On September 30, 1927, a sports icon continued to set the bar for excellence on the field. It was on this day that Babe Ruth was shooting for his 60th home run of the season as the Yankees hosted the Washington Senators at Yankee Stadium. Heading into the contest, Ruth had homered 16 times in the month of September as the Yankees already clinched a playoff spot.
With the score tied 2-2 in the bottom of the 8th inning, the Yankees got a triple from Mark Koenig that brought Ruth to the plate. Ruth then launches a two-run homer off pitcher Tom Zachary as he reaches No. 60. On the afternoon, Ruth went 3-for-3 with that home run, two singles, and a walk to go along with three runs scored. In the 9th inning, the Senators sent the "Big Train" Walter Johnson out to pinch-hit for Zachary. Johnson flied out to Ruth in right-field as he made the final appearance of his stellar Hall of Fame career.
Ruth set a record for homers in one month with 17 of them in September until it was broken by Dale Long, then Sammy Sosa in 1998. His single-season home run total has been surpassed by four different players. Ruth had four 50-homer seasons in his career and also finished with an unheard of .474 on-base percentage to go along with a .690 slugging percentage. His 714 home runs currently rank him third all-time. Ruth was inducted into the Hall of Fame during it's inaugural year in 1936. He was also named the No. 1 baseball player of all-time by Sporting News in 1999 as well as first in many others for his dominance on the field. ESPN's Sports Century panel of experts voted him No. 3 on their list of the greatest athletes of the 20th Century. Ruth forever changed the game during the live ball era with his home run prowess as well as brought fans in record numbers, too.
The Yankees 1927 team were popularly named "Murderer's Row" because of their offense that featured Ruth and the legendary Lou Gehrig batting behind him as well as Tony Lazerri. Ruth and Gehrig combined for 107 homers(Gehrig hit 47 of them) and 339 runs batted in(Ruth had 164, Gehrig had 175). The Yankees finished with a 110-44 record as they easily defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates with a four-game sweep in the World Series. This Yankees team is considered by many to be the greatest of all-time.
With the score tied 2-2 in the bottom of the 8th inning, the Yankees got a triple from Mark Koenig that brought Ruth to the plate. Ruth then launches a two-run homer off pitcher Tom Zachary as he reaches No. 60. On the afternoon, Ruth went 3-for-3 with that home run, two singles, and a walk to go along with three runs scored. In the 9th inning, the Senators sent the "Big Train" Walter Johnson out to pinch-hit for Zachary. Johnson flied out to Ruth in right-field as he made the final appearance of his stellar Hall of Fame career.
Ruth set a record for homers in one month with 17 of them in September until it was broken by Dale Long, then Sammy Sosa in 1998. His single-season home run total has been surpassed by four different players. Ruth had four 50-homer seasons in his career and also finished with an unheard of .474 on-base percentage to go along with a .690 slugging percentage. His 714 home runs currently rank him third all-time. Ruth was inducted into the Hall of Fame during it's inaugural year in 1936. He was also named the No. 1 baseball player of all-time by Sporting News in 1999 as well as first in many others for his dominance on the field. ESPN's Sports Century panel of experts voted him No. 3 on their list of the greatest athletes of the 20th Century. Ruth forever changed the game during the live ball era with his home run prowess as well as brought fans in record numbers, too.
The Yankees 1927 team were popularly named "Murderer's Row" because of their offense that featured Ruth and the legendary Lou Gehrig batting behind him as well as Tony Lazerri. Ruth and Gehrig combined for 107 homers(Gehrig hit 47 of them) and 339 runs batted in(Ruth had 164, Gehrig had 175). The Yankees finished with a 110-44 record as they easily defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates with a four-game sweep in the World Series. This Yankees team is considered by many to be the greatest of all-time.
On September 30, 1972, one of the greatest baseball players and true gentleman got the last hit of his career. It was on this day that the Pittsburgh Pirates played the New York Mets at Three Rivers Stadium which was in it's second year of existance.
In what turned out to be a 5-0 win for the Pirates, legendary player Roberto Clemente had also seen the last hit of his Hall of Fame career. In the 4th inning of the contest, Clemente hit a double off Mets pitcher John Matlack which gave him exactly 3,000 hits for his career. Matlack would be named National League Rookie of the Year for 1972.
The Pirates did make the post-season as they took on the Cincinnati Reds in the National League Championship Series. The Pirates had a two games to one lead in the NLCS, but lost the last two games in the best-of-five format as the Reds went on to play in the World Series. Clemente did hit a home run in Game Four of that series as his playing career would come to an end.
On December 23 of that year, a massive earthquake struck the city of Managua, Nicaragua. Clemente, who had visited the city three weeks prior to the earthquake, had sent out relief aid for the victims. Because of corruptness with the Somoza government, he learned that the aid he sent never arrived on three flights. So on December 31, Clemente personally came along on the next flight to help the city in need. The Douglas DC-7 plane historically had mechanical problems, and combined with and overload 5,000 pounds of cargo, it crashed off the coast of Isla Verde, Puerto Rico. Clemente died in that crash, but his body was never officially found.
Clemente did become the only player in baseball history to bypass the waiting period of five full years, and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in March of 1973. He received over 92 percent of the votes. He also became the first Latin player to make it into the Hall of Fame. Because of his involvement every year with humanitarian work, an award was named after him in recognition of community involvement. He was also ranked No. 20 in Sporting News greatest baseball players list in 1999. Clemente's excellent play was surpassed only by the example he set as a human being.
Thanks for viewing, and I hope enjoyed today's FSD History Flashback!
Photos courtesy of wikipedia and pacific.edu
P.S. It was tough to decide between these two moments, so you get two for the price of one!
6 comments:
NICE one david....great history lesson, specially for me!
Thanks Cindy!:)
Ruths swing looked so awkward comparing to today, but man was it effective. He threw a mean curve ball also.
No doubt about it MadMan. Ruth may have very well been the most dominant athlete in pro team sports history. The fact that he out-homered teams by himself for the most part is evidence of that. He also had a winning record lifetime against Walter Johnson as a pitcher which shows anyone what kind pitcher he was, too. He was simply an awesome presence and player, and there's a reason why he's named the greatest player of all-time by most media publications. Thanks for chiming in.
The Babe was a Beast. Too bad Clemente was taken so early. He would have been a great Ambassador to the game following his career.
Lester- Agreed. I'm glad MLB has done their part in keeping Clemente's name alive.
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