As discussed in the 1988 book, The Babe: A Life in Pictures, by Lawrence
Ritter and Mark Rucker, it is more than mere statistical records that
make Babe Ruth unequivocally the greatest baseball player of all time.
In several ways, he changed the nature of the game itself. His exploitation
of the "power game" compelled other teams to follow suit,
breaking the monopoly of the "inside game" that had been
the primary strategy for decades. Ruth was the focal point of the start
of what has become statistically the greatest sports dynasty in history,
the New York Yankees. His international fame helped fuel the rising
interest in sports during the Roaring Twenties as the fan base expanded
significantly and triggered major expansion of nearly all the ballparks
in the major leagues. Young George was known for mischievous behavior. He skipped school, ran the streets, and committed petty crime. By age seven, he was drinking, chewing tobacco, and had become difficult for his parents to control. Mary recalled how their father would beat Babe in a desperate attempt to bring the boy into line, but to no avail. He was finally sent to St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys, a school run by Catholic brothers. Brother Matthias, a Roman Catholic priest, and the school's disciplinarian, became the major influence on his life, the one man Babe respected above all others. It was Brother Matthias who taught him baseball, working with him for countless hours on hitting, fielding and later, pitching. Because of his "toughness", George became the team's catcher. He liked the position because he was involved in every play. One day, as his team was getting pounded, Babe started mocking his own pitcher. Brother Matthias promptly switched George from catcher to pitcher to teach him a lesson. But, instead of getting his comeuppance, Babe shut the other team down. Brother Matthias brought Babe to the attention of Jack Dunn, owner
and manager of the minor-league Baltimore Orioles, and the man often
credited with discovering him. In 1914 Dunn signed 19-year-old Ruth
to pitch for his club, and took him to spring training in Florida,
where a strong performance with bat and ball saw him make the club,
while his precocious talent and childlike personality saw him nicknamed "Dunn's
Babe". On April 22, 1914 "The Babe" pitched his first
professional game, a six-hit, 6-0 victory over the Buffalo Bisons,
also of the International League. By July 4, the Orioles had a record
of 47 wins and 22 losses, 25 games over .500; but their finances were
not in such good shape. In 1914 the breakaway Federal League, a rebel
major league which would last only 2 years, placed a team in Baltimore,
across the street from minor league Orioles, and the competition hit
Orioles' attendance significantly. To make ends meet, Dunn was obliged
to dispose of his stars for cash, and sold Ruth's contract, with two
other players to Joseph Lannin, owner of the Boston Red Sox, for a
sum rumored to be between $20,000 and $35,000, although some sources
say it was closer to $3000. During spring training the next season, Ruth secured a spot as a starter. Ruth joined a fine pitching staff that included Rube Foster, Dutch Leonard, and a rejuvenated Smokey Joe Wood, and their pitching carried the Red Sox to the pennant. Ruth won 18 games and lost 8, and helped himself with the bat, hitting .315 and slugging his first four major league home runs. The Red Sox won the 1915 World Series, defeating the Philadelphia Phillies 4 games to 1, but because manager Bill Carrigan preferred right-handers, Ruth did not pitch and grounded out in his only at bat. In 1916 he returned to the rotation, although the team's offense had been weakened by the sale of Tris Speaker to the Cleveland Indians. After a slightly shaky spring, he would make a case as the best pitcher in the American League. He went 23-12, with a 1.75 ERA and 9 shutouts, the shutout mark is still tied for the best mark for an A.L. left hander, as well as the current Red Sox record for shutouts in a season. Pitching again took the light-hitting Sox to the World Series, where they met the Brooklyn Robins. In game 2 of the series, Ruth pitched a 14-inning complete game victory, helping the Red Sox to another World Series title, a 4-1 series win over the Robins. He repeated his strong performance in 1917, going 24-13, but the Red Sox could not keep pace with the Chicago White Sox and their 100 wins, and they missed out on a third straight postseason appearance.
The 1918 baseball season is noted as the only time a war directly shortened the season. World War 1 dominated the news, and baseball, which escaped sacrifice in 1917, was not as fortunate in 1918. A number of ballplayers were drafted into the armed forces in 1918, and some players dropped their bats and gloves and went to work in war production facilities to escape the draft. Since he was married, Ruth was exempt from the draft. After U.S. Provost Marshal General Enoch Crowder issued his famous "Work or Fight" order in June of 1918, baseball, qualified by the government as nonessential, was forced to end the season in the middle of August. A two-week grace period was allowed for the World Series, but the series was played in the heat of early September, the earliest the series has ever been played. The 1918 World Series would be marred by not only the specter of World War 1, but by abysmal attendance and such low revenue sharing that players threatened to strike before game 5 of the series. In the series, Ruth the pitcher went 2-0 with a 1.06 ERA, helping the Red Sox to a 4-2 series victory over the Cubs. During the series, Ruth extended his World Series consecutive scoreless inning streak to 29 2/3 innings (a record that lasted until Whitey Ford broke it in 1961). Since the Cubs top left handers James Vaughn and Lefty Tyler pitched nearly all the innings, Ruth's left hand bat was kept him from the regular lineup, and he batted just 5 times. The Red Sox had won their fourth World Series in seven years, and fifth overall, and Ruth had played a major part in three of series titles. Since the 1903 inception of the World Series to 1918, the Boston Red Sox were the most successful franchise in major league baseball. By 1919, Ruth was basically a fulltime outfielder, pitching in only
17 of the 130 games in which he appeared. He set his first single-season
home run record that year, hitting 29 home runs, breaking the previous
record of 27 set by Ned Williamson in 1884, in addition to batting
.322 and driving in 114 runs. News of his batting feats spread rapidly,
and wherever he played large crowds turned out to see him. As his fame
spread, so did his waistline. Since his time as an Oriole, teammates
had marveled at Ruth's capacity for food, and by 1919 his physique
had changed from the tall athletic frame to more of a rotund shape,
although Ruth's weight would have wide flucuations until the mid-1920's.
Beneath his barrel shaped body, his powerful muscular legs seemed strangely
thin, but he was still a capable base-runner and outfielder. His contemporary
Ty Cobb, noted for his cruel bench jockeying of Ruth, would later remark
that Ruth "ran okay for a fat man." There was an uneasiness in the Boston sports world just after the sale was announced, although a number of sportswriters supported the sale. On January 5, 1920, Frazee faced the press and answered his critics with calmness and assuredness. He justified his actions with these comments: "It would be impossible to start next season with Ruth and have a smooth-working machine. Ruth had become simply impossible, and the Boston club could no longer put up with his eccentricities. I think the Yankees are taking a gamble. While Ruth is undoubtedly the greatest hitter the game has ever seen, he is likewise one of the most selfish and inconsiderate men ever to put on a baseball uniform." From 1920 to 1934, Ruth's tenure as a Yankee, the Boston Red Sox were
the worst team in the American League. During this span they finished
last 10 times, never finished above 5th place, and they had no winning
season until 1935. After they sold Ruth, the Red Sox struggled to win
even a single World Series until 2004, contrasted with the Yankees
overwhelming success in that venue, led to a superstition that was
dubbed the "Curse of the Bambino." Ruth's remarkable season had the Yankees in a serious pennant chase
for the first time since 1904 (the year a famous wild pitch by Jack
Chesbro cost them the pennant). The Yankees battled the entire season
with the Cleveland Indians, player-managed by Tris Speaker, Ruth's
old Red Sox teammate, and the Chicago White Sox, the same infamous "Black
Sox scandal" team, but in the end, the Indians won the pennant
and eventually the World Series. A few factors have been cited for the dramatic increase in offense. One major reason was baseball outlawed (with some exceptions) the spitball pitch in 1920, and the next year it banned the emery (scuffed) pitch. The spitball was a devestating pitch to the batter, as it gave a pitcher great movement on the ball, especially downward. Another factor was the league mandate to regularly replace the baseball during a game. Previously, the same discolored, tobacco stained ball was used over and over until it was literally falling apart. The overused ball would lose its resiliency making it much more difficult to hit home runs. The impetus for this change was the death of Ray Chapman in 1920, who was killed when he was hit on the head with a dirty, darkened pitched ball that he apparently lost in the background on an overcast day. Another reason given for the increase in home runs was that more players were emulating Ruth's full free swing. Before, batters were largely content to choke up on the bat and protect the plate. With his swing, Ruth had shown it was possible to hit a prodigious amount of home runs, and more players started to swing for fences. With the home run now a weapon, more managers lessened their previous absolute control of the offense, and they started to play for the big inning by giving players more freedom to swing away. By 1921, stolen bases were half the total from just a few years earlier, and the use of the sacrifice and hit and run, additional overused strategies during the dead-ball era, also decreased. Skeptical of the new offensive in the game, some baseball writers
of the time claimed the baseball was livened (usually done by winding
it tighter, or changing the cork center, or both). This assertion even
became accepted as a fact over time, even though there was no scientific
evidence the ball was changed. One study in in August of 1920 confirmed
the ball was the same as previous years, and early in 1921, also hearing
rumors about the juiced ball, National League President John Heydler
launched his own investigation and also concluded the ball was no different.
Heydler's findings stated the outlawing of the spitball was the predominant
factor for the increased scoring. Those who claimed the ball was livened
may have not had hard evidence, but they may have had history and statistics
on their side, as never in baseball history had there been such a quantum
jump in offense over such a short time. This biography is courtesy of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |