“Sixty, count ‘em, sixty!”

 

The Single Season Home Run Record – July, 1998

 

By

 

Ken Matinale

 

Prologue

 

George Herman Ruth was born on Wednesday, February 06, 1895 in Baltimore, Maryland.

 

Henry Louis Gehrig was born on Friday, June 19, 1903 in New York City.

 

Mickey Charles Mantle was born on Tuesday, October 20, 1931 in Spavinaw, Oklahoma.

 

Roger Eugene Maris was born on Monday, September 10, 1934 in Hibbing, Minnesota.

 

In 1895, when Babe Ruth was born, William McKinley was president and Theodore Roosevelt was Police Commissioner of New York City.  There were only 46 states.  In 1903, when Lou Gehrig was born, Theodore Roosevelt was president and Herbert Hoover was an administrative engineer. There were still only 46 states.  In 1931, when Mickey Mantle was born, Herbert Hoover was president and Franklin Roosevelt was governor of New York. By then there were 48 states.  In 1934, when Roger Maris was born, Franklin Roosevelt was president.

 

Arizona and New Mexico joined the union in 1912.  In 1998 Arizona joined the National League.

 

 

Setting the Scene

 

“Sixty, count ‘em, sixty!  Let’s see some other son of a bitch match that!”  … Babe Ruth, Friday, September 30, 1927, in the home clubhouse at Yankee Stadium after hitting his record setting 60^th home run.  It was 34 years before some other player did and it's been another 36 years since Roger Maris did it.

 

I was born in Brooklyn, New York on Tuesday, April 20, 1948.  This was the height of the post World War II baby boom.  Harry S. Truman was President, and John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon were members of the House of Representatives.  On the baseball calendar this date was seven years after the death of Lou Gehrig and 118 days before the death of Babe Ruth, both in New York City.  Mickey Mantle was sixteen years old and Roger Maris thirteen.  I would be thirteen when Mickey and Roger would present me and the other boomers with the greatest baseball season we could ever imagine.  It was twenty-one years since Babe and Lou had done the same for their generation of thirteen year-olds.

 

This is a story of great baseball players doing great things.  It defines the Yankee dynasty and divides the century into thirds: before 60, from 60 to 61, 61 to the present.  The 1927 Yankees and the 1961 Yankees are two of the greatest teams of all time.  They also host the two seasons of greatest accomplishment as marked by the quintessential baseball act: hitting a home run.

 

Home runs.  Yankee home runs.  Lots of them, in one season.  More than any player or team had ever hit.  The single season home run record.  A Yankee record.  A record that has stood from 1920 through 1997.  Once Ruth had placed the sword in the stone, who could remove it?  Gehrig?  Foxx?  Greenburg?  Even the mighty Mick had failed until 1961.  And who was more worthy than the Mick?

 

By 1927 Ruth was the undisputed king of baseball, the Sultan of Swat, a name given by writer Grantland Rice.  The Twenties were roaring and no one roared louder, more lustily and more publicly than the Babe.  He stood with Jack Dempsey, the boxer, and Bobby Jones, the golfer, and Bill Tilden, the tennis player.  In the baseball galaxy, Ruth's was the most brilliant star, one that could be seen burning just as brightly many baseball light years into the future.  Zeus was the Babe Ruth of the Greek gods.

 

By 1961 Mantle was the undisputed king of the American League, if not of all of baseball.  Only Willie Mays challenged his supremacy and he had been banished to the hinterland of California.  If the Mick had not completely fulfilled his potential, then neither had the Babe.  They both had more baseball legends to create.  If people were asked then to name the player most likely to remove the sword, to hit sixty, they most likely would have responded: "Why, the Mick, of course".  Not only was Mickey the most likely, he was the most worthy and that is important.  Only a king can kill a king (Alexander, the Great).  And if you attack the king, you must kill him (Shakespeare).

 

The Babe had been a great southpaw pitcher with the Boston Red Sox, leading them to their last World Series victories in 1915, 1916 and 1918.  Hence the term "curse of the Bambino".  Ruth was 6'2" and a rugged 190 pounds in those days.  He first led the league in home runs in 1918 with 11.  Then in 1919, his last with Boston (they couldn't handle the prosperity), Babe set the new record for homers in a season with 29.  Ruth had broken the following records: 16 - American League by Ralph Socks Seybold set in 1902 with the Philadelphia As; 24 - the modern mark by Gavvy Cravath of thhe Philadelphia Phillies set in 1915 with the help of a VERY friendly home ball park; 25 - the known record of the 1800s held by Buck Freeman of the Washington Senators, then in the National League; 27- an old, obscure and fluky record set by Edward Nagle Williamson for the Chicago White Stockings of the National League in 1884 in a park whose right field measured about 200 feet from the plate for that one year.  Ruth broke every record that the writers of the day cold scrounge up.  Hey, they didn't have a baseball database to consult.

 

On Saturday, September 20, 1919 against the White Sox, Babe pitched five innings, moved to left field, and in the ninth inning hit a mammoth home run off Lefty Williams who would soon conspire to throw the 1919 World Series.  Buck Weaver, who ignored the conspiracy, told the Red Sox: "That was the most unbelievable poke I ever saw".  That was number 27 and it tied the record.  A few days later, playing in his soon to be home pall park, the Polo Grounds in New York, Babe again homered in the ninth over the roof to tie the game at 1-1; the Red Sox went on to lose 2-1 in 13.  Twenty-eight homers and the record was his.  Ruth finished up with number 29 in Washington becoming the first player to homer in every park in the league.

 

The Red Sox showed the acumen for which they have become famous by immediately unloading the Babe on the Yankees for $100,000 cash and a $300,000 loan.  Red Sox owner Harry Frazee went go on to sell the team and in 1925 make a bundle on Broadway with a play called "No, No, Nanette".  In those days the Yanks played in the Polo Grounds as tenants of the Giants.  Ruth immediately wore out his welcome by hitting his 29t^h home run on July 15, 1920 tying the record he had just set by laboring into late September the previous year.  On July 19 Babe became the first player to hit 30.  Later in the season he would become the first player to hit 40, then the first to hit 50.  He belted ten homers in his final twenty-four games to finish with 54.  In 1921 he hit 59.

 

Babe Ruth had set new records for most home runs in a single season in three successive years, in two different home parks.  In 1919 the Yankees led the American League with 45 home runs; Babe, still with Boston, hit 29 out homering four teams; Tilly Walker of Philadelphia was second to Babe with 10 homers.  In 1920 The Yanks again lead the league with 115 home runs; Babe hit 54, out homering all seven other teams and all of his Yankee teammates; George Sisler of the St. Louis Browns was second to Babe with 19. In 1921 the Yanks of course led the league, this time with 134 home runs; Babe hit 59, out homering six of the seven other teams; Ken Williams of the Browns and Bob Meusel of the Yanks were second to Babe with 24; the Yanks won their first pennant in the Ruth era.

 

In 1921 Babe Ruth hit his 137^th lifetime home run breaking the record held by Roger Connor who played from 1880 to 1897.  Ruth would hold the lifetime home run record 53 years, until 1974 when Hank Aaron of the Braves hit number 715 in Atlanta, Georgia.

 

Ken Williams won the league home run crown in 1922 with 39; Ruth was third with 35.  Bob Meusel won it 1925 with 33; Ruth and Williams tied for second with 25.  Ruth led the other years: 1923 - 41; 1924 - 46; 1926 - 46.  In the National League Rogers Hornsby of the St. Louis Cardinals had led with 42 in 1922 and 39 in 1925; Cy Williams, no relation to Ken, of the Philadelphia Phillies, hit 41 in 1923.  Clearly Ruth had started something.  In 1920 baseball had outlawed the spitter and provided for the ball to be replaced more often after Carl Mays had killed Ben Chapman in 1920 with a pitched ball.  Was the ball juiced up?  Beats me.

 

Ruth was still the king.  No one had really overtaken him as his lower production in his two off years was attributed to some very public extra curricular off field activities.  By 1926 Hack Wilson of the Chicago Cubs could lead the National League with only 21 homers; Ruth lead the American League with 46 followed by Al Simmons of Philadelphia with 19 and Tony Lazzeri of the Yanks with 18.  It was as if the rest of the players had taken their best shot at Babe and run out of gas.  Too bad, because the Babe was just getting his second wind.  From 1926 through 1931 Ruth launched the greatest home run barrage of all time, hitting at least 46 in each season.  This was the Babe Ruth who entered the 1927 season.

 

The Yankee dynasty was the greatest among the North American sports teams through the 1960s, greater than the Celtics in basketball, the Canadiennes in hockey, the Packers in football.

 

The great Yankee dynasty lasted 49 years, from 1920 through 1968, and was ruled in orderly succession by the great hereditary war chiefs, Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio and Mantle, where power was relinquished, never seized.  Rooting for the Yankees was less like rooting for U.S. Steel, as the derogatory cliché went, but more like rooting for the invading Mongol hordes.

 

Only Ruth ever played for another team.  Only Gehrig never had a championship without one of the other chiefs.  The 49-year Yankee dynasty encompassed 29 pennants and 20 World Series wins and 26 personal home run titles.  A Yankee has held the season home run record from 1920 to the present.  The record belonged to the Yankees.  It was the last remnant of the old dynasty.

 

The tenures of the chiefs occurred as follows:

 

1920 - Ruth - 1934

            1923 - Gehrig - 1939

                        1936 - DiMaggio - 1951

                                                1951 - Mantle - 1968.

 

The great chiefs had help.  In 1920 Ruth joined Murderer's Row and was helped by Bob Meusel.  The Yanks would not become known as the Bronx Bombers, a name derived from heavyweight challenger, Joe Louis, until 1936.  The young Gehrig was, of course, helped by Ruth, as the young DiMaggio in his first three years was helped by Gehrig.  DiMaggio and Mantle overlapped by only one year, 1951.  From 1951 through 1955, the Yankees were run by their great catcher, Yogi Berra, who won three MVP awards in those five years.  The Yankees became Mantle's at the age of 25 when, in 1956, Mickey won the Triple Crown and was MVP.  The saying was: as Mantle goes, so go the Yankees.

 

In 1955 Mickey won his first home run crown with 37 (Gus Zernial of the Kansas City As was second with 30), only to be outdone by then cross-town rival Willie Mays of the New York Giants who hit 51 (Ted Kluzsewski of  the Cincinnati (don't call us Reds from 1953 - 1958 because we're not commies) Redlegs was second with with 49).  Mays had won the National League batting crown in 1954 at .345 and was MVP.  In 1956 Mantle would supercede all that by leading the American League in batting (.353), Runs Batted In (RBI) with 130 and home runs with 52, twenty more than Vic Wertz of the Cleveland Indians, a margin of Ruthian proportion.  The Mick had won the Triple Crown, something that Ruth had never done. Gehrig, in 1934, was the only other Yankee to do it.  In 1956 Mickey also won his first of two consecutive Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards.  No one has ever won three in a row.  The modern MVP award began in 1931.  Ruth never won it and Gehrig won it once, in 1936.  Amazingly, Gehrig finished fifth in MVP voting in his Triple Crown year.  Mantle led the American League in home runs again in 1958 and 1960.

