Babe Ruth Continued
“While Ruth, without question, is the greatest hitter that the game has ever seen, he is likewise one of the most selfish and inconsiderate men that ever wore a baseball uniform,” Frazee explained. “Had he possessed the right disposition, had he been willing to take orders and work for the club's good like the other men on the team, I would have never dared let him go.”[16] And despite Ruth’s record-setting (and attention-grabbing) 29 home runs, the Red Sox had finished in sixth place. Frazee considered the long balls “more spectacular than useful.”[17]
He also intimated that the Yankees were taking a gamble on Ruth. It was a statement he would be later ridiculed for, but at the time the Yankees felt the same way. The amount paid ($100,000) was astronomical, Ruth ate and drank excessively, frequented prostitutes, and had been involved in several car accidents. It would have surprised no one if, for whatever reason, Ruth was out of baseball in a year or two.
Amidst this speculation over his future, on February 28, 1920, Babe Ruth left Boston and boarded a train for New York, on his way to spring training in Florida. He was still just 25 years old.
Babe Ruth arrived in New York City at the best possible time for his outsized hitting and hedonistic lifestyle. It was the Roaring Twenties, the Jazz Age, a time of individualism, more progressive social and sexual attitudes, and a greater emphasis on the pursuit of pleasure. (Prohibition, instituted in 1920, had no effect whatsoever.) Sportswriter Westbrook Pegler called it “the Era of Wonderful Nonsense.”[18]
It was also a time when “trick pitches” – the emeryball, the spitter, and various ways of scuffing the ball – were outlawed. Both leagues began using better quality (i.e., livelier) baseball. Ruth thrived – and over time, so did the players in both leagues.
The Babe got off to a slow start in 1920. He was in spring training for nearly three weeks before he crushed his first home run. Ruth also jumped into the stands to fight a fan who called him “a big piece of cheese” (probably not a direct quote)[19]. While tracking a fly ball during an exhibition game in Miami, Ruth ran into a palm tree in center field and was knocked unconscious.
After a disappointing April, in which he missed time due to a strained right knee. Ruth began May with home runs in consecutive games against the Red Sox. He went on to set a major league record for the month with 11 homers. That record lasted less than 30 days when he smacked 13 long balls in June. He tied his own single-season record of 29 home runs – set the previous year with Boston – on July 16. Two weeks later, he had 37.
He finished the year with the unfathomable total of 54 home runs. He outhomered 14 of the other 15 major league teams. The AL runner-up was George Sisler, with 19; Cy Williams needed only 15 to top the National League. Ruth has 14.6% of the American League’s 369 home runs. For Barry Bonds to outdistance his peers in 2001 (when he set a new single-season mark of 73 home runs) as Ruth did in 1920, Bonds would have needed to hit 431 homers. In addition to the stunning display of power, Ruth was fourth in batting average at .376. His slugging percentage of .847 stood for more than 80 years -- until Bonds reached .863 in 2001.
Ruth’s arrival in New York began a stretch of offensive dominance the game will likely never see again. In the 12 seasons between 1920 and 1931, Ruth led the AL in slugging 11 times, home runs 10 times, walks nine times, on-base percentage eight times, and runs scored seven times. His batting average topped .350 eight times. In exactly half of those 12 seasons, he batted over .370. (Ruth once said that if he shortened his swing and tried to hit singles, he’d hit .600[20].)
Ruth’s effect on the national game was nothing short of revolutionary. Leigh Montville, author of The Big Bam, wrote that Ruth’s teammates reacted with the same sense of wonder as everyone else in America. “They never had seen anything like it. The game they had learned was being changed in front of their faces.”[21]
Ruth also starred in a short movie entitled Headin’ Home, which was filmed in Fort Lee, New Jersey. The plot, such as it was, starred Babe as a country bumpkin who makes good in big league ball – not exactly played against type. According to Variety, “It couldn’t hold the interest of anyone for five seconds if it were not for the presence of “ Ruth[22]. Babe often returned to the Polo Grounds after a morning of filming still wearing his movie makeup and mascara, much to the annoyance of manager Miller Huggins[23].
During his final season in Boston, Ruth played most of his games in left field. When he joined the Yankees and began playing his home games at the Polo Grounds, he played all three outfield positions. In 1920, Ruth started 84 games in right, 31 in left, and 25 in center. The following season, he was almost exclusively used in left, starting 132 of 150 games; he didn’t play even one inning in right field. Once the Yankees moved into their own stadium in the Bronc, Ruth generally played right field at home and left field on the road. Although the Babe is remembered as mainly a right fielder, he started nearly as many games in left (1,040) during his career as he did in right (1,122_[24]
Ruth quickly became one of the most famous people in the country. On Yankees road trips, people with no interest in baseball traveled hundreds of miles to get a glimpse of the Babe. He was cheered wildly in every park – for rival fans if Ruth smacked one out of the park, it hardly seemed to matter what the final score was.
