pujols is sittin' at .621 after his first five amazing seasons.
now all he has to do to reach .690 in a 20-year career is slug .713 in each of his next 15 seasons.

or, should he wanna retire after 15 seasons, slug 1.070 in each of the next 10.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

When first trying to post information from each and every one of Ruth's contracts, I quickly realized that it was too arduous a task. Both important and interestingly unimportant details could and would be left out and the read didn't turn out to be much fun. So, the job is best left imo, to three of the best Ruth biographers in history, Creamer, Smelser, and Wagenheim. These books were published in 1974, 1975, and 1974 respectively.

All three authors deserve a read imo, as they each offer their own unique writing style, research driven perspective and various side details to go along with expected over-lapping facts. For those interested in this aspect of the Babe's career, enjoy.

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Contract going into 1914 - 1 year/$600 ($50 payments bi-monthly for six months - received a raise to $1200 in May and to $1800 in June)
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Smelser

Jack Dunn and Fritz Maisel, a Marylander who played with the Yankees and who came along for company, called at Mount St. Joseph's on February 14, 1914. Knowing Meadows would not sign, Brother Gilbert proposed to put Dunn onto the greatest left-handed pitching prospect in the world. Gilbert hadn't seen Ruth pitch, but he gambled that the left-handed catcher's throws in the infield foretold good pitching. Gilbert, Dunn, and Maisel drove over to St. Mary's and asked for Brother Matthias (who appeared in overalls). Gilbert wanted Dunn to meet Matthias because Matthias had managed the team on which Gilbert had seen Ruth play. When Gilbert told Matthias why they had come, Matthias said, succinctly, "Ruth can hit." But Dunn was after pitching. "Can he pitch?" "Sure he can do anything." (A sober statement of baseball fact.) Dunn and Gilbert now set out for Brother Paul's office, wading through a growing crowd of man-children attracted by news of professional ballplayers visiting the yard.

When the news of visitors reached High City Tailor, RUth came running to join the crowd. He was wearing faded blue overalls and was careful to slide on every patch of ice he came to. Gilbert nudged Dunn and said, "There's our victim." Dunn gasped at Ruth's size and muttered to Maisel, "Fritz, there is a Rube Waddell in the rough." (A Rube Waddell in the rough would have to be something pretty rough.) He saw an oddly shaped, gangling, fullgrown man of nineteen, with obvious great strength in the swelling muscles of his chest and shoulders. Gilbert introduced Ruth to Dunn and told Ruth that Dunn had come to sign him for the Orioles. In later years Ruth said he was as surprised as if he had been invited to join the United States Senate. And one of the boys remarked, "There goes our ball club."

Dunn asked Ruth to throw some pitches. The two worked out in the Big Yard for perhaps half an hour, with Dunn, as Ruth said, "talking to me all the time, and telling me not to strain and not to try too hard." Then Paul, Gilbert, and Dunn talked for half an hour in Paul's office, while Ruth waited with a huddle of well-wishers. The elders sent for Ruth and told him of the legal guardianship question. Brother Paul was Ruth's legal guardian, by court order, until age twenty-one, but the Brothers had a routine for delegating the authority to employers so that Dunn could become guardian in fact. Dunn and Brother Gilbert arrived at a salary figure of six hundred dollars for the season of 1914 (forty dollars a month more than Gilbert's private minimum figure). It has been said, though it is hard to believe, that George was surprised to learn he would be paid money to play baseball.

The very first news of Ruth as a professional baseball player appeared in the Baltimore Sun on February 15, 1914:

The Oriole magnate signed another local player yesterday. The new Bird is George H. Ruth, a pitcher, who played with teams out the Frederick road. Ruth is six feet tall and fanned 22 men in an amatuer game last season. He is regarded as a very hard hitter, so Dunn will try him out down South.



Wagenheim

The first contract was for $600 a season, not bad at a time when sirloin steak cost twenty-seven cents a pound and boys worked in sweatshops for forty cents a day. There were "certain legal difficulties," Brother Paul explained, because "George is supposed to stay here until he's twenty-one." But these were ironed out, and Jack Dunn, owner of the Baltimore Orioles, also became the guardian for his newest pitching prospect.

On March 2, 1914, Dunn waited outside the gate of Saint Mary's in his red roadster. There had been a terrible storm the night before, tearing the roofs off many homes, knocking down trolly car lines, making shambles of the harbor. But the trains south were running. George Ruth, carrying his few possessions in a cheap suitcase, stood behind the barred gate and shook hands with the Xaverian brothers. Matthias's last words to him were, "You'll make it George." As for the boys at Saint Mary's, we rely once more upon Brother Gilbert, who tells us, "Yes, friends, and those whole-souled youngsters, even in the loss of their idol, experiencing as they were commingled feelings of joy and sadness, sincerely meant all that was contained in their ardent wish...a sonorous chorus rent the air with, 'Best of luck, George!'"

As Dunn's car headed for Union Station and the train that would take them southward to the spring camp in Fayettevill, North Carolina, one of the Xaverian Brothers, in a neat, flowing script, wrote the final entry in George Herman Ruth's record at Saint Mary's: "He is going to join the Balt. Baseball Team."

And George Herman Ruth, wiping a tear from his eye, looked out the car's side window at the gray walls of Saint Mary's receding in the distance. And then, yes friends, came the grand revelation: Holy sh*t! No more slop on the supper table and fighting for seconds, no more sneaking a puff on a cigarette in the john, no more ---- off under the sheets after dark! Yoweeeeeee! Jack Dunn, his new guardian, was so terrorized by the barbaric yawp that he nearly drove his shiny red roadster off the road.



Creamer

On the big day there were flags and bunting everywhere. The school buildings and the grounds and the ballfield had been swept and scrubbed and polished. The anticipated crowd was there, and, to the exultation of the boys, Ruth and St. Mary's walloped Morrisette and Mount St. Joe's 6-0, with Ruth striking out twenty-two batters during his shutout. After the game Dunn and young Ruth went into Brother Paul's office and talked for two hours, and the following February, a couple of weeks before the Orioles were to leave for spring training, Dunn came to St. Mary's again and signed George Ruth to a professional contract.

There are some colorful variations on the theme of Dunn's signing of Ruth, most dealing with Brother Gilbert, who for years received credit in the press for being Ruth's guiding light and for calling him to Dunn's attention. But Brother Gilbert was not even at St. Mary's (and RUth's own praise was always for Brother Matthias). Yet Brother Gilbert did know Dunn, and the Baltimore owner may well have first heard of Ruth from him. In later years the Xaverians at St. Mary's, whenever they talked of Ruth, used to relish casting Brother Gilbert in the role of villian. One version held that Gilbert knew Dunn was very high on Morrisette and in a vain attempt to keep his own star pitcher in college and on his team for one more season touted Dunn onto Ruth. Dunn, of course, ended up with both.

A second version says that Gilbert wanted to borrow Ruth for a big game he had coming up (such casual comings and goings of college-level players were far from uncommon) but that Brother Paul of St. Mary's said no. Irritated by the refusal, Gilbert called Dunn's attention to Ruth so that St. Mary's couldn't have him either. A third version says that in the winter of 1914, six months after Dunn had signed Morrisette, he went to Mount St. Joseph's again, this time after another young pitcher, a strong, chunky lefthander named Ford Meadows. Dunn eventually did sign Meadows (and in 1915 sold him to the New York Yankees for $5000), but at the time Brother Gilbert said, "Have a heart, Jack. Leave me one pitcher. If you need a lefthander, why don't you go after that Ruth kid at St. Mary's." Gilbert then brought Dunn to the Home and introduced him to Brother Paul, Brother Matthias, and Brother Albin. Dunn knew of Ruth's record, saw the rangy youngster sliding on an ice slick, was impressed with his size and coordination and, after talking at length to the brothers and the boy, signed him to a contract. This seems farfetched, but Roger Pippen, for many years sports editor of the Baltimore News-Post and a young sportswriter in 1914, always insisted that Dunn told him he had never seen Ruth play baseball until he went to spring training with the Orioles. Ruth said in an autobiographical sketch written in the 1920s that "Dunn took me out to the Yard and had me pitch to him for half an hour."

The various strings of the legend come together in February 1914, when Dunn went out to St. Mary's on a cold, snowy Saturday, St. Valentine's Day, just a week after Ruth's twentieth birthday.

Dunn signed the boy to a contract that would pay $600 for the season, or $100 a month.

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Contract going into 1915 - 2 years/$3500 per
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Creamer

Ruth's off-field behavior was a problem for Carrigan. In part it was a result of Babe's natural ebullience, but it was aggravated by his new-found affluence. WHen Babe signed his first Red Sox contract in July 1914, his salary, which had already been tripled during his half year in Baltimore, was doubled again by Lannin To $3500, not bad for a rookie in that day. In return Ruth agreed to a three-year contract (actually two and a half years, since it would carry from July 1914 through the end of 1916). This pleased Lannin because it meant his prize rookie was less likely to be seduced by the Federals, who were growing wary of lawsuits. They preferred to go after players who had completed a contract and were held to a club only by the infamous reserve clause, the proviso that gave a team an eternal option on a player's future services.

But Babe was happy with the contract too, because now he was rolling in money, and there was no paternalistic Dunn to make him put it in the bank. Carrigan finally had to step in and bring Ruth back to earth. "He had no idea of money," the manager said. "You've got to remember his background - that orphan asylum and all - and that this was his first big job. He was getting $3500 and that was all the money in the world. He didn't seem to think it would ever run out. He'd buy anything and everything. So I would draw Babe's pay and give him a little every day to spend. That generally lasted about five minutes. At the end of the season I had to give him the rest of it. I calculated it wouldn't last too long, but that was the best I could do."

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Contract going into 1917 - 1 year/$5000

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Contract going into 1918 - 1 year/$7000
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Wagenheim

Barrow met Ruth in January of 1918, when the Babe and star first baseman "Stuffy" McInnis came to the Red Sox office to sign their contracts for the coming season. Ruth signed for $7,000 on the promise that he would receive $10,000 the next year if he made good. McInnis also signed up without great dispute. Barrow was so pleased that he gave Red Sox secretary Larry Graver a $5 bill and told him to take both men out to lunch. In those days, such a sum was enough for a sizable lunch for three. But later that afteroon Graver returned and told Barrow, "You owe me $2.85." When Barrow sputtered and asked why, Graver stared at him and said, "Have you ever seen that big guy eat? He had a whole custard pie for dessert!"



Creamer

Frazee too was busy with salary matters. He was eager to sign RUth, who said he wanted a big raise. Frazee was worried because holdouts were popping up all over. In St. Louis, Rogers Hornsby was asking for $10,000. Grover Alexander, recently traded to the Cubs, wanted $12,000. Most of the unsigned players were simply resisting salary reductions, because the owners were being even more stringent than in 1917. The owners expressed shock at the "regiment of holdouts," having assumed "that during these war times the ballplayers would graciously accept a cut in salary. But again the players have disappointed the clubowners for many of them have made it plain that they do not inted to accept any cuts."

And some, like Bodie and Ruth, were insisting on raises. Ruth wanted his salary doubled, to $10,000. Frazee, jollying him, expressed horror at such a salary. "I've never paid an actor that much," he said. He suggested $7000, with the promise that if the Babe had another good year the $10,000 would be his 1919. A $7000 salary meant a $2000 raise - a 40 percent increase - and Ruth finally accepted it. On January 14 he became the first Red Sox player to sign a 1918 contract. A few days later the newly purchased McInnis followed suit, and Frazee did not have too much trouble with the rest of the team.

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Contract going into 1919 - 3 years/$10,000 per
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Smelser

Harry Frazee again hired Ed Barrow to manage the Red Sox in 1919 but damped Barrow's hopes for an even greater year by sending three returning war veterans, Ernie Shore, Dutch Leonard, and Duffy Lewis, to the Yankees for fifty thousand dollars. Frazee's motive was to keep the payroll down.

Babe Ruth had a plan to keep the payroll up. In January, he told friends he wanted more money, on the ground that he had been the standout of the World Series. He said the figure he would mention "may knock Mr. Frazee silly..." The figure he had in mind was ten thousand dollars. (Frazee had once said he thought eight thousand was an absolute ceiling for anyone.) Neither budged for the next two months, and the Red Sox departed by sea for Florida on March 19 without Ruth. By this time Ruth had given Frazee a choice of two proposals: one year at fifteen thousand dollars, or three years at ten. The Boston fans sided angrily with RUth against Frazee. There were published suggestions that other American League owners might chip in to make up the difference because Ruth filled their parks for them, or that Ruth's salary be raised by a public fund drive.

Ruth had now become a celebrity and had acquired a manager (who signed himself "secretary") named John Igoe. Igoe thought Ruth could make money as a boxer. After the smallness of the World Series split, any income would be welcome. Ruth began to work out in a gymnasium in the winter and had an offer of five thousand dollars to fight Gunboat Smith. Barrow could see the folly of letting his most promising ballplayer get his brains scrambled in the prize ring. He took Ruth to Frazee's office and mediated the salary dispute.

The parties came to agreement on March 21: three years at ten thousand a year. Barrow then talked Ruth out of the boxing venture. Ruth, in excellent physical condition, left for Florida by rail. Obviously feeling full of beans, he told reporters he hoped to play two or three positions and be in the game every day, because life was perfect only when he came to bat with men on base.



Wagenheim

By the fall of 1919, RUth was acclaimed throughout the country as "the greatest batsman the game has ever known," the "mastodonic mauler."

In one ball park after another, thoughout the American League circuit and along the exhibition trail, his mighty home runs were called "the longest ever." The old era of bunts, hit-and-run, stealing bases, and scheming for the small advantage was being eclipsed by Ruth's raw power. The home run, as Tom Meany later observed, was like "the lethal knockout punch of Jack Dempsey...the broad, direct approach to victory, the shortcut so esteemed by Americans in sport and in business, in recreation and in war."

The year began on a note of uncertainty when Ruth, wintering at Sudbury, warned that his salary demands for the coming season "may knock Mr. Frazee silly, but I think I deserve everything I ask." The demands were humble in comparison with what he could earn in a few years. He wanted $15,000 for a single season (which would have made him the second highest-paid player in baseball, behind veteran star Ty Cobb), or $10,000 on the basis of a three-year contract. Frazee, who would hit the jackpot some years hence with his Broadway production of No, No, Nanette!, was now in tight circumstances. Despite Boston's fine showing in the previous two seasons, the attendance figures were disappointing. Frazee swore he would go no higher than $8,000 per season. So, when the steamer Arapahoe left New York harbor on March 18 to carry the Red Sox to their spring camp in Florida, Ruth was not aboard. His personal manager, Johnny Igoe, circulated tales that the Babe was working out in a Boston gymnasium and that promoters had offered him $5,000 (nearly five times more than his 1918 World Series share) for a single boxing match against heavyweight "Gunboat" Smith. Three days later, Frazee invited Ruth to a conference in Manhattan. The Babe arrived but didn't appear ready to sign, because he hadn't even brought a suitcase. Finally, they agreed on $27,000, spread over three years. The Babe picked up a phone, asked a friend in Boston to rush down with his baggage, and caught the next available train to Tampa.

Frazee feld better about Ruth's contract a few days later, after a Red Sox exhibition game against the Giants at the old fairgrounds in Tampa. Batting against "Columbia George" Smith, the Babe walloped a ball so far over right fielder Ross Youngs's head that those who saw the blow were awestruck. After the game, as Youngs stood where the ball fell, a group of writers - including Fred Lieb, Frank Graham, Paul Shannon, and Melvin Webb - observed as someone took a surveyor's tape and measured the distance to home plate: 579 feet!



Creamer

It was toward this world of wealth and social activity that Ruth began to move in 1919. He had acquired an agent of sorts, a Boston friend named Johnny Igoe, and he told Frazee he wanted his salary raised from $7,000 to $15,000. Only Ty Cobb, then in his fifteenth season, was being paid more than that. Ruth also said he wanted a two-year contract at that exalted figure. In other words, a $30,000 deal, astronomical in a day when a six-room house rented for sixty dollars and full-time "hired girl" received room and board and a few dollars a month.

Frazee said no, absolutely no, and for the first time in his career Ruth became a holdout. For Frazee it was not just a matter of his will and personality against Ruth's. It was a major battle in his struggle for economic survival. Frazee knew he needed Ruth, both for his play on the field and his draw at the box office. But Harry had overextended himself in 1918 and had lost a great deal of money. Attendance at Red Sox games had fallen off badly in 1917; and in 1918, even though Boston won the pennant, it dropped another 35 per cent. The dismal World Series receipts that so upset the players had been a financial disaster for Frazee. And his theatrical ventures were not going well. He was desperately in need of cash, so much so that during the winter he shifted from his earlier policy of buying ballplayers and began to sell them instead. Ernie Shore and Duffy Lewis had been released from service, and Dutch Leonard was back from his war job. Frazee sent all three to the Yankees in deals that netted him $50,000.

He resisted Ruth's demands. They met briefly in Boston one day, but otherwise the only contact between the two was through the press. Babe said he might quit baseball and devote all his time to improving his farm, which now had twenty head of cattle, a couple of dozen pigs, three horses, fifty hens and a collie named Dixie. He made a production of chopping wood lefthanded and wandering through the woods of the farm in a big fur coat. Frazee grinned and said, "Can you imagine him not playing baseball?"

But Ruth was adamant. He said he had been promised $2000 when he returned to the club after jumping it the July before, but that the contract he received from Frazee did not even show this. Through Igoe he issued a statement saying he did not think he was unreasonable in asking $15,000 and hoped that the fans understood that all he was doing was trying to get what he was worth. He said now he wanted either $15,000 for 1919 or a three-year contract at $10,000 a year. Frazee offered him $8500. Ruth also said he did not want to both pitch and play left field any more. Barrow, asked to comment on this, said, "If Ruth plays for the Red Sox in 1919, he will probably pitch and pinch-hit." Ruth answered by saying that he wanted to play left field only and that he felt he would hit better if he was in the lineup every day. "I'll win more games playing every day in the outfield than I will pitching every fourth day," he said.

Because of postwar turmoil the season was beginning late that year (the schedule called for only 140 games instead of the then standard 154), and the Red Sox did not leave for spring training until the middle of March. Late in February Babe said he was thinking of becoming a professional boxer. He claimed a Boston promoter had offered him $5000 to fight Gunboat Smith, a prominent heavyweight, and he came in from Sudbury to work out in a Boston gym, supposedly for the fight.

The other Red Sox players signed one by one and in March assembled in New York, where they were to board a coastal steamer for the trip south to Florida. Frazee had shifted the Red Sox training site from Hot Springs to Tampa, Florida, at the suggestion of John McGraw. McGraw, still angry because Jack Dunn had failed to sell him Ruth, was not so angry as to ignore the Babe's moneymaking possibilities. He suggested to Frazee that the Red Sox and the perenially popular Giants meet in Florida and barnstorm north together, and Frazee quickly agreed.