 

Ruth entered 1927 and Mantle entered 1961 as the reigning American League home run king.  To that point, Ruth had seven home run crowns and Mantle four.  Ruth was 33, Mantle 29.  Ruth had hit 30 more homers than Gehrig and Mantle had hit one more than Maris.  For the upcoming seasons both Gehrig and Maris were more interested in getting their batting averages over .300.

 

Batting average continues to have more esteem than it deserves.  The hitter with the highest average is called the league's leading hitter.  That conviction was never shown more clearly than following the 1959 season.  In 1959 Rocky Colavito, the star right fielder and a fan idol of the Cleveland Indians, tied Harmon Killebrew of the Washington Senators for the home crown with 42.  Harvey Kuenn, center fielder of the Detroit Tigers, was the league's leading hitter at .353; Kuenn's teammate, Al Kaline was second at .327.  After the season the general manager of Cleveland, trader Frank Lane, traded Colavito even up for Kuenn.  The home run king for the batting king. Colavito, whose Indians finished second, placed fourth in MVP voting; Kuenn was not in the top five.

 

I remember thinking at the time that that was a difficult philosophical question to answer.  What is more valuable, home runs or batting average?  What a dope I was, just like Frank Lane and most other baseball professionals and fans.  Who today would trade Mark McGwire or Ken Griffey, Jr. even up for Tony Gwynn?  In fairness to Lane, Kuenn produced more runs (Runs + RBI - HR) with 161and finished fourth in the league while Colavito produced 159 and finished sixth.  Jackie Jensen of the Red Sox led with 185.

 

Ironically, in July 1959 Roger Maris led the American League with a .344 batting average.  But Maris suffered an appendicitis attack, missed a month and batted .165 the rest of the season finishing at .272.

 

In 1961 batting average was still considered very important.  David Eisenhower recalled many years later how his grandfather held Maris in low esteem, despite all the home runs, because Maris did not have a .300 batting average.

 

Entering the 1927 season the Yankees did not know that Lou Gehrig was their first baseman.  Oh, they knew that a man by that name played the position but this man was not yet The Iron Horse who would play in 2,130 consecutive games and become arguably the second greatest hitter of all time.  On Tuesday, June 02, 1925 Gehrig had replaced Wally Pipp, the Yankees first home run champ (1916 and 1917) as the Yankee's regular first baseman in 1925 but he not yet rendered Pipp an admonition to players for decades to come, not to miss a game for fear that they would never get back into the lineup.  In 1926, Gehrig's second full season, he had hit 16 home runs, sixth in the league and had 112 RBI, fourth in the league.  Ruth had led in both categories. Gehrig had 37 lifetime home runs, nine less than Ruth's total in 1926.  Ruth already had 356 lifetime home runs.

 

The modern Most Valuable Player (MVP) award did not start until 1931.  Ruth would probably have won it in 1926.  Here are the American League leaders in the four major batting categories.  Dominating in these categories usually means an MVP award.

 

Last                  First     Team    HR

Ruth                 Babe    NY      47

Simmons          Al         Phi       19

Lazzeri             Tony    NY      18

Williams           Ken      StL       17

Goslin               Goose  Was     17

Gehrig              Lou      NY      16

 

Last                  First     Team    BA

Manush            Heinie   Det       .378

Ruth                 Babe    NY      .372

Heilmann          Harry   Det       .367

Burns               George Cle       .358

Goslin               Goose  Was     .354

 

Last                  First     Team    RBI

Ruth                 Babe    NY      146

Lazzeri             Tony    NY      114

Burns               George Cle       114

Gehrig              Lou      NY      112

Simmons          Al         Phi       109

Falk                 Bibb     Chi       108

Goslin               Goose  Was     108

 

Last                  First     Team    Runs

Ruth                 Babe    NY      139

Gehrig              Lou      NY      135

Mostil               Johnny  Chi       120

Combs             Earle    NY      113

Goslin               Goose  Was     105

 

I use a simple point system: 5 for first, 4 for second, 3 for third, 2 for fourth and 1 for fifth.  I considered assigning more points for first but decided that this more conservative approach would be easier to understand and accept.  The maximum is 20 points.  Here are the top batters of 1926 using this method.

 

1926    Ruth     Gehrig  Lazzeri Manush            Goslin

HR       5          0          3          0          3

BA       4          0          0          5          1

RBI      5          4          4          0          0

Runs     5          4          0          0          1

Total    19        8          7          5          5

 

Using another criteria, Gehrig seems almost on a par with Ruth in 1926.  A simple formula shows the number of runs that a player was involved in producing: Runs + RBI - HR.  Home runs are subtracted so that the same run is not counted twice because a player gets credit for both a Run and RBI when a homer is hit. Two hundred runs represents a monster season.  Here are the top ten American League players in 1926.

 

Last                  First     Team    Runs     RBI      HR       Pro

Ruth                 Babe    NY      139      146      47        238

Gehrig              Lou      NY      135      112      16        231

Burns               George Cle       97        114      4          207

Goslin               Goose  Was     105      108      17        196

Falk                 Bibb     Chi       86        108      8          186

Heilmann          Harry   Det       90        103      9          184

Simmons          Al         Phi       90        109      19        180

Speaker           Tris      Cle       96        86        7          175

Lazzeri             Tony    NY      79        114      18        175

Sewell              Joe       Cle       91        85        4          172

 

During the 1950s Mantle usually batted third in manager Casey Stengel's batting order.  Yogi Berra usually batted fourth, protecting Mantle.  By 1960 Berra was aging and Stengel placed newly acquired right fielder Roger Maris in the fourth spot.  In 1960 Maris protected Mantle.  Maris had played for the Cleveland Indians, then for the Kansas City As.  His highest home run total was 28 in 1958. Maris had 58 lifetime home runs, six more than Mantle's 1956 total.  After 1960 Maris had 97 lifetime home runs; Mantle already had 320 lifetime home runs.

 

Maris started 1960 at a torrid pace, hitting 35 homers, eight more than anyone else, in his first 355 at bats.  That's one home run every 10.14 at bats.  That pace for a full season of 550 at bats would yield 54 home runs; 600 at bats would yield 59 home runs.  Maris was close to a pace for 60.

 

Through 1960 Maris was only the fifth player to have as many 35 home runs in less than 100 of his team’s games.  Here they are with the total that they hit that season, the team game number in which they hit number 35 and the pace they were at for both a 154 game and a 162 game schedule.  The list is sorted on the game number.

 

First     Last                  Year     Total    HR       Game   Pace154           Pace162

Babe    Ruth                 1921    59        35        81        67        70

Babe    Ruth                 1928    54        35        84        64        67

Jimmie  Foxx                1932    58        35        86        63        66

Babe    Ruth                 1930    49        35        90        59.8     63

Hank    Greenberg        1938    58        35        90        59.8     63

Babe    Ruth                 1920    54        35        95        57        59.6

Lou      Gehrig              1934    49        35        98        55        58

Roger   Maris               1960    39        35        99        54        57

 

However, Maris suffered a rib injury trying to break up a double play and missed three weeks.  When he returned, he was off pace and in the final two weeks Mantle hit six home runs to overtake Maris for the home run crown 40 to 39.  It would be Mickey's last.  In 1958 Maris's Cleveland teammate, Rocky Colovito, hit his 41^st home run on the last day of the season to tie Mantle for the league lead; Mickey hit number 42 later that same day to win the crown outright.  Entering 1961 Mickey Mantle had won dramatic personal home run duels in two of the last three years.

 

In 1960 Maris led the league in RBI with 112 and won a gold glove.  Maris had such a great first two-thirds of a season during which the Yankees built up an insurmountable lead that Maris edged Mantle for the MVP award, 225 points to 222, in one of the closest finishes ever.  Roger Maris had established himself as a star in 1960.

 

Here are the American League leaders in 1960 in the four major batting categories.  Dominating in these categories usually means an MVP award.

 

Last                  First     Team    HR

Mantle              Mickey NY      40

Maris               Roger   NY      39

Lemon              Jim       Was     38

Colavito           Rocky  Det       35

Killebrew         HarmonWas     31

Williams           Ted      Bos      29

 

Last                  First     Team    BA

Runnels            Pete     Bos      .320

Smith                Al         Chi       .315

Minoso             Minnie  Chi       .311

Skowron          Bill       NY      .309

Kuenn              Harvey Cle       .308

 

Last                  First     Team    RBI

Maris               Roger   NY      112

Minoso             Minnie  Chi       105

Wertz               Vic       Bos      103

Lemon              Jim       Was     100

Gentile              Jim       Bal       98

Mantle              Mickey NY      94

 

Last                  First     Team    Runs

Mantle              Mickey NY      119

Maris               Roger   NY      98

Landis              Jim       Chi       89

Minoso             Minnie  Cle       89

Sievers             Roy      Was     87

 

I use a simple point system: 5 for first, 4 for second, 3 for third, 2 for fourth and 1 for fifth.  The maximum is 20 points.  Here are the top batters of 1960 using this method.

 

1960    Maris   Mantle  Minoso Runnels

HR       4          5          0          0

BA       0          0          3          5

RBI      5          0          4          0

Runs     4          5          1          0

Total    13        10        8          5

 

Here again is the simple formula shows the number of runs that a player was involved in producing: Runs + RBI - HR.  Home runs are subtracted so that the same run is not counted twice because a player gets credit for both a Run and RBI when a homer is hit. Two hundred runs represents a monster season.  Here are the top ten American League players in 1960.

 

Last                  First     Team    Runs     RBI      HR       Pro

Minoso             Minnie  Chi       89        105      20        174

Mantle              Mickey NY      119      94        40        173

Maris               Roger   NY      98        112      39        171

Sievers             Roy      Chi       87        93        28        152

Robinson          Brooks Bal       74        88        14        148

Francona          Tito      Cle       84        79        17        146

Aparicio           Luis      Chi       86        61        2          145

Gentile              Jim       Bal       67        98        21        144

Lemon              Jim       Was     81        100      38        143

Power              Vic       Cle       69        84        10        143

 

Here is the actual MVP voting for 1960.

 

Last                  First     Team    Pos      Points

Maris               Roger   NY      OF       225

Mantle              Mickey NY      OF       222

Robinson          Brooks Bal       3B        211

Minoso             Minnie  Cle       OF       141

Hansen             Ron      Bal       SS        110

 

From 1938 through 1960 MVP points were awarded as follows.  14 points for a first place vote.  Then 2nd - 9, 3rd - 8, 4th - 7, 5th - 6, 6th - 5, 7th - 4, 8th - 3, 9th - 2, 10th - 1.  There were three writers associated with the eight teams.  Therefore, the maximum number of points that a player could get was 336 (14*3*8).  Mickey Mantle was a unanimous MVP selection in 1956, his Triple Crown season.  He led in all four categories.

