Babe Ruth's Greatest Hits

 

                 Not only did Ruth hit home runs in great numbers, but he hit them over vast distances. His ability to propel baseballs into the great beyond earned him dozens of colorful nicknames over the years, such as “The Mammoth of Maul,” “The Big Bam,” and the “Behemoth of Bust.” Some of Ruth’s longest homers are listed below:

--In 1917, Ruth became the first player to hit a ball into the centerfield bleachers at Fenway Park. The dimensions of the stadium were changed in later years, but in the early 1900s, the distance was well over 500 feet.

--During spring training in 1919, the Babe hit a long blast in an exhibition game at Plant Field in Tampa, Florida. It landed on the railing of a horse racing track that circled the stadium. Estimates of the drive vary from 540-612 feet.

--During the 1919 regular season, Ruth reportedly slammed a pitch over the right field roof at the Polo Grounds. Joe Jackson, playing for Cleveland, was said to have hit the top of the roof in a 1913 game. But Ruth’s shot allegedly cleared the roof on the fly.

--On July 18, 1921, the Babe went deep against Bert Cole of the Tigers at Navin Field in Detroit. By some accounts, the ball hit a parked car on Plum Street some 600 feet away then bounced/rolled another 250 feet. Some sources consider this to be the longest verifiable home run in major league history.

-- On July 31, 1921, the Babe launched a drive over the right-centerfield roof at the Polo Grounds. The blast, surrendered by Ray Caldwell of the Indians, was believed to be around 560 feet.

--During a 1926 barnstorming stop at Artillery Park in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, the Babe challenged a local pitcher to throw him his best fastball. Ruth blasted the pitch out of the stadium and beyond an adjacent a running track. Estimates of the distance vary from 600-650 feet. 

--In a 1929 exhibition game at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, Ruth hit a ball over the centerfield wall. It sailed past a watchtower and traveled around 620 feet. Prior to then, no ball had ever exited the stadium by way of centerfield.

--In a 1934 spring training game at St. Petersburg, the Babe drilled an offering from Huck Betts of the Braves out of Waterfront Park and onto the second story porch of the West Coast Inn, where players were staying. That shot is believed to have carried at least 610 feet—probably even further.

--The last homer of Ruth’s career was a memorable one. It came off of Guy Bush of the Pirates at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. It hit a house on Bouquet Street roughly 540 feet away. Some sources claim the blast was closer to 600 feet.

 

            During the 1950s and ‘60s, Mickey Mantle assumed the title of baseball’s most powerful long-distance slugger. During his 18-year career, “The Mick” hit at least 10 home runs that were estimated to have traveled in excess of 500 feet. This included a colossal drive that hit the façade at old Yankee Stadium and bounced back onto the field.  The façade was located 370 feet from home plate and over a hundred feet above the field. Mathematical estimates placed Mantle’s epic blast at around 734 feet (though the measurement is hypothetical).    

 Explore this topic further along with many others in my latest book, Lore of the Bambino: 100 Great Babe Ruth Stories, available in April through The Lyons Press.

Ruth and Gehrig at Odds

     Many fans of historical Yankee baseball are under the impression that Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig were close friends. They weren’t. Especially after the 1932 campaign. Ruth’s public image as a mentor to Gehrig was manufactured to a great extent by the Babe’s personal agent, Christy Walsh. If Walsh hadn’t brought them together, it’s doubtful the two would have forged a bond beyond the confines of the ballfield. They were polar opposites. Gehrig was humble, reserved, and respectful of authority figures. Ruth was none of those things.

            The disparity between the two men was readily apparent whenever they got together for a round of bridge. Ruth always drank during the games while Gehrig—an extremely cautious player—preferred to remain sober. The Babe invariably made outrageous bids, knowing that it drove Gehrig crazy. Many of the sessions ended with Gehrig abruptly throwing his cards on the table in frustration and asking Ruth to tally up the final score. Yet, in spite of their differences, Ruth and Gehrig maintained a friendly relationship (for awhile anyway), fishing together during the offseason and interacting regularly with one another’s families.

            At some point during the 1932 season, a major disagreement occurred. Ruth had always liked Gehrig’s mother, Christina, and the meals she prepared. He sometimes brought his daughter, Dorothy, along with him when he visited her home. But after the death of his first wife, Helen, the Babe was not as warmly received. When Dorothy showed up at the Gehrig home one day looking somewhat disheveled, Christina commented that Ruth’s stepdaughter, Julia, often appeared in public wearing fancy clothing while Dorothy was forced to wear hand-me-downs.  When the slugger’s second wife, Claire, heard about the remark, she issued a direct order to the Babe: “Tell Lou to muzzle his mother.” Ruth was none too happy himself and, during a clubhouse confrontation, he bluntly told Gehrig that his mother “should mind her own goddamn business.” Gehrig—a Mama’s boy since early childhood—was highly offended by the remark. The two men argued bitterly and had to be separated by teammates. It was the end of their friendship. Though they posed for group photos and traveled together with the team, they stopped speaking. Gehrig even refused to shake Ruth’s hand after his home runs.

            Hostility between the two men was rekindled in 1937, when Ruth made some disparaging remarks to reporters. By then, the Babe had retired as a player while Gehrig was padding his “Iron Man” record. Gehrig’s streak of consecutive games stood at 1,808 at the end of the ’36 campaign. Offering his unabashed opinion to reporters, Ruth commented, “I think Lou’s making one of the biggest mistakes a ballplayer can make by keeping up that ‘Iron Man’ stuff. He’s already cut three years off his baseball life with it. He ought to learn how to sit on the bench and rest because the Yankees aren’t going to pay off on how many games in a row he’s played.” Ruth’s words really got under Gehrig’s skin. The Yankee first baseman told writers that he felt fine and knew how much his body could handle. He assured them that he would bench himself if he became a detriment to the club.

            That day arrived in 1939, when Gehrig was afflicted with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis—a progressive neurological disorder that can lead to paralysis and premature death. The feud between Ruth and Gehrig continued until the day of Gehrig’s famous “Luckiest Man” speech, when “The Iron Horse” finally accepted a public gesture of affection from the Babe. 

 Explore this topic further in my latest book release, Lore of the Bambino: 100 Great Babe Ruth Stories, available in April through The Lyons Press.