The 90th Anniversary of Babe Ruth's Major-League Debut

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The 90th Anniversary of Babe Ruth's Major-League Debut

by Harvey Frommer

A member of the Society for American Baseball Research
more info

The date was July 11, 1914. A very young southpaw named George Herman Ruth made his major league debut for the Boston Red Sox. He was the victor in a 4-3 nipping of the lowly Cleveland Naps. That was how the Babe began as a pitcher and he just kept getting better.

Born George Herman Ruth on February 6, 1895 in Baltimore, legend claims he was an orphan; the truth is his mother died when he was 16, his father when he was in the major leagues. His parents had placed him in St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys for his "incorrigible" behavior: stealing, truancy, chewing tobacco and drinking whiskey. Ruth's entire youth was spent at St. Mary's where his awesome baseball talent was developed.

In 1914, he began his storied major league career with Boston where he won 89 games over six seasons before his sale to the Yankees for $125,000 in 1920. His 54 home runs that year were more than any other team total except the Phillies. His .847 slugging percentage stood as the all-time best until Barry Bonds and 2001 came along.

"No one hit home runs the way Babe did," his teammate Lefty Gomez said. "They were something special. They were like homing pigeons. The ball would leave the bat, pause briefly, suddenly gain its bearings, then take off for the stands."

" I've seen them," Waite Hoyt, his friend and Yankee teammate said, "kids, men, women, worshippers all, hoping to get his name on a torn, dirty piece of paper, or hoping for a grunt of recognition when they said, 'Hi-ya, Babe.' He never let them down; not once. He was the greatest crowd pleaser of them all."

He homered once every 11.8 at bats. His home run to hit ratio was 1 to 4:02. He won 12 home run titles in a 14 year span, 12 slugging titles in 13 seasons, .847 in 1920, .846 in 1921.

Everything about the Babe was excessive: his bat - 44 ounces, his frame - top playing weight of 254 pounds, his appetites - food and drink consumed in abundance, salary $75,000 in 1932 - highest in the majors.

Just from a statistical point of view, what the man players called "Jidge" accomplished is staggering stuff. Thirteen times he led the American League in home run percentage and thirteen times he notched more than 100 RBIs. Eleven times he was the league leader in walks. Six times he led the league in runs batted in.

Babe Ruth amassed 16 seasons of more than 20 home runs, 13 seasons of more than 30, 11 times he had more than 40 or more home runs, four times he hammered 50 or more home runs. During his 15 seasons in New York, the "Sultan of Swat" powered the Yanks to four world championships. The 6-foot-2, 215-pound Ruth revolutionized the game, changing it from a pitcher-dominated, scratch-out-a-run contest to a home run hitting, power pays.

"The Babe" was the first to reach 30 homers, 40, 50, 60. From 1920-33, he slugged 637 homers, an average of 45.5 per season. From 1926-31, when his age ranged from 31 to 36 and when he was supposed to be past his prime, he averaged 50 homers, 154 RBI, 147 runs and a .354 batting average.

The Yankees captured seven pennants and four Series with Ruth en- route to his 714 career home runs. He added 15 home runs in World Series competition. Ruth had a liefetime batting average of (.342), uns scored 2,174 runs, drove in 2,213 runs, had a lieftime slugging percentage of .690. He walked every fourth at bat.

When the 1923 season opened, the Sultan of Swat already had 197 career home runs - 25% of what would be his lifetime total of 714. The 1924 season was probably Ruth's career year: incredible numbers .378, 46 home runs, 121 RBIs.

The most celebrated sports figure of his time, perhaps of all time, the Babe hammered the first home run ever in Yankee Stadium. Number 3 said: "I could have had a lifetime .600 average, but I would have had to hit them singles. The people were paying to see me hit home runs."

ť Harvey Frommer is the author of 34 sports books, including the classics: "New York City Baseball," "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball," "Rickey and Robinson: The Men Who Broke Baseball's Color Line," "The New York Yankee Encyclopedia," "A Yankee Century: A Celebration of the First Hundred Years of Baseball's Greatest Team," and Red Sox Vs. Yankees: The Great Rivalry (with Frederic J. Frommer)

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