 

Mantle played right field in 1951.  After DiMaggio retired following the 1951 season, Mantle did not automatically inherit the prestigious center field position.  Casey Stengel gave Jackie Jensen, who won the 1958 MVP while playing for the Red Sox, the first shot at replacing DiMaggio in center. However, when Jensen failed to hit, the Yanks packaged him in a trade to Washington for Irv Noren and put Noren in center field.  But in May 1952, because of injuries to first basemen Johnny Mize, Joe Collins, and Johnny Hopp, Stengel brought Noren in to play first and began using Mantle and Bob Cerv in center. Before long Mantle won the job as starting center fielder of the New York Yankees.  Mickey eventually was recognized with a gold glove.  There was nothing like watching Mickey get on his horse and track down long drives hit into Yankee Stadium's cavernous reaches.

 

Maris was a natural right fielder and was great on defense.  When Mantle was injured he filled in as the center fielder.  He occasionally played left.  The further from right that he played, the more his defense suffered.

 

Gehrig was strictly a first baseman.  His defense was mediocre at best.  Entering the 1927 season, he was not regarded as a smart fielder. "His physical reactions are much quicker than his mental ones … but he is improving … Every so often Lou is subject to a mental lapse … "Every time I think the ball club suffers."" - Pat Robinson - New York Telegram - Wednesday, March 23, 1927.

 

However, after three games there was this report.  "He (Gehrig) is faster on his feet and thinks quickly." - Joe Vila, New York Sun - Friday, April 15, 1927.

 

Ruth played both right and left.  His defensive skill seemed to depend on his level of interest.  Yankee outfielder Bob Meusel played in the sun field to protect Ruth's eyes.  In a couple of road parks, Ruth played right for that reason.  In Yankee Stadium, of course, the sun field is in left, one of the worst in baseball.  Ruth would play right at the Stadium to avoid the sun.  That is why we think of the Babe as a right fielder today.

 

“Ruth actually became the first man to play 1,000 games at each of two different field positions: 1133 in right, 1054 in left (plus 64 in center), according to Bob Davids, or 1126-1060-65, according to Pete Palmer.” – Bill Deane, e-mail – Tuesday, November 10, 1998.  In 1927 Ruth apparently played 44 games in left, 76 games in right, none in center.

Here is a comment by Art Fletcher who coached for the Yankees from 1926 to 1945.

 

"I never realized until this season (1927) what a really great player he (Ruth) is," said Fletcher.  "I had regarded Ruth only as a phenomenal hitter.  Now I know he deserves to be rated among the greatest outfielders of all time.  He covers a wide territory, is sure death on fly balls and all the line drives he can get his hands on, plays ground balls that come to him as well as an infielder, and throws amazingly.  I have seen a lot of accurate throwing by outfielders, but I never saw a man who had even a slight edge on the Babe in pegging." - Frank Graham, New York Sun - Wednesday, May 25, 1927.

 

As for base running, Mantle was far better than the other four. Gehrig was probably the least skilled.  Ruth and Maris were smart runners and slid hard.  Mantle did all that and he could steal.  The great Yankee teams were known for sliding hard both as a base running technique and as a means of intimidation and retaliation.  1927 and 1961 were seasons when base stealing was out of fashion.

 

"A few, like Cobb, Ruth, Meusel, and Sam Rice will run, but the overwhelming majority stick glued to a base … Babe Ruth is to blame … and yet the Babe runs bases as well as he does everything else on a ball field.  He has the intuitive knack of getting the jump on a pitcher.  He knows how and when to run, and he can hook a bag as well as anybody in the game.  He runs hard and hits the dirt hard … difficult to put the ball on him." - Pat Robinson - New York Telegram - Wednesday, March 23, 1927.

 

Ruth stole home 10 times.  Here are their lifetime base stealing numbers.  Apparently Mr. Robinson did not have these stats available in his neighborhood.  At least his comments show that Ruth was nimble on his feet.

 

            Steals   Caught

Ruth     123      119

Gehrig  102      101

Mantle  153      38

Maris   21        9

 

Maris's main problem was that he never realized that he was in the entertainment business.  He was very popular with his teammates but even they unwittingly revealed his problem.  They relate stories about how Roger is such a great guy once you get to know him.  These stories generally begin by showing that even his friends start out by not liking him.  That's a bad trait for an entertainer.  Roger instinctively put people off.  The writers would seize on that to his undoing.

 

Gehrig was well liked by both the writers and players.  He was quiet and dignified on and off the field.  However, Lou was called Biscuit Pants by his teammates.  "In Gehrig's time ball players were encumbered in heavy, sweaty wool uniforms that were about as chic as old bloomers hanging on clotheslines.  Suited up, Gehrig looked bovine, unathletic.  His appearance earned him the uncomely nickname of 'Biscuit Pants.'" - Ray Robinson, "Iron Horse".

 

Mantle, like Ruth, was very popular with his teammates.  They had different but very engaging  personalities.  It was almost impossible not to like them.  Babe's thirdbaseman, Joe Duggan, called Ruth a god.  Mickey's thirdbaseman, Clete Boyer, said that Mantle was the only player he knew who was a bigger hero with his teammates than he was with the fans.  Both Ruth and Mantle had had periodic problems with the writers but overall their standing with the fourth estate was solid.  Neither man's teammates resented his big salary.  Both Ruth and Mantle were generous while both Gehrig and Maris were a bit tight.  The other players realized that both of these stars added to their teammates salaries by making the game prosper and the stars helped ensure that fat World Series money in the fall.  Many of Ruth's escapades were in the papers in the 1920s.  Mantle's off field activities were largely unknown in the 1950s; only the Copacabana incident in which Mickey and several prominent teammates, including Berra, became involved in a fight in that New York nightclub while celebrating Billy Martin's birthday, became public.

 

None of the four home run hitters served in the military.  Gehrig and Maris were not of age during  wartime.  Ruth and Mantle received criticism for not participating in World War I and the Korean War respectively.  Mantle also received death threats.  In 1998 an FBI file was released which revealed that as late as the summer of 1960 Mickey received a hand written letter addressed to him in Cleveland's Municipal Stadium and mailed from Tonawonda, New York.  The Yankees called in the FBI who interviewed Mantle and went with him to the ball park that one night.  The letter referred to the writer's son having bad eyes and a bad leg and being killed, ostensibly in the Korean War.  The writer then questioned why Mantle had not served given his ability to run so fast.  Actually, Mickey had a bone disorder and had been declared unfit in several examinations by Army doctors.

 

In 1927 there was only the Bureau of Investigation but J. Edgar Hoover had been appointed as its first director in 1924 by Attorney General Harlan Fiske Stone who later would become Chief Justice.  The FBI's responsibility extends to about 180 areas of federal criminal law.  Mantle's file also referred to an alleged extortion of Mickey over an extramarital affair in 1956 and a 1963 loan to a known gambler to finance a nightclub in Dallas, Texas where Mantle lived.  The extortion angle intrigues me.  In 1955 the Yankees lost the World Series to Brooklyn, the only time that happened.  Mantle played little in the Series due to injury.  Did the FBI think that the only way the Yanks could lose was if there was a fix?  1955 is only 36 years after the White Sox had thrown the Series and the ancient history that it seems now.  What better way to fix the Series than to get Mantle and through him to Ford, the Yanks money pitcher.  What a juicy scenario!  Or the FBI might merely have been doing its job and looking into a mundane extortion allegation.

 

Even in 1961 there were no player agents and no free agency.  Players negotiated directly with the team's general manager for their annual contracts, although the Babe was already being advised wisely by Christy Walsh, his long time financial confidant who would later also advise Gehrig.  The pension fund began in 1947 and did not cover either Ruth or Gehrig, so financial planning was important.  Salaries went up and they went down.  A player was expected to increase his salary slowly and gradually over several years.  Even here Ruth was unique.  Entering the 1927 season he had just completed a five-year contract.  In 1922 Ruth signed a three-year contract at $52,000 per season.  The contract contained a club option for two additional years and the Yankees exercised the option.  Ed Barrow, Yankee general manager from 1921 through 1946, who had become the Red Sox field manager in 1918 and played his star pitcher, Babe Ruth, in the outfield for he first time, stated in February 1927:

 

"No more contracts for more than one year.  We have discovered that men who tie themselves up for long terms immediately relax and take it easy.  They only hustle in the last year of the term when they are fighting for renewal." - Monitor, New York World - Sunday, February 13, 1927.

 

"…here is what Babe Ruth earned since this time a year ago: Yankee salary, $52,000; World Series and post-season exhibitions, $20,000; vaudeville tour, $65,000; movie contract, $75,000; syndicate stories, $10,000; incidentals, $10,000." - John Kiernan, New York Times - Tuesday, March 01, 1927.

 

After his vaudeville tour, Ruth completed his Hollywood movie called "Babe Comes Home" on Friday, February 25, 1927.  The Babe made a very public demand for $100,000 for each of two years plus the return of money he had been fined by the Yankees over the years.  Babe calculated that to be $7,700. 

After much haggling and a much publicized train ride from California to Chicago to New York, Ruth signed another three-year contract for 1927, 1928 and 1929 at $70,000 per season.

 

Outfielder Bob Meusel held out and got a two-year contract at $17,500 per season. Center fielder Earl Combs was next at about $10,000, followed by catcher Benough and second year second baseman Lazzari, who hit 60 homers in 200 games in Salt Lake City in 1925, at $8,000, then Gehrig with $7,500.  Gehrig did not hold out as many of his teammates did.  Ruth was making more than all the other starters combined.  The losers share for the 1926 World Series was $3,417.75.

 

The best southpaw in baseball was Yankee star, Herb Pennock, who was seeking to become the highest paid pitcher.  It is now thought that the honor went to Walter Johnson of Washington at $25,000.  But in 1927 Pennock believed that Johnson only made $15,000 and asked for $20,000. Pennock signed a three year contract for close to what he had requested.

 

Mickey Mantle had an off season in 1959 and he settled for a $7,000 cut to $65,000 for his 1960 contract.  That was the final contract that Mickey negotiated with general manager George Weiss who had succeeded Ed Barrow in 1947.  New GM Roy Hamey signed Mantle for $75,000 for the 1961 season.  No other player in baseball was paid more.  Mantle matched his salary in commercial income.  Berra made $52,000 and Ford $35,000.  Maris got a raise from $20,000 to about $38,000 for 1961. The losers share for the 1960 World Series was $5,214.64. You can see why even a loser’s share was so important.

