Stop me if I’ve told you this one already.
Babe Ruth was always coy about whether he actually called that famous home run in the 1932 World Series. The pitcher, he insisted, had quick pitched him– illegal but the ump called it a strike–strike two. Charlie Root, the pitcher, smirked, the bench jockeys screamed and howled and Ruth stepped back into the batter’s box, steaming. Ruth points his bat over the pitcher’s head (or directly at Charlie Root’s head, depending on your POV) into the hooting Chicago crowd in the bleachers and hits a tremendous home run right there on the next pitch.
There’s a great shaky 30 second film of it on youTube and an 80 year debate on whether he was pointing his bat at the pitcher or at the spot where he hit the famous called home run. It was the last of the long-time record number of World Series homers the great Ruth hit during a mythical career. (Consider it took Hank Aaron almost 7 full seasons of at bats to eclipse Ruth’s career total, Bonds only had an extra 1,448 at bats. Not to mention that no great hitter ever had the brilliant pitching career [94-46 2.28 ERA]
Ruth did before turning to hitting full time.)
Ruth did before turning to hitting full time.)
A sportswriter friend of his, shortly before Ruth died, said “Babe, if you won’t clear up whether you called that shot, at least tell us what you were thinking as you rounded the bases.”
“I was thinkin’ ‘Babe, you lucky bum, you lucky bum!'” And one imagines the hoarse laugh of the cancer-wizened Babe at the end.
gratuitousblahg 