The Sultan of Swat, the Colossus of Clout, and the Big Bambino: Babe Ruth’s five best home runs show why he earned all of those names. The legendary home run king battled a problematic childhood, a stormy personal life, and health issues, but his ability at the bat always shone through.
Babe Ruth's Record Breaking #139
It only took Babe Ruth eight years to make a career record. On July 18, 1921, he hit home run #139 off a pitch from Detroit Tigers’ Bert Cole. This home run at Navin Field in Detroit broke Roger Connor’s record of 138 career home runs when he played for the Troy Trojans and the New York Gothams. O’Connor played baseball for 18 years and retired in 1897, so his record had stood for 30 years. 1921 may have been Ruth’s best year with 59 home runs, a .378 batting average, and the Yankees first league championship.
Babe's 1st Yankee Stadium Homer
On Yankee Stadium opening day, April 4, 1923, Ruth hit the first home run in the stadium’s history. The stadium, also known as the House that Ruth Built, was packed with 74,000 people. The first of 33 World Series was played at the stadium in the same year, and the Yankees won their first championship. Eventually the stadium became known as the Home of Champions. Ruth’s three-run homer helped the Yankees win this first game in the stadium 4-1 over the Boston Red Sox, Ruth’s former team. Ruth gave his opinion of the stadium after the game as “some ball yard.”
Homer for Jersey Boy
For years, the story surrounding this famous Babe Ruth homer was considered to be something existing only in folklore. Johnny Sylvester, an 11-year-old boy suffering from inflammation of the brain, told his father that the only thing that could cheer him up would be having a baseball from a Babe Ruth game. In the game in question, number four of the World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals on October 6, 1926, Ruth hit three home runs. After the game, Ruth visited Johnny and gave him a home run ball. In 1986, this story was verified when Sylvester was located, and he revealed the ball signed by Ruth that also had these words on it: “I’ll knock a homer for you in Wednesday’s game.”
Babe's #60 in One Season
Ruth’s most famous home runs was number 60 for the year 1927, the year that many have said produced the greatest baseball team in history, with both Ruth and Lou Gehrig playing for the Yankees. Ruth thought he would never break his 1921 record of 59 home runs in a season, and Gehrig had already moved ahead of him at one point earlier in the year. But Ruth caught Gehrig and then on September 30, 1927, in a game against Washington, Ruth hit his 60th home run. Afterwards he shouted, “Sixty, count ‘em, sixty! Let’s see some son-of-a-bitch match that!” This home run came in the year when Ruth hit 14% of all home runs in his league, a record never broken.
Ruth's Last Homer
One of the classic moments in baseball history has to be Babe Ruth’s last and best home run. Babe Ruth last’s home run came in a game at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, on May 25, 1935. Legend has it that the home run traveled 600 feet from home plate; however, the reasonable story, according to the “Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,” was it “most likely touched down behind the right field fence on Joncaire Street and either ended up in a backyard on that street or bounced down the steep hill toward Panther Hollow and was chased down by a small group of boys.” The ball is displayed at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, donated by the boy who found it.
References:
"Babe Ruth's Final Home Run," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Babe Ruth Hits His 60th Home Run, 1927,” Eyewitness to History.com
“Babe Ruth’s home run vow to sick Jersey boy confirmed” by Nicholas Hirshon, New York Daily News
“Longest home run ever hit,” Baseball Almanac
“Babe Ruth Significant Home Runs,” Baseball Almanac
Shaun Perkins - Shaun Perkins, teacher, poet, storyteller, porch-sitter, beekeeper, gardener, writer, has been a high school and university teacher for ...
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