 

Even with losers shares in the World Series in 1926 and 1960 the extra money meant a lot to Gehrig and Maris.

 

Ruth     $52,000           $3,417.75         7%

Gehrig     $6,000          $3,417.75        57%

Mantle  $65,000           $5,214.64         8%

Maris   $20,000           $5,214.64       26%

 

In 1927 Ruth was separated from his first wife, Helen. They had one child, a daughter, Dorothy, of uncertain origin.  In 1927 Helen was living in Watertown, Massachusetts with another man.  Babe had met Claire Hodgson in 1925 and he would marry her in 1929 three months after Helen's death on January 11, 1929.  All this was common knowledge.  Ruth lived in New York City.  Gehrig, a native New Yorker, lived there all year with his parents. Gehrig never had children.

 

In 1961 Mantle and his wife Merlin had four children, all boys.  The Mantles lived in Dallas, Texas.  Maris and his wife Pat had two children and Pat was expecting.  The Maris family lived in Raytown, Missouri, a suburb of Kansas City, MO.  During much of the 1961 season, Mantle, Maris and reserve outfielder, Bob Cerv, shared an apartment in Queens.  They drove to the Stadium in Roger's convertible.  Early and late in the season Mickey lived in Manhattan at the swank St. Moritz hotel.  Roger had invited Mickey to join him and Cerv in their apartment.  Roger thought it might help Mickey avoid the city nightlife.  Maris sometimes cooked breakfast for Mantle and Cerv.  The one time Roger accompanied Mickey for a night on the town he regretted it.

 

Joe Williams, a writer and close friend of Ruth's wrote in 1965:  "I think I was as close to the Babe as any sportswriter of the era. Possibly closer. I was often a houseguest".  Was this during the Babe's stays at the famously opulent Ansonia Hotel on upper Broadway in Manhattan?  I cannot imagine any sportswriter being a houseguest at that Queens apartment shared by Mantle, Maris and Cerv in 1961.

 

The extracurricular activities of Ruth and Mantle are described in other publications.  By 1927 and 1961 they had settled down quite a bit.  Ruth did his partying alone unless he was conducting his own soiree in a posh hotel suite.  Mantle would go out with any of his teammates.  Gehrig and Maris were friendly but not much for partying.  Both smoked heavily.  I personally saw Maris smoking in the Yankee dugout.

 

Ruth's weight is a matter of conjecture.  He weighed 190 at the start of his pitching career with Boston.  By the time he got to the Yankees in 1920 he was at 215 and may have ballooned to 240 in the off season.  In 1921 and 1922 Ruth was about 230.  For the grand opening of the Yankee Stadium in April 1923 Ruth was back to 215.  In 1924 he was 230 again.  By January 1925 he was up to 256.  This led to his big "bellyache" which nearly killed him.  Babe reported to spring training in 1926 at 212 and in his best condition as a Yankee.  After 1926 Ruth's weight as a player varied between 225 and 240.  In the winter of 1931-1932 Babe weighed 235.  Babe worked out each winter starting in 1926 and was in good shape at that weight, and this may account for his resurgence.  At the end of his career in 1935 with the Boston Braves, Babe was fat at 245.

 

Here are some vital statistics on the four home run hitters at the start of the 1927 and 1961 seasons.

 

            Height  Weight Bats     Throws

Ruth     6' 2"     215      Left      Left     

Gehrig  6'         210      Left      Left

Mantle  5' 11.5"            195      Both     Right

Maris   6'         197      Left      Right

 

In the American League here are the average sizes of hitters in 1927 and 1960, the last year with eight teams.

 

1927 5 feet 11  176 pounds

1960 6 feet       184 pounds

 

In the American League here's the number of hitters batting each way in 1927 and 1960, the last year with eight teams.

 

            Right    Left      Both

1927    90        60        10

1960    110      72        5

 

There were no numbers on player's uniforms in 1927.  The Yankees were the first team to use numbers but did not introduce them until 1929.  In 1961 Mantle wore number 7 and Maris wore number 9.  In 1929 Ruth wore number 3 and Gehrig number 4 because of their positions in the batting order.

 

In 1924 and 1925 the Yankees failed to win the pennant after having won pennants in 1921 and 1922 and the World Series in 1923.  In 1926 the Yanks won the pennant but lost the World Series in seven games against the St. Louis Cardinals.  In game seven, aging Grover Cleveland Alexander, after pitching his second complete game victory the previous day, entered in the seventh inning with the bases loaded and struck out Tony Lazzeri at Yankee Stadium to preserve a 3-2 lead.  Both Alexander and Lazzeri suffered from epilepsy.  With two out in the ninth, Alexander issued Ruth his eleventh walk but Ruth was caught stealing to end the Series.  Ruth hit four home runs, three in game four alone, Gehrig none.  It was a bitter defeat.  The 1927 Yankees wanted to get all the way back.

 

From 1949 through 1953 the Yankees won five consecutive World Series, the only team to do that.  From 1955 through 1958 the Yankees won four pennants and two World Series, 1956 and 1958.  But they finished third in 1959.  In 1960 the Yanks won the pennant but lost the World Series in seven games against the Pittsburgh Pirates.  In game seven the Yanks blew a 7-4 lead and Bill Mazeroski broke a tie in the bottom of the ninth with a home run off a Ralph Terry slider.  Whitey Ford had pitched two shutouts making his consecutive shutout innings in World Series play second only to Ruth.  Maris hit two home runs.  Mantle hit three home runs giving him 14, second only to Ruth's World Series record total of 15.  Mickey, following his tenth season and eighth World Series, cried in the clubhouse because he believed for the first that the better team had lost. No wonder his teammates loved him.  It was a bitter defeat as the Yanks had outscored the Pirates by 28 runs.  The 1961 Yankees wanted to get all the way back.

 

In 1920 when Ruth joined the Yankees they were owned by Jacob Ruppert and T.L.Huston, the two colonels.  They had purchased the team in 1915 for $450,000.  Ruppert was a hereditary beer king and Fifth Avenue aristocrat who added class and dignity to the game. As an innovator, he is credited with putting numbers on the backs of his players (1929) and introducing the then revolutionary concept of having his players in clean uniforms everyday.  Under Ruppert's leadership (1915-1939), the Yankee name became synonymous not only with championship baseball, but with building the finest most efficient organization in the game. And when forced to vacate the Polo Grounds, he built Yankee Stadium.

 

Ruppert and Huston had hired Miller Huggins as manager in 1918.  The diminutive Huggins, 5'4" and 138 pounds, was a lawyer admitted to the Ohio bar. Huggins was also a lifelong bachelor like Ruppert.  His authority was limited because he was Ruppert's man and Huston did not support him.  This caused Huggins difficulty in dealing with the young wild Ruth who in 1922 was not liked much by either Huggins or his teammates.  In 1923 Huston sold out to Ruppert for $1,200,000 and Huggins’s authority increased immensely even with Ruth.  Huggins introduced what his pitcher Waite Hoyte called "polish and dignity".  He also instituted a 10:30 AM sign-in to cut down on late night hours and help enforce his generous 1:00 AM curfew.  General Manager Ed Barrow installed phones from his seat to the Yankee's third base dugout and to the bullpen.  He would call down if he saw a player lounging and have him sit up straight.  There was no beer allowed in the clubhouse and no food between games of a doubleheader.

 

Miller Huggins was solidly installed as the Yankee manager in 1927 but following the 1960 World Series the Yankee owners, Dan Topping and Del Webb fired manager Casey Stengel and removed general manager George Weiss.  With the Yankees from 1949 through 1960, Stengel had the most successful managerial streak in baseball history.  His double-talking buffoonery made him popular with the writers and they hated to see him go.  But Stengel was seventy years old and Yankee ownership wanted to replace him with forty-one year old Yankee coach Ralph Houk who had been groomed for the job.  A month later the American people, precluded by the Constitution from electing their popular seventy year old President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, to another term, chose 43 year old John Kennedy over 49 year old Richard Nixon.  The torch had been passed to a new generation.

 

Expansion

 

In October 1960 baseball announced that it was expanding.

 

In 1927 baseball was THE game.  Even if there had been radar, hockey would not have shown up on the screen.  Football was a college game dominated by Notre Dame and Army.  The National Football League was only a decade old and had some team in Green Bay named after meat packers.  The National Basketball Association was not created for another twenty years.  Commercial airlines had no presence.   Teams traveled by train exclusively.  When Mantle broke in 1951 teams still used the train most of the time.  By Maris's rookie year, 1957, they were using the plane much more.  This was an essential element to geographic expansion.  And in the decade prior to expansion, it was needed for the relocations of teams.

 

"Will aviation change the makeup of big league circuits and bring the great cities of the Pacific Coast into friendly  baseball rivalry with the metropolises of the East?  This is no idle dream but is within the realm of possibilities within the next few years.

 

By 1937 do not be surprised to see the San Francisco Seals alight somewhere in the rear of Coogan's Bluff (the Polo Grounds) for a Series with the Giants, or have the Los Angeles Angels fold their wings near the Concourse Plaza and prepare for a joust with the Yankees.

 

The development of  commerrcial aviation within the next ten years should bring New York and Los Angeles as close together as New York and St. Louis are today, probably closer.  And only the fact that Los Angeles and San Francisco have been too far removed from the other major league cities has prevented them from getting big league franchises." - Fred Lieb, New York Post - Thursday, June 16, 1927.

 

The Seals, whose most famous alumnus would be Joe DiMaggio, and the Angels were in the Pacific Coast League.  The Following day Lindbergh received a ticker tape parade up Broadway following his historic solo flight from New York to Paris.  Later that day Lindy appeared at the Yankee game.

 

In 1927 the Yankees used the two cars which were at the end of the train.  This assured that the other passengers would not need to pass through the Yankees' cars.  The Cincinnati Reds flew to Chicago on Friday, June 08, 1934. Cincinnati was the first team to fly.  The first Yankee flight was aboard a chartered DC-4 to St. Louis on Monday, May 13, 1946.

 

By 1960, there was radar and hockey was on the screen.  The NFL had finished its most prosperous decade after absorbing teams from the All America conference including the Cleveland Browns who dominated the first half of that decade.  The New York Football Giants moved from the Polo Grounds to Yankee Stadium in 1956 and promptly followed the Yankees' lead by winning the NFL championship against the Chicago Bears.  The Football Giants helped put the NFL on the map in 1958 by losing to the Baltimore Colts at Yankee Stadium in the first sudden death overtime game for the NFL championship before a national television audience.  It was known for many years as the greatest game ever played.