Sunday baseball became legal in New York in 1919 and the fan base changed forever. Women and children came out regularly to the park. One of Ruth’s most enduring nicknames – the Bambino – came from the Italian fans in the upper Manhattan neighborhood around the Polo Grounds.
Everyone wanted to know as much about Ruth as possible. The New York papers (more than 15 English-language dailies) began devoting more and more space to the Babe’s exploits. Nothing was too trivial. According to sportswriter Tom Meany, if Ruth was seen “taking an aspirin, it was practically a scoop for the writer who saw him reach for the sedative.”[25] Marshall Hunt was hired by the Daily News to write about the Babe – and only the Babe – 365 days a year[26].
“There was no such thing as no news with the Babe, … The Speed Graphic, the newspaper photographer’s camera of choice, loved his broad face with its flat nose and tiny eyes, loved his absolutely unique look, features put together in a hurry, an out-of-focus bulldog, no veneer or sanding involved. This was a face that soon was instantly recognizable, seen again and again … The Babe was an incorrigible, wondrous part of everyone’s family. … He was the life of everybody’s party. … Laughing but earnest men in fedoras and off-the-rack suits, sportswriters, watched the sun rise and fall on his big head and were moved to grand statements. They typed the legend into place, adding layer upon layer of adjectives until often the man in the middle couldn’t even be seen.”[27]
In the 1920s, these giddy sportswriters were coming up with nicknames for Ruth nearly every day. His Boston nickname – the Colossus – morphed into the Colossus of Clout. From there, a seemingly endless – and often silly – list emerged: the Wizard of Wham, the Maharajah of Mash, the Rajah of Rap, the Caliph of Clout, the Sultan of Swat, the Behemoth of Bash, the Bazoo of Bang, the Potentate of Pow, the Wali of Wallop, the Prince of Pounders, and on and on.
His own name became a nickname, bestowed on someone who was the best in his or her field: the Babe Ruth of Surfing, the Babe Ruth of Bowling, the Babe Ruth of Poker. His last became an adjective: “Ruthian,” defined as “colossal, dramatic, prodigious, magnificent; with great power.”[28] His teammates usually called him “Jidge” (for George).
The Yankees finished the 1920 season in third place with a 95-59 record, only three games behind Cleveland. It was their best showing in 10 years. They followed that up in 1921 by winning 98 games and their first-ever pennant. And somehow Ruth may have actually had a better year at the plate than he did in 1920. His batting average improved slightly (.376 to .378), while his OBP (.532 to .512) and slugging (.847 to .846) dipped slightly, he drove in 168 runs and a hit career-high 16 triples. (According to manager Huggins, Ruth was the second-fastest player on the team[29].) He also broke his own single-season home run record – for the third consecutive year – with 59. On July 18, Ruth became the game’s career home run leader, hitting his 139th homer, passing Roger Connor. Ruth also set new season records for runs scored (177), extra-base hits (119), and total bases (457) – three achievements that no player has yet matched
Ruth also pitched in two games. On June 13, he allowed four runs in five innings. He also hit two home runs that day and finished the game in center field as the Yankees won, 13-8.
In September 1921, Ruth underwent three hours of tests at Columbia University to determine his athletic and psychological capabilities. Sportswriter Hugh Fullerton wrote up the findings for Popular Science Monthly.
“The tests revealed the fact that Ruth is 90 percent efficient compared with a human average of 60 percent. That his eyes are about 12 percent faster than those of the average human being. That his ears function at least 10 percent faster than those of the ordinary man. That his nerves are steadier than those of 499 out of 500 persons. That in attention and quickness and accuracy of understanding, he is approximately 10 percent above normal.”[30]
The psychologists also discovered that Ruth did not breathe during his entire swing. They stated that if he kept breathing while swinging, he could generate even more power.
The Yankees faced their co-tenants in the Polo Grounds, the New York Giants, in the 1921 World Series. Ruth cut his left arm (which then became infected) during a slide in the second game and wrenched his knee in the fifth game. Babe made only one pinch-hitting appearance in the final three contests. The Yankees won the first two games, but the Giants took the best-of-nine series, five games to three.
After the World Series, Ruth and some other Yankees went on a barnstorming tour to earn extra money. This was in violation of the National Commission’s 1911 edict that players on the two pennant-winning teams could not barnstorm after the World Series – enacted, perhaps, to preserve the integrity of the World Series or to limit the players’ total income. Kenesaw Mountain Landis, newly installed as the game’s first commissioner, suspended Ruth and fellow outfielder Bob Meusel for the first six weeks of the season, and fined them $3,362 – the amount their 1921 World Series share.
When Ruth returned to the lineup on May 20, he was also named as the team’s captain, succeeding Hal Chase (1912) and Roger Peckinpaugh (1914-21). The honor lasted less than one week. Ruth was again slow to get his bat started and after five games, he was hitting .095 and being booed.
On May 25, he was thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double, and furious at the call, threw dirt in umpire George Hildebrand’s face. On his way toward the dugout, he spied a heckler and jumped into the stands, ready to fight. The fan ran away and Ruth ended up standing on the dugout roof, screaming, “Come on down and fight! Anyone who wants to fight, come down on the field!’[31] Ruth was fined $200 and was replaced as captain by shortstop Everett Scott.
Babe was also suspended three days in mid-June for his part in an obscenity-laced tirade against umpire Bill Dinneen. When Ruth got the news the following day, he challenged Dinneen to a fistfight – and the suspension was increased to five days[32]. In the wake of the suspensions, Ruth made an effort to check his temper. On June 26, as some of his teammates argued with Dinneen, Babe merely sat down in the outfield grass and watched[33].
Ruth played in only 110 games in 1922. His batting average dropped to .315, but he led the league with a .672 slugging percentage and his OBP of .434 was fourth-best.
The Yankees and the Giants met in the World Series for the second straight year. After a three-year experiment as a best-of-nine, the series was back to being a best-of-seven, where it has remained to the present day. The Giants swept the Yankees in five games (Game Two ended in a tie due to darkness). Ruth went 2-17.
The Yankees left the Polo Grounds and began 1923 in their own ballpark, directly the Harlem River in the borough of the Bronx. Yankee Stadium was dubbed the House that Ruth Built, but with its short right-field porch, a more appropriate title might be the House Built for Ruth. Babe returned to his battering ways with a vengeance. He hit .393 – if only four of his .317 outs had fallen for hits, he would have batted .400 – and hit 41 home runs. Harry Heilmann of the Tigers led the AL with a .403 average.
The Yankees won their third straight pennant, finishing 16 games ahead of the Tigers. And for the third straight year, the World Series was an all-New York affair. This time, it was the Yankees, after losing two of the first three games, who prevailed. Ruth went 7-for -19 in the Series, with three home runs. However, all three came at the Polo Grounds. Giants’ outfielder Casey Stengel hit the first World Series home run at Yankee Stadium.
Ruth won his only batting title in 1924, easily topping the AL at .378 – almost 20 points higher than Charlie Jamieson’s .359. Babe hit 46 home runs and tied for second with 124 RBIs. His .739 slugging percentage was more than 200 points higher than runners-up Harry Heilmann and Ken Williams (both at .533). However, the Yankees finished in second place, two games behind the Washington Senators.
In 1925. The Yankees fell all the way to seventh, 69-85, 28 ½ games out of first place. It was a bad year from the start. Ruth showed up for spring training at 256 pounds and went on to have the worst year of his career. He hit .29/.393/.534 (batting/on-base/slugging), with 25 home runs and a paltry 67 RBIs. This was also the year Ruth suffered what W.O. McGeehan of the New York Tribune famously called “The Bellyache Heard ‘Round the World.”[34] Ruth fell ill during the team’s spring training exhibition tour. The initial story was that Ruth had eaten too many hot dogs, and the New York Evening Journal ran a photo of Ruth with 12 numbered franks superimposed on his stomach[35].
However, it was clearly more serious than indigestion or a matter of Ruth being “run down and [having] low blood pressure,” as the Yankees’ team doctor claimed[36]. On April 17, Ruth had minor surgery for what doctors termed an “intestinal abscess”[37] and he did not return to the Yankees lineup until June. Several teammates hinted it might have been a sexually transmitted disease; one teammate said it wasn’t a bellyache, “it was something a bit lower.”[38]
Whatever it was, it didn’t cramp Ruth’s style. Babe was staying out all night more often than not and by the end of the season, he was a physical wreck. In mid-December, Ruth realized if he wanted to continue playing ball into his thirties, he needed to do something different. He showed up at Artie McGovern’s gymnasium on East 42nd Street in Manhattan, a well-known gym used by New York’s rich and famous[39].
Ruth committed himself to McGovern’s strict regimen of exercise, diet, and rest. Six weeks later, by the time he was ready to head south for spring training, Ruth had lost 44 pounds and shed almost nine inches from his waistline[40].
The Babe still had plenty of fun, obviously, but he never let himself get seriously out of shape again. As Robert Creamer wrote in Babe: The Legend Comes to Life, “From 1926 through 1931, as he aged from thirty-two to thirty-seven, Ruth put on the finest sustained display of hitting that baseball has ever seen. During those six seasons, he averaged 50 home runs a year, 155 runs batted in, and 147 runs scored; he batted .354. … From the ashes of 1925, Babe Ruth rose like a rocket.:[41]
Part 3 of this article will be posted on Tuesday,
November 15, 2024. copyrights and reference
citations will be listed at the end of part 3
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