Greetings, fans of old-time baseball!! Over the next couple of months, I'll be posting a series of blogs to help promote the release of my latest book, LORE OF THE BAMBINO: 100 GREAT BABE RUTH STORIES. The book is scheduled to hit the shelves in early-April. You can pre-order it on Amazon. Without further ado, I hope you enjoy this little snippet. The full story appears in my book.
During
the heart of the Great Depression, most major league teams reduced the number
of spring training games to cut down on travel costs. The Yankees broke with
this trend in 1931, scheduling more than 30 stops on their annual spring tour.
A visit to Chattanooga in early-April produced one of the most memorable
moments in baseball history as a teenage girl named Jackie Mitchell struck out
Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in succession.
A
Chattanooga native, Mitchell learned the basics of the game from her father. As
the story goes, she was taught by Hall of Fame pitcher Dazzy Vance (who was a
neighbor) to throw a sinking fastball. Mitchell mastered the pitch and began
playing for local teams. She caught the eye of Chattanooga Lookouts owner Joe
Engel at an Atlanta training camp.
A
savvy promoter, Engel was known to stage unusual publicity stunts to draw fans
to the ballpark. He once traded a player for a turkey that he cooked and fed to
sportswriters. Recognizing a golden opportunity, he signed Mitchell to a minor
league contract and booked a pair of games against the Yankees.
In
the wake of a rainout, the Lookouts faced the Yankees at Engel Stadium in front
of 4,000 fans. After Earle Combs and Lyn Lary led off the game with a pair of
hits, Chattanooga manager Bert Niehoff summoned Mitchell from the bullpen. Fans
were cheering wildly as Ruth stepped up to the plate to face her. Mitchell’s
windup consisted of a dramatic windmill motion and sidearm delivery. The Babe
swung through two of her first three offerings. After failing to connect a
second time, he asked the umpire to inspect the ball. Finding nothing amiss,
the arbiter called for play to continue. Mitchell’s next pitch caught the outside
corner for a called third strike. Ruth flung his bat in disgust and barked at
the umpire. Gehrig’s at-bat was far less dramatic in comparison. He swung
through three straight pitches and returned to the dugout without complaint.
After
disposing of the Yankees’ primary offensive threats, Mitchell walked Tony
Lazzeri and was promptly removed from the game. An ongoing debate as to whether
or not her strikeouts were legitimate has never been definitively settled.
Outfielder Ben Chapman, who was in the lineup that day, believed that Ruth and
Gehrig were willing victims. Hall of Fame pitcher Lefty Gomez was of a
different mindset, insisting that Yankee manager Joe McCarthy would never have
allowed such a stunt—even in a meaningless exhibition game. Years later, Engel
said that Mitchell’s appearance was an elaborate hoax, but Mitchell denied that
this was true until the time of her death in 1987.
Ruth
and Gehrig never publicly admitted to intentionally striking out. In fact, Ruth
seemed a bit peeved by the incident. After the game was over, he remarked to
reporters, “I don’t know what’s going to happen if they let women in baseball.
Of course they will never make good. Why? Because they are too delicate. It
would kill them to play ball every day.” Commissioner Landis was inclined to
agree, voiding Mitchell’s contract on the grounds that baseball was “too
strenuous” for her. She continued to play for various barnstorming teams into
the late-‘30s.
No comments:
Post a Comment