 

In the 1940s there had been football teams named the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers to go along with the Giants.  By 1958 that confusion had vanished though the local football team was still referred to as the New York Football Giants for some time.  In 1960 the city of St. Louis did the strangest thing.  It accepted the NFL team from Chicago named the Cardinals thus duplicating the confusion that had plagued New York for so long.  More importantly, the NFL expanded, adding the Minnesota Vikings and Dallas Cowboys.  The NFL increased its number of games from 12 to 14, making it easier for Jimmy Brown to continue gaining 1,000 yards per season

 

Dallas hired Giant assistant Tom Landry as head coach.  The Giants' elderly head coach, Jim Lee Howell, retired after the 1960 season.  Giants owner Wellington Mara tried to lure his former classmate at Fordham University and one time Giant assistant, Vince Lombardi back to the Giants as head coach.  Lombardi, who had left the Giants to become head coach of the lowly Green Bay Packers three years before, declined out of loyalty to Green Bay.  Instead the Giants promoted another assistant, Allie Sherman, to head coach.  Another member of the new generation of leadership in 1961.

 

The NFL was challenged in the most fundamental way.  In 1960 the American Football League was created and it included teams in New York, Los Angeles and Dallas.  The Los Angeles Chargers would soon move to San Diego and the Dallas Texans would become the Kansas City Chiefs.  The New York Titans, not to be confused with giants, played in the Polo Grounds until the Shea Stadium became available in 1964.  They moved in there and changed their name to Jets, to be confused with Mets.

 

The NBA had finally vacated places like Fort Wayne, Indiana and moved the Royals from Rochester, New York to Cincinnati, Ohio.  The night of the Yanks 1961 home opener the Boston Celtics won their fifth consecutive NBA title with little fanfare.  One of its reserve forwards, 6'8" Gene Conley, shut out the New York Yankees in Yankee Stadium two weeks later while pitching for the Boston Red Sox.

 

Team movement and expansion was occurring in sports.

 

The National League would add two teams for the 1962 season.  The ownership of the first two National League expansion teams, the New York Mets and the Houston Colt 45s, was selected on Monday, October 17, 1960, nearly a year before the National League player draft on Tuesday, October 10, 1961. 

 

The American League would add two teams for the 1961 season.  They were anxious to get the jump on the Nationals, but offered to wait until 1962 if the Nationals would agree to interleague play.  The offer was rejected.

 

The Washington Senators would move to Minneapolis-St. Paul and change their name to the Minnesota Twins for the twin cities.  An expansion team would replace them in Washington and take the name Senators.  The ownership group for the new Washington Senators was selected on Thursday, November 17, 1960.  The Los Angeles Angels' leadership was picked on Tuesday, December 06, 1960.  Singing cowboy Gene Autry was the Angels principal owner.  The American League expansion player draft was a week later, on Wednesday, December 14, 1960.

 

Expansion was important to the upcoming home run race because it meant that the schedule had to be changed.  In the long established 154 game schedule, each team played its seven opponents 11 games at home and 11 games on the road.  Now there were nine opponents.  They could play 16 games against each opponent for a 144 game schedule. Less games would mean less money.  Seventeen games against each would yield a 153 game schedule but that would mean that the number of home and road games would not be equal.  By playing 18 games against nine opponents, the 162 game schedule eliminated the objections to the alternatives.  More games would mean more money.

 

The implications of the eight extra games drew two oddly interesting comments from new Yankee manager Ralph Houk and baseball commissioner Ford Frick, a former writer and an old friend of Ruth's.  In late October 1960 Frick was quoted in the New York Times as saying: "It's a question that has been bothering me for some time.  The principal records in the book seem safe … My opinion on that (Babe's record of 60) is almost a conviction.  I don't think the Babe's record is vulnerable … but I intend to ask the rules committee to study this problem and try to soften the impact when necessary.  My own idea is that some records might deserve to be listed in two categories - the one made during a 154-game schedule and the other one made during a 162-game schedule."

 

The origins of what would become known as the asterisk were earlier than most people realize.  Frick did not think that the great records were in jeopardy and that there was plenty of time to deal with it later.  Frick would finally make this ruling on July 17 or 18, 1961:

 

"A player who may hit more than 60 home runs during his team's first 154 games would be recognized as having established a new record.  However, if the player does not hit more than 60 until after his club has played 154 games, there would have to be some distinctive mark in the record book to show that Babe Ruth's record was set under the 154-game schedule, and that the other total was compiled while the 162-game schedule was in effect."

 

Obviously, this is not a generic ruling.  In addition, much has been written about Frick's motives.  Frick was a crony of Ruth's and had been a ghost writer for the Babe.  Frick had been a beat writer covering the Yankees in 1927.  Frick was supposedly leading the majority of writers who openly rooted for Ruth to beat Gehrig in 1927.  However, that should not affect one's view of the ruling.  Logic was further clouded because this was the most cherished record in baseball, accomplished by the man who had saved baseball after the betting scandal.  The older players were honored by the writers and by the fans to an extent that is way beyond what we hear today.  Jimmy Powers wrote:"The caliber of play has deteriorated so badly that anything is possible".  During the 1961 season both Rogers Hornsby and Ty Cobb insulted Maris in terms that were crude and inaccurate respectively.  This stuff really riled the players of 1961.

 

Oliver Kuechle, The Milwaukee Journal, wrote: "Maris's failure to break Babe Ruth's record of 60 homers in 154 games evokes no regret here …  If the record is to be broken, it should be by someone of greater baseball stature and greater color and public appeal … Maris, aside from his threat on the record, is not more than a good big league ballplayer.  He is colorless. He has never hit .300 in the majors … He has been just average in the field and is often surly.  There just isn't anything deeply heroic about the man."

 

The Times studied whether the balls or bats gave the 1961 players an advantage but that did not appear to be the case.  The issue of dilution of pitching because of expansion was addressed clumsily.  A Sporting News retort by Joe King was titled "Bambino had his share of patsy chuckers in '27".  So what?  That did not address the issue but analysis was lagging way behind emotion.

 

I was so inculcated by this reverence for the old timers that I was not sure if I wanted anyone, even my hero, Mickey Mantle, to break the immortal Babe's record.  In other words that record was not meant to be broken.  Many fans shared my ambivalence, especially with the writers casting nasty aspersions on the modern players.  A Sporting News poll of the writers showed that two-thirds supported Frick.  Dick Young of the New York Daily News expressed it well by comparing it to "permitting a man to run 95 yards to break a record in the 100-yard dash".  On other words, there was some basic common sense and fairness in Frick's ruling regardless of his motives and many, if not most people, understood that.  Maris did not agree but Mantle said: "I think Frick is right".  If a player in 1998 hits 60 I want him to do it in 154 games.

 

On Sunday January 15, 1961 at the press conference for the signing of Mantle's 1961 contract, Houk responded to a question about the affect of the extra games on Mickey's vulnerable legs: "I hope he plays 162 games, and if he hits 60 homers and Maris hits 59, they'll make me a hell of a manager".  Notice that only Mantle is even allowed to tie the immortal Babe.

 

The American and National Leagues had maintained a remarkably stable structure for 50 over years.  In 1899 the National Leagues had twelve teams.  To avoid another baseball war it was agreed that teams from Baltimore, Cleveland, and Washington would switch from the National to the new American League.  The National team in Louisville, Kentucky was dropped.  The American League began in 1901 and included the Milwaukee Brewers for just that one year and the Baltimore Orioles for 1901 and 1902.  In 1902 Milwaukee was replaced by the St. Louis Browns.  In 1903 Baltimore was replaced by the team in New York which would eventually become known as the Yankees.  Team names in those days were fluid.  They were mainly a way for sportswriters to refer to the players without repeating the city name all the time.  Most teams eventually adopted the names given to them by the sportswriters.  What's important to understand is that from 1903 through 1952 there were the same eight teams in each league in the same cities.

 

National           American

 

Boston             Boston             **

Brooklyn          Detroit 

Chicago            Chicago            **

Cincinnati         Cleveland

New York        New York        ***

Philadelphia      Philadelphia      **

Pittsburgh         Washington

St. Louis           St. Louis           **

 

There was great geographic concentration.  Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and St. Louis each had two teams, one in each league.  New York had three teams, two in the National League.  Only Chicago's teams would remain.  The other cities had to contract to survive.  Baseball began to move its teams.

 

1953 - Boston to Milwaukee    National

1954  - St. Louis to Baltimore   American (Browns folded and a new Orioles team was created)

1955 - Philadelphia to Kansas City       American

1958 - Brooklyn to Los Angeles           National

1958 - New York to San Francisco      National

 

1958 through 1961 were the only years that there was only one team in New York, the Yankees.  But two thirds of the writers had covered the Giants and Dodgers in the National League.  If they hated the Yankees before, how do you think they felt now?  For a Yankee fan this was a great time.  No Giants.  No Dodgers.  No Mets.  Better yet, no Met fans.  Will Rogers never met a man he didn't like.  I never met a Met fan (or Boston fan of any sport) who knew what he was talking about.

 

The expansion was also done to avoid a war with the planners of the Continental League, which never got off the ground.  The American and National League owners made a sort of peace with chief Continental organizers, Branch Rickey, former general manager of the Cardinals, Dodgers and Pirates who wanted but did not receive a piece of the Mets, and William Shea, a New York attorney for whom the new Met's Stadium would be named.

 

Much has been made about Ruth's impact in saving baseball following the Chicago White Sox throwing the 1919 World Series in a betting scandal which broke during the 1920 season.  Here are the numbers.  Ruth hit 29 homers in 1919, his final season with the Red Sox.  In 1920 with the Yankees he hit 54.  Attendance increased as follows.

 

            American          National

1919    3,654,236        2,878,203

1920    5,084,300        4,036,575

 

1920 was the first year that either league had been over four million in attendance.  For perspective, note that in 1991 and 1992 the Toronto Blue Jays drew over four million in home attendance by themselves.  In 1920 the Yankees home attendance was 1,289,422 making the Yanks the first team to draw one million.  The only team to exceed that until after the Great Depression and World War II were the 1929 and 1930 Chicago Cubs who approached 1.5 million each year.  Except for 1925 (Ruth's bellyache drew only 697,267) and 1929 (960,148) the Yanks drew over a million from 1920 through 1930.  Even they would not reach a million again until after the war.

 

The St. Louis Browns attendance during the height of the Depression shows the worst of times.

 

1933            88,113

1934            115,305

1935            80,922

 

1946 was the first year after the war.  The great stars returned and baseball boomed along with the babies.  The Yankees became the first team to draw TWO million: 2,265,512.  They draw that easily now and complain that the Seattle Mariners are drawing more. In 1948 the pennant winning Cleveland Indians set the unbelievable record of 2,620,627. From 1946 through 1950 the Yanks drew TWO million, narrowly missing in 1951.  They would not be close again until 1976 when they started another such string.  The Cleveland record would stand until 1962, the first year of National League expansion.  It was broken by the LOS ANGELES Dodgers with 2,755,184.

 

Attendance dropped off in the 1950s.  The supposedly great Brooklyn Dodger fans were leaving thousands of seats unoccupied in several World Series even though Ebbets Field only held 36,000.  Here are the figures for the two years prior and the two years following a team's relocation.

