Hello to all my Broadway, Timberville, and Brocks Gap baseball fanatics! The MLB season is entering the home stretch, and my beloved Baltimore Orioles are still battling the dreaded Yankees. Faulty relief pitching and two more starters with injuries are a concern, with one month to go in the regular season. I’m crossing my fingers that they figure it out soon. This month, I will look at the end of Babe Ruth’s playing career, highlighted by one final game where his all-time greatness shined brightly. There are so many Babe Ruth stories, that I could write one every month for years and still have material.
In 1930, Babe was still in the prime of his career and vocally lobbied to manage the New York Yankees. He pitched his first game in nine years, a complete-game victory that proved he could still be a great two-way player. No matter how loudly he protested, the Yankees wouldn’t give the manager’s job to someone so volatile. New York finished in third place in 1930, which was unacceptable by Yankee standards. Bob Shawkey was fired, and Joe McCarthy was hired away from the Chicago Cubs to take over. Babe butted heads with every manager he ever played for. McCarthy was a strict disciplinarian who was not well-liked. The two struck an uneasy truce, with Ruth keeping his complaints to a minimum and McCarthy giving the Babe some leeway from the many rules and regulations. 1932 marked the Yankee’s return to the World Series against manager McCarthy’s old team, the Cubs. Ruth’s skills were finally starting to diminish with age. He was still one of the top offensive players in the MLB, and he produced one of his most legendary highlights. In Game 3, with the Yankees winning the series’ first two games at home, Ruth was pelted with lemons from the Wrigley Field patrons. His first at-bat was a home run to put the Yankees ahead 3-0. The Babe came to the plate in the 5th inning with the score tied at 4. The Cubs were all at the dugout’s top step, hurling insults at Ruth that would make the most hardened sinner blush. Babe was talking to them the whole time. With the count at 2-1, he stepped out of the batter’s box and pointed his bat to center field while conversing steadily with the Chicago bench. The next pitch was crushed to center field, landing nearly 500 ft from home plate. As he rounded the bases, Ruth motioned to the stands and the Cubs dugout to sit down since he had just shut them up with his bat! He was laughing in the dugout. The Yankees swept the Cubs in 4 games to win the World Series.
1934 would be the Babe’s last season with the Yankees. He was still a formidable hitter, but his fielding and speed had deteriorated to the point of being a liability. He openly campaigned to be the manager. Joe McCarthy was entrenched, though, and would remain in New York for 12 more seasons. After the season, he took a round-the-world trip with his wife, stopping in Japan to participate in some exhibitions. While Ruth was away, Yankees owner Col Ruppert sought a team that wanted Ruth as a player-manager. Judge Emil Fuchs, the owner of the downtrodden Boston Braves, was so far in debt that he tried to stage dog races at Braves Field on the days the team wasn’t playing. The baseball commissioner quickly shot that down, citing the MLB ban on gambling. Soon, Ruth was offered a deal to become the team vice president, share in the nonexistent profits, and, most importantly, be the assistant manager with the possibility of becoming full-time manager in 1936. He would also play part-time. The Babe started in right field on Opening Day of 1935 and accounted for all four Braves runs in the 4-2 win. Even as old and slow as he was, he made an outstanding catch that saved the game for the Braves. Things went quickly downhill from there. It was all a ruse to get some paying customers in the seats. The team’s current manager had no intention of listening to the assistant manager at all. Vice President was the term for signing autographs after the game. The owner wanted Ruth to invest his money into the team in the hopes of a future profit. His physical limitations hindered his efforts on the field, driving his pitchers to refuse to pitch if Ruth was in the right field because he made too many errors. Ruth was stung by the deception and wanted to retire immediately. The owner persuaded him to play until Memorial Day. On May 25th, the Braves played the Pittsburgh Pirates at the cavernous Forbes Field. Left Field was 360 feet down the line, Center Field was a ridiculous 462 feet, and Right Field was 376 feet with a 17-foot-high ivy-covered wall. He hit a home run into the lower right-field stands in his first at-bat. He got a pitch he liked in his second at-bat and drilled it into the upper deck in the right field. After driving in another run with a single, Ruth came to bat for the fourth and final time. The Babe got a fat fastball and swung with all his might. The ball sailed high in the air toward right field and kept rising. It had cleared the 86 ft tall right field overhang and ultimately left the stadium. The ball was retrieved on the roof of a row house 600 ft away. It was the longest home run ever hit at Forbes Field, which was in use until 1970. Ruth knew he wouldn’t have to take the field again, and the only way to the clubhouse was through the Pittsburgh dugout. He sat on the end of their bench and said, “Boy, that last one felt good.” He then headed to the showers. He played one more game in Philadelphia and retired. Ruth was never hired to manage in MLB and died at age 53 after a valiant fight with cancer. I’ll leave you with this quote that perfectly sums up Ruth’s zest for life.
“Sometimes when I reflect on all the beer I drink, I feel ashamed. Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the brewery and all of their hopes and dreams. If I didn’t drink this beer, they might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. I think, ‘It is better to drink this beer and let their dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver.”