But, obviously, Ruth was the key to the tour, and when the Red Sox party, led by Barrow, steamed out of New York without him, Frazee realized something had to be done. That was a Wednesday March 19. On Thursday Frazee got in touch with Ruth and asked him to come to New York to see if they couldn't reach an agreement. The Babe, restive now that the team had gone south without him, which made him a genuine holdout, took the midnight train down from Boston and met with Frazee Friday morning. After a surpringly short discussion the two came to terms and Ruth got his three-year contract at $10,000 a year. In retrospect it seems foolish for a rising young player to have tied himself to such a long-term deal, but it must be remembered that the major leagues had gone through three consecutive seasons of uncertainty and falling salaries, what with the death of the Federal League and the onslaught of war. Abrupt salary cuts were common practive. Too, for all his headlines, Ruth at this point in his career had only hit 20 major league home runs. Pitching had been his forte, and he was in the uncertain position of trying to give up pitching for hitting. He had not yet established himself as a fulltime batter. Under the circumstances a three-year contract at $10,000 a year, one of the top salaries in the game, was a marvelous plum for a young man.

After the signing a beaming Ruth told reporters he felt fine, and was in good shape. "I've been exercising by doing hard work on my farm all winter," he said, and in a dig at the absent Barrow added that he hoped he could be kept at one position all season instead of being switched back and forth.

Frazee, eager to get Ruth south to training camp, wanted him to leave at once for Florida. Ruth had come to New York without luggage. He phoned Boston, asked Helen to pack his things and had a friend bring them to New York. That night he left for Tampa on a midnight train, and Frazee wired Barrow that Tarzan had signed and was on his way.

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Contract going into 1920- 2 years/$20,000 per + $1000 (upped 10k from old contract and received immediate $1000 bonus)
_______________



[center]Smelser

At the end of the 1919 season Babe Ruth made himself a bother to Frazee. He let the sporting press know he thought his splendid playing of 1919 proved that he deserved a raise from ten to twenty thousand dollars. (The Times editorially noticed that Ruth's contract at ten thousand still had two years to run; he had taken a capitalist risk, and lost.) to further trouble Frazee's sleep, Ruth restated his ambition to be a professional boxer, tracing it back to his days as a preliminary body in the Baltimore fight circuit (pure flapdoodle, unless he meant that he boxed as a small boy at St. Mary's School). Then again, if he did not choose to be a boxer, perhaps he would become a full-time movie actor. The roads to the silver screen and the prize ring crossed when Kid McCoy, former boxer, and Al St. John, movie actor, announced that McCoy had contracted to train Ruth for thirty days. Then, if McCoy said Ruth was up to it, St. John would try to promote a match with - here it comes - Jack Dempsey. This press release may have worried Frazee. What it did for sure was to get Al St. John's name in the papers from coast to coaster, which was the true purpose.

A more certain torment of Frazee was Ruth's return (from California) of his contract, on Christmas Eve 1919, with a demand for a new contract at double the money. He added that it was no use trading him because he would play ball for no club but the Red Sox. When the reporters of Los Angeles County came hurrying to hear more, he told them he was "through with major-league baseball" unless the Red Sox paid him twenty thousand a year. After all, he had several pots boiling with deals, each worth more than ten thousand a year. No, he had decided not to become a prize fighter. Yes, he was still thinking of going into the movies. Meantime he was playing winter ball for money and golf for fun.

Yankees manager Miller Huggins had advised his owners that the best deed they could do would be to turn Ruth into a Yankee. Huggins's tastes were simple; he wanted the best ballplayer. Without knowing it, Ruth was helping Huggins. Frazee was loaded with debt and his notes held by Lannin, the former Red Sox owner, were due. The Red Sox had made money in 1919, mostly because of Ruth's home-run outburst, but Frazee lost more on Broadway than he made in Fenway. Ban Johnson was beginning to seek an eligible new owner for the Red Sox, just in case. On or about December 26, Frazee was trying to raise half a million dollars for some theatrical productions he had in mind. He called on Jacob Ruppert to ask for a loan. Ruppert suggested they talk about Babe Ruth. Then, on December 27, Frazee gave the press the magic words: the Red Sox were open to a deal for any player on the roster except Harry Hooper. that was three days after Ruth's ultimatum.

The rich but frustrated Yankees had looked at Boston as a warehouse of baseball talent since late 1918, when the Red Sox let New York have Ernie Shore, Dutch Leonard, and Duffy Lewis. that same year there was talk that the Yankees might buy Babe Ruth for $150,000. There had been no move in that direction by owners on either side; probably it just seemed logical. At the end of November 1919 Huggins let people know he expected to make some interesting deals in December, perhaps at the American League meeting in New York on December 10. It was during these weeks that Huggins advised Ruppert and Huston to try to get Ruth. Since the two owners were restless and fretful about the Yankees' years of mediocrity. Huggins's word were heard. Cap Huston was a convivial man who liked to drink beer and talk with engineers, writers, and ballplayers, and it was, perhaps, at some scientific, literary, and athletic symposium that he learned of Frazee's money shrinkage, perhaps even from Frazee himself. It would round out the story neatly to say Huston craftily sent Frazee to borrow some money from Ruppert, but that is unknowable.

Earlier hypothetical conversations about selling Babe Ruth had always been treated as comic monologues, but when the possibility became real it was not difficult to close the deal. The talk between Ruppert and Frazee in the last week of 1919 is not recorded, but the results are public.

The price was $125,000, of which $25,000 was immediately paid as earnest money. No players except Ruth were involved, because Ed Barrow - woh was angry at the deal - told Frazee the Red Sox management would look like fools if they pretended to believe the Yankees had any players fit to throw onto a scale to balance Ruth. In addition to the $125,000, Ruppert promised to lend Frazee $350,000, secured by a mortgage on Fenway Park. (This brought Frazee pretty close to the half-million he had started out to raise.) Huston balked at the idea of the Yankees lending money on a ball park, so Ruppert, a shrewd real estate operator, made the loan on his own. It was ten months before Ruppert's personal interest in the prosperity of the Red Sox was discovered. The conflict of interest probably would not be allowed in organized baseball today, but, in fairness to Ruppert, we may say he did everything he could to ruin the Red Sox. (Ruth was the fifth of the Red Sox to leave for the Yankees, and in Frazee's time the total would reach twelve; the great Yankee team of 1923 could well be called the New York Red Sox.) In spite of the destruction of the Red Sox, Ruppert still held the mortgage as late as 1931 and found it profitable.

Ruth's contract was conveyed in the usual legal form by adding baseball's uniform agreement for the transfer of a player. Surprisingly, the addition was dated December 26, 1919, two days after Ruth's ultimatum which demanded the doubling of his salary, and the day before the publication of the statement in which Frazee had said all Boston players were available except Hooper. The Ruth deal was signed and sealed at the time Frazee made that announcement. The Yankees were the first to know and obviously had the inside lane in any race to loot the Red Sox.

Ruppert and Huston laid out more money for Ruth than they had for the Yankee franchise and the club, though most of the money was a well-secured loan. Tris Speaker had cost Cleveland fifty-five thousand dollars, Eddie Collins was sold to the White Sox for fifty thousand, and the White Sox paid thirty-two thousand and two players for Joe Jackson. Ruth's price of $125,000 (quite apart from the Fenway mortgage) was easily a new record. It was also the best investment ever made by any club, and, in the long run, it turned out to be relatively frugal and thrifty. Furthermore it was the most glaring act in the demolition of one of baseball's greatest teams, the Red Sox of the decade 1909-1919: four pennants, four world championships, five finishes in second, third, or fourth place, and only two finishes in the second division.

Above all, get the fans a star whom they may worship, no matter what he costs, by trade or purchase. Give them something for their money. - Anonymous owner (1922)

On the morning of January 6, 1920, the New York Times carried an eight-column sports-page headline: RUTH BOUGHT BY NEW YORK AMERICANS FOR $125,000, HIGHEST PRICE IN BASEBALL ANNALS. The story ran to one and a quarter columns, mostly a review of Ruth's career. Manager Miller Huggins was in California to give the new Yankee a better contract. Ruth was to be the New York team's regular outfielder.

I believe the sale of Ruth will ultimately strengthen the team. - Harry Frazee (1920)

Harry Frazee hurried into print to explain the sale of Ruth; the deal wasn't intended to weaken the Red Sox. Ruth's contract had been written just as he wished, but then he demanded a doubling of his pay. That made the idea of a contract meaningless; contracts were written just to prevent that sort of thing. Nobody was worth as much as Ruth was asking. The Red Sox were "fast becoming a one-man team," and one player didn't make a team, as proved by the sixth-place finish of 1919.

Boston's Royal Rooters were skeptical of all this. Their leader, Johnny Keenan, said "Ruth was 90 percent of our club last summer. It will be impossible to replace the strength Ruth gave the Sox." Frazee counterattacked: Ruth was "one of the most selfish and inconsiderate men that ever wore a baseball uniform." He added, "I could not get Joe Jackson for him in a trade." This must be Frazee's relative evaluation of Ruth and Jackson. There is not a jot of evidence that he tried or wished to trade Ruth for Jackson. He needed money, not players.

...a tremendous blow to the army of loyal fans. - Boston Post

The Boston Post predicted the Red Sox would be "crowding the Athletics for eighth place in 1920"; true, the Red Sox had survived the departures of Cy Young and Tris Speaker, "but Ruth is different. He is one of a class of ball players that flashes across the firmament once in a great while."

I suppose I'll be sent to China. (Ping Bodie)

Frazee, trying to win back angry customers, went too far in saying Ruth was a poor team player who was interested only in bettering his own records. Runs-batted-in were not then tabulated, but Fred Lieb, in the New York Sun, showed what nonsense Frazee spoke. Lieb extracted Ruth's runs-batted-in from the box scores. The Red Sox scored 565 runs in 1919. Ruth scored 103 of them and drove in 114. From 114 we must subtract the twenty-nine home runs, because they are counted both as runs and as runs-batted-in. With that adjustment, Ruth was repsonsible for a net 188 runs, or almost exactly a third of all runs scored by the Boston Americans.

All of Frazee's counterblasts were useless. He was a poor man - for a baseball magnate - who literally didn't know where his next half-million was coming from. People believed he sold Ruth because Ruth asked for a raise. To men and women unborn in the 1920s Frazee is not remembered with gratitude as the producer of No, No, Nanette but rather as the fiend of the fens whose greed broke up the Red Sox.

Ruth is the greatest hitter I have ever seen. (Jimmy Burke, Manager, Browns, 1920)

Ruth has no particular weakness. (Eddie Cicotte, 1920)

In my opinion, Ruth is the greatest slugger of all times, and a dangerous hitter. He is a natural ball player. ( Jack Dunn, 1920)

The New York Times preached a short sermon on the bad example set by all parties to the sale, which showed that a good player with a weak team could hold out "for an imposing salary" and "get somebody in New York or Chicago to buy his services."

I was disgusted...All Frazee wanted was the money. He was short of cash and he sold the whole team down the river to keep his dirty nose above water. What a way to end a wonderful ball club! I got sick to my stomach at the whole business. After the 1920 season I held out for $15,00 and Frazee did me a favor by selling me to the Chicago White Sox. I was glad to get away from that graveyard. (Harry Hooper)

The decay of the Red Sox: They finished fifth in 1920 and 1921, eighth in 1922 and 1923. The club drew 417,000 in 1919 and 230,000 in 1924. To look at in another way, the 1919 Red Sox had one-ninth of the American League attendance, and their share was never again as high as one-tenth until Tom Yawkey bought the team in the 1930s. The club drew but a twentieth part of the American League attendance in 1923, the year when Frazee's sack of the Sox was complete.

1920 1/6. Contract increased $10,000 by agreement making total $20,000 - New York Yankee Salary and Transfer File

A move to the Yankees in 1920 was no step upward nor a particularly desirable change for Babe Ruth, who had put down roots in Massachusetts. Using Connecticut tobacco, his cigar factory made the Babe Ruth cigar with his picture on every wrapper, selling at five cents. Helen and he lived in rural Sudbury when at home. As the most admired player of baseball's greatest team of recent years, Ruth's standing in the New England sports world was agreeably high.

At the time of the sale to the Yankees he was in southern California to play winter baseball. In a batting exhibition at a Los Angeles ball park he set a curious record by batting continuously against a relay of pitchers for an hour and hitting 125 balls over the fence.

The eleven-day delay between the agreement of Ruppert and Frazee and the publication of the news was to give Huggins time to get to California and see Ruth. Huggins found him playing gold at Griffith Park in Los Angeles. He hadn't heard about the sale, but the news Huggins brought came as no surprise, considering the ultimatum to Frazee.

This first meeting suggested the poor relations that Huggins and Ruth were to suffer. Huggins felt called upon to preach on the ethics of life in New York, a place with many temptations for active, warm blooded young men in good physical condition, temptations which could lead to acts intolerable to the owners of the New York American League baseball club. Ruth listened, bored, and suggested that the only point to be talked about was his request for a raise. Huggins said it was all arranged: Ruth would get twenty thousand a year if he behaved himself.

Ruth looked on Huggins as a curious specimen who had been a player and managed in the National League and had recently moved over to the American League, displacing Ruth's friend Wild Bill Donovan, formerly the manager at Providence and more recently manager of the Yankees. Huggins was said to have been a good second baseman and leadoff man, but Ruth thought him pretty small, at five feet, six and a half inches and 140 pounds, to swing the old heavy bat and to come out ahead in the rough play around second base.

News of the Ruth-Huggins treaty cheered New Yorkers, And everyone knew that the Polo Grounds' right-field foul line meaured only 257 feet from the plate to the wall - offering the cheapest home run in the major leagues for a left-handed pull hitter. Ruth had always liked to play there.

The new Yankee finished his winter sports early in February and started east after saying he wouldnt sign a contract unless Frazee gave him part of the sale price. Fifteen thousand dollars would be about right. All he did was to show himself boyishly naive. A ball player in Ruth's position has absolutely no leverage. If he wished to play baseball he had to play for the Yankees. He spoke acidly of Frazee, again bringing up Frazee's gift of a cigar (to George H. Ruth, cigar manufacturer) on Babe Ruth day in 1919, and adding that Mrs. Ruth had to buy a ticket to get into Fenway Park that day.

Ruth's arrival in New York was private. He didn't plan it that way, but all of the owners and writers were in Chicago at the baseball meetings.

Ruppert and Huston had not forgotten him, though. While baseball teams were insured as groups, one policy covering all the players on a roster, Ruth received special treatment. The Yankee owners had taken out a separate life insurance policy for him in the amount of $150,000. A fit sum for the most costly player in baseball.

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Contract going into 1922 - 5 years/$52,000 per
_______________



Smelser

Landis came down to New Orleans to polish his public image by making himself conspicuous at a charity game where he was successful bidder at $250 for a baseball autographed by Ruth. The Yankees beat the New Orleans Pelicans 10-3. First-baseman RUth had three singles in six times at bat. That month RUth dined frequently with several of the old families of New Orleans, who thus wasted the Western hemisphere's best cuisine on the world's mmost famous facier of hot-dogs-with-the-works. No record tells us where Helen RUth was in the early months of 1922.

Ruth had not yet signed a contract but said he and Huston had come to terms.

After the World Series of 1921, when Ruth's contract expired, gossips of the sporting press spread the story that he would get a colossal salary in 1922, paid jointly by all of the American League clubs. This plain balderdash seemed real enough to annoy the Sporting News, which scolded the race of sportswriters for writing nonsense in dull times between seasons. But it showed what an interesting topic RUth's salary was. John McGraw was probably the best rewarded of all men in the game. His salary was forty thousand dollars a year, and he shared the Giants' profits. The Cleveland manager Tris Speaker was "without exception the highest paid man in baseball," but they gave no figure.

Huston went to Hot Springs to talk with Ruth about salary. He opened with a sermon, calling on him to repent his wastrel life to stay away from the bright lights. Ruth eyed him with amusement and pointed out that Huston lived exactly as he lived. Round one was a draw.

Barrow kept a Yankee salary-and-transfer file on typewritten 4 x 6 cards, one to a player. The entries for Babe Ruth through 1921 were these:

1919, 12/26 - Purchased from Boston, A.L., $100,000. Payable in four installments of $25,000 each.

1920 - Cont. $10,000 as assigned by Boston (1919-20-21)
-------1/6 - Cont. increased $10,000 by agreement making total $20,000

1921 - Cont. $20,000

-------2/18 - Bonus for 1920 - $5000
--------------Bonus for 1921 - $5000

The bonuses of February 1921 could be called tips, for doubling the Yankee attendance in 1920. Ruth had a good case for a large raise.

Huston got down to serious talk in a Hot Springs bathhouse when he took the tub next to Ruth's and offered forty thousand a year for five years. (That was McGraw's deal with Charles A. Stoneham, to the dollar.) Ruth raised the figure to fifty-two thousand. Huston countered with fifty thousand for three years, and the club's option to renew for the next two years, and wanted to know why Ruth put on the extra two thousand. Ruth said he'd like to have a thousand dollars a week and suggested they flip a coin to settle the difference. There was a long wait while Huston telephoned New York and got Ruppert's approval of the six-thousand-dollar coin toss. Near midnight the coin arched in the air, Ruth called it, and won. Neither Barrow nor the owners would tell the salary, but Huston said they had flipped a coint and that Ruth would get five hundred dollars for each home run. This jocular tall tale became current myth and had to be denied repeatedly as late as 1925. The only reason for secrecy was that Ruth wished it secret.

Huston sent the terms to the office in New YOrk, and secretaries prepared a draft for Ruppert's signature. When the paper arrived in New Orleans Huston called Ruth out of the Heinemann Park clubhouse to sign. Ruth borrowed a fountain pen from the groundskeeper, consulted no one, and signed it against a vertical post of the stands, as casually as if he were autographing a scorecard.

The agreement had some uncommon specific terms. Ruth was to get half his salary in fortnightly installments during the playing season. The other half of the year's money was due him at the end of the season. Christy Walsh, Ruth's financial advisor, told him he should put the postseason installments into a trust, but Ruth spent most of 1922's year-end pay to improve a piece of real estate. The document also regulated Ruth's private life. He was to "refrain and abstain entirely from the use of intoxicating liquors" and, during the season, to be in bed daily by one o'clock in the morning. If his behavior disabled him, the Yankees could cancel the contract and keep his withheld salary. Baseball people call this a contract, but a true contract is between freely bargaining parties. Ruth could sign, or quit baseball and look for a job making shirts.

Babe now had the written promise of a higher salary than any player had ever received. He also had one of the few player agreements that went beyond one year. The Yankees insured his life for three hundred thousand dollars and were to do so thereafter.

