Babe Ruth: Legends in Sports (4 page)

Ruth refused, and in mid-summer he left the team and joined a semi-pro club in Maryland that offered him a big salary. The
Red Sox threatened to file suit to prevent Ruth from playing for another team. His Boston teammates were also upset. They
liked Ruth but thought he was selfish for abandoning them in mid-season. After realizing the Red Sox could take him to court
for breaking his contract, Ruth reluctantly returned to the team and took his regular turn in the rotation, making only an
occasional appearance on the field as his batting average slumped.

Ruth came back just in time to save the season. He won nine of his last eleven starts and the Red
Sox took command of the American League and won the pennant. Ruth finished the season with a record of 13–7 and a .300 batting
average. The Red Sox then faced the Chicago Cubs in the World Series.

The Red Sox started Ruth in game one in Chicago. He was magnificent and shut out the Cubs. George Whiteman, the Red Sox left
fielder, was the other big hero of the game, cracking two hits to help Boston score the only run they needed in the 1–0 victory.

The two teams split the next two games and then traveled by train to Boston. On the journey back home, Ruth started goofing
around — running through the train, grabbing straw hats and punching holes in them. Then, just before the train reached Boston,
he ran out of straw hats to destroy. Still bubbling with energy, he scuffled with teammate Walt Kinney He took a swing at
Kinney — and accidentally punched, his left hand into the steel wall of the train car.

Ruth howled in pain. The middle knuckle of his pitching hand started to swell. Manager Barry was understandably upset. “You
fool,” he snarled. “You’re supposed to pitch tomorrow!”

A chagrined Ruth knew he’d messed up. He gritted his teeth and said, “I’ll be okay. I’ll pitch tomorrow.”

Sure enough, Ruth took the mound for the fourth
game of the series. His swollen hand made it difficult for him to grip the ball. Despite giving up a large number of hits
and walks, he managed to keep the Cubs in check.

In the fourth inning he came to bat with two men on base. After working the count to 3–2, he smacked a long drive over the
head of the right fielder for a triple. As one newspaper reporter put it, the hit made “a sound like rifle shot [that] echoed
through the park.” Boston led 2–0 at that point.

Unfortunately, Ruth tired in the eighth inning and the Cubs scored twice to tie the game. Few people realized it at the time,
but these two runs ended an unbelievable streak. Ruth had pitched 292/3 consecutive scoreless innings in the World Series,
a new record that would stand for another 42 years until broken by Yankee pitcher Whitey Ford.

In the Boston eighth, the Red Sox managed to push across another run to go ahead 3–2. Ruth started the ninth, and then he
left for a reliever. The Red Sox won to go ahead in the series, three games to one.

Two days later, the Red Sox took the world championship. Ruth received credit for two wins, but apart
from a late appearance in the outfield in the final game, he sat on the bench the rest of the series.

It had been an incredible year for the Babe, and one that was never to be repeated. No one knew it yet, but Ruth’s career
as a pitcher — and as a member of the Boston Red Sox — was just about over.

CHAPTER FOUR

On November 11, 1918, World War I ended and baseball returned to normal. Most of the players the Red Sox had lost during the
war rejoined the team. The defending champions looked even stronger than before.

Buoyed by his stellar season the previous year, Ruth felt he deserved more money. The trouble was, he already had a contract
for $7,000 a year. When Harry Frazee refused to raise his salary, Ruth held out, refusing to play in 1919 unless he received
a big raise. Spring training had already started when Frazee reluctantly signed him to a new three-year contract worth $10,000
a season, one of the biggest contracts in baseball. Ruth reported to camp in Tampa, Florida, and immediately got everyone’s
attention.

In the off-season Ruth had come to a decision. Even though he was one of the best hurlers in baseball, he didn’t want to pitch
anymore. He just wanted to hit. So the first time he took the field, in the first exhibition game against the New York Giants,
he played the outfield.

He came to bat in the second inning. The pitcher threw and Ruth took a great wallop.
Boom!
The bat connected with the ball and made an unmistakable sound. In a heartbeat the ball sailed over the right-fielders head
and just kept going. By the time the outfielder hopped over the short fence and retrieved the ball, Ruth had long since reached
home plate.

After the game several people attempted to measure how far the home run had traveled. According to some accounts the ball
traveled an amazing 600 feet!

When the Red Sox opened the season a few weeks later, Ruth was still in the outfield. In less than a week, he found himself
in big trouble.

While the Red Sox played in Washington, Ruth stayed out all night. A hotel worker woke Barrow when Ruth returned at six in
the morning. The manager knocked on Ruth’s door. Ruth, still dressed and smoking a pipe, quickly jumped under the covers,
pulled them up to his neck, and told the manager to come in.

Barrow entered, walked over to the bed, and pulled the covers down, revealing Ruth still in his street clothes. He gave Ruth
a disgusted look and snapped, “I’ll see you at the ballpark!” Later, he suspended Ruth for a day and gave him a piece of advice.
“Turn your life around,” Barrow told him.

For a while, Ruth heeded the advice, at least off the field. On the field, however, he struggled. Once the season started
his big bat was silent and the move to the outfield seemed like a big mistake. By the first of June he was one of the worst
hitters in the league. The Red Sox weren’t scoring runs with Ruth in the lineup and they missed him on the pitching mound.
The World Series champs were already out of the pennant race, their season effectively over.