 

1953 - Boston to Milwaukee                487,475                       281,278                       1,826,397        2,131,388

1954     - St. Louis to Baltimore                518,796                       297,238                       1,060,910        852,039

1955     - Philadelphia to Kansas City        362,113                       304,666                       1,393,054        1,015,154

1958 - Brooklyn to Los Angeles           1,213,562                    1,028,258                    1,845,556        2,071,045

1958 - New York to San Francisco      629,179                       653,923                       1,272,625        1,422,130

 

1961 - Washington to Minnesota          615,372                       743,404                       1,256,723        1,433,116

 

No wonder they moved!  New York could have kept the Dodgers if it had built a new park in Queens.  Sounds familiar.

 

Here is the attendance for the first four seasons of the four expansion teams. Only the expansion Senators who replaced the team that moved to Minnesota did really poorly each year.

 

Washington      597,287                       729,775                       535,604                       600,106

Los Angeles     603,510                       1,144, 063                   821,015                       760,439

New York        922, 530                      1,080,108                    1,732,597                    1,768,389

Houston           924,456                       719,502                       725,773                       2,151,470

 

Note the following ballpark changes in those four years.

 

Washington - Griffith Stadium to D.C. (later RFK) Stadium in year two

Los Angeles - Wrigley Field to Dodger Stadium in year two

New York - Polo Grounds to Shea Stadium in year three

Houston - Colts Park to the Astrodome in year four where Mickey Mantle hit the first home run indoors in an exhibition game.

 

Yankee attendance in the years prior to the great home run races:

 

1926            1,027,675

1960    1,627,349

 

Ball Parks

 

Because of team movement and expansion, the ball parks in which the 1961 Yankees played were more different than from the ball parks in which the 1927 Yankees played than they would have been ten years earlier in 1951.  In fact in 1951 they would have been mostly the same.

 

Was there an advantage in home run hitting between 1927 and 1961?

 

Was there an advantage in Yankee Stadium between 1927 and 1961?

 

First we'll look at the road parks (seven in 1927, nine in 1961) and then we'll look at the home park, Yankee Stadium.  Even though they may have played in the same building, that building may have been altered.  Particular attention will be paid to right and center fields where these four would have hit most of there home runs.

 

Boston: Fenway Park opened Saturday, April 20, 1912 and is still in use.  It was known as Fenway Park Grounds in 1927.  Its foul territory is the smallest in the majors.  Ruth originally set the home run record of 29 playing here for the Red Sox in 1919.  The left field line may actually be as little as 304 feet but in any case it was the same in 1927 and 1961.  Through 1929 center field was 488 feet!  In 1930 center was reduced to 468 feet.  In 1934 center was reduced to its present 389 feet.  Quite a drop.  Right center was 405 feet until 1940 when it was reduced to its present distance of about 380 feet.  This reduction was made specifically to help young outfielder Ted Williams hit home runs.  Bullpens were added behind this area, which was called Williamsburg.

 

Year     Left      LC       Center  RC       Right

1927    321      379      488      405      313

1961    321      379      389      380      313

 

Advantage 1961.

 

Chicago: Comiskey Park I opened Friday, July 01, 1910 and closed Sunday, September 30, 1990 when it was replaced by a new park with the same name.  Its foul territory was large.  The main change was in center.  It was 420 feet until 1926 when it was increased to 450 then to 455 in 1927.  From 1952 through 1968 center was 415 feet.  The foul lines were 365 in 1927 and 352 in 1961.  The power alleys appear to have been the same in 1927 and 1961 despite the fact that they were officially listed at 365 in 1961. 

 

Year     Left      LC       Center  RC       Right

1927    365      375      455      375      365

1961    352      375      415      375      352

 

Advantage 1961.

 

Cleveland: League Park II, also known as Dunn Field, opened Thursday, April 21, 1910 and used off and on, including 1927, until Saturday, September 21, 1946.  It reached 450 feet between left center and center.  Right field dropped from 290 to 240 feet when roped off for overflow crowds.  The right field fence was the tallest in the majors, 45 feet high.  There was a 25 foot chicken wire fence on top of a 20 foot concrete wall.

 

Municipal Stadium opened Sunday, July 31, 1932.  The Indians alternated between these two parks until Monday, April 14, 1947 when it became their full time home until the opening of Jacobs Field in 1994. Its foul territory was large.  In 1932 the power alleys were 435 and center was 470.  It was a huge building.  Its biggest crowd was against the Yankees on Sunday, September 12, 1954 when 86,563 people attended.

 

Year     Left      LC       Center  RC       Right

1927    376      415      420      400      290

1961    320      380      410      380      320

 

No advantage.  The 1961 was basically smaller but that incredibly short right field in 1927 evens it up.

 

Detroit: Tiger Stadium opened Saturday, April 20, 1912 and is still in use. Its foul territory is small.  It was known as Navin Field from 1912 through 1937 and as Briggs Stadium from 1938 through 1960.  Center was reduced from 467 to 440.  Right was reduced from 370 to 325.

 

Year     Left      LC       Center  RC       Right

1927    340      365      467      370      370

1961    340      365      440      370      325

 

Advantage 1961.

 

Philadelphia: Shibe Park opened Monday, April 12, 1909 by the As and was used by the Phillies until Thursday, October 01, 1970.  Center had been reduced from 515 in 1909 to 468 by 1927.  In 1961 the As were playing in Kansas City.

 

Kansas City: Municipal Stadium opened Tuesday, April 12, 1955 by the As and was used by the Royals until Wednesday, October 04, 1972.  In 1961left field was increased from 330 to 370 left center from 375 to 390.

 

Year     Left      LC       Center  RC       Right

1927    312      405      420      390      307

1961    370      390      421      387      353

 

Advantage 1927.

 

St. Louis: Sportsman's Park III was used by the Browns from Wednesday, April 14, 1909 to Sunday, September 27, 1953.  The Cardinals used it from Thursday, July 01, 1920 to Sunday, May 08, 1966.  The Browns were essentially replaced by the Baltimore Orioles in 1954.

 

Baltimore: Memorial Stadium was used by the Orioles from Thursday, April 15, 1954 to Monday, September 30, 1991.  In 1992 they started playing Camden Yards.  By 1961 power alleys were reduced from 446 to 380 and center from 450 to 410.  Memorial Stadium is where Maris would play his fateful 154^th game.

 

Year     Left      LC       Center  RC       Right

1927    355      379      430      354      315

1961    309      380      410      380      309

 

No advantage.

 

Washington: Griffith Stadium opened Wednesday, April 12, 1911.  It was used in 1961 by the new expansion Senators. 

 

Year     Left      LC       Center  RC       Right

1927    358      391      421      378      328

1961    388      372      421      373      320

 

No Advantage.

 

Los Angeles: Wrigley Field was used by the Angels from Thursday, April 27, 1961 to Sunday, October 01, 1961 because the Dodgers would not these encroachers share the Coliseum.  In 1962 they both moved into the new Chavez Ravine, known later as Dodger Stadium.  This was a joke park.  The television show "Home Run Derby" was filmed here because it was symmetrical, near Hollywood and warm in the off-season and easy to hit homers in.  I recently saw Mickey Mantle in one of those old shows.  Like the other hitters he wore what I guess were golf gloves because their hands were not battle ready in the off-season.  Mickey also batted righty against the batting practice pitchers who paid to grove them.  Mickey occasionally batted righty against knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm.

 

Year     Left      LC       Center  RC       Right

1961    340      345      412      345      338

 

Minnesota: Metropolitan Stadium was used by the Twins from Friday, April 21, 1961 to Wednesday, September 30, 1981.  In 1982 the moved into the Hubert H. Humphrey MertoDome.  Two distances are given for left and right center: long - 402 and short - 365.  The true distance of the power alleys may have been about 380.  This was a good home run park.

 

Year     Left      LC       Center  RC       Right

1961    329      365      412      365      329

 

New York: Yankee Stadium - Wednesday, April 18, 1923 to Sunday, September 30, 1973.  More below.

 

Year     Left      LC       Center  RC       Right

1927    280      460      490      429      295

1961    301      457      461      407      296

 

Advantage 1961.

 

Here's the ball park standings.

           

Boston                         1961

Chicago                        1961

Cleveland                     even

Detroit                          1961

Philadelphia - Kansas City        1927

St. Louis - Baltimore     even

Washington                  even

 

Minnesota                    1961

Los Angeles                 1961

 

For the seven originals 1961 had a 3-1 edge with three even.  The two new parks favored 1961.  Most importantly, the home park favored 1961.

 

Dimensions for seven parks in 1927:

 

Name               Type    Left      LC       Center  RC       Right    City

Fenway            Park     321      379      488      405      313      Boston

Comiskey I       Park     365      375      455      375      365      Chicago

League II          Park     376      415      420      400      290      Cleveland

Tiger                Stadium340      365      467      370      370      Detroit

Shibe                Park     312      405      420      390      307      Philadelphia

Sportsman's      Park     355      379      430      354      315      St. Louis

Griffith              Stadium358      391      421      378      328      Washington

 

Dimensions for nine parks in 1961:

 

Name               Type                Left      LC       Center  RC       Right    City

Fenway            Park                 321      379      390      380      313      Boston

Comiskey I       Park                 352      375      415      375      352      Chicago

Municipal         Stadium            320      380      410      380      320      Cleveland

Tiger                Stadium            340      365      440      370      325      Detroit

Municipal         Stadium            370      390      421      387      353      Kansas City (Philadelphia)

Memorial          Stadium            309      380      410      380      309      Baltimore (St. Louis)

Griffith              Stadium            388      372      421      373      320      Washington

 

Metropolitan     Stadium            329      365      412      365      329      Minnesota

Wrigley            Field                 340      345      412      345      338      Los Angeles

 

Yankee Stadium:

Year                             Left      LC       Center  RC       Right

1927                            280      460      490      429      295

1961                            301      457      461      407      296

 

Yankee Stadium

 

Announcements were made with a megaphone.  Opening day in 1927 the announcers were Jack Lentz and George Levy.  The public address system was installed in the mid 1930s.  By 1961 the public address announcer was the legendary Bob Sheppard, who has continued in that capacity through the 1997 season.

 

For 1927 the Yankees reduced the price of the 22,000 bleacher seats from 75 cents to 50 cents.  After the extension of the grandstand around the foul poles, the number of bleacher seats was reduced to the 14,000 that it was in 1961.

 

"Yes," he (Ruth) said, "it's (Sportsman's Park) a good ball park to hit in.  All the parks are good except the Stadium.  There is no background there at all.  But the best of them all is the Polo Grounds.  Boy, how I used to sock 'em in there.  I cried when they took me out of the Polo Grounds." - Frank Graham, New York Sun - Saturday, May 14, 1927.