Along with the 59 percent pay raise he also got the title of captain. Thirty years earlier the title of captain had mean, roughly, assistant manager, but by the 1920s it was more honorary than real. Nevertheless it was pleasing because no player unpopular with his team would be named captain. No Yankee envied Ruth's salary. Right or wrong, they believed he was driving player salaries up. The Yankees, of course, were not paying him because of his skill. They paid him because he drew throngs. (If there were a true relation between playing skill and income, all international grand masters of chess would be rich.)

As soon as paydays came in April Ruth celebrated his raise by buying a Cadillac for St. Mary's Industrial School in Baltimore. It cost about five thousand dollars, or about 10 percent of his salary after taxes - a kind of tithe.



Wagenheim

Babe became the highest paid player in baseball in 1922, when he signed a three-year contract for $52,000 per season. He and the Yankees were a few thousand apart when Cap Huston came down to Hot Springs to smooth out the difference. Ruth and Hunt sat boiling out in adjacent tubs when Huston shed his clothes and made it a threesome. As the pounds dripped away and Hunt gave good-natured advice to both sides, they began to haggle. Huston swore he could go no higher than $50,000, and the Babe held-firm at $52,000 but agree to settle by flipping a coin. Huston phoned Barrow in New York, who put in a call to Ruppert in Tarrytown, and the coin toss was approved. Shortly before midnight, up in Huston's room, Cap flipped a half dollar into the air, the Babe yelled "Tails!" and so it was. Ruth's new contract contained a clause stipulating that

...he will refrain and abstain entirely from the use of intoxicating liquors and that he shall not during the training and playing season each year stay up later than one AM on any day without the permmission and consent of the club's manager.

The three men stayed up much later than that, drinking toasts to the new contract.

The next morning, Huston proudly announced that Ruth now earned a salary "worthy of a railroad president." It was a lot of money in those times. A story in Collier's that spring estimated the total overhead of the Yankee team at approximately $600,000 a year. Of this amount, $120,000 represented player salaries, and Ruth earned about 40 per cent of the total!

That year, 5 million of the 6.7 million persons who filed a tax return reported an income of under $4,000; most of the millions who didn't bother to file earned even less. Ruth's salary was miniscule, of course, compared with the sixty-seven persons who reported incomes of $1 million or more that year (John D. Rockefeller, Jr., paid taxes of $7.4 million that year). It was far less than the income of Mary Pickford, who earned $1 million, or even Jack Dempsey, who raked in $300,000 for his bout in 1921 with Georges Carpentier. But it was far more than the $15,000 salary of the Chief Justice of the United States and equivalent to the combined salaries of five members of the President's Cabinet.

The Times, on its editorial page, noted: "Babe Ruth with his bat attracts more American citizens than Toscanini ever did with his baton...there are millions of American urchins who would rather be Ruth than Warren G. Harding...a democracy is willing to pay high for its amusements."



Creamer

Despite his Washington proclamation that he might say something in about a month, Ruth kept his mouth shut about Landis and the suspension. As for Ruppert and Huston, the two colonels were visibly relieved by the Commissioner's decision. It had taken him an unbearably long time, and the suspension could have been worse.

Babe's vaudeville tour ended in February in Milwaukie, and he went directly to Hot Springs, Arkansas, ostensibly to take the baths and get in shape, but actually to play golf, gamble at the casinos, play the horses and generally relax for a week or two before going on to the Yankee training camp in New Orleans. His holdover contract from the Red Sox had expired, and Huston and Huggins came down to Hot Springs to talk about a new one. Ruth was no intellectual, but he understood two things well: baseball and his own worth. He was a sharp, smart ballplayer, and he knew that he was the prime reason why two and a half million people had paid between 55 cents and $2.20 to get into the Polo Grounds in 1920 and 1921. He may not have sat down with a pencil and paper and figured out precisely what the Yankees made - they probably netted more than $1,000,000 a year after expenses in Ruth's first two seasons - but he wanted more of it than he had been getting, a lot more.

Rumors said Babe would be upped to $30,000 with bonus clauses to give him an extra $20,000. If that offer was made, Ruth rejected it out of hand. Huston did propose $40,000 on a straight salary, but on a five-year contract, a quarter-of-a-million-dollar package.

Ruth's big black eyes stared at Huston. "Make it fity-two thousand and it's a deal."

"Fifty-two thousand?" Now it was Huston's turn to stare. "All right, agreed. But why fifty-two thousand?"

"Well, said Ruth, "there are fifty-two weeks in a year, and I've always wanted to make a grand a week."

The impact of $52,000 a year on America at that time can be better understood if it is compared with other players' salaries. The Yankees were wallowing in prosperity, a pennant-winning team with huge attendances and the prospects of more. They were not a bunch of rookies and young players just coming into their own, but a team of established stars; most had made their reputations on other clubs, notably Boston. The Yankees were paying top salaries. Yet Home Run Baker, one of the really famous names in the game and a man so stubborn in contract talks that he twice sat out an entire season, was making only $16,000, and that was much the highest salary on the club after Ruth. Wally Schang, one of the two or three best catchers in the game, a member of four championship teams, was making $10,000. Bob Shawkey, a 20-game winner three times who would win 20 again that year, was at $8500. Wally Pipp, the first baseman, going into his ninth big league season, a proved hitter who twice led the league in home runs, was making $6500; Whitey Witt, who came from Philadelphia in the spring of 1922 to become the regular center fielder, $4000; and Fred Hofmann, the reserve catcher, $3000. A man could live in a big frame house, own an automobile, raise a family and live comfortably on $75 or $80 a week. Even more than a decade later, after Ruth's retirement, the top player salary in baseball was Lou Gehrig's $30,000. Dizzy Dean was raised to $19,500 the year after he won 30 games. In 1957, after inflation had come in the wake of World War II, T. Coleman Andrews, the Director of Internal Revenue during the Eisenhower administration, said that Ted Williams, then baseball's highest paid player, would have to make a million dollars to equal the true value of Ruth's top salary.

In brief, Ruth's pay was enormous, and it fed the flames of criticism that were beginning to rise around him. Ruth said, "It isn't right to call me or any ballplayer an ingrate because we ask for more money. Sure, I want more, all I'm entitled to. The time of a ballplayer in short. He must get his money ina few years or lose out. Listen, a man who works for another man is not going to be paid any more than he's worth. You can bet on that. A man ought to get all he can earn. A man who knows he's making money for other people ought to get some of the profit he brings in. Don't make any difference if it's baseball or a bank or a vaudeville show. It's business, I tell you. There ain't no sentiment to it. Forget that stuff."

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Contract going into 1927 - 3 years/$70,000 per
_______________



Smelser

At the end of this austere Hollywood career Ruth was in excellent physical shape. He was so pleased with his 1926 comeback that he stayed in condition. For example, his waistline was the same in early 1927 as it was in April 1926 (not quite forty inches). In California he and McGovern got it down to thiry-seven and a half inches. McGovern sent Ruth's measurements to owner Jacob Ruppert at the end of the California workouts, and the Yankee management was pleased at the figures. The physical report would be a trump card in the game of salary negotiation which was to start soon.

You fellows won't be able to play taps over Babe Ruth for five or six years yet. - Babe Ruth, March 3, 1927

Ruth's new contract probably provoked more column-yards of newspaper stories than there were clock-minutes of negotiation. It was news for a month but discussed by the parties less than an hour. Early in February the Yankees sent him another fifty-two-thousand-dollar contract, which, as he told reporters, he would not sign because he wanted more money. He suggested he already had enough money to quit baseball if he didn't get a raise. And he might even open a chain of gymnasiums with Artie McGovern. A rumor that Ty Cobb was to get seventy-five thousand may have stiffened his backbone.

Until February 26 all Ruppert knew was what he read in the papers, since Ruth grumbled only to reporters. Then Ruth returned the unsigned contract on February 22 (it reached New York on the 26th) with a letter giving his views on what he should get, and why. Ruppert had a convenient cold for the next few days and said nothing. Just before boarding the train from California to New York, Ruth said he wanted a hundred thousand a year; he spoke of how the Yankees made money out of him by playing exhibition games at every chance, and gave out Artie McGovern's favorable physical-condition report. A grievance which was news to all was that Huggins had collected, all told, seventy-seven hundred dollars in fines from him.

People didn't resent Ruth's attitude. W.O. McGeehan of the Herald-Tribune took a poll which showed agreement that the proper salary for Babe Ruth would be somewhere between a hundred and two hundred thousand dollars.

Ruth reached New York on March 2, met reporters and photographers at McGovern's gymnasium for three-quarters of an hour, and then went to visit St. Vincent's Hospital where poor Helen was ill again. Then he was off to settle his terms.

The Ruth-Ruppert treaty of 1927 was drafted in the Ruppert brewery offices at 91st Street and Third Avenue. Before getting down to words, the dickerers had to give up forty minutes to thirty news photographers. Once they got into the inner office they needed but thirty-five minutes to settle things. Ed Barrow opened the door to twenty writers and explained the terms: a three-year contract at seventy thousand a year (one imaginative reporter figured it, for a season of 154 games, at $454.54 per game, $56.67 per inning). Ruth told the newsman he'd be around for years, and Jacob Ruppert, in a moment of uncharacteristic weakness, added the startling remark, "The Babe is a sensible fellow." To Ruth the important fact may have been that the contract kept him the highest-paid man in baseball. Two days later, at the formal signing, he wrote his name with his right hand and tried an ad lib joke: he batted left-handed and signed contracts right-handed, getting the best results that way in each case.

Barrow went into his own offic, got out the little "New York Salary and Transfer File," and brought Ruth's 4 x 6 card up to date:

1927)
1928) - Cont. $70,000 for each season
1929)

The table of Ruppert's baseball salaries in 1927 stood like this:

-Name--------Amount-------Remarks

Barrow------25,000
Huggins----37,500
Ruth-------70,000 - Three years
Pennock---17,500 - 1000 bonus if won 25
Shocker----13,500
Meusel-----13,000
Dugan------12,000
Ruether-----11,000 - 1000 bonus if won 15
Hoyt--------11,000 - 1000 bonus if won 20
Shawkey----10,500
Combs------19,500
Lazzeri------8,000 - plus round trip fare, California, for self and wife

Bengough----8,000
Gehrig-------8,000
Collins-------7,000
Koenig-------7,000
Paschal------7,000
Thomas------6,500
Grabowski----5,500
Gazella-------5,000
Giard---------5,000
Pipgras-------4,500
Durst---------4,500
Morehart-----4,000
Wera---------2,400
Moore--------2,500 - plus 5000 if lasted the season

Commisioner Landis and John McGraw each received sixty-five thousand that year. Rumor now said Ty Cobb was to get fifty thousand, and ten thousand more if the Tigers won the pennant. Rogers Hornsby's salary was forty thousand. Walter Hagen, the golfer, and Jack Dempsey, the boxer, were the only sports figures in the country who made more that year than Babe Ruth made.

Ballplayers like to think they are paid for their skill, and management says its high resolve is to field great teams. The gritty facts are that ballplayers are paid for their drawing power, not their artistry, and management - at least in the days before television contract and mysterious tax writeoffs - wished only to sell tickets, food, and drink at its ball parks. Was Ruth's salary too high? Those who thought not said Enrico Caruso packed the Metropolitan Opera House every time he sang and got three to five thousand dollars each time. Yankee Stadium drew a lot more paying customers than the Met, and Ruth was paid much less per hour. Was a three-year contract prudent for the Yankees when Ruth was thirty-two? Huggins thought so: "He has the constitution of a horse."

Within a week of signing the new contract Ruth was in St. Petersburg. He played a round of golf in 92, asked sportswriter James R. Harrison to test his abdominal muscles with his fists, hit several baseballs out of the park in batting practice, and loosened up by pitching to Benny Bengough. The very sight of his health and vigor cheered everybody.



Wagenheim

He looked as fit as a bass fiddle. Out in Hollywood, Artie McGovern had him up every day at 6 A.M. and he walked and ran five miles to the studio. His diet emphasized fruit juice, toast, lean meats, and vegetables, with "snacks" of glasses of warm water. As his train rolled eastward, Ruth's manager gave the press a "measurement chart," which was displayed in sports pages across the country, showing that his weight was down to 224 pounds and giving dimensions for the Babe's neck, chest, waist, hips, thigh, calf, biceps, and forearms.

Over the years, these preseason announcements of Ruth's physical condition became as regular as Ground Hog day. And news of his contract, said one writer, was awaited by the public, "as eagerly as intelligence pertaining to corn crops, stocks, bonds, and rates of exchange."

When the Yankees had mailed him a $52,000 contract, he sent it back, saying that rather than accept such an amount he would open a string of gymnasiums with Art McGovern and start correspondence courses on "how to keep fit and play baseball." In New York, Colonel Ruppert explained that the $52,000 contract was a "mere formality"; league rules required that a club send every player a contract on or before February 15. If the deadline was missed, the player became a free agent. The Yankees were embarrassed by stories that the Philadelphia Athletics had offered $75,000 to Detroit's aging Ty Cobb. On that basis, it was widely commented, Ruth deserved $100,000. That's exactly what he asked for. In a long letter to Ruppert, he demanded $200,000 paid over two seasons and the refund of $7,700 in fines deducted from his past salaries.

When the train pulled into Grand Central Station on the morning of March 2, 1927, half a dozen gate tenders and a squad of private police had to clear Ruth's way through a crowd at the platform. Outside, and even larger throng cheered him as he walked the halfblock to Artie McGovern's gym, where he posed for photographers. After calling Ruppert at the brewery to set up a meeting later in the day, he sped over to Saint Vincent's Hospital to visit his wife, Helen, who was confined there with an unspecified illness. He hadn't seen her in a few months.

Shortly before 2 P.M., the Babe "with the blush of Hollywood still upon his smile-creased cheeks" emerged from Colonel Ruppert's office after a fifty-five minute conference, "where they sat behind cigars with the pleasant odor of hops permeating the atmosphere." Ed Barrow herded the four dozen photographers and writers present into the Colonel's office to hear that Ruth had agreed to a three-year contract at $70,000 per season, making him the highest-paid player in baseball (it was learned that Cobb's contract guaranteed only $50,000 per year, with possible bonuses of $25,000). Regarding the refund of $7,700 in fines, Ruppert would only say, "Babe and I have fixed that up all right."

The story made front-page news, rivaling accounts of turbulence in Shanghai, which was described as "the Moscow of China," with "the conservative Northern war lords possessing and the radical Southerners aspiring to capture it." It made the front page again two days later, when Ruth signed the contract, and reporters professed "amazement" that he wielded the pen with his right hand. "I'm a left-handed hitter and a right-handed signer." Ruth explained amiably. His rise from rags to riches was discussed for a week in the nation's press. One paper had an illustrated chart showing that "every day Ruth earns $457.70, a trip to Europe; every week $3,304.53, a new auto; every month $11,666, a new home; and every season $70,000, enough to support twenty families like this (the photo showed a man and wife with twelve children)." His annual salary was "just a trifle more than seven times" the entire years wage of the original Cincinnati club of the 1870's. His three-year guarantee of $210,000 was only $50,000 less than what Ruppert and Huston paid for the entire Yankee franchise in 1915. The Albany Knickerbocker Press said that Ruth's salary was "not extravagant," since it amounted to less than $500 per game, while Enrico Caruso drew from $3,000 to $5,000 per performance. "The Babe will bring infinitely more business to the stadium than Caruso brought to the Metropolitan," it said. The Springfield Republican said Ruth's money was "honestly earned" but cautioned, "We make a mockery of the system of private profit...when the home-run king pockets his $70,000 a year, while the man who finally discovers a cure for cancer may be rewarded by having his picture printed badly in the newspapers."

To put things in even sharper perspective, it should be noted that the Yankee team's median salary that year was $7,000 per player, with Ruth's windfall driving the arithmetical average up to $10,000. Lou Gehrig was earning only $8,000 and would never go higher than $39,000 during his career. The salaries of men like Joe Dugan, Bob Meusel, Tony Lazzeri, Whitey Witt and Earle Combs ranged from $8,000 to $13,000 that season.

Eager to demonstrate his marvelous physique, the Babe challenged a reporter in Saint Petersburg to "hit me, hit me as hard as you can." The man doubled up his fist and "let go with a terrific haymaker" that caught Ruth "squarely amidshis and almost sank from sight." Smiling, the Babe said, "Feel those arms and shoulders; never been tougher in my life!" he was bursting with energy. In the mornings he played golf and even toured the course with his old nemisis Judge Landis. In batting practice he lined shots out of the park, dashed around the bases, and yelled, "I wanna get hot! Catch me, Barney!" Benny Bengough put on his catcher's mitt and the Babe turned pitcher, firing them in at "midsummer speed." He was looking forward to a great year.

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Contract going into 1930 - 2 years/$80,000 per
_______________



Smelser

Babe Ruth's contract expired in 1929. In 1930, to get a raise, he staged his most renowned holdout.

Obviously Ruth's salary would never have been so high if there had been more men like him. In bars and around office water-coolers people compare what ballplayers make with what they could earn in some other kind of work. That overlooks the scarcity of players. About one in fifteen hundred American males aged eighteen, according to professional psychological testing, shows enough promise to be given a chance to start at the lowest minor-league level.

A better comparison of a player's salary is with the profits of baseball's owners. Since 1883 gross receipts of major-league clubs have grown eighty times while average salaries are only seven times higher. The players' share of the take was once half; now it is about a fifth. In the twelve years before 1927, by Jacob Ruppert's own calculation, the value of all clubs grew from something over twenty million dollars to fifty million.

From spring 1923 to fall 1927 the country had five prosperous years. Average major-league attendance rose 50 percent over the previous decade, a rate much faster than the growth of the population. Major-league basball, looked at as one industry, made profits every single year of the 1920s, and only the deliberately wrecked Red Sox needed a great deal of red ink.

When Ruth joined the Red Sox in 1914 major-league attendance was 4,450,000; in 1927 it was 9,940,000, and it would reach 10,130,000 in 1930. In 1929 the customers spent $66 million for spectator sports, mmostly for baseball and college football.

A reasonable person could believe Babe Ruth's stirring play helped baseball to prosper as a whole. It is even easier to think he helped the Yankees make money.

In Ruth's first year in New York the Yankees' attendance doubled, and remained at or near a million annually for the decade (excepting the wretched season of 1925). The Yankees had a sixth of the American League attendance in 1919. After Ruth came it jumped to one-fourth (again excepting 1925). T.L. Huston, rumor said, would have sold his half of the Yankees to Ruppert for a hundred thousand dollars in 1919. We have seen how many times that number he got when he sold in 1923. In the eleven years from 1920 to 1930 the Yankees made more money than any club - $3,517,000 - after paying the salaries of executives. Ruth's salary in eleven years was exactly six hundred thousand dollars. Whenever the Yankee management announced he was unable to play, they had a good many ticket cancellations, enough to notice.