Barrow and Frazee begged Ruth to return to the mound. He reluctantly agreed, but only if he was still allowed to play the
outfield between starts. Almost immediately his bat perked up and he started hitting home runs at a record rate. It was too
late to help the Sox that season, but fans began to turn out in droves to see him hit, particularly in New York,
where for some reason he always hit the ball better than anywhere else.

Ruth loved the attention and stayed hot for the rest of the season, breaking Cravath’s record with twenty-nine home runs.
He helped out on the mound occasionally, too, but the turnaround came too late for the Red Sox. They finished in sixth place.

Then Ruth made another bad mistake. Just a few days before the end of the season, he left without permission to play an exhibition
game for extra money. That angered his teammates, manager Barrow, and Harry Frazee.

Over the past few seasons Frazee had been fighting with Ban Johnson, the President of the American League. Johnson didn’t
want Frazee to own the Red Sox anymore and Frazee didn’t think Johnson should be league president. The other teams took sides,
with the Red Sox, Yankees, and White Sox battling Johnson in the courts over a variety of issues.

In the midst of all this trouble, Frazee didn’t need more aggravation from his players. Over the past few seasons Ruth had
put himself above the team, running around all hours of the night and not taking
care of himself. He was a great player, but he was also becoming a huge headache. When Ruth demanded yet another raise and
a new contract, Frazee decided he’d had enough. He knew Ruth was a popular and talented player that many clubs would be interested
in acquiring. He decided to sell Ruth while the price was high and rebuild.

The New York Yankees needed a star attraction. Since joining the American League in 1903, they had never won a pennant. But
in 1919, new owners Jacob Ruppert and Cap Huston had money to spend. They decided to build the team around Babe Ruth, as a
hitter, not a pitcher.

Harry Frazee held out until Ruppert and Huston offered him $100,000 for Ruth. Just before the New Year, Frazee agreed to sell
Ruth to the Yankees.

Some fans and sportswriters in Boston were angry about the sale, believing that Frazee had thrown away their best player.
Others agreed with Frazee who said “the Yankees are taking quite a risk” with Ruth. In New York, some thought Ruth would become
a star and lead the Yankees to a pennant. Others worried that Ruth was too out of control and that
he might never again hit as well as he had in 1919. The sale was a gamble on both sides.

Ruth played to the press in both places, telling Boston reporters he hated to leave and telling those in New York he was thrilled
to be a Yankee. That thrill was made even sweeter when the Yankees gave him a new contract worth $20,000 a year in 1921 and
1922.

The Yankees got Ruth at a time when baseball was going through some changes. In August of 1919, a player named Ray Chapman
was struck in the head by a pitch and died in a hospital twelve hours later. After Chapman’s untimely death, Major League
Baseball instigated some new rules about pitching. Spit-balls were made illegal, for one thing. For another, new baseballs
had to be used whenever the one in play became discolored. New balls were harder, brighter, easier to see, and also easier
to hit for home runs than worn-out balls. For home run hitters like Ruth, new balls were good news.

The Yankees’ home park, the Polo Grounds, was also tailor-made for a pull hitter like Ruth. The right-field fence was much
closer than the one in Fenway Park. Although Ruth would have undoubtedly hit
plenty of home runs if he had stayed in Boston, he never would have set the records he set at the Polo Grounds.

Baseball was also beginning to feel the effects of the recent “Black Sox” scandal. Rumors were swirling that in 1919 the Chicago
White Sox had thrown the World Series. Although it would take nearly a year before the scope of the plot was fully known,
baseball was in desperate need of a hero. Babe Ruth was ready-made for the role.

It didn’t seem that way at first, however. Ruth got off to a rocky start with the Yankees. Although he hit well in the spring,
his behavior raised many eyebrows. In the middle of one exhibition game, he went into the stands and tried to attack a fan
who had been teasing him. He caused problems for management, too, when he insisted on playing center field. When manager Miller
Huggins resisted, Ruth went over his head to make his case with the Yankee owners. They agreed, although eventually Ruth settled
into right field.

Then the season began and all eyes turned to the newest Yankee. Unfortunately, on opening day Ruth misplayed a fly ball that
cost his team a win. In his
second game he struck out three times! Then the Yankees played the Red Sox in Boston. Ruth did nothing and the Red Sox swept
New York. So far, the Babe was a big bust.

Things didn’t improve when the Yankees played their first home game. Ruth swung too hard at a pitch in batting practice and
separated his ribs. After that, swinging a bat was painful for him and he struck out repeatedly. By May 1, the Yankees were
only 4–7. Meanwhile, the Red Sox were in first place — without Ruth.

Ruth’s ribs finally healed by the beginning of May, and he finally hit his first home run as a Yankee, a long blast at the
Polo Grounds. That belt seemed to shake him loose. For the rest of the season he blasted home run after home run and in mid-season
New York surged into first place. On July 15, Ruth broke his own home run record when he smacked his thirtieth round-tripper
of the season. Every home run he hit for the remainder of the season set a new record.

Baseball fans everywhere were thrilled, packing stadiums wherever the Yankees played. They may
not all have been Yankee fans, but they were all Ruth fans.

There was something about Ruth that fans found irresistible. He did everything in a big way. Even his strikeouts were exciting,
as the momentum of his swing nearly knocked him to the ground every time he missed. Ruth knew how to play to the crowd, and
fans were thrilled when he tipped his cap and revealed his smiling, moon-shaped face after hitting a home run, or grimaced
after missing a pitch, or bellowed a complaint to an umpire.