Shibe Park and The Babe 1930

[SHOELESSJOE3]

Here is a shot of Shibe Park in 1930. In 1930 Babe Ruth lost two home runs there. In that season Ruth finished with 49 home runs and had he not lost those two it would have been his 5th season with 50 or more home runs.

What are the odds that the same hitter in the same season would strike those speakers, twice.

April 15, 1930 Ruth hit a drive off of Lefty Grove that cleared the wall but struck the speakers and bounded back on to the playing field.

September 26, 1930 again a Ruth drive strikes the speakers.

The Yanks lose the argument both times, Ruth is sent back to second base givern a double.

[sflnyc]

Very interesting.

I wonder if the Ground Rules for Shibe Park were changed after that. After all, the speakers were outside of the playing field. That would be like a ball at Fenway hitting the "Jimmy Fund" sign on the right field roof and bouncing back in and they rule it a double.

I know with the advent of domes, etc. that Ground Rules had to take into account balls hitting speakers, roofs, etc. I think Mike Schmidt had the same kind of thing happen to him in the Astrodome.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

Very interesting.

I wonder if the Ground Rules for Shibe Park were changed after that. After all, the speakers were outside of the playing field. That would be like a ball at Fenway hitting the "Jimmy Fund" sign on the right field roof and bouncing back in and they rule it a double.

I know with the advent of domes, etc. that Ground Rules had to take into account balls hitting speakers, roofs, etc. I think Mike Schmidt had the same kind of thing happen to him in the Astrodome.

I'm almost sure there was no ground rule covering a ball striking the speakers when Ruth hit them the first time in April. It would appear that there was still no ground rule when it happened again in September of that same year, since the Yanks put up another argument.

[Olliemets]

Fitting to see this today as I happen to be reading a book about the Place.

"To Everything a Season- Shibe Park and Urban Philadelphia 1909-1976"

Great picture. I just read that the big fella hit one over the first block of Row Houses into the second block. Estimated to have travelled over 500 Feet.

And Jimmy Foxx in 1932 hit one over the Roof in Left Center that reached and bounced down the street parrellel to the RF wall in LCenter.

Great pics in this book, but I am surprised the one posted here isn' tin it. Really shows the magnitude of those blasts.

Big Fat guys with heavy clubs, hitting balls out of sight.

[JohnCropp]

It would be interesting if, even for an exhibition game, balls bouncing back onto the field were ruled in play.

Imagine the home field advantage if fans could throw home runs back in.

There was a Triple Play video game that had a living room field, a vacant lot field, and an outer space field that were fun to play. With all of the goofy things they're adding to ballparks, it would be fun for them to do one-off's with some even goofier ground rules.

[Elvis]

Check out all the roof-top bleachers. In 1935, the A's raised the RF wall to 34 ft. to block them.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

At Shibe the big guys come together Foxx and Ruth in a double header, May 21 1930.
In the first game Ruth hits 3 home runs the second hit over the roof tops of the first row of houses on 20th Street. In the 9th inning his last at bat and his chance to hit a fourth home run, the Athletics decide to walk him. Frustrated Ruth comes to bat batting right handed, took two strikes turned around batted left handed and struck out.

In that first game Foxx shows his stuff, he hit a monster shot over the roof in left. In another at bat he hit a ball to the base of the wall in center field for a long triple. Center field was 468 feet away.

The next day May 22, another doubleheader. Ruth hit two home runs in the first game and one more in the second game. No info on how Foxx did on this day.

[sflnyc]

Check out all the roof-top bleachers. In 1935, the A's raised the RF wall to 34 ft. to block them.

Makes you wonder what would have happened if Cubs management had done the same thing to Wrigley Field then. The glorious park as we know it today would not exist nor would its neighborhood charm. It would have been torn down in the 1960's and been replaced with a cookie cutter either there on the northside or some other location in Chicago. Thank goodness.

Of course, the Mack family was tight with the $$$ and baseball was their source of revenue, so they had to protect every available dollar from the 200-300,000 that would show up in total each season banging on the doors screaming for admittance. :laugh

[SHOELESSJOE3]

Makes you wonder what would have happened if Cubs management had done the same thing to Wrigley Field then. The glorious park as we know it today would not exist nor would its neighborhood charm. It would have been torn down in the 1960's and been replaced with a cookie cutter either there on the northside or some other location in Chicago. Thank goodness.

Of course, the Mack family was tight with the $$$ and baseball was their source of revenue, so they had to protect every available dollar from the 200-300,000 that would show up in total each season banging on the doors screaming for admittance. :laugh

Ben Shibe was also tight with the penny. It was said that the only time he let go of a penny was to get a better grip on it.

Babe Ruth the big spender had this thing about penny pinchers. Shibe offered one admission to any of the fans outside the park that would return a baseball. Joe Dugan tells of times when the Yanks were in town, how he got under Shibe's skin. During batting practice Ruth would drive a dozen or more in to the street. After hitting one out Ruth would turn to where Shibe was be sitting and flash that famous grin.

To really rub it in to Shibe when shagging balls in the outfield during batting practice Ruth would at times toss a few over the wall to those waiting on 20th Street.

Shibe was not the only one crying over the use and the cost of baseballs. In that period before 1920 spectators were obliged to return balls that found their way in to the seated area, fair or foul. At one game in the Polo Grounds six spectators were arrested and booked for failing to return balls they had retrieved in the stands. Charges were later dropped. At one game in Philadephia in the NL one ball was used the entire game. On average 3 or 4 balls were used for the entire game, before mid 1920.

[sflnyc]

Some Shibe Park Photos:

First (and the only dated photo) is from 4.12.09 on the park's opening day with the A's hosting Boston. Crowd was in excess of the 30,000 capacity.

Note on the aerial photo how the aforementioned 34-foot wall is in place and the roof-top bleachers have disappeared.

[Lafferty Daniel]

Great pics, Shibe was a gem.

[Gary Dunaier]

I don't know how people could sit on the edge of the fence and actually enjoy watching the game from there. Wouldn't they be spending a lot of their time making sure they don't fall?