For the first time a team financed its spring training from the tickets sold for scheduled exhibition games. In the years 1921-30 the Yankees spring exhibitions grossed $417,000 and cost $358,000, leaving a profit of $59,000. In pre-Ruth days there would have been a loss of roughly two hundred thousand dollars in the same period. The Yankees also scheduled exhibitions on every open date of the season. The behavior of the crowds proved they came to see Ruth. In all these years he missed only one such game, and that was because he underestimated his driving time from Sudbury to New Haven.

Here are the American League's profit-making teams of 1929 and the approximate profits: Athletics, $275,000; Yankees, $271,000; Tigers, $123,000, White Sox, $11,000; Browns, $5,000.

Did his reputation still stand high in 1929 and 1930? A most respected sportswriter, Hugh S. Fullerton, in the North American Review in 1930, rated him the best outfielder there ever was, "possibly excepting Speaker." More to the point, Grantland Rice, the writer most respected by players of the time, said that of all players from Cobb to Ted Williams, Ruth was the only one who could draw a capacity crowd in every city where the Yankees played.

In dealing with Ruth's bid for a raise, Ruppert had a weaknesses and strengths. (To judge by the way many other owners talked of players, the owners' chief weakness was the Thirteenth Amendment which prohibits slavery.) The reserve clause, giving Ruppert sole right to Babe Ruth's services, was the trump card. In the end Ruth would play baseball on Ruppert's terms or he could set up as, say, a shirtmaker. The reserve clause was a term of partnership called Organized Baseball, bound by a solemn covenant, the National Agreement. The owners worked together in private, sharing financial and tactical secrets on an exchange basis, while keeping players, press, and public in darkness.

Ruppert knew Ruth was worth plenty. But to give him more would spur the other Yankees to ask for more. Ruth's only true strength was the wish of Ruppert and Barrow to sign him early, because it made it much easier for them to deal with the other men on the roster. If Ruth stood firm, other Yankees might get balky at contract time.

Some cynics thought important holdouts were staged to get publicity. Not so in Ruth's case. He didn't need the attention. He was a living publicity stunt all by himself. The press covered holdouts at length, and Ruth may have enjoyed it, but Ruppert found it distasteful. Although he knew Ruth's great value to him, it irked him that a man who played games on summer afternoons cost him more than the best brewmaster.

Speculation about Ruth's next contract appeared in John Kieran's column in the New York Times in February 1929, eleven months before Ruth and Ruppert settled down to talk. In November Ruppert and Barrow went to French Lick, Indiana, where for several weeks they drank Pluto Water (the bubbly laxative spring water) to get in shape to argue with Ruth. Back in New York Ruth talked to his friends about motion-picture actors at two hundred thousand a year, of Jack Dempsey getting half a million for a fight while Babe Ruth had to play 154 games every year, half of them in a stadium specially built to hold the crowds he drew.

Accoring to Stan Musial, at contract time a player has to show the probability of great things to come. It does no good to dwell on the past; the owners had already paid for the past. From others we know the three common elements of salary-bargaining are last year's playing record, the prospects of a better year to come and (one that didn't apply to Ruth vs the Yankees) the effect of low standing and poor attendance. Ordinarily the parties will let the talk roam over such points as the player's financial security - can we win the pennant? - the cost of living - the player's household budget.

Ruth, Ruppert, and Barrow settled down to talk in Ruppert's classic office at the brewery on January 8, 1930, the tenth anniversary of Ruth's first contract. It was friendly. Ruth smiled at the opening offer to renew the old contract for one year. Ruppert then suggested two years at seventy-five thousand. Ruth countered with three years at eighty-five thousand. Barrow said a three-year contract wasn't going to be written. The meeting adjourned. The issue really wasn't so much the money as it was the number of years.

Eight days later Barrow mailed all the Yankee contracts as yet unsigned or otherwise agree to. Ruth's was for two years at seventy-five thousand dollars a year. Silence followed for almost three weeks. Then Ruth (or Claire?) began a war of nerves by sending to each New York paper a finacial statement which showed he could retire on an assured yearly income of twenty-five thousand dollars. He didn't have to play "for bread and butter"; if he wanted to work for work's sake he had many offers from outside baseball, "even from a circus." Ruppert and Barrow responded with mixed solemnity and scorn, saying they hadn't gotten a copy and had some doubt of its authorship since the signature was typewritten.

Babe and Claire went off to Florida where Babe made believe he was more interested in bettering his golf than in the status of his contract. By February 19 he was the last player holding out, though he continued to work out with the team. Ruppert decided the time had come to go to Florida. In Yankee Babe-fighting, Barrow was only the picador. Ruppert was the matador who came out for the kill. Ruppert and Ruth had a friendly haggle in the clubhouse, during which Ruth made a concession: he would accept a contract for two years instead of three years. Ruppert made a concession, too. He would raise his figure to eighty thousand. Ruth still asked eighty-five. They broke off the talk, still friendly, Ruth asked friends why Ruppert would quibble about "a mere five thousand dollars."

Well, I'll take eighty. (Babe Ruth, March 8, 1930)

The Yankees advertised that Ruth would play an exhibition game with the Braves. Ford Frick dined with Babe and Claire the night before. Frick said it would be folly to play, because if he were hurt he could not bargain. Babe saw the point and said if Ruppert would not agree by noon he would go home to New York. Frick told Dan Daniel the story, and Daniel sent it in fifteen hundred words to the New York Telegram. The next morning Babe told Daniel he had changed his mind and would play. He felt like playing ball and he liked Emil Fuchs, the owner of the Braves, who could use the money. Daniel, startled, told Ruth that to play without a contract would make Daniel seem a liar. Daniel was one of the Ruth's best friends, and this turn gave Babe pause. Daniel showed him a press description of a bread riot in New York, which surprised Ruth. He told Daniel he'd take the Colonel's offer.

To save Daniel by signing before noon, the Ruths came to St. Petersburg from their own headquarters to call on Ruppert at the Princess Martha Hotel at 11 A.M. Ruppert was at Crescent Lake Park where the Yankees trained. For forty minutes the Ruths waited in the lobby. When Ruppert came, he and Babe talked privately and at ten minutes to noon called in the reporters for the announcement. They then posed for photographers on the lawn. Dan Daniel had written his story, then made it come true. The actual signatures went on the contract a few days later. Babe usually signed himself "George H. Ruth" but this time signed the whole, "George Herman Ruth," which carries to this reader a sense of triumph.



Wagenheim

Puffing a long, black cigar, Babe drove his car down Riverside Drive on his way to talk turkey with Colonel Ruppert. It was early in 1930, and four million Americans were out of work. Just below Riverside Drive, along the shore of the Hudson, hundreds of jobless men hammered sheets of scrap metal and wood into a shantytown village and lit campfires to keep warm and cook their meals. But the nation's leaders had assured everyone that it was just a temporary recession.

"How much do you want, Root?" the Colonel asked.
"A hundred thousand a year."

Ruppert blinked, "You'd have thought I asked for the whole brewery," said Ruth. "He told me I must be out of my mind."

Ruth left for Florida, where he romped about on the golf course in his plus-fours or at the beach with Claire in his two-piece striped bathing suit. They went to the dog races, and they drove to Tampa, where the Babe loved to sample the spicy Cuban dishes.

At Saint Petersburg, he celebrated his thirty-sixth birthday with a mammoth dinner, the "appetizer" being a large silver tray piled high with telegrams from well-wishers. He hunted for quail, judged a boxing match, hobnobbed with celebrities such as ex-Governor Al Smith, cartoonist Billy de Beck and copper magnate Edward Guggenheim, and appeared totally unconcerned about his contract difference with Colonel Ruppert.

But then he shocked the sports press by issuing a long mimeographed "letter" in which he threatened to quit baseball unless Ruppert gave him a three-year contract for $85,000 per season. He claimed to have enough 'bread and butter" at home if he never touched another baseball. Without five cents from the Yankees, he said, he was assured of$25,000 per year from dividends and royalties. Claiming he'd saved $150,000 in the past three years, he said, "If you think that figure's padded, call the President of the Bank of Manhattan or the Equitable Life Assurance Company."

When Jake Ruppert came down to Saint Petersburg, he brought with him a peace offering: eight new Ruthian bats, fresh from the factory. But by March 10 both sides seemed intransigent. Exactly how they resolved their difference may be a prosaic tale, but the legend is far more fun. Sportswriter Dan Daniel allegedly got a "hot tip" from Ford Frick that Ruth would refuse to play the next day's exhibition game against the Boston Braves unless he was given an $85,000 contract. Without checking the story, Daniel filed it to the New York Telegram. The next morning, however, two hours before game time, Daniel saw Ruth strolling toward the ball park. he walked up to the Babe and blurted out his dilemma.

"Wotta ya want me to do?" said the Babe.
"Quit!" said Daniel.
"But I can't do that!"
"Then sign with Ruppert before noon!"
"But I want $85,000 and he's only offering $80,000."

Imagining how his "exclusive" story would sound if Ruth played without a contract that day, Daniel spun a long, impassioned tale of hungry people rioting for bread in Union Square, while they were quibbling over a lousy few thousand bucks! Finally, the Babe agreed to accept $80,000. But Ruth wasn't finished. He wanted the Yankees to refund the $5,000 fine that Huggins had slapped on him in 1925 (who said the Babe had a poor memory?). Ruppert hesitated, but Ruth insisted, "You promised me."

Ruppert said, "So long as Huggins was alive, Root, I'd never have given it back, but Miller's dead now and he'll never know."

Later in the day, before a phalanx of news photographers and reporters, Ruth borrowed a pen and signed a contrac that guaranteed him $160,000 over two seasons. In terms of today's purchasing power, the Babe's $80,000 per season would be worth about $216,800. (That year, a YMCA official published a pamphlet on how a young man - a teetotaler, of course - could get by in Manhattan on $25 a week. It included such items as "breakfast 25c," "subway 5c," "talkie theater 50c," "ball game $1," "room at Y $1," and "dinner 75c," and even allowed for a Sunday church donation of a quarter.) But it was worth even more. Taxes are far higher today. In 1930, the federal government took only 15 per cent of the Babe's salary, leaving him with $63,360, which is worth $184,280 today. To earn an equivalent income after taxes now, one would need to gross $307,00 a year. No baseball player has ever received that amount.

Most papers said the Babe was well worth the money. While he earned more than many prominent citizens, said the Sun, "what president of a college, governor, or Surpreme Court judge ever made 30,000 Americans spring up as one man in delirium of delight?" If the Yankees paid Ruth $100,000 a year "for life," said the Times, "it would not cut too heavily into the millions he drew to its ball park. If all the leagues contributed to such a pension they would be no more than acknowledging a debt far beyond payment."

Ruth earned about $200,000 in 1930. In addition to his $80,000 salary, he received a percentage of the gate for exhibition games. There were movie shorts (he did a series of two-reelers for Universal pictures with Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne), ghosted articles, radio and personal appearances, and endorsements. A cigarette firm payed him $5,000 a year, despite the fact that he was one of the world's most famous cigar smokers.



Creamer

Ruth wanted very much to be named manager,but Barrow turned to Shawkey, who had been a coach under Huggins after his pitching days ended and who had managed in the minors. "Shawkey deserves the chance, " he told Ruth, mentioning the new manager's apprenticeship as coach and minor leaguer. Ruth was not happy about it. He liked Shawkey and he grudingly accepted the fait accompli, but he decided that as long as his contract was up and he needed a new one, he would hit the Yankees for a lot more money.

He worked hard again that winter in Artie McGovern's gym and before he went south to spring training early in 1930 he told Ruppert he wanted $100,000. Ruppert refused out of hand, offering only a $5000 raise to $75,000. Ruth turned this down, and for the first time since his 1919 dispute with Frazee he became a serious holdout. Walsh composed a letter for Babe's signature, detailing Ruth's financial situation and nothing that "I'm good for $25,000 a year for life even if I quit baseball today." It was sent to the New York newspapers and to the Yankees. It received considerable play in the papers, but in the Yankee office it was ignored.

Ruth and Claire went to Florida and stayed at the Jungle Club in St. Petersburg, where Ruppert was staying too, and he worked out every day with the ball club. But the salary talks remained at an impasse. Babe came down to $85,000, but on a three-year contract, and Ruppert came up to $80,000 on two (and agreed to return the $5000 fine Huggins had slapped on Ruth in 1025), but that was as close as they came. Ruth was restless, and the night before the first exhibition game of the spring he felt particularly low. Things were so different. It was his first Yankee camp without Huggins and his first without a contract signed and in his pocket. He and Claire had some friends in for the evening, Alan Gould of the Associated Press among them, and Babe got to talking about the game the next day. Gould said, "Are you actually going to play, even though you're not signed?"

"Why not"
"Why not? Well, suppose you break a leg? You think Ruppert is going to give you $85,000 then? Or even $80,000?"

"I never thought of that," Babe said. Later he got to mulling about it. He had a few drinks, not many, but enough to get his naturally impulsive nature into gear. By God, he decided, he wasn't going to break his leg in an exhibition game for nothing. He made up his mind. If he did not have a contract by noon the next day, he was going to hand in his uniform, quit the squad and go back to New York.

Word of Ruth's decision reached Dan Daniel of the New York Telegram. Daniel wrote the story and sent it to his paper, which played it big in its first edition late the next morning. About the time New Yorkers were reading that Ruth would quit the Yankees unless he signed by noon that day, Daniel and Frick and a couple of other writers ran into him near the Jungle Club. It was a beautiful morning. The sun was shining. Ruth was cheerful.

"What a day," Ruth said. "I hope I hit one this afternoon."
"What do you mean, hit one?" Daniel said. "You're not playing."
"Why not?"
"You can't. You haven't signed. You said you weren't going to play unless you signed."
"Oh that was last night," Ruth said.
"The hell it was last night," Daniel said. "I'm all over page one with it today."

Ruth shrugged. "I'm sorry , Dan. I changed my mind. I decided to stick with the club."
"And leave me holding the well-known bag. You ought to stick to your word, Babe. If you're going to play this afternoon, you ought to sign. You and Ruppert aren't that far apart anyway."

Ruth looked at him. "You think I ought to sign?"
"Damn right."
"Okay. All right. Go find Jake, and I'll sign."

The writers deployed. Will Wedge of the Sun went to find Colonel Ruppert, who was taking a leisurely walk with an old friend of his named Colonel Alfred W. Wattenberg. Daniel raced to the Western Union office to clear the wires to New York for all the newspapermen. Frick and Slocum, the closest friends Ruth had among the writers, stayed with him to keep him from wandering off. After an interminable time, Wedge came back shepherding the two slow-moving colonels at all deliberate speed. Ruth and Ruppert greeted each other warmly, chatted for a few minutes in private, and Babe agreed to the $80,000 for two years. "What about the fine?" Ruth asked. Ruppert consulted Barow, who said, "If it's up to me, the fine stays." Ruth reminded Ruppert that he had promised it, aand Ruppert gave in. "If Huggins had lived," he said, "you would not be getting this. But Miller is dead now and he won't know."

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Contract going into 1932 - 1 year/$75,000
_______________



Smelser

Although major-league attendance in 1930 had been the highest ever, ticket sales fell off in 1931. After the season the owners took collective action by voting to cut salaries and to lower the player limit from twenty-five to twenty-three aiming to lower their payrolls by a million dollars. The Giants asked Bill Terry, who hit .401 in 1930 and .349 with the deadened ball of 1931, to take a 40 percent cut. Commissioner Landis took a cut from sixty-five to fifty thousand while the league presidents and umpires also had their salaries lowered. Connie Mack said his payroll was higher than the Yankees'. He couldn't meet it and began to sell off his great team piecemeal.

The owners found their free lists swollen. In New York alone the Yankees, Giants, and Dodgers let in 250,000 people on passes in 1931, not counting schoolchildren. Passes were now sharply cut. The owners did not lower admission prices, arguing that they hadn't raised them during the good years. Around the leagues, from park to park, general admission tickets had gone from seventy-five cents to only a dollar in the past thirty years.

In early December Ruppert, once more thirsting for Pluto Water, went to Indiana to swig his autumnal draughts and to plot a money battle with Babe Ruth. His first blow was a public remark that Ruth would have to take a cut. Ruth wasn't indispensable. He had played in many games "where only a few hundred fans came out. I guess that shows the fans don't jam the parks just to see him play baseball doesn't it?"

Ruth believed he had had a very good year in 1931, good enough to earn a raise in normal timees. The fair thing, he thought, would be to continue to pay him at his present figure.

Rud Rennie of the New York Herald-Tribune was having breakfast with all four of the Ruths on West 88th Street one January morning. Claire, in "pale green crepe pajamas and a green silk kimono," was seeing to it that Babe had a large ham steak before going out for golf. The mail came during breakfast, bringing a one-year Yankee contract for seventy thousand dollars. Babe asked Claire for a fountain pen. She feared he would sign it, but no, he needed a pen to send it back. He told Rennie he'd take the figure on a two-year contract but woul dhave to get eighty thousand for one year.

A disinterested statistician has figured it out that Ruth earned $3,500,000 for Colonel Ruppert in the last twelve years. That stupendous sum represents Ruth's personal box office drawing power over and above what the club would have taken in without him! - George Trevor, Outlook and Independent, Jan 27, 1932

The Detroit sportswriter H.G. Salsinger figured the extra income from Ruth's presence in exhibition games in the years from 1927 on was alone enough to pay his salary for those years. A writer remembered T.L. Huston's guess that Ruth drew an average of twenty-five hundred extra customers per game. Counting all games that would mean the Yankees grossed about $280,000 a year drawn solely by Ruth.

These suppositions are plausible. The Yankees' share of American League attendance from 1911 to 1920 was about 13.5 percent. From 1921 to 1930 it was 22 percent. The nation's Muscle Hero probably had a lot to do with the growth.

Ruppert's defense was to speak of a decline in Yankee receipts in 1931 of 12 to 15 percent - an oddly vague figure from a man who had to know exactly how much in order to pay his taxes.

The discussions of Ruth's salary brought forth a joke for which we have no date, no place, no straight man. Legend says someone told Ruth his eighty thousand was more than the salary of the President, to which Ruth replied, "I had a better year than he did."

As usual, the contract difference remained until spring training was underway. Ruth and Ruppert had two short talks at the ball field and another at the Roliat Hotel where Ruppert lived. The third talk was in the hotel foyer, in full view of reporters watching from a hundred feet away. After borrowing a fountain pen, Babe, Claire, and Ruppert composed a theatrical tableau of signing, in the hotel patio near a wishing well. With anguishing corniness each tossed a coin in the well and made a wish, audible to the reporters, of course. [i]Babe: Another pennant so he could play in a tenth World Series. Claire: More Yankee contracts in the family. Ruppert: The coins in the bottom of the well, in order to buy another minor-league club. Then Babe played in an eleven inning exhibition game and went hitless.

Behind all the painful hokum was a real unpublicized touch of humanity. Ruth signed a blank contract, leaving it to Ruppert's sense of magnificence to guide him in filling in the amount. Magnificence is the only virtue reserved to the rich, and Ruppert was magnificent. he wrote in $75,000 and a percentage of the profits from exhibition games. It still stands on Barrow's worn 4 x 6 card:

1932 cont. $75,000 and 25% net receipts of ex. games



Wagenheim

As the depression gripped America, 14 million people (nearly one-third of the labor force) were without jobs. Men sold apples on street corners. Those with jobs were thankful; workers in sawmills toiled fifty hours a week for five cents an hour; many companies had put "Scotch Week" into effect, requiring employees to work one week per month without salary. Not far from the Babe's apartment, the ramshackle huts of the desperately poor continued to spread along the banks of the Hudson.

Baseball revenues were severely hit by the Depression. Colonel Ruppert estimated that Yankee gate receipts fell 12 to 15 per cent during the 1931 season. Losses were more severe for other clubs. The owners of the sixteen major league teams began a joint effort to trim $1 million from players' salaries. They cut the salary of baseball commissioner Landis from $65,000 to $50,000 a year. Umpires took reduced paychecks. Ruth's annual salary of $80,000 for the past two seasons was an irresistible target. If he continued to earn so much, other players would refuse drastic cuts. As one sports editor observed: "A player who's had a good year can always say at contract time, 'I'm no Babe Ruth, but I'm worth half as much, or a quarter as much.'" Another writer called Ruth "the logical storm center of this new era." So it wasn't surprising when Colonel Ruppert, in early 1932, said that "baseball can't afford such a salary." Ruth, he admitted, was "a good asset," but he wasn't the only drawing card on the club. Gehrig also brought out the fans, he said, and earned only $25,000, less than one-third of Ruth's salary.

A few days later, Ruth was chewing on a big ham steak at the breakfast table when the mailman came. Ruppert had sent him a one-year contract for $70,000.

"What's a guy gotta do in this league to satisfy people?" Ruth said to Claire. "I hit forty-six home runs, I'm second in the league in batting, and they want me to take a $10,000 cut!"

On his way to the Saint Albans golf course, Ruth personally returned the contract, unsigned, to the Yankee office. He and Ruppert haggled for a while but never fought. The Babe was bored with money - it was more a question of ego - and the Colonel was too much of an aristocrat to show passion over such a mundane topic. During that meeting, according to the legend, Ruppert remarked, "Root, last year you earned more money than President Hoover."

And the Babe is said to have replied, "Hell, I had a better year than Hoover!"

The next time-honored step in the Ruth ritual was the trip to Florida and his birthday party. His friends set up a huge square table in the patio of the Jungle Club Hotel, arranged to resemble a baseball diamond with flowers for baselines and bases. A mammoth birthday cake, in the shape of a baseball, occupied the center. Twenty-eight guests sat around the table, with the Ruths in the place of honor at "home plate."

Ruppert came down a few days later and, following a long tradition, sat with the Babe at a table on the sunny lawn of the Jungle Club with dozens of reporters and photographers gathered round for the contract signing. The Babe's pale winter complexion, after walking bareheaded on the Florida golf courses for several days, was now a flaming red. Ruth never had a pen, and this time is was supplied by Ruppert's friend, Colonel Wattenberg. He put his signature to the contract, which was for $75,000 a year, plus 25 percent of the net receipts from Yankee exhibition games. It was the first time in Ruth's long career - since the day in 1914 when he signed for $600 per season - that he had ever taken a cut in pay. The Depression had begun, indeed.



Creamer

Ruth went hunting every winter and in 1931 came back from North Carolina with three wild turkeys, twenty ducks and a deer, and had them all delivered to his butcher. "Send a turkey to Ed Barrow," he told the butcher, "and take care of the ducks. But don't let anybody touch that deer. I don't want somebody monkeying with it and spoiling the skin. I'll come back and skin it myself."

Claire told him to let Anton, the butcher, skin the deer, but Ruth said, "Him? What does he know about skinning a deer? He'd ruin it. I want the skin made into a rug for Dorothy's room, and the job has to be done by somebody who knows how to skin a deer."

He went to Anton's with Rud Rennie, who watched as Babe put on a butcher's apron, accepted the knife and prepared to operate, lecturing as he did like a surgeon in a hospital amphitheater.

"The way we usually do this," he said, "is to hang the deer from a tree. But I'll have to do it the way it is. Now, we start here."

He jabbed the carcass and Anton emitted a shrill cry of protest. "No, no," he said, and without ceremony took the knife from Ruth and made the proper incision. Ruth said, "Oh," and Anton continued, Ruth watching with interest.

When the butcher finished, Babe asked, "Where did you learn to skin a deer?"

"In Austria. Where I come from there are many deer. People eat them all the time. I skin many deer."

"Hell, if I'd have known that, I'd have stayed home. Hey, cut out a roast and sent it up to the house. Put those horns in a bag. I'll take them with me."

As he grew older, his hunting equipment became more elaborate. Ruth believed in roughing it in comfort, and often he would say, "You fellows go on out. I think I'll do my hunting on Mahogany Ridge today." Mahogany Ridge was the bar. One winter he took along his portable phonograph and fifty records, the old, heavy 78-rpm disks. He had a terrible time locating a container for the records and nagged Claire about finding something that would do.

"What about one of those big round cake tins?" he demanded.

"Haven't got a big round cake tin," she said. "Anyway, one wouldn't be enough."

"Well, call over and order half a dozen."

"Babe, cake tins don't come empty. They have cakes in them."

"All right," he said. "You can take the cakes out can't you?"

She gave up and ordered four big cakes, complete with tins. The cakes were jettisoned, the records safely packed and Ruth left for his hunting trip with three guns, three suitcases and four cake tins.

Ruth went to Los Angeles in the autumn of 1931 to make some short baseball films, and there he said he intended to retire after two more seasons (he wanted to complete twenty years as an active player). Asked if he hoped to own a club some day, he said, "Nope, but I want to manage one." His $80,000 contract had expired, and he and Ruppert soon were in another hassle. Ruppert sent Ruth a contract for $70,000, a cut of $10,000. Babe said he would refuse to consider anything but another two-year contract at $80,000. But he was not on as strong ground as he had been two years earlier. The Depression was two years old; jobs were generally scarce, and salaries in those that were around were being cut. Babe said, "I haven't noticed the Yankees in any depression," but it had little effect. No one was going to waste sympathy on Ruth having to get along on $70,000. After two months of disagreement he and Ruppert came to terms in the foyer of the Rolyat Hotel in St. Petersberg. They talked alone before the big fireplace at one end of the long room, while at the other end a cluster of people watched and tried to hear what they were saying. After ten or fifteen minutes Ruppert sent for Colonel Wattenberg, who supplied a pen and witnessed the signatures. They had comprimised again. Ruppert went up $5000 and Ruth came down $5000. And he agreed to take the $75,000 on a one-year contract.

The photographers posed them outside afterwards and had Ruth and Ruppert and Claire toss coins into a wishing well. Ruth said, "I wish for another pennant, so that I can play in ten World Series." Claire said, "I wish for many more Yankee contracts." Ruppert said, "I wish I had the money in that well."

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Contract going into 1933 - 1 year/$52,000 and 25% of net exhibition receipts
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Smelser

They'll have to raise the ante to get me to sign (Babe Ruth, The Times, January 17, 1933)

The business depression deepened. Baseball attendance in 1932 ws the lowest since 1920 by almost three million; it was almost four million below 1930. In the American League only the Yankees, it was said, made a profit. Other industries could lay off workers, but baseball needed a minimum number of them to make up eight games a day. As in most businesses, cutting the payroll offered the surest savings. Babe Ruth had stopped being a growth of industry.

Ruth in mid-January was working morning in McGovern's gymnasium and playing golf every afternoon. When his Yankee contract came in the mail on January 16 it was for fifty thousand dollars. Ruth mailed it back unsigned and went to a movie. He was in good condition, a pound or two above his playing weight. Reporters soon knew that all Yankees had been cut except a pair of newcomers who didn't make enough money to make any difference.

It had become the custom to have an annual press morning at McGovern's which drew writers and newsreel photographers and made for baseball talk. In 1933 it fell on January 19, three days after Ruth returned his contract. To questions he said he might take a 10 or 15 percent cut, but not one of twenty-five thousand dollars. That much "at one smack is no cut. That's what you fellows might call an amputation." Then, for the newsreels, he boxed a round with daughter Julia.

The January publication of the eighth annual selection of all star team by the Sporting News, which took a poll of sportswriters weakened Ruth's bargaining strength. For the first time he failed to make the team. The voters elected Chuck Klein their right fielder, giving him 111 votes to 63 for Ruth. It was the proper choice. Klein had led the National League in home runs (38) and stolen bases (20) while batting .348.

Thus matters stood until the scene shifted to Florida in March. Ruth again said he would take a 10 or 15 percent cut. What about fifty thousand dollars? BABE" Absolutely not!" CLAIRE: "No!" Doesn't the closing of banks make any difference? Well, said Babe, here turned economist, the banks wouldn't be closed forever.

Ruth joined the Yankee workouts but made no counter-offer to Ruppert. On the day Ruppert came to Florida he wouldn't see reporters, but he talked fruitlessly with Ruth the next day. After that Ruppert was available to reporters. He wanted them to know that reports of a Yankee profit in 1932 were incorrect, and he hoped they realized that fifty-thousand dollars would buy as much in 1933 as a hundred thousand would buy in normal times. The next move, he said, was Ruth's. Ruth was not stirred. "If it is fifty thousand dollars, and the next move is up to me, there is no move..." And there things stalled, briefly.

Only two days after his firm defiance Ruth told a friend he might take fifty-five thousand. The beginning of an exhibition series with the Braves may have weakened his will. Ruppert took up psychological warfare on March 18, saying Ruth must sign by Saturday the 29th or the offer would be reduced. Ruppert made a reasonable point; part of Ruth's salary was for drawing exhibition-game crowds the pay the cost of spring training. On one day during the holdout the attendance was only a hundred.

Ruth then suggested fifty-five thousand. Meanwhile, back in Manhattan, the Salvation Army polled 1,171 destitute men living in the army's shelter called Gold Dust Lodge, at 40 Corlears Stree, citing the Ruth-Ruppert argument and asking what Ruth should get. Each man wrote down a figure. The range was from ten cents to a million dollars. The mean was $48,999. On the next question, whether anyone was worth eighty thousand a year, the division of the house was 599 aye, 572 no. The 599 then listed those who were worth eighty thousand. The results were: any U.S. President, 185; Babe Ruth, 140; President Roosevelt, 97; Al Smith, 12. Nobody else got as many as five votes. All this during the toughest winter in American history since the first winter endured by the Plymouth Pilgrims.

On the same day Ruppert and Ruth agreed to the figure of fifty-two thousand after ten minutes of talk. Then they came out for the hokey rite of signing in front of the newsreel cameras. Ruppert had won, but Ruth surely didn't suffer, since the price of everything was falling fast. By cutting Ruth's salary Ruppert also cut Ruth's stature.

In earlier years people bought tickets to Yankee games partly to see a man who was paid so much to play baseball. As cut followed cut Ruth lost that value, but it was too late in his career for it to matter.



Wagenheim

As he signed a stack of Christmas cards in McGovern's office (his list had now grown to more than one hundred thousand recipients) the Babe sounded optimistic about his contract for the 1933 season.

"Just give the Colonel the right to make good beer...he'll be so tickled, he'd be a soft touch for me!" Beer did become legal again that April, and Colonel Ruppert also spent $250,000 financing the second Byrd Antartic Expedition that year (causing the flagship to be named after him) but as a hard-nosed businessman Ruppert kept each of his enterprises separate, and he insisted the Yanks were losing money.

That year brought the first of a seris of setbacks for Ruth. The Sporting News's eighth annual poll of baseball writers dropped him from its all-star team for the first time; he was beaten for the right field spot by Chuck Klein of the Philadelphia Phillies, who drew nearly twice as many votes as the Babe.

The Yankees mailed him a contract for only $50,000. "That's not a pay cut, that's an amputation!" the Babe said indignantly as he dropped the unsigned contract back in the mail. Ruth was still unsigned on March 13 when Colonel Ruppert came to see him at Saint Petersburg. Both emerged unsmiling from a private meeting in Joe McCarthy's office at Miller Huggins Field. "We have not come to any agreement," said Ruppert, explaining that he had renewed his offer of $50,000 and Ruth had demanded $60,000. His offer, said Ruppert, was "equal to $100,000 in normal times," but Ruth would only say, "If they're willing to let me quit for $10,000 it's all right with me." Ruppert issued an ultimatum on March 19, warning Ruth to sign in ten days or not accompany to team on its trip north. He even threatened to reduce the $50,000 offer if Ruth didn't come to terms soon. Ruth relaxed his demands to $55,000, but the Colonel was unyielding, stressing that he and the Babe were "on the friendliest terms," but simply couldn't agree on a business matter.

By now, the salary disput had blossomed into a national issue, as Americans - poorer than they'd ever been - took vicarious pleasure in imagining such sums. When a Salvation Army official in New York heard a number of destitute, jobless men arguing heatedly about Ruth's salary dispute, he took a poll of the shelter's 1,200 inmates, asking them to name those man who deserved $80,000 a year or more. First place went to "any President of the United States." Ruth placed second, far ahead of such men as John D. Rockefeller, Professor Albert Einstein, Henry Ford, William Randolph Hearst, Walter Winchell, Enrico Caruso, Tom Mix, and Benito Mussolini.

Finally, on March 22, Ruppert visited Ruth at his suite in the Jungle Club, and after a ten-minute conference the Babe agreed to sign for $52,000. Ruppert's "sob story," he said later, "nearly had me in tears." Despite the huge salary cut, he remained the highest-paid player in baseball. As the cameras clicked and the Movietones ground away at the contract signing two days later, Ruth said, "I've had three ambitions in my life. One was to hit seven hundred home runs, the other was to play twenty years, and the next ws to be in ten World Series. I succeeded in one last year, makin' my tenth series. Next year will be my twentieth season. If I hit forty-eight home runs, I'll have an even seven hundred, and I'll sure be satisfied with everything."



Creamer

The joyful glow from the 1932 World Series did not last long. It was obvious that Ruth was going to have to take another salary cut for 1933, and probably a big one. The Depression was at its worst, and, as Barrow let everyone know, the Yankees had to refund more than $100,000 to holders of tickets to the unplayed sixth and seventh games of the World Series.

Ruth was unconcerned. "Jake and I will meet," he said, "and he'll say what he thinks I should get next season, and then I'll say. Then we'll talk for a little while, and then we'll come to an agreement. It's always been like that. Jake and I never have much trouble getting together."

But when Ruth received his contract in the middle of January, he was outraged. He had been cut 33 1/2 per cent to $50,000, a drop of $25,000. Babe phoned Barrow and said he was returning the contract and asked if it was okay if he told the papers about it. Barrow said, "No, I'd rather you didn't. I'll take care of that myself."

Ruth waited a few days but when nothing appeared in the papers he called reporters in. "I don't mind telling you and the world that the offer is $50,000," he said, "and that's a cut of 25 grand, and that's some wallop." He muttered about Barrow. "I don't believe Colonel Ruppert ever saw the contract, and I told Barrow that. Hell, I expected to receive a cut, but I can't believe Jake would go so far as a third off. I'll never sign for that."

Yet Ruppert had seen the size of the cut, and had approved it, although his only comment to inquiring reporters was "I have nothing to say, nothing to say, nothing to say at all."

A few days later Babe's anger subsided somewhat and he said genially, "I can see a 10 per cent cut or even a 15 per cent cut, but 15 per cent is as low as I'll go. I expected a cut, but $25,000 is no cut, that's an amputation."

Someone raised the question of the Depression, salary cuts, unemployment breadlines, and whether Babe had a right to complain about his salary. Ruth said, "Why shouldn't I kick? The Yankees made money last year, and I think I helped draw the crowds as much as I ever did. Oh, hell, we'll work this out in Florida. We always do."

He went south and played golf. He had a hole in one on the 185 yard third hold at Pasadena Golf Club near St. Petersburg and shot a 78 that day. He played a lot of golf, but nothing happened with his contract. One of those rumors that he was dead flashed around again, this one saying he had been killed in a plane crash. "Nah," said Ruth on the phone to a worried inquirer, "I haven't been in a plane in weeks. The worst accident I've had is that Yankee contract."

He and Ruppert met once in Florida, and Ruth offered to come down to $60,000. Ruppert refused to budge from his original offer of $50,000. Babe worked out with the club, but did not sign. The exhibition season began, and in the middle of March he and Ruppert met again. Babe, his resistance melting like a snowball in St. Petersburg, came down to $55,000. Ruppert still said no. he not only said no, he said, "If Ruth does not sign by March 29, he will not be taken north with the team. Furthermore, if he does not come to terms by then, the present offer of $50,000 will be lowered. Ruth has come down in his demands, but I told him I cannot possibly sign him for more than $50,000."

Four days later, on March 22, Ruth gave in and signed. Ruppert had the grace to let RUth save face. "We have reached an agreement," the colonel told the press. "I asked Ruth what he wanted, and he said, 'I'll take $52,000.' I told him that was all right, and that ended the matter."

They both had comprimised, said one newspaper. Ruth had come down $23,000 and Ruppert had gone up $2000. Yet there was little sympathy for Ruth. In March 1933 Franklin Roosevelt had just been inaugurated. Banks were folding. Savings were gone. And Ruth was still the highest paid player in the game.

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Contract going into 1934 - 1 year/$35,000 and 25% of net exhibition receipts
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Smelser

Ruth had some not very flattering offers from people who thought he wouldn't be playing with the Yankees in 1934 - a one year contract for thirty-five thousand to play for the San Fransisco team of the Pacific Coast League, and a curious suggestion that Ruth tour all the minor leagues as a designated hitter for every pitcher in every minor-league game he attended.

The American League, before 1933, had not suffered as much from the Depression as had business in general, but in that year its income was 31 percent below normal while the overall business index was down 25 percent. Good teams were now losing money. The Pirates, second in 1932 and 1933, lost money in both years. The Cubs lost money when they won the pennant in 1932 and lost much more in 1933 and 1934 with third-place finishes. The Senators won the pennant in 1933 and had to part with Goose Goslin because they couldn't pay his salary. The players' share of the 1933 World Series receipts was the smallest pool since 1922. After the Series Will Harridge, president of the American League, said owners would have to cut both salaries and overhead. They cut overhead by shortening the 1934 season a week, though the number of games remained at 154. As for the Yankees, their 1933 attendance was about three-quarters of the average attendance from 1920 to 1930.