 

"He (Ruth) complains that the Stadium is not arranged to suit his fancy" - Frank Graham, New York Sun - Wednesday, July 27, 1927.

 

 

First night games:

 

Cincinnati - Friday, May 24, 1935

Yankee Stadium - Tuesday, May 28, 1946

 

Saturday, April 30, 1938 - first ladies day at Yankee Stadium.  4,903 ladies attended.

 

 

Home Run Rules: Bouncing and Curving

 

 

There had been a number of rule and scoring changes over the years that affect whether a player gets credit for a home run.  The language, at first, seems charming, almost biblical, until you try to figure out what it actually means. The two rules can be categorized as bouncing and curving.  Here they are with my comments.  The year is for the first season during which the rule change applied.

 

1884 - Fair/Foul Balls: "When a batted ball passes outside the grounds, the umpire shall declare it fair should it disappear within, or foul should it disappear outside of the range of the foul lines."

 

Whether the ball is fair is determined, not by its location as it goes over the fence as is done today, but by its location when the umpire loses sight of it.  There was only one umpire back then and he was making the call from home plate which places him at least a couple of hundred of feet away.  Imagine a tennis linesman calling from that distance.  John McEnroe would have gone ballistic. This could obviously decrease a player's home run total by today's standards.

 

1885 - Grounds/Fence: "A fair batted ball that goes over the fence at a distance less than 210 feet from home base shall entitle the batsmen to two bases.  A distinctive line shall be marked on the fence at this point."

 

The first ground rule double.  Well that deals with our friend Mr. Williamson who the previous season had set the fluky home run record during the one season that the fence in his home park was less than that.

 

1892 - Grounds/Fences: "A fair batted ball that goes over the fence shall entitle the batter to a home run; except that it should go over the fence at a distance less than 235 feet from home base, the batter is entitled to only two bases.  A distinctive line shall be marked on the fence showing the required point."

 

Several things have occurred here.  First, the term batsman has been replaced the gender-neutral batter.  Do you think that was a premonition?  Second, they pushed home run distance back another 25 feet.  Third, they mentioned the term home run for the first time.  Finally, and most importantly for this topic, they implicitly defined a home run as a fair ball batted "over the fence".  There is no mention of whether the ball must go "over the fence" on the fly, i.e., before it hits the ground.

 

In other words, if a ball lands on the field in fair territory and bounces "over the fence", it's a HOME RUN!  Today, we call that a ground-rule double.  This could obviously increase a player's home run total.

 

1904 - Grounds/Fences: "To obviate the necessity for ground rules, the shortest distance from a fence or stand on fair territory to home base should be 235 feet and from home base to the grandstand 90 feet."

 

This obviously dictates that all fences be at least 235 feet from home base, a.k.a., home plate.

 

1914 - Runner/Bases: "A batter who hits a home run or ground-rule double must touch all of the bases in regular order."

 

This is pretty perfunctory, except that it did not preclude Jimmy Peirsal from rounding the bases "in regular order" by running backwards to commemorate his 100^th homer.

 

1920 - Home Run/Game-Ending: "If a batsman, in the last half of the final inning of any game, hit a home run over the fence or into a stand, all runners on the bases at the time, as well as the batsman, shall be entitled to score, and in such event all bases must be touched in order, and the final score of the game shall be the total number of runs made."  The scoring rule states explicitly that the batter "shall receive credit for a home run".

 

In addition to the return of the term batsman, this rule deals only with game winning homers. This could increase a player's home run total slightly.

 

1926 - Batter/Awarded Bases: "A fair batted ball that goes over the fence or into a stand shall entitle the batsman to a home run, unless it should pass out of the ground or into a stand at a distance less than 250 feet from home base, in which case the batsman is entitled to two bases only.  In either event the batsman must touch all of the bases in regular order.  The point at which a fence or stand is less than 250 feet from home base shall be plainly indicated by a white or black sign or mark for the umpire's guidance."

 

Hopefully, it was also for the enjoyment of the spectators.  In 1904 the minimum distance was set at 235 feet.  This new rule covers the circumstance of a batted ball leaving the yard by going over a fence at that minimum distance.  It suggests that there were parks in 1926 with fences less than 250 feet from the plate.  In 1959 the minimum for NEW parks being built was set at 325 feet.

 

1931 - Fair/Foul Ball: "When a batted ball passes outside the playing field the umpire shall decide it fair or foul according to where it leaves the playing field."

 

This change helps Ruth and Gehrig but too late for the 1927 season.  It would help Jimmy Foxx in 1932 and Hank Greenburg in 1938 when each player hit 58 home runs, the most ever to that point other than Ruth.  It would also help Mantle and Maris in 1961.

 

1931 - Batter/Awarded Bases: "A fair hit that bounds into a stand or over a fence shall be a two-base hit."

 

Wow, they finally got rid of the bouncing home run.  This could have helped Ruth and Gehrig in 1927.

 

1940 - Grounds/Foul Lines: "The foul lines are to be continued until they reach the boundary lines of the ground and not less than 10 feet above the top of the fence or stand.  The foul lines are to be made, on the playing field, of lime, chalk, or other powder or paint."

 

They invented the foul pole, which is in fair territory.  This makes it easier for the umpire to make the call.  By 1961 that call was made even easier by increasing the height of the pole and by the addition of the screen attached to the pole in fair territory.  Advantage Mantle and Maris.

 

In 1940 procedures were also established for games in which more than two umpires are assigned.  This would place a base umpire much closer to the foul pole.

 

1950 marked the great codification of baseball rules.  Hamurabi and Moses would have been proud.  Eliminated was the infrequently used custom of a courtesy runner, which persisted into the 1930s.  Golfer Casey Martin should take note.  A manager could ask his opposite for permission to use a pinch runner for a sick or injured player who could then return to his normal duties after that base running episode.

 

1959 - Grounds: "Any playing field constructed by a professional club after June 1, 1958, shall provide a minimum distance of 325 feet from home base to the nearest fence, stand, or other obstruction on the right or left field foul lines, and a minimum distance of 400 feet to the center field fence.  No existing playing field shall be remodeled after June 1, 1958, in such manner as to reduce the distance from home base to the foul poles and to the center field fence below the minimum distance."

 

This did not affect Yankee Stadium as it existed in 1961 but it would apply to the Stadium during its destructive re-modeling in 1973-1974.

 

Let's summarize how the rules affected the home run totals for the 1927 and 1961 seasons.  The home run rules in 1961 are basically the same as they are today.

 

For the 1927 season two rules were in effect that would be changed before the 1961 season and which could definitely affect the number of home runs credited to a player.  First, a ball that bounced over a fence was a home run.  Second, a ball hit over a fence near the foul line was judged to be fair or foul based, without a foul pole mush less a screen attached to a foul pole, not on its position at the fence as the rule is today and would be in 1961, but based on whether it ultimately landed fair or foul or, if the umpire at home plate did not see it land, based on its position when last seen by the plate umpire.  By 1961 there would be four umpires with the first base and third base umps responsible for running further down the line to call a potential homer fair or foul.

 

The ball bouncing over the fence would clearly increase a player's home run total.  Just as clearly, a ball curving foul past the fence would decrease a player's home run total.  Almost every ball hit down a foul line near the fence, whether hooked toward the pull line or sliced down the opposite line, will curve many feet.  We have two rules that impact the home run totals in 1927 and 1961.  One rule helps Ruth and Gehrig but hurts Mantle and Maris.  The other rule hurts Ruth and Gehrig but helps Mantle and Maris.

 

What is the net gain?  Do more balls bounce over a fence or do more balls curve foul after they pass the fence?  William J. Jenkinson is a baseball historian who specializes in the career of Babe Ruth.  He has written in the publication "Nostalgia" an article titled "Old rule robbed Ruth of even greater HR glory".  Here some pertinent excerpts:

 

"Ruth never hit a home run that bounced over an outfield fence."

 

Regarding the fair/foul rule:

 

"Before the latter-day triple-deck grandstand (of Yankee Stadium), a single tier of 70 rows of bleachers extended more than 150 feet in a straight line beyond the right field fence.  As a result, the home plate umpire had clear view of the landing point of any Ruthian drives in that direction.

 

Even Ruth's record-breaking 60^th home run on Sept. 30, 1927, invoked the infamous Rule 48.  By the eighth inning of the Yanks' next-to-last game against the Washington Senators, Ruth was running out of time and the nation was in a frenzy for the Babe to break his mark of 59 home runs set in 1921.

 

When Ruth lined a wicked smash some 40 rows into the right-field bleachers off Tom Zachary, umpire Bill Dineen had to make a difficult and delicate judgment.  Although clearing the fence about 10 feet to the far side of the foul line, the ball crashed into the seats directly on line with the right-field foul pole.  Dineen was under enormous pressure to give the beloved Ruth the benefit of any doubt.  For the record, the Senators argued vehemently that the ball was foul."

 

"We can conclude, therefore, that Babe Ruth deserves to be credited with an additional 50 home runs - for a career total of about 764 instead of 714."

 

Spring Training

 

The Yankees trained near the Gulf of Mexico in St. Petersburg, Florida from 1926 through 1961.  In 1962 they would have the Mets replace them in St. Pete allowing the Yanks to move into a new facility in the Atlantic Ocean town of Fort Lauderdale where co-owner Dan Topping had a winter home.  In the 1990s the Yanks would move into a new facility in the gulf coast town of Tampa where owner George Steinbrenner lives.

 

In 1962 the Yankees stayed in a hotel named the Yankee Clipper.  It was the first time that their black player were allowed by a hotel's management to stay with the white players at the team's home training location. The south still had peculiar institutions and its hotels had a take it or leave it policy of  "whites only".  In 1961 there was mild agitation in the camps of a number of teams including the Yankees.  Elston Howard who had joined the Yankees in 1955 made comments expressing disappointment.  Topping and Yankee management responded responsibly.  The times they were a changin'.

 

In 1927 the ball wasn't the only thing that was completely white.  This was twenty years before major league baseball formally integrated.  In 1961 the Yanks had six blacks in camp, the most prominent of whom were Elston Howard and Hector Lopez.  Howard would become the regular catcher for the first time and Lopez would be the regular left fielder.

 

Lou Gehrig arrived during the week of February 20, 1927.  Even though he was the starting first baseman, Lou reported with the subs in order to get more work and to the deal with a rumor that the Yanks were considering the acquisition of a right handed hitting first baseman.   "…why that's a laugh.  I can hit left handers as well as right handers, and just as far." - Monitor, New York World - Sunday, February 20, 1927.

 

"The Babe arrived (in New York) on the first section of the Twentieth Century Limited at Grand Central Station at 9:40 A.M. … 2,000more spectators awaited Ruth's appearance … prompty at 12:30 Babe appeared at the Ruppert Brewery … while Colonel Ruppert paced nervously. " - New York Times - Thursday, March 03, 1927.

