Apr
78 years ago today, 40-year-old Babe Ruth made his first appearance for the Boston Braves. Before an opening-day crowd of 25,000, Ruth accounted for all of the Braves’ runs in a 4-2 defeat of the New York Giants.
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Jul
On this day in 1934, Yankees slugger Babe Ruth hit his 700th home run, a 480-foot shot off Detroit righty Tommy Bridges in Tiger Stadium. Ruth would retire less than a year later with 714 career homers.
Jun
On June 2nd 1935, Babe Ruth officially retired from baseball, having played his last major league game for the Boston Braves three days earlier. In ’36, Ruth was one of the first five players elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
May
79 years ago today, Major League Baseball announced that its first All-Star Game would be played on July 6th at Chicago’s Comiskey Park as part of the Chicago Wold’s Fair. Two months later, the American League won the initial game, 4-3, in front of 47,595 spectators. Pictured above are Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth (Yankees), Chuck Klein (Phillies), and Jimmie Foxx (Athletics).
Apr
On this day in 1961, New York Yankees rightfielder Roger Maris hit his first home run of the season, off Detroit Tigers righty Paul Foytack in the fifth inning of a 4-3 Yankee win. Before the season, when an AP reporter asked Maris about the probability of a player breaking Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record, he replied, “Nobody will touch it… Look up the records and you’ll see that it’s a rare year when anybody hits 50 homers, let alone 60.” Maris finished the season with 61 home runs, setting a major league record that would stand until 1998.
Apr
On this day in 1974, Hank Aaron tied Babe Ruth’s all-time record with his 714th home run. Four days later, Aaron walloped his 715th, breaking what Sports Illustrated called “one of the most hallowed individual records in American sport.”
Jan
After the 1919 season, Babe Ruth demanded that the Red Sox double his salary, from $10,000 to $20,000. Owner Harry Frazee refused, and traded Ruth to the Yankees for $125,000 in cash and three $25,000 notes payable every year at 6% interest. Ruth officially became property of the Yankees on December 26th 1919, and the deal was announced on January 5th 1920. The following day’s New York Times predicted that “the short right field wall at the Polo Grounds should prove an easy target for Ruth next season and, playing 77 games at home, it would not be surprising if Ruth surpassed his home run record of twenty-nine circuit clouts next summer.”
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Sep
September 26th marks the 50th anniversary of Roger Maris’ 60th home run of the season, which tied Babe Ruth’s 1927 record. After the third-inning homer off Baltimore’s Jack Fisher, Maris downplayed his historic feat, saying, “I’m not trying to be Babe Ruth; I’m trying to hit 61 home runs and be Roger Maris.”
Jul
“I’ll promise to go easier on drinking and to get to bed earlier, but not for you, fifty thousand dollars, or two hundred and fifty thousand dollars will I give up women. They’re too much fun.”
- Babe Ruth
Jul
“It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.” - Babe Ruth