For a change, in 1934 Ruth was not a holdout. He and Ruppert met at the brewery and signed a one-year contract for thirty-five thousand dollars on January 15, two months earlier than usual. They were so agreeable that some people believed it was the first stage in a palace revolution which would depose Joe McCarthy. Baseless rumors that Ruth was to be manager were, as they say, rife. Ruth grumpily observed to his sportswriting friends that Ruppert had given Admiral Richard Byrd a quarter of a million dollars to go to the South Pole (Byrd named his flagship Jacob Ruppert) and let Ruth help underwrite the exploration with a seventeen-thousand-dollar pay cut. The average cut of major-league payrolls was about 25 percent in the years 1932-33. Because Ruth signed so quickly, other players signed easily.

The highest seven salaries of 1934 were:

Babe Ruth--------$36,696
Mickey Cochrane--$30,000
Chuck Klein-------$30,000
Bill Terry---------$27,500
Lou Gehrig-------$23,000
Carl Hubbell------$17,500
Rogers Hornsby---$15,000

Cochrane and Hornsby were playing managers. These figures were sharply lower than the same men would have gotten in the 1920s, but the average ballplayer, because of deflation, actually had about 4 or 5 percent more puchasing power than in the 1920s.

In any even, Ruth wasn't living at poverty level. He began to collect an annuity of $17,500 in February 1934, bringing him up to about fifty thousand. No American in the mid-1970s with three hundred thousand a year was as well off.



Wagenheim

He thought of spring training. Jesus, so many pals gone. Who was left from the great bunch of '27?

He felt like the last living dinosaur, tracked by museum curators waiting for him to drop. That week, a gallery in downtown Manhattan unveiled an eight-foot-tall sculpture of a younger Babe swinging his mighty bat, broad-shouldered and thin at the waist. The artist, Reuben Nakian, said, "The Greeks erected public statues to their athletic heroes, so why not Babe Ruth?" The Times art critic called it "a very arresting figure," and commented, "He looks like an American Hercules." It could be dangerous being an American institution.

Police that month arrested a man in South Dakota and claimed he was involved in the kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby. In the man's home, they found a file of "famous persons," including a photo of the Babe with a marginal notation suggesting that he might be a future kidnap target.

It was a depressing day, but soon he'd be in Saint Petersburg, and the sun would warm his aching limbs. There would be no protracted salary battle to fill the sports pages this time. He'd already signed in a bried, colorless ceremony at Jake Ruppert's oak-paneled brewery office. Now it was for only $35,000, quite a drop from $80,000 just three winters before. But what could he do? The way he felt, he'd be lucky to play a hundred games this season. There'd been a touch of pathos when he put his name to the contract, but his old buddies from the press tried to put a bright face on things. They toted up all his contracts and WOrld Series shares since 1914 and proclaimed that the Bambino's baseball earnings amounted to $918,477. And they dutifully quoted him when he smiled and said, "I'm making a lot of money outside of baseball now; I can afford to stick with a game that's done so much for me." Now, he even had his own half-hour radio show, "Babe Ruth's Club," three times a week over WOR, sandwiched between "The Adventures of Tom Mix" and "Amos 'n' Andy."

There were rumors that he might quit baseball altogether and become a golf pro. That spring, as the Yankees stopped in Atlanta on the tour north, the Babe played an exhibition golf match against the famous Bobby Jones, and played well. He liked golf, but he couldn't reconcile himself to the fact that his career in baseball, his whole life since adolescence, was coming to an end.

As the team continued north, Ruth dropped in to see his sister, Mrs. Mary Moberly, in Richmond, Virginia, who was recovering from a nervous breakdown. He sat down on the side of the bed, smiled, and said, "You ain't going goofy, are you, Sis?"

Mary could see the age wrinkles and a touch of sadness in his eyes when he said, "Sis, I'm getting old now, past forty, and my old legs ain't what they were."

But that spring the Literary Digest said Ruth was "still on his colossal feet...still capable of smiting the planetoid into the middle of next week and heaving his gigantic bulk around the bases like a playful St. Bernard pup." It was easy to write such drivel in an office somewhere, but a lot harder to stand sixty feet away from wild rookie pitchers who wanted nothing more than to blaze one past the famous Babe or knock him down and show him who was boss. That June at Yankee Stadium, a young Philadelphia pitcher fired a high hard once that the Babe couldn't duck in time. It caught him on the wrist and he fell to the ground. As he was helped toward the clubhouse, the 8,000 fans stood in silence, remembering times past.

There arose a wave of nostalgic affection for the Babe even before he was through. That summer, a nationwide poll of writers picked him ahead of all American League outfielders despite the fact that he was only a shadow of his former self. But every so often he made them remember how it once was. On Friday, July 13, almost exactly twenty years to the date tha the first put on a big league uniform, the Babe appeared in a game before 20,000 fans at Detroit's Navin Field. When he came to bat in the third inning, Tiger pitcher Tommy Bridges stretched the count to three balls, two strikes. The Babe swatted the next ball far over the right field wall. It was his 700th home run, a great ambition realized, and the hit also helped the Yankees to win the game and climb back into first place. As he rounded third base, Ruth pointed toward right field and shouted to coach Art Fletcher, "I want that ball! I want that ball!"



Creamer

The Yankees again cut his salary drastically, Barrow preparing the way by talking loudly on the telephone when he knew Dan Daniel, who loved news beats, was within hearing. "I think $25,000 should be our top offer," he said, apparently to Colonel Ruppert. Daniel wrote the story, and $25,000 was the amount in the 1934 contract sent to Ruth. Babe made no extravagant statements, and he did not hold out. He went to see Ruppert at the brewery and meekly signed, although not for $25,000. In his customary post-meeting report to the assembled press, Ruppert said, "I asked the Babe if he would sign for $25,000, and he said he thought he should get $35,000. After further discussion, I agreed." Ruppert made it sound as though the Yankees had met Ruth's figure. But Ruth had taken another 30 per cent cut (32.5 per cent to be precise, after a 30.7 per cent cut the year before). In two years his salary had been chopped $45,000. And yet he was still the highest paid player in the majors. Most baseball salaries had been slashed. Gehrig, who made $23,000 in 1933, was given the same in 1934 with the promise that he would not be cut in 1935, which was flattering.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

Last out of the '26 World Series - Ruth thrown out by Cards catcher O'Farrell.

Alexander had come into the seventh inning and got the last out with the bases loaded. The Cards led 3-2. He had breezed through the 8th inning 1-2-3. He had gotten the first two men out in the 9th on easy put outs, before issuing Babe his fourth walk of the game.

Meusel at the plate (.238 for Series, 5/21) and Gehrig on deck; Alexander in rare form. Babe had the only Yankee stolen base in the series at this point.

Radio transcript:

"Ruth is walked again for the fourth time today. One strike on Bob Meusel. Going down to second! The game is over! Babe tried to steal second and is put out catcher to second!"

Barrow later said that this SB attempt of Babe's was the only "dumb play" he ever made. The hit and run play was not on, but Meusel swung through and missed the pitch. Later in '28 catcher O'Farrell asked Ruth what he was thinking. Babe said that he thought Alexander was paying no attention to him, and that he hoped to catch O'Farrell off guard. He figured it would take two hits to get him around, and with Alexander going how he was, it was worth the risk to try and get into scoring position.

"Maybe that was good thinking and maybe not. In any case I had him out a mile at second." - O'Farrell

"I wasn't doing any "bleeping" good on first base." - Ruth
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Posted by: SHOELESSJOE3

Even Hornsby said he could understand Ruth's logic. From the time Alex came into the game not one Yankee hit the ball out of the infield, he was on his game, unlikely the Yanks would string some hits together. But he did make the last out so it will alway be considered bad judgment, a mistake.
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Photo: National Baseball Library, Cooperstown, NY

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

In game 4 of the '26 World Series, Babe hit three homers.

The first was hit down the right-field line over the pavilion roof. The second was also hit over the pavilion roof but in right-center. The third swing, shown here, produced a blast to center that landed deep in the center-field bleachers.

Radio transcript:

"The Babe is up. Two home runs today. One ball, far outside. Babe's shoulders look as if there is murder in them down there, the way he is swinging that bat down there. A high foul into the left-field stands. That great big bat of Babe's looks like a toothpick down there, he is so big himself. Here it is. Babe shot a bad one and fouled it. Two strikes and one ball. The outfield have all moved very far towards right. It is coming up now. A little too close. Two strikes and two balls. He has got two home runs and a base on balls so far today. Here it is, and a ball. Three and two. The Babe is waving that want of his over the plate. Bell is loosening up his arm. The Babe is hit clear into the center-field bleachers for a home run! For a home run! Did you hear what I said? Where is that fellow who told me not to talk about Ruth anymore? Send him up here.

Oh, what a shot! Directly over second. The boys are all over him over there. One of the boys is riding on Ruth's back. Oh, what a shot! Directly over second base far into the bleachers out in center field, and almost on a line and then that dumbell, where is he, who told me not to talk about Ruth! Oh boy! Not that I love Ruth, but oh, how I love to see a shot like that! Wow! That is a world's series record, three home runs in one world's series game and what a home run! That was probably the longest hit ever made in Sportsman's Park. They tell me this is the first ball ever hit in the center-field stand. That is a mile and a half from here. You know what I mean."

note: Ruth had hit one in the same spot on May 25, 1921.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

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[Sultan_1895-1948]

Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

The Babe Ruth Stories - Babe Ruth's 100th anniversary special section - Letter to the Editor

The Sporting News, February 6, 1995



Although I saw Babe Ruth play many times in 1933, it was a great pleasure to meet him in late autumn of that year at the Elks Lodge in my hometown of Middle-town, N.Y.

Ruth would stay at the lodge overnight when he was going hunting in Orange and Sullivan Counties. A neighbor, Mr. Hartnett, was the steward at the Elks Lodge. He telephoned his son, Tom, to tell him that Babe Ruth was at the lodge. We stayed in the kitchen, as Babe was eating his supper. Finally, Mr. Hartnett escorted us to his table. The Babe said, "Hi ya, kids!" He asked our ages, what grades we were in at school, and if we played baseball. He gave each of us his autograph, and with his hand sort of disheveled our hair when he patted us on the heads. We just said, "Thank you, Mr. Ruth," and he replied, "Just call me Babe!" Tom and I just talked and talked about the autographs as we walked home.

Meeting Babe Ruth is indelibly imprinted in my memory.

Reginald Hall Col., U.S. Army (ret.), Daytona Beach, Fla

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I also was born on February 6 (1959), and the Babe inspired me to dedicate a room in my home as my Babe Ruth Museum. In the room I allow no drinking, eating, telephones or clocks -- only Babe memorabilia and plenty of time to reminisce. However, on February 6, 1995, I will invite friends over to raise a glass of champagne in honor of the Babe. Thanks to THE SPORTING NEWS for remembering what baseball and heroism once was.

Mark Rothstein, Atlanta, Ga

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I first saw the Babe at the 1939 New York World's Fair. Then retired, he came out on a Saturday morning and hit fungos to us kids. I never forgot it. Of all the sports legends, the Babe stands above the rest.

George Herman Ruth is known by all, regardless of age or walk of life. Pictures of his stance and swing and stories of his big heart, enthusiasm and lifestyle will never be forgotten.

The Babe represents the spirit of the game and an era when it was played for the love of the game and not for the greed that is threatening to ruin a national tradition.

Bill Cassard, Newnan, Ga

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I was at Crosley Field the night of August 31, 1938, when Babe Ruth was a first-base coach for the Brooklyn Dodgers. A young boy, perhaps 10 years old, jumped from the stands, paper and pen in hand, seeking the Babe's autograph. The Babe whirled around, met the kid eye to eye and whipped what appeared to be a business card from his hip pocket and gave it to the very happy young boy.

Jack Bender, Dayton, Oh

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Perhaps the most appropriate memory of Babe Ruth for these troubled times is the following quotation from Ruth published by Robert Creamer is his excellent biography:

"It isn't right to call me or any ballplayer an ingrate because we ask for more money. Sure I want more, all I'm entitled to. The time of the ballplayer is short. He must get his money in a few years or lose out. Listen, a man who works for another is not going to get any more than he's worth. You can bet on that. A man ought to get all he can earn. A man who knows he's making the money for other people ought to get some of the profit he brings in. Don't make any difference if it's baseball or a bank or a vaudeville show. It's business, I tell you. There ain't no sentiment to it. Forget that stuff."

Jim Harper Professor, Department of History Texas Tech University
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Some of my earliest recollections are of tales of Ruth from my father. The Yankees had spring training in New Orleans from 1922-24, and my father had the opportunity to see them (and Ruth) in person. Babe was larger than life, and my father became a died-in-the-wool Yankee fan for the rest of his life.

In turn, my brother and I picked up the zeal and remain today ardent baseball and Yankee fans. For that I am truly grateful to my father. He gave me many things, but none that created a common ground like baseball and the Yankees. On February 6, I will remember Babe's birth and celebrate the life my brother and I shared with my Dad.
Thank you for asking about this great man.

Albert Cyrus, New Orleans

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Babe Ruth in his day was a fine hitter if not the best. But today he would be a pine sitter, which would not bring him a large purse. Or maybe a pitcher with his only pitch being the spitter. And to make matters even worse, I would make many bets that he would end up playing for the Mets!

Dave Martinez, Rancho Cucamonga, Calif

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It was my good fortune to see Babe Ruth play three times. Babe Ruth was baseball when I was a kid. In 1926, my father took me and my older brother to New York to see the Bambino play. Ruth had just resumed his place in the lineup after being sidelined with his historic "bellyache." The Yankees beat the Washington Senators that day, but Lou Gehrig upstaged the Babe by hitting two homers while the Bambino managed only a single.

In 1931 or '32, my aunt and uncle invited me to go to Washington with them to see the Yankees play. This time I was not disappointed. "General" Alvin Crowder of the Senators had a shutout going into the ninth inning. The Babe stepped to the plate with a runner on first and blasted a home run off the top of the right-field scoreboard. What a thrill. After the game, my uncle asked if I wanted to wait to see if I could get autographs of some of the players. I waited patiently under the stands as player after player came out, but no Babe. Other kids suggested that he usually took a nap after each game to avoid the crowd. Another said he had heard that there was a special tunnel that led from the dressing room to the Babe's waiting car. After most of the autograph hunters had left, Gehrig approached. I asked if he would sign my score card. His reply was, "Not today, Sonny." Dejectedly, I trudged back to the car and related my story to my aunt and uncle. Two weeks later I received a plain white envelope postmarked New York. Opening it I found a white index card with the signature "Babe Ruth" in the center in black ink. My aunt had written the Babe in care of the Yankees and told him of her nephew's disappointment in not seeing him after the game. I treasure that autograph today.

The third time I saw the Babe play was in 1935 when he was with the Boston Braves. The team was headed North from spring training and stopped in Fayetteville, N.C., for an exhibition game with the North Carolina State team. Babe played five innings at first base and went hitless. The next day's local paper ran a headline, "Lefty Freeman strikes out Babe Ruth." It did not mention the score, but the big leaguers won with ease. Within a few months, my boyhood idol would be out of baseball.

Edgar Wyatt Raleigh, N.C.

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Born in 1935, I was too young to see Babe Ruth play. My Dad used to tell me stories about him and of seeing him play at Navin Field in Detroit.

I don't remember the year my Dad and I went to Briggs Stadium to see the Babe in his farewell to the public. I was surprised to see how frail he looked. He had on a cashmere topcoat and stooped over.

As the Babe tried to talk into the microphone, I noticed tears running down my Dad's cheeks. (Naturally, I started crying.) I could not make out most of his words because of his hoarse voice, but I did not miss his "Thank you!" As the 50-plus thousands cheered and stomped their feet, my Dad had to take his glasses off because of tears. After what seemed like 15 minutes, I started to cry too.

The way he stood there and tried to talk made my Dad a total mess. It was a day I will always remember and see as clearly as today.

The Babe and my Dad showed me something I will never forget.

Jim Penfield, Port Richey, Fla

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If Babe Ruth could be alive to see what has happened to the game, he would shove his hat back and say, 'They have destroyed the greatest game of all.' But with that twinkle in his eye, the words would ring from his soul. Play ball and he will come.

Gary Ash, Southwest City, Mo

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My parents took me to games at Yankee Stadium. Now 76, I remember especially Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Poosh 'Em Up Tony Lazzeri. I thought Ruth was a huge person, especially next to Miller Huggins, who only reached the Babe's shoulders. I was amazed at Ruth's spindly legs and wondered how they could carry that large body around the outfield and bases. I was even more amazed at how thin his legs really were when I met him in person at his apartment in New York.

This came about because my two girl cousins lived two floors below Ruth at 345 W. 88th St. and often played with Ruth's daughters. They invited me to go with them a couple of times. The Babe autographed two baseballs for me -- one at the request of my grandmother, and gave it to me for my 10th birthday; the other later in person.

We saw Ruth several times in the apartment lobby. I remember him wearing a brown fur coat that made him seem even larger and like a big brown bear. On the field the Babe was larger than life. But in person he was just a nice, warm person, docile with children. This impressed me even more and made him a greater person.

Hugh Thurnauer, Westlake, O

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Being a man 84 years of age, I had the pleasure of seeing Babe play one time. It was part of a July 18-21 series in 1929, and I was 18 and working at a local newspaper. As soon as we got the Sunday edition taken care of, we all boarded a train to Cleveland League Park.

Babe did not hit a home run that day, but he hit six singles and the Yankees won, 18-12. I read someplace that the Babe never hit a home run in Cleveland's League Park.

Always thought the Babe was the greatest player until Ted Williams came along.

John H. Lape, Canton, Oh

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I have always enjoyed reading stories, watching videos and collecting memorabilia of the legendary Babe Ruth. I never saw him play, but I have talked with people who saw him as a Yankee and Boston Brave.
In my teaching and coaching career, I used Babe Ruth as a motivational example. Even though he struck out 1,330 times, he went on to set many records.

My one link to the Babe happened in 1983 in Johnstown, Pa. As members of the USA Baseball Task Force, my wife and I had the pleasure of meeting the Babe's daughter, Dorothy Pirone, and her husband, Dominic, at the World Friendship Series. A very pleasant and gracious couple, they willingly took part in all the activities and talked with everyone.
I remember her statement very clearly. "My father would have enjoyed this tournament."

Fred Brown, Mass. State Delegate USA Baseball

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Being only 27 and never having seen the great Bambino play doesn't mean he couldn't affect my life.

The Sultan of Swat had a great impact on my love for baseball and also for sports. My Dad would sit me down from the time I was 4 and show me newspaper clippings and pictures of the Babe, and he would tell me stories of how Ruth, Lou Gehrig and the Yankees would dominate the game during their time.

I consequently fell in love with the game, and cherish those memories dearly, for without No. 3 I never would have become the assistant editor for Baseball Illustrated and Baseball Forecast magazines. Ruth's legend will live on even a generation further than mine, as my nephew William has grown to love the former home run king!

Robert Picarello, Brooklyn, N.Y.

