The Babe's Last Trip to the Mound

By David Marasco

Many baseball historians point to the sale of Babe Ruth from the Red Sox to the Yankees as the watershed event in the two franchises. The Red Sox have not won a World Series since, and the Yankees have won more than any other team. At the time of the trade Ruth was a feared hitter, leading the American League in home runs in his first two years as a regular hitter. In his first year with the Yankees he destroyed his own record of 29 homers with a 54 homer year. It was followed by a monster season with 59 round-trippers. But prior his emergence as a slugger, the Babe was still considered to be one of the top players in the game. He had broken in as a pitcher and was one of the top left-handers in the American League. In 1915, his first full year, he posted 18 wins and a 2.44 ERA. He followed with a 23 win campaign which featured 9 shutouts and a 1.75 ERA, both tops in the league. The next year saw 24 wins with a 2.01 ERA and the war shortened 1918 saw 13 wins with a 2.22 ERA. From then on Ruth would see action mainly as a rightfielder. But from time to time, the Babe would take the mound.

In 1933 the Yankees finished with over 90 wins, but the Senators took the title. With New York out of the running they had a special treat for the fans on the last day of the season. Babe Ruth would pitch. His opponent? The Boston Red Sox, the team that had traded him, the team that enjoyed the best years of his pitching.

The 38-year-old Babe knew that he would not be able to blow his pitches by the Boston batters and instead decided to exercise his fielders. He would end up with no strikeouts, twelve hits and three walks. Bob Kline drew the assignment of facing Ruth. He started out shaky allowing hits to the first two men he faced. This brought Babe to the plate and he was able to coax a walk. Lou Gehrig, playing in his 1,350th straight game, singled to plate a pair of runs. A Ben Chapman single scored Ruth. After one Ruth had a 3-0 lead.

In the fifth Ruth blasted out his 34th dinger of the year deep into the right field bleachers of Yankee Stadium. This shook up Kline and the Yankees rallied for two more runs. After five the Yankees were up 6-0. While Ruth had been giving up hits, until the sixth the Red Sox had not been able to bunch them. In that inning a walk and five hits brought in four runs for the Sox, and in the eighth a trio of singles gave the Sox two more runs. That would be all for the Sox, they would lose by a final of 6-5.

After the game Babe Ruth announced that he would never pitch again. The Boston Red Sox would be the last victim of his pitching prowess. This would run his career mark to 94-46 win an ERA of 2.28.

Ruth's pitching line - Oct 1, 1933
Name			IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Ruth, Babe      9	12	5	5	3	0