Tag: Babe Ruth

NOV 20 IN BASEBALL HISTORY – Japan’s Cy Young

NOVEMBER 20, 1934 | SHIZOUKA, JAPAN – The Japanese equivalent of the “Cy Young” award is called the Sawamura Award largely because of what Eiji Sawamura, a teenager, did on this date in 1934.

At the age of 17, and still in high school, Sawamura faced a team of American all-stars, several considered to be among the greatest in history – Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx. Sawamura entered the game in the fourth, and pitched the rest of the way. In five innings, the teenager gave up just one run – a home run by Babe Ruth – on five hits.

The highlight was when he struck out Charlie Gehringer, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx in succession. Though Sawamura took the loss, he provided Japan with a moment of national pride.

Sawamura went on to pitch in Japanese professional baseball. He threw three no-hitters, finishing with a record of 63-22 and a 1.75 Earned Run Average.

His career was cut short in 1944 by World War II. He lost his life that same year when he ship he was on was torpedoed by an American vessel.

After his death, Eiji Sawamura became an icon of Japanese baseball. In 1947, the Sawamura Award was created to honor the best pitcher in Nippon Professional baseball. Twelve years later, Sawamura became one of the initial members of the Japan Baseball Hall of Fame. 

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
The New York Times, November 21, 1934
Japanese pitcher could have been an American baseball star but fought America instead
SABR Society of American Baseball Research  
Baseball’s Greatest Sacrifice

July 28: Some no-hitters ugly

JULY 28, 1976 | OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA – Chicago White Sox pitchers Blue Moon Odom and Francisco Barrios combined to no-hit the Oakland A’s on this date in 1976. Odom started the game against his old team. Barrios relieved him in the 6th. It was the kind of performance that demonstrated that combined no-hitters are not always masterpieces.

So why would a pitcher throwing a no-hitter be lifted? Let me count the ways; 1) because he walked 9 batters in 5 innings, 2) it was a 2-1 game, 3) it was a key divisional rivalry (the White Sox and A’s were both in the American League West in 1976). The Sox ended up winning the contest 2-1.

The Odom-Barrios no-hitter was the fourth combined no-no in major league baseball history at the time. The first was by pitcher Babe Ruth and Ernie Shore. Ruth started the game in 1917. He walked the first batter, but protested the call so vehemently he was kicked out without retiring a batter. His replacement, Ernie Shore proceeded to retire the next 27 hitters for a no-hitter.

There have been seven more combined no-hitters as of this writing. Two of them required six pitchers; when the Astros no-hit the Yankees on June 11th 2003, and when Seattle beat the Dodgers on June 8th, 2012.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
Combined no-hitters

July 7-Connie let Ruth get away too

JULY 7, 1914 | BALTIMORE, MARYLAND – The Boston Red Sox were not the only team to let George Herman Ruth get away. Philadelphia A’s (today’s Oakland A’s) owner Connie Mack turned down Babe Ruth on this date in 1914.

Ruth wasn’t the Great Bambino yet. In fact, he wasn’t even a major leaguer. He was a promising minor league pitcher, but the team he played for, the Baltimore Orioles of the International League was in financial trouble and needed cash. Orioles owner Jack Dunn offered Ruth and a couple other players to Philadelphia A’s owner Connie Mack for $10,000. Mack had his own money problems so he said no.

A couple days later the 19-year old Ruth and two other players were sold to the Boston Red Sox for $25,000. It was with the Red Sox that Ruth made his major league debut, mainly as a pitcher. He won two and lost one in 1914. The next year Ruth went 18 and 8, but it was his hitting that began to open people’s eyes. In 92 at-bats, Ruth hit .315 with 4 home runs and 21 runs batted in.

Ruth started to play the outfield, and therefore hit more often. By 1919 he was playing the outfield more than he was pitching. The owner of the Yankees needed cash to fund a Broadway play a transaction the Red Sox have never been able to live down. The first year Ruth was exclusively an outfielder – 1920 – he hit .376 with 54 home runs and 135 RBIs.

  • TIBfact: Babe Ruth pitched in 5 games during his Yankee career and won all 5.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCE:
Connie Mack refuses Babe Ruth

JUNE 13-Yankees, Tigers instigate riot

*1924 | DETROIT, MICHIGAN – You think fans get out of control today? Few events of this generation would match what occurred in Detroit today in baseball history – June 13, 1924. The New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers got into a melee that became a full-blown riot involving fans at Detroit’s Navin Field. The situation got so out of control Detroit had to forfeit the game.

Tensions between the two teams had been building for days, led by Tiger star Ty Cobb, and Yankee star Babe Ruth. The animosity came to a head in the 9th inning of this, the 3rd game of the series. The Yankees’ Bob Meusel was batting. He got hit by a pitch from Detroit’s Bert Cole and proceeded to charge the mound. Several fights broke out.

The Associated Press went on to describe it this way in the next morning’s newspapers: “By this time the disorder was general and all Yankee and Tiger players were fighting among themselves. This was the signal for the irate fans to swarm upon the field. Policemen rushed from all corners of the park, but they were unable to cope with the situation.”

Seeing that peace could not be restored, the umpires declared the game forfeited to New York.

After the dust settled, the American League suspended Bert Cole and Bob Meusel, and fined Babe Ruth.

Contributing Sources:
Detroit, June 13, 1924, The Baltimore Sun
Greater Astoria Historical Society

April 27-FRAGILE BABE RUTH HONORED

1947 | NEW YORK, NEW YORK – “The only real game in the world, I think, is baseball.” Those are the words Babe Ruth mustered up enough energy to utter on this date in 1947. He appeared at Yankee Stadium on Babe Ruth Day despite the havoc throat cancer wreaked on his body. He’d been diagnosed the previous fall.

A crowd of 58,339 fans could see the Babe in person, millions more heard him from the sound of Yankee Stadium piped into major league and minor league ball parks all over the country. April 27, 1947 was declared Babe Ruth Day in every organized baseball league.

George Herman Ruth was born January 6, 1895 in Baltimore, Maryland, one of eight children, he and a sister the only ones to survive infancy. Young George Herman was sent off to boarding school, St. Mary’s Industrial School, because his parents couldn’t control him. Some believe Ruth’s parents simply abandoned him.

While at St. Mary’s, one of Ruth’s passions became baseball. He could hit from the time he first played, but it was his pitching that attracted the interest of the Baltimore Orioles of the International League. They offered him a contract.

This is where the name “Babe” evolved. Still short of his 19th birthday, Ruth wasn’t a legal adult. Oriole’s owner Jack Dunn adopted Ruth. Not long after, players began referring to him as “Dunn’s baby.” That connection, his child-like features and the fact that he was a rookie made the nickname, “Babe” a natural.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
Babe Ruth: A Biography by Wayne Stewart, 2006
BabeRuth.com
Babe Ruth