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I have always been affected by Babe Ruth's enduring legend, as I feel that after the Black Sox scandal, he and he alone saved baseball. I have always been sincerely grateful to him for that and loved and admired him in spite of his faults. After all, don't we all have them?

I just wish he were with us now and perhaps he could save baseball again. We need someone to do so!
Thank you for giving us a special edition on him.

Betty J. Rogers, Oklahoma City

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My first major league game was in Cleveland as a guest. It was a doubleheader between the Yankees and Indians on Sunday. The weather was extremely hot.

Babe Ruth played in both games and got four home runs in the two games. He did not offer to leave after the game. A large number of boys were waiting for him. He went to them. I was told he might be there for a long time.

B. LaVange Smith, Claremont, Calif

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Being too young during the '30s to have seen Babe Ruth play, I still was awed by his exploits on and off the field. Ironically, while on vacation in New York during August 1948, we were there at the time of his death. I went to Yankee Stadium to view the Babe's remains under the grandstand. I got there early enough to get in line twice to pay my respects. So I felt that I had a chance to see the Man at the scene of his greatest triumphs -- The House That Ruth Built.

Frank O'Leary, Chicago

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Babe Ruth was my idol when I was a boy playing sandlot baseball. I even wore No. 3. The Babe lived the good life and never trained very well, but one thing he never forgot was the kids.

Today's players won't even give you an autograph unless you pay for it. In the Babe's era, he and most of the other players would always be willing to sign autographs before and after games. These moneymonger players of today could not shine the Babe's shoes.

I am grateful that I had the pleasure of seeing the greatest player perform on and off the field.
Hail to the Babe.

Alex Pepenella, Howard Beach, N.Y.

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I am 82 and grew up on a farm in Indiana. Babe Ruth was my hero, and because of him I became a lifetime fan of the Yankees.

As I was an only child, in nice weather, one of the ways I entertained myself was to throw one rock at a time on the roof of our corn crib. When the rock came back down, I tried to hit it with a bat. Whenever a rock was hit over the crib, I pretended I was Babe Ruth hitting a home run.

Gale Stohler, Indianapolis

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Not only did I watch the Babe play many times, but I also had the good fortune to visit with him in person.
I had a reserved seat for the Fordham-NYU football game in the Polo Grounds in 1929. Imagine the sheer delight of seeing Babe Ruth stop at my aisle and shuffle into the seat next to mine.

He had two big buttons pinned on his huge fur coat. One read: GO FORDHAM. The other read: WIN WITH NYU. In New York City, he couldn't afford to take sides.

When he learned I was a Fordham student, he relied on me to identify the players and fill him in on any details I knew. It was a wonderful three hours that I will never forget.

Needless to say, I regard the Babe as the greatest player who ever lived.

Don Woods, Phoenix

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I was born approximately 30 years after Babe Ruth played in his last professional ball game. Yet I, like so many other New Englanders, sense his Ruthian presence every baseball season. Please, Bambino, remove the curse from our beloved Red Sox.

Tim Zona, Marlboro, Mass

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I'm 31 and fell in love with baseball in the early '70s when Reggie, Catfish, Rollie and the rest of the swingin' A's were in their heyday. Baseball has been my passion ever since.

Growing up, only current players could pique my interest, but in the last five years or so, I've come to be totally fascinated with the game's origins. Babe Ruth was and still is baseball to me.

To be known throughout sports by your first name only is the true sign that you've arrived. The Babe could do it all, as his lifetime stats so profoundly illustrate.

Whenever I see the Cubs at Wrigley Field, it amazes me to think that there are still a few places to go where the Babe actually played. On my only visit to Cooperstown, words can't describe what it was like to gaze upon his plaque. I would have loved to actually have seen Babe Ruth play, but at least as one who truly loves the game, and the players who made it great, I can reflect on him from time to time and be thankful baseball had such a player. There is a picture of Ruth hitting his 60th home run, the way he's holding his bat and raising his right foot to begin his trot, that takes my breath away. Thank you for honoring a great ballplayer on his centennial birthday.

Rob Claypool, Denison, Ia.

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Babe Ruth is baseball. He embodies what the game should stand for on the field and showed what some players must endure off the field. I am scared to think, with his temperamental personality, what he would do to today's players if he were alive.

Deke Martin

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I was 10 in 1930 when I and a few hundred other youngsters waited outside Yankee Stadium for the arrival of Babe. Typically, he stopped, waved to all of us with that huge moon-faced grin, including the one for me, before he had to get ready for the game.

With that wonderful rapport he had with children, he signed anything that was thrust before him: scrap paper, brown bags, you name it. As he signed my 3-by-5 notepad with my pencil, he ruffled my then-curly hair with a big, "Thanks, kid."
I've been a Yankees fan ever since, and I do believe that if I hand't developed an obsessive interest in Major League Baseball, largely due to my early worship of Babe Ruth, I may not have lived my life on the straight and narrow.

Jack Schwartz, Orlando, Fla

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Yankee Stadium is The House That Ruth Built. I think baseball is The Game That Ruth Rebuilt.

Charles Morgan III, Springfield, Va.

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The year was 1927. My father was the manager of the Steelton (Pa.) High football team. The team was traveling on a train from Harrisburg, Pa., to Reading, Pa., for an away game. The Yanks were on their way to a game in Philly. My father had the good fortune to meet and shake hands with Babe Ruth himself. To this day, his comment is, "You can't believe how big his hands were."

Jean Anne Pugh, Shepherdstown, W.V.

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Babe Ruth is, was and will always be the greatest sports legend in our solar system. His .690 slugging average will never be equaled.

Bill McCauley , Everett, Mass

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

Baseball Magazine, December 1923

How Ruth Became Baseball’s Most Famous Star

How the Trophy Committee Annually Awards the Supreme Baseball Honors to the Greatest Player in the American League

By IRVING E. SANBORN
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Mr. Sanborn originated this novel and effective method of giving credit where it is due and is the chairman of the committee which makes this annual award
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Never having done anything by halves, George Herman Ruth, whom all kids know best as Babe, juts naturally staged a spectacular comeback. He did not come half way back, or three-quarters of the way, but all the way back – plus a few. He had a long way to come back because he had been spectacular even in his departure. It was a veritable nose dive he took in 1922.

Perhaps the general public does not realize the completeness of Ruth’s restoration this year because he did not come anywhere near his old record of 59 home runs and that was what set him on his high popular pinnacle. But that part of the baseball world which realizes that 59 or even 159 home runs do not necessarily make a player of supreme value to his team, knows that Ruth was of a great deal more service to the Yankees in this year’s pennant race than he was during the season in which he hung up his world’s home run record.

In fact it has impressed close observers of the game this season that the Babe seemed to have forgotten all about his title of Home Run King, and to have become obsessed with a determination to do everything his manager or his admirers could ask or expect him to do in the way of helping his team win a pennant.

As a stethoscope, hydrometer, speedometer, thermometer, gauge, or whatever it is that registers and measures a baseball player’s comeback there was no more truthful or impressive record than that furnished this fall by the result of the contest for the American League’s trophy, which consists of a permanent tablet in the Hall of Fame for the most valuable player of each championship season. Ruth won that honor by unanimous choice of the committee appointed to award it and huge up a perfect score with the highest possible total of 64 points, which can be tied but which is as unbeatable as a 300 bowling score.

There seems to have been some misunderstanding about the unanimity of the verdict which named Ruth as the player of greatest service to his team this year, because of the fact there were second and third choices and also rans as shown by the announcement of the official ballots cast by the members of the Trophy committee. ‘How come,” they ask, “that the Babe was the unanimous choice when he did not get all the votes?”

The answer is that each member of the committee voted for eight “best players,” picking the man on each of the American League teams who, in his opinion, had done most for his club during the season, then choosing the best man of those eight, the second best, the third best and so on down to the eighth best according to his individual preference. To avoid decimals or “vulgar fractions” in counting the votes, last place on each ballot was registered as one point. Each place above the last registered an additional point, making first place on a ballot good for eight points. So with eight members of the Trophy committee, one in each city of the circuit, the highest possible distinction to be attained by any player was first place on every ballot or a total of 64 points. That was Ruth’s record in the contest this year.

By the rules governing the award the individual ballots are held to be strictly confidential, and no member is supposed to know how another member voted. Only the chairman of the committee, who receives and tabulates the ballots, knows the individual preferences of all eight of the experts appointed to award the trophy. But when a player shows up with a total of 64 points, it is no violation of confidence to state that his name was first on every ballot. That fact cannot be concealed from anybody who has read the rules and knows enough mathematics to multiply eight by eight, or how many eights there are in 64. All bets are off when it comes to keeping anything like that a dark secret.

Bearing in mind the foregoing explanation even the most superficial follower of the national pastime can understand how Ruth was unanimously elected “best player” of the year and still did not get all the votes cast. And a perusal of the composite vote for 1923 shown in Table No. 1 will disclose which player was thought to be of greatest value to each team in the American League this year. The experts found nobody on the Yankees more valuable than Ruth and no one more valuable to the White Sox than Eddie Collins in the opinion of any one of them. But on the other teams there was considerable division of opinion and votes.

At first thought some of the fans and scribes may question the necessity or advisability of going through such a complex maze of mathematics to pick the most valuable player. They may ask what’s the use of so much fuss and secrecy, instead of handing out some slips of blank paper, letting each member of the committee write his selection on a slip and drop it in a hat. In the minds of the fans there probably wasn’t anybody else entitled to be mentioned in the same breath with the Yankee swatsman as a valuable performer this season nor any chance for an argument.

That’s true enough this year or in any other year in which a super-athlete stands out head and shoulders above the crowd. But there has not always been a Ruth in baseball and there may not always be one. This Baseball Hall of Fame is not a temporary institution or a passing fad, but a permanent affair intended to go on honoring the greatest players of each year as long as baseball remains a “national institution” as Commissioner Landis labeled it. Fifty years hence there may not be any outstanding star or there may be a constellation every season. And the system of selection adopted for the American League trophy is designed to operate successfully in either case.

That system is the product of four years’ experience in selecting the most valuable player in each major league for a pair of prized offered by an automobile manufacturer back in the days “before the war.” Its aim is to avoid the mistakes and to solve the problems encountered then.

What would happen with a simplified ballot system by which each member of a committee voted for only one “best player,” if each of them voted for a different man? How many weeks of arguing would be necessary to produce a majority vote from such a jury, to say nothing about a unanimous verdict? The system which has been worked out of past experience provides for the practical certainly of a first choice even in such an emergency, because the player receiving the highest total of points on all ballots is awarded the title. An athlete good enough to be honestly placed first on any ballot is pretty sure to be picked by other members of the committee for second, third or some other place on the ballot and the point system brings out the player who is held in the highest aggregate esteem.

Suppose the committee appointed to award the Trophy in some year should become obsessed with the idea that loyalty to the home team obligated each member to give preference to some player on his home team over the star of a rival club. Still it would not be possible under this system of voting for any member to ignore absolutely the outstanding star and the aggregate of points would be sure to bring him to the top. A player who was placed second on every ballot would come out above a player who headed the list on four ballots and was placed third or fourth on the rest.

While the primary purpose in devising the system used to award this Trophy was to insure a definite choice promptly and without prolonged discussion, a secondary objective has been attained in the fact that it results in the selection not only of the most valuable player in the league, but also the best player on each team. That gives the members of even a tail-end aggregation an incentive to do their best, although they may realize they have no chance to beat out such superstars as Babe Ruth in the contest. And if the King of Swat had been sentenced for life to a second division team, as can happen in organized baseball, he undoubtedly would have attained the Hall of Fame on his own individual merits this year without the aid of a pennant winning environment.

Last season Ed Rommel, pitching for a seventh place team, was beaten in the Trophy contest only by George Sisler, an exceptional performer in every department of the game. Ten years ago Walter Johnson, who has spent most of his illustrious diamond career with a second division team, was honored as the most valuable player of 1913 by a jury of experts similar to that which recently crowned the King of Swat.

Iconoclasts who see only the commercial side of baseball and who are inclined to ridicule any reward that is not pecuniary have queried sarcastically, “What is there in it?” for the players who win the American League trophy. They scoff at the notion that the coinless honor of having one’s name chiseled into a marble tablet on the $100,000 Potomac Park monument, which is to serve as a combined baseball memorial and Hall of Fame, is any incentive to a professional ball player, or any suitable reward for his effort to win.

Such critics cannot choke all the sentiment out of the game nor obscure the fact that the great big majority of major league players are highly appreciative of the so-called “empty” honors of baseball and that only a small minority of them care nothing for any recompense which does not carry the dollar sign. It is easy enough for the experienced eye to pick out on the field of play the members of that minority by their deeds and actions.

No dollar-sign reward would be worth to Eddie Collins the honor attained by him this year of being picked as the second best man in the league in addition to being the unanimous choice of the committee as the most valuable player on the White Sox outfit. To a star who has been in professional baseball as long as Eddie Collins has that is a distinction worth striving for. It is a remarkable example of prolonged efficiency on the green diamond, for Eddie Collins was in the prime of his baseball life ten years ago and in 1914 was awarded the honor of being chosen the most valuable player in the league that year. That is a long time for a major leaguer to remain at or near the zenith.

From the 1923 ballot returns it will be learned also that Heilmann was considered the best player on the Tiger outfit, although he had a strong rival in Bassler; that Gerber was the most brilliant and earnest worker among the Browns; that the committee was almost evenly divided in opinion between Sewell and Jamieson as the best man on the Cleveland team, and so on down the player list.

In Table No. 2 are compiled the complete results of the voting for the most valuable players in both 1922 and 1923 so as to include all the athletes who have received honorable mention in these two contests and to indicate the players who were prominent last year but have been overshadowed this year, as well as those who were overlooked in 1922 but earned recognition in 1923.

As a final “exhibit” I am prompted to appeal the official rules that govern the Trophy contest because of evidence of unfamiliarity with them which have come to, or been brought to my attention. Some wonder has been expressed that Frank Frisch, the Giant star, should be absolutely ignored in the voting, although he is not in the right league to be eligible to the Trophy. And there has been some misunderstanding on the other points, including the absence of the names of Cobb and Speaker from the list. These and other questions may be answered by the following transcript of the rules:

The purpose of the American League Trophy is to honor the baseball player who is of greatest all-around service to his club and credit to the sport during each season; to recognize and reward the uncommon skill and ability when exercised by a player for best interests of his team; and to perpetuate his memory.

The selection of the player to be awarded the Trophy shall be made by a committee of eight active baseball writers, one from each city in the American League.

It shall be the duty of the Trophy committee to determine the best player of the year by careful consideration of ability and achievement in all departments of the game; to watch for and encourage the “winning ball player.”

Batting, fielding, or pitching averages shall be given due consideration, but not such as to constitute them the sole factors in the choice, remembering that combined offensive and defensive ability is not always indicated by any system of records.

Faithfulness, continuity of service during a season, freedom from or liability to injury and illness shall be taken into consideration.

Conduct on and off the field, absence from games on account of the exercise of discipline by managers, club owners or league officials shall constitute part of the players’ records for the purposes of the award.

Playing managers shall not be eligible in the Trophy contest. In the matter of the game the manager, if he also acts in the capacity of a player, is of greater value to his team on that account and places all other players at a disadvantage in the contest.

The Trophy committee shall be appointed by a chairman who should have no voting power in the contest, nor any financial interest, either directly or indirectly, in baseball. He shall be appointed by the President of the American League, or otherwise, as the club owners may direct.

The Trophy committee shall choose the best player each year by a composite ballot based on an amplification of the point system used in determining the winning team of a track and field meet.

On a date prior to the end of each championship season each member of the Trophy committee shall mail to the chairman a ballot containing the names of the eight players who in his opinion have been of greatest service to their respective teams during the season. Each member shall arrange these eight names on the ballot in the order of his preference.

First place on each ballot shall count eight points for the player so honored; second place shall count seven points; third place, six points, and so on.

The chairman shall tabulate these ballots according to the aforementioned system, and announce the composite result; the award of the Trophy to be made to the player who shall be found to have received the highest total number of points.

To permit each member of the committee to express his choice freely and without possible outside influence, the ballots shall be confidential, known only to the chairman who shall promulgate only the composite results; provided that the ballots (with their signatures concealed) shall be open to inspection and verification by any interested party.

These rules may be amended, modified or amplified by a majority vote of the Trophy committee, the chairman to cast no vote except in case of a tie.

A player who has been awarded the Trophy shall not be eligible to the contest in the subsequent year, or years.

It remains only to add the personnel of the Trophy committee, which follows: James C. O’Leary of Boston, Harry Neily of Chicago, Harry P. Edwards of Cleveland, H.G. Salsinger of Detroit, William B. Hanna of New York, J.C. Isaminger of Philadelphia, J. Ed. Wray of St. Louis, Denman Thompson of Washington and I.E. Sanborn, chairman.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

Baseball Magazine, November 1948

More About George Herman Ruth

By Frank Graham


A gallant young fighter pilot was killed during the war and when word of his death reached his friends, one of them said: “It is very difficult to believe he is dead because he was so alive.”

Something of the sort, I think, must have passed through all our minds when we heard of the death of Babe Ruth. Of course, he had been ill for a long time and the news of his death was no surprise. And yet, to have known him or even to have seen him, was to think of him always as the very symbol of life at its lustiest, and even now it is hard to keep remembering that we shall not see the Big Guy again.

He lived as he played – and died as he had lived. Six months or more before the end…but when it seemed, even to his doctors, that the end could not be more than a few weeks away…he quit his hospital room.

“I’m not going to die here, like this,” he told friends. “I’m going to have fun again. I’m going to go to some of the places where I used to go – and see who’s around and what’s doing.”

So he went to Florida. To St. Petersburg and Clearwater and Tampa and Sarasota. He saw the ballplayers and the sportswriters – the old mob that he used to know – and some new ones to whom he already had become a legend. He must have been in terrific pain most of the time but you’d never have guessed it had you seen him standing in the sunshine, or sitting in one of those dinky little Florida grand-stands watching a ball game.

A lot of memories must have surged up before him, this last spring he ever was to know. Memories of the ball games he played…of the golf matches…the fishing trips in the Gulf of Mexico---the fun in the bright spots after dark. One day, in the shiny new Al Lang park in St. Petersburg, he pointed to a hotel across the street from the right field fence.

“I hit that with a home run once,” he said.

“That must have been quite a drive,” somebody said.

“I’ll say it was,” the Babe said. “The ball park was down on the next block then, where they have the parking space now.”

Well, now that the guy is gone, what do you say about him? Only the things you’ve been saying for a long time. He was a great guy and a great ballplayer.

A great ballplayer? In my book he was the greatest. Maybe you pin that award on Ty Cobb…or Hans Wagner…or somebody else. But I remember him when it seemed to me that he was a man playing with a lot of little boys because, on or off the field, he towered over them so.

What couldn’t he do that the other great ones did? Hit? Run? Field? Steal bases? Look at the records the guy put in the book – and think of some others he could have put in there if he’d had a mind to.