 

He then signed his contract, ending his holdout.

 

"Babe's capitulation was like a tonic to Colonel Ruppert, who left a sick bed to attend the conference … Ed Barrow, who usually wears a serious look, was grinning like a bagful of Cheshire cats". - Dan Parker, New York Daily Mirror - Thursday, March 03, 1927.

 

"Babe Ruth left town last night, and today he is speeding toward St. Petersburg.  "I am glad to get going", said the Babe as he stepped aboard the Seaboard Air Line train at Pennsylvania Station at 7:10." - New York Times - Sunday, March 06, 1927.

 

"St. Petersburg - His majesty Babe Ruth, Sultan of Swat, descended in regal fashion from his train this morning." - Ford Frick - New York Evening Journal - Monday, March 07, 1927

 

The next day Frick wrote that he had played golf with Babe, who shot 72.

 

In his first batting practice at Crescent Lake Park, the Yankee's training facility, Ruth hit three long home runs and then pitched for 15 minutes.  Gehrig had been belting them all spring.  Ruth stated that he weighed 223 pounds and that he hoped to get down to 220.

 

"Asked if he would set a new home record this year, Ruth replied, "Well, it all depends on the other fellow.  If they pitch to me, I'll beat my record and hit over 60 home runs."  But the trouble is that they won't pitch to him." - William Henningan - New York World - Tuesday, March 08, 1927.

 

Ruth was interviewed in St. Petersburg.

"Q. Do you expect to break your home run record of 59 made in 1921?

A.      That's a gamble.  It depends on how much the pitchers pitch to me.  I'm hopeful, but I'm not making predictions.

Q. How many do you expect to hit?

A. Can't answer.  Perhaps 50."

New York Evening Journal - Saturday, March 12, 1927.

 

" St. Petersburg - The Babe has asked Huggins to let him pitch in exhibition games, but little Miller is sure to refuse as he has I other years.  It strikes us that the big daddy of all hitters is still a pitcher at heart." - Pat Robinson - New York Telegram - Thursday, March 17, 1927.

 

" St. Petersburg - A year ago, when the Yankees were generally assigned to the second division (finishing below fourth out of eight teams), I boldly picked them to win the pennant.  Were the Yankee champions of 1926 a one-year team?  I rather think so.  The 1927 Yankees should be dangerous, but it is doubtful if their pitching strength is sufficient to send the club into another World Series." - Fred - New York Post - Wednesday, March 30, 1927.

 

"Any team with the batting power of the Yankees is bound to be a factor in a pennant race … Because of the questionable character of their own pitching, I scarcely expect the New York representatives to repeat their 1926 victory … It has often been said that as Ruth goes, so go the Yankees … I can't see them beating the Athletics, and they might even finish behind the Tigers and Senators." - Bill Corum,  New York Evening Journal - Saturday, April 02, 1927.

 

Savannah, Goergia - "The Yankees were weak enough at bat and bad enough in the field to interrupt any thoughts that one might have had concerning the possibilities of the club winning another pennant." - Richards Vidmer, New York Times - Sunday, April 03, 1927.

 

"A straw vote among 100 American Leaguers …

 

1.        Philadelphia            9 to 5

2.        New York  3 to 1

3.        Washington            3.5 to 1

4.        Cleveland   8 to 1

5.        Detroit        5 to 1

6.        Chicago      20 to 1

7.        St. Louis     30 to 1

8.        Boston"      50 to 1

 

New York Telegram - Sunday, April 03, 1927; betting odds appeared two days later from a professional source.

 

"The Athletics should cross the line in front" - Walter Trumbull, New York Post - Saturday, April 09, 1927.

 

"Connie Mack's Athletics loom as American League champions" - Joe Vila, New York Sun - Saturday, April 09, 1927.

 

"The American League race figures as follows: Philadelphia, New York, Washington, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, Boston." -  Grantland Rice, New York Herald-Tribune - Sunday, April 10, 1927.

 

"A pennant this year for the Athletics of Connie Mack … his team figures to nose out the Cleveland Indians, with the Yankees finishing in third place" - Monitor, New York World - Sunday, April 10, 1927.

 

No one picked the Yankees to repeat in 1927.  Here are those predictions in summary.

 

Lieb     Corum  Vidmer straw    odds     Vila      Rice     World

no        Phi       no        Phi       Phi       Phi       Phi       Phi

                                    NY      NY                  NY      Cle

                                    Was     Was                 Was     NY

                                    Cle       Det                   Cle      

                                    Det       Cle                   Det      

                                    Chi       Chi                   Chi      

                                    StL       StL                   StL      

                                    Bos      Bos                  Bos     

 

In 1961, the first year since his retirement that Stengel was not the manager, Joe DiMaggio returned as an informal coach for the first time.  Years later, Mantle would have a similar role. DiMaggio's presence added prestige and glamour.  He also helped solidify the passing of the torch to Mantle.

 

On Wednesday, March 01, 1961 the big boys reported led by Mantle and Maris.  They had been preceded by pitchers, catchers, and young hopefuls.  Maris hit little but Mantle belted seven homers.  Mickey would move from third in the batting order to fourth, the cleanup spot, for added prestige.  It was unclear where Maris would bat but third was a good guess.  Mickey was assuming the role that Houk had defined for him as team leader.  That was the best title that Houk could give to Mantle.  The Yankees had not had a team captain as the rules called for since the tragic passing of the venerated Gehrig.  Mickey Mantle was now officially designated as having that role, if not that title.  By the end of spring training Mickey and Roger looked and acted like co-captains of a football team.  They were raring to go.

 

The President of the United States may have wanted to go beyond a Pax Americana but the manager of the New York Yankees wanted to continue the team's dominance of the American League.  Houk predicted another pennant.

 

Media

 

There was no radio of Yankee home games in 1927.  The lone exception was opening day against Philadelphia.  It was thought that it would detract from the gate attendance, which was the only real source of income for the clubs.  It was not until 1939 that the Yankees would broadcast all of their games on the radio.  The first broadcast that season was on WABC for a 3:00 start v. Boston on Thursday, April 20, 1939.  This same reluctant attitude existed about television when TV became more prevalent after World War II.

 

Chicago, St. Louis, Detroit, and Boston broadcasted games in 1927.

 

"The radio announcer has become an interesting adjunct of baseball.  The games are broadcast daily from Chicago, St. Louis, Detroit, and Boston.  New York strangely has not come to it.

 

The announcers are stealing the trailing glory which was once attached to a baseball writer.  The good folks who were wont to gather at a press box after a game and watch the animals write now pass the typewriters up cold and fawn upon the master of the mike.

 

The radio announcer gets shoes for his baby, cakes for his tummy, and letters for his scapbook.  The poor reporter gets the air.  Boo!  Hoo!  Hoo!" - Frank Wallace, New York Post - Wednesday, September 28, 1927.

 

"Play by play descriptions of the first game of the (1927) World Series were broadcast (from Pittsburgh) over 2 networks of 53 stations.

 

The National Broadcasting Company sent the game out from 43 stations, and the Columbia Broadcasting System had 10 stations in their hookup. Graham McNamee did the announcing for the National, and Major J. Andrew White was at the microphone for the Columbia system.

 

Officials of the National Broadcasting Company estimated that the radio audience reached as many as 20,000,000 persons." - New York Times - Thursday, October 06, 1927.

 

" Graham McNamee, announcing the game from New York to California, struggled unhappily through base hits and double plays and interrupted himself to demand plaintively, 'You know what I mean?'  From most of those tuned in there went up a despairing negative.  He mixed players and innings and teams…  He put players on bases they weren't and left them off bases where they were…  In the first inning he informed his hearers that a ball pitched to Gehrig was 'high for a left-handed batter.' … The announcer had a tendency to exclaim excitedly over a casual pitch and to let base hits go in a monotone." - New York Sun - Thursday, October 06, 1927.

 

Because Cincinnati was in the 1961 World Series that Waite Hoyt was selected as one of the announcers. Hoyt was a Hall of Fame pitcher.  He had won 22 games for the 1927 Yankees, which tied him for the league lead.  Hoyt was one of the first former players to become an announcer.  Hoyt did the Cincinnati Reds games from 1942 through 1965 and in 1972.

 

By 1961 all the Yankee games were on radio.  Almost all of the home games were on television and about 50 road games were televised.  There was no cable TV then and the games were carried free on WPIX channel 11 in New York.  All three announcers rotated from TV to radio.  They did not remain with one or the other as they do today.  The Yankee announcers were Mel Allen, Red Barber and Phil Rizzuto.

 

 

In 1927 there were 14 daily newspapers in New York.  In 1961 there were six?  In 1998 there are three.

 

Paul Gallico, New York Daily News, Tuesday, March 01, 1927: "Baseball and the newspapers are curiously related.  The sport gets more free space than does any other business in he world.  Due to tremendous national interest in baseball, the newspapers have become the helpless tools of the magnates.  They lie to us, give us false information, withhold news, and generally lead us a merry dance because they know that we are forced to print reams of baseball news or take a licking from our competitors."

 

"Baseball is a show business rather than a sport, and the Babe is the big show as far as the Yankees are concerned and, in act, as far as the game is concerned." - W.O. McGeehan, New York Herald-Tribune.

 

 

_________________________________________________________________________________

 

Game 1

 

Tuesday, April 12, 1927 - 3:30 PM      Yankee Stadium

 

This was the only Yankee home game to be broadcast in 1927.  Graham McNamee was the announcer on both WEAF and WJZ radio.

 

The American League pennant flag was raised for the 72,000 fans.  This is still the largest opening day crowd in New York history.  There were three umpires.  Mayor Jimmy Walker, who would many years later be played in a movie about his life by Bob Hope, sat in Colonel Ruppert's box and threw out the first ball.  The mayor later jumped onto the field when Babe stepped to the plate for the first time and presented the surprised Ruth with a trophy.

 

The players were announced through a megaphone.

 

Starting pitchers:

 

First     Last      Throws Year     Team    L          Wins    Losses  ERA     SO

Lefty    Grove   Right    1926    Phi       A         13        13        2.51     194

Waite   Hoyt     Left      1926    NY      A         16        12        3.85     79

 

 After going hitless with two strikeouts in three at bats and leaving four runners on second or third, Ruth left for pinch hitter Ben Paschal in the sixth.  Supposedly, there was something wrong with his tummy.  A few days later it was reported that Ruth had a cold since Sunday.  In the fifth, with runners on second and third in the fifth, Grove pitched to Ruth with first base open.  Maybe Gehrig's presence was already giving Ruth the at bats that Babe would need to try for 60.

 

Neither Ruth nor Gehrig homered.

 

Yanks 8 (Hoyt), Athletics 3 (Grove).

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses

1927    1          0

1961    0          1

 

Ruth     0

Gