Babe Ruth Hit First Career Home Run 100 Years Ago For Red Sox
BOSTON (CBS) -- There's no doubt that the steroid era has spoiled much of the fun, awe and history of baseball's home-run record.
For 40 years, Babe Ruth held the single-season home run record -- first with 59 homers in 1921, a record he later broke with 60 homers in 1927. Roger Maris broke that record in 1967 with 61, and Maris' record stood for more than 35 years ... when Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds all shattered the record.
Likewise, Ruth was the all-time career home run champ from 1935 until 1974, when Hank Aaron passed the Babe at 714. Bonds again made both Ruth's 714 and Aaron's 755 disappear, as the modern-day slugger finished his career with 762.
Yet despite the desecration of the once-sacred record books, Ruth still remains the most famous and memorable home-run hitter of all time.
And it all began for him 100 years ago on this date.
It was May 6, 1915, when manager Bill Carrigan penciled Ruth into his Boston starting lineup for just the third time all year. To that point, Ruth had played in nine total big league games -- five in 1914 and four in 1915. He was 4-for-17 (.235) with three doubles, one walk, seven strikeouts and one RBI.
But it all changed on May 6 at the Polo Grounds in New York, facing the New York Yankees. Facing Jake Warhop in the third inning, Ruth cracked a long ball to right field, breaking a scoreless tie to give the Red Sox a 1-0 lead.
It was quite the day for Ruth, who went 3-for-5 at the plate while effectively pitching 12-plus innings. Yet he took a hard-luck loss, allowing the Yankees to score in the bottom of the 13th inning.
And the best part about reliving these old baseball games is turning up some of the newspaper reports: "Fanning this Ruth is not as easy as the name and the occupation might indicate. In the third inning, Ruth knocked the slant out of one of Jack Warhop's underhanded subterfuges, and put the baseball in the right field stands for a home run. Ruth was discovered by Jack Dunn in a Baltimore school a year ago where he had not attained his left-handed majority, and was adopted and adapted by Jack for use of the Orioles. He is now quite a demon pitcher and demon hitter when he connects."
I say it's high time that all sports writers go back to that style.
The homer didn't propel Ruth to a huge season at age 20. He would finish the year with four home runs, 10 doubles and one triple to make a .315 batting average (though the Sox did win the World Series). In fact, he hit just five homers combined in the two seasons that followed, before reaching double digits with 11 in 1918 and then hitting 29 homers in his fateful, final year with the Red Sox in 1919.
In his first season with the Yankees in 1920, Ruth hit 54 home runs, truly embarking on the legendary career that remains larger than life 100 years later.