“The way they used to play for me,” he said. “I could have popped the ball into left field and walked to first base – or even second, if I got it close enough to the foul line. I could have hit .600.”

So he could. Why didn’t he? I’ll let him answer the question for you as he answered it for me.

“I wasn’t getting paid to do that,” he said. I was getting paid to hit home runs.”

So he hit more home runs than any other man that ever lived. They didn’t have to hop the ball up for him, either. He made home run records before they hopped the ball – and they hopped it to create imitators of him – and none of them got even close to him.

Meanwhile, he was the best outfielder of his time – and one of the best of all time. People either have forgotten that or never were aware of it. They were so excited about his ball-blasting that they took his fielding for granted. But there never was an outfielder who played the hitters better than he did, who made any more seemingly impossible catches or who threw any more accurately than he did.

Nor was there ever a better base-runner. He didn’t steal as many bases as Cobb or some of the other great base-runners. He was the guy who made baseball over, who fashioned a kind of game in which basestealing was outmoded. The way he played it, you hit the ball over the fence and jogged around the bases. You didn’t get on, steal second – or even third – and wait for somebody to hit you in. You just swing – and that was that.

But he could run and slide, and he knew how to get a jump on the pitcher. He stole bases now and then – when he wanted to. And what a guy he was for getting that extra base on a long blow of his own within the playing field – or when he was on and somebody hit one in the corner. He’d get that base and if you were in his way he’d knock you for a loop, pick you up, dust you off and warn you to be careful next time.

He also could pitch. Remember? He was as a matter of fact, the best left-handed pitcher in baseball when he switched to the outfield so he could hit every day.

The greatest ballplayer – and more than that. A great man in his own way, a fabulous man. No model of decorum at times, I’ll grant you. But as the English private soldier, speaking in Kipling’s “Tommy Atkins,” said:
“And if sometimes our conduct isn’t all your fancy paints,
“Why, single men in barracks don’t grow in plaster saints.”

The Babe had a rough and rowdy boyhood before they clapped him into St. Mary's.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

Baseball Digest, November 1969

Hall of Famers Pay Tribute to the Mighty Babe

But some still pick Ty Cobb as the best

By ED RUMILL


It was at the banquet preceding the recent all-star game in Washington that the Baseball Writers’ Association announced the results of their all-time ballots. And Babe Ruth was selected as the game’s No. 1 player, over Ty Cobb.

What did some of the Baseball Hall of Fame members think about the Babe’s choice? A few of them were questioned during Hall of Fame weekend at Cooperstown.

“A tough question?” began Sam Rice. “Not at all. To me it’s a very simple one. Cobb was great. No doubt about it. But Ruth was both a great pitcher and long-ball hitter. And he filled ball parks. Cobb had been in the American League for 10 years before Babe came along, but didn’t fill the parks.

“I know that Cobb wasn’t near as popular with other ball players as Ruth was,” Rice continued. “But just to show I’m not prejudiced, Ty was very nice to me one time when I was a kid, just coming up. We trained in Augusta Ga., and he took me to his home. But there was no comparison between the two. Ruth was greater.”

It took Zach Wheat a few moments to think about it.

“It’s difficult for me,” he said, “but I’d have to pick Ruth in a close ballot. Cobb could do more things. I’ve seen him steal second, third, and home in one inning. But Ruth was as good an outfielder as Cobb and he could wreck you with his bat. Babe had a better arm than Ty. And you have to take into consideration Ruth’s career as a pitcher.”

Frankie Frisch’s reply was said around the point. “ I’d take them both. They were such different types, how could you compare them? I’m not going to.”

Ray Schalk agreed with Frisch. “I can’t pick between them,” the one time catcher said. “I admired them both and each was my friend. Ruth put me on his all-time team. I spent a lot of time with Cobb in later years. But I will say this: I caught behind them both and they made a better catcher out of me. I had to work harder to get them out.”

Edd Roush, whom many considered the Ty Cobb of the National League, was not satisfied with confining the discussion to Ruth and Cobb. He brought in a third name.

“Don’t forget that Honus Wagner could do everything,” Roush pointed out. “He was a great hitter, with power, he was a great defensive shortstop, and he had amazing speed on the bases for a big man. I think he’s been badly overlooked in this business of picking all-stars.

“Remember, too, that Cobb wasn’t a great outfielder. But at bat and on the bases he was dynamite. If Ty came up with two out in the last of the ninth, you could be anything he’d be on third base before they got the third out.

“Ruth was the greatest drawing power the game has ever known. And the greatest power hitter. There’s no telling how many home runs a young Ruth would hit today. Perhaps 100. But somebody had to get the opposition out so he could hit. He didn’t cover much ground in the field.

“I’m not considering Ruth as a pitcher, because I think what we’re talking about here is an every-day player. Put those three names together and just toss a coin. Whoever you got, you’d be in pretty good shape.”

There was one Cobb man at Cooperstown.

“I’d take Cobb over Ruth,” declared Heinie Manush. “Why? Because although Ruth could beat you with one swish of his bat, Cobb could beat you several ways. He might only single, but it didn’t take long to come all the way around.”

Casey Stengel, as usual, took the long way around in his comparison.

“Well,” began the Glendale banker, “they didn’t play Sunday ball in Brooklyn in my day, so we went down to Baltimore to play an exhibition game one Sunday. Ruth pitched, and beat us. We played on a race track. The first time up he hit one over my head, so the next time I went back 35 steps. He hit another over my head.

“Ruth could steal bases, but who knew about it? The Yankees wouldn’t let him. Cobb taught me a lot about base running. Ty had his greatest years before Ruth had his. Ty could upset the pitcher, but no pitcher was happy to see Ruth walk up there, either. They were both irritating, if you know what I mean.

“Cobb was the best base runner and he never wasted time at bat,” Stengel said. “He was smart – maybe the smartest. But who could hit the long ball like Ruth? And he filled parks. I hit two home runs in a World Series, but Babe hit three in one game.”

Ruth or Cobb? Come to think of it, Casey talked for more than an hour and never did pick between them.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

Baseball Digest, March 1962

The Year Babe Hit His 60

By Frank Graham – New York Journal-American


They’ll be trying to break Babe Ruth’s record of 60 home runs in the span of a 154-game “season” again this year. It may be that someone will succeed where Jimmie Foxx, Hank Greenberg, Hack Wilson, Roger Maris and the rest failed. More power to them, as the Big Guy would be the first to say if he were around this day.

But, for the moment, let’s look back at that season, 35 years ago. The Babe was 32 years old, the greatest player on the greatest of all Yankee teams, the greatest player in baseball. In 1926 the Yankees, under Miller Huggins, having finished seventh the year before, had made an amazing resurgence to win the pennant, then had lost the World Series to the Cardinals.

Now, in 1927, there was no doubt that they would win the pennant again and they did. Actually, they clinched it as early as the Fourth of July, when, at Yankee Stadium, they played a double-header with the Senators, who had been making a brave run at them. That day they won the first game, 12-1, and the second, 21-1.

From there they rolled and frolicked to the flag and in the forefront of their merciless attack on the enemy was the Babe, rolling and frolicking at such a pace that he outdistanced his teammates, on and off the field. He who had been the best left-handed pitcher of his time, now was the best outfielder, a fact generally overlooked because his power at the plate blinded fans and critics alike to his defensive skills as he played hitters perfectly and cut base runners down with the almost uncanny accuracy of his throws. This, in a sense, was natural. The crowds that paid to see him, the writers who were as excited about him, were there to see him hit, and every time he went to bat, only the clock stood still.

He made his first home run that year in the fourth game the Yankees played. It was at the Stadium, against the Philadelphia Athletics, and the pitcher was Howard Ehmke. The last was in the 154th game, also at the Stadium. The pitcher was Tom Zachary of the Senators and, as Tom recently said, and wryly:
“All they remember about me as a pitcher is that Ruth hit his sixtieth home run off me.”

Playing right field every day…save in parks where right field was the sun field…and belting the ball into the stands or over the fences and far away, he took his fun where he found it when the day was done. They knew him in all the hot spots from New York to St. Louis, then the farthest outpost of the American League, and back to the Silver Slipper and the Club Eighteen in New York.

They knew him, too, in all the towns where the Yankees played exhibition games, such as St. Paul, Dayton, Buffalo, Toronto, Indianapolis and even Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, where, because he never appeared in championship games, they were eager to see him.

Remembered here was a journey from St. Louis, where the Yankees had concluded a series, to St. Paul. The train on which their private cars had been coupled, made several stops, some of them deep in the night but at every one of them a crowd was waiting at the depot to see him, and he was there, on the platform of his car to say hello to them.

“How did you know he was coming through?” a reporter asked a section had at one of the stops. “The station agent told us,” he said. “Every station along the line knows he’s coming.”

In St. Paul he jammed traffic in the street from the station to the hotel, from the hotel to the ball park, from the ball park back to the hotel and from the hotel to the station. No president of the United States, no foreign visitor of distinction, ever caused greater confusion in the streets of that city.

Remembered here, too, and as clearly, were his appearances in Indianapolis and on the playing fields of Sing Sing.

The crowd that he drew to the old ball park in Indianapolis stuffed the stands and overflowed onto the field. In three times at bat he didn’t hit a ball out of the infield and when he went up for the fourth time and they paying guests gave him what was known in those days as the “big bazoo.” In response to their badgering, he hit one into the freight yards back of the right-field fence. No on in Indianapolis ever had seen a ball driven so high or so far… and no one got a bigger thrill out of it than the Babe. “I guess I didn’t show those bums something!” he said.

Part of his greatness was that to him a home run was a home run, whether he hit it in a World Series game or an exhibition in Indianapolis.

At Sing Sing he gave the inmates a temporary release from the gray monotony of their incarceration. In batting practice he hit one ball over the right-field wall, then hit one over in center, where the yard is deepest.
“There’s something that goes out of here, anyway!” one of the prisoners yelled.
Another roared: “Oh boy! I’d like to be riding on that one!”

Years later there came to this desk a letter from a resident member of the clan on the Hudson asking: “I hear from old-timers here that Babe Ruth hit a ball over the center-field wall. Looking at it, as I do, longingly, every day, I wonder. Did he, really?”
And the answer was: “Yes, he did. I was there.”

Well, that was the Babe, in that unforgettable year. Roaming the American League and, between time, the bushes, tormenting the pitchers, such as Ehmke, Rube Walberg, Jack Quinn, Hollis Thurston, Earl Whitehill, George Uhle, Joe Shaute, Tommy Blankenship, Milton Gaston, Robert Moses Grove, Ted Lyons…and Tom Zachary. If there are as many good pitchers around now, they must be in hiding, for their names certainly haven’t appeared in the box scores lately.

All of the great sluggers who have followed him and tried in vain to keep up with him, have talked of the pressure upon them, especially in September, when he hit 17. That is the month that has killed them all, up to now. Tiring over the long haul, beginning in April and with the specter of the Babe in their vision, they have been stopped short of their goal.

The Babe was unaware of such pressure. Once, five years after his retirement in 1935, he was sitting with Frank Frisch and this one, having cocktails before a luncheon at the World’s Fair Grounds on the Flushing Meadows.

In the course of an otherwise commonplace conversation, he said: “You know, Frank, the way they pulled the first switch on me, with the infielders back on the grass and the outfielders back against the fences, I could have rolled a bunt anywhere or popped the ball into short left field and walked to first base. That way I could have hit .600 every year.”

“Why didn’t you?” Frank asked.

And the Babe said: “Because the people paid to see me hit home runs.”

There could have been, upon the Babe, another sort of pressure. Rather personal, this one. Seems that, in 1921, there was a fellow who had hit 59 home runs. It is doubtful that he gave a thought to this, either. You see, the holder of the record was himself and, on Sept. 30, 1927, when Tom Zachary threw a pitch he liked, he just wheeled into it.

The blast set a record that Mickey Mantle, Maris and all the others are striving to break. As far as the Babe was concerned, it might just as well have been the pitch he drove into the freight yards in Indianapolis or the one he hit over the center-field wall in… or out of …Sing Sing.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

The New York World-Telegram, Dec 8, 1932

DAMON and PYTHIAS

OF THE NEW YORK YANKEES

By JOE WILLIAMS


Some days ago Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig did a bit of broadcasting in connection with Newton D. Baker’s welfare relief campaign. There was, for the most part, the usual okay-pal stuff, but at one stage Gehrig startled the good folks by saying: “I don’t want to do any talking. I’d rather listen to the big fellow. He’s still my hero.”

To listeners-in this may have smacked of that horrible pretense known as false modesty. I can assure all and sundry that when Gehrig said that, he spoke from the heart. No kid in the streets has a greater affection for “the big fellow,” than has Lou.

I didn’t quite realize this until I had sat around with the two of them some hours before the broadcast, studying them in informal, off-the-field, man-to-man moods.

Of course, Ruth was well along to greatness when Gehrig came to the Yanks from the Columbia campus to play regularly in 1925. He was the old master. Gehrig was the wide-eyed pupil. You could understand how he felt in the presence of Ruth in those days.

But since then Gehrig has come along himself. He hadn’t been with the club two years before he was outhitting Ruth. More than once he has gone ahead of him in home runs. By his own accomplishments Lou has established himself as one of the great sluggers of modern times. His value is best gauged by the fact that he is the second highest priced athlete in the business. By every standard he has a right to say, “I’m pretty good myself.”

Age Now Gives Pupil Edge.

Moreover, Ruth has begun to slip. He talks of playing one more season and quitting. This virtually amounts to a personal confession that he doesn’t believe he can last any longer. Gehrig, on the other hand, is on the upswing, with his best years still in front of him. Because of his youth the pupil has begun definitely to over-shadow the master.

And yet to Gehrig, Ruth is still as great as ever, still as much the master, still the head man – and the odd part about it is that Gehrig wouldn’t care to have it any other way. To him it is honor enough to bask in Ruth’s reflected glory.

“I could never be another Ruth if I lived to be 500 years old,” he tells you.

Gehrig’s affection for Ruth dates back to his yearling days with the Yanks. Ruth was quick to see that Gehrig had the potentialities of a great slugger. In the grand, gruff manner which Ruth reserves for such parental occasions he took charge of the newcomer, corrected his batting faults, told him how to swing against certain pitchers. If anyone made Gehrig a big league hitter (aside from Gehrig himself), it was Ruth.

This was typical of Babe. Unlike the hard-bitten ball player of the early 1900’s, Ruth has never failed to share his technical secrets with the newcomers. This may be ascribed either to the man’s innate generosity or his high sense of artistry. A genius in his own field, he has little patience with the inept.

Thus it was that in his novitiate Gehrig, striving for perfection, felt the string of the Ruthian scorn a-plenty.

“Why, you big, thick-headed clown, why don’t you do it like I tell you? See! This way. Now try it again!” Meekly Gehrig would try it again. Critically Ruth would observe.

Ruth’s Attitude Still the Same

It was in such an atmosphere that Gehrig rose to individual greatness in baseball. What surprises you is that the atmosphere hasn’t changed. Ruth still deals with Gehrig in the grand, gruff manner, and Gehrig still sits, dutiful and deferential, at the master’s feet (or dogs, as the master himself would put it).

We were talking about the World Series and those two home runs Ruth hit off Root in the third game after warning the Cubs he was going to hit them.

With some levity it was suggested that Ruth and Root were pals, and that the Cubs’ hurler put the two home run pitches down the slot whence Babe couldn’t miss.

This was no joking matter with Gehrig. “Like hell he did,” protested Gehrig, instantly aroused. “Those were low, twisting curves over the outside corner. Any other batter would have been lucky to foul them off. But the Jedge here gave ‘em the works.”

For some reason Gehrig’s nickname for Ruth is Jedge.

The talk drifted back to the first time Ruth and Gehrig went on a barnstorming trip. Ruth sat in a big, overstuffed chair smoking a cigar. There was about him the importance and grandeur of an industrial giant. He cleared his throat and asked – “Say, Dutchman, didn’t I pay you $9,000 for that trip?”

Gehrig nodded.

“And wasn’t that more money than you made all year with the Yanks?”

Gehrig nodded again, and “the big fellow” leaned back in his chair and sent blue, whispy smoke rings ballooning toward the ceiling. Did someone mention a piker named Rockefeller?

Has Hero Worship Hurt Gehrig?

There is no way to tell whether Gehrig’s enslavement to the majesty Ruth has hurt him as a ball player. If Gehrig feels he is inferior to Ruth at the plate, he certainly feels that way about no other player in baseball. There is no pitcher who worries him and no other batter at whom he takes a second look. He is a fine competitor and a great money player. His World’s Series records prove that.

It has been said that if Ruth weren’t in the Yanks’ lineup Gehrig would hit harder and get more home runs. The records don’t bear this out. Generally, Gehrig does his best work when Ruth is having a big year. He seems to like to have a pace-setter. There have been exceptions to this condition but not many.

What does Gehrig think of this situation; would he hit better if the man who brought him along were playing elsewhere?

“Say, don’t be talking like that,” he answers, plainly distressed. To him this is a gross impiety; like a son speculating on how much dough he’ll get when the old man dies.

I submit this as an extraordinary alliance; a friendship between a fading hero and his coming successor that is without an exact counterpart in the long history of baseball.

Friendship is the correct word, too. Ruth has a deep admiration for Gehrig. He like the way he tears into a ball, the way he comes through in the pinches – and, I suspect, he likes best of all the way Gehrig still looks up to him after all these years as “the big fellow.”

And, come to think of it, why shouldn’t he?

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Posted by: Sultan_1895-1948

From an interview with URBAN SHOCKER - November 1923

Pitching to Babe Ruth

Star pitcher with the St. Louis Browns, one of the greatest pitchers in the American league


A Major League pitcher has a pretty hard life, all fairy stores to the contrary notwithstanding. He may work only once in three or four days but he makes up in worry for the days he doesn’t work. For he is always tormented by thinking of what might have been if he had pitched that ball that somebody hit for a threebagger just a little more outside and a shade higher. Besides, even if he doesn’t hear the criticisms that are made behind his back, and some of them are not always behind his back, a pitcher reads the newspapers and they have a plain way sometimes, those newspaper boys, of telling him just how rotten he is.

Still with all the hard knocks there is some recompense for the downtrodden pitcher. Take Babe Ruth for example. I like to pitch to Babe better than to anybody else in baseball. And I consider him the most dangerous of all batters.

Whey do I like to pitch to Babe? Because he is a never-ending puzzle. You always have to extend yourself to the utmost when you face Babe. Sometimes he looks very easy, but there is one thing it is never safe for a pitcher to bank on. Any time he figures that he has Babe’s number he is feeding himself a liberal dose of misplaced confidence.

There is one thing that Babe can always be counted upon to supply. He gives the opposing pitcher a thrill no matter what happens. If you strike him out you get a very pleasurable thrill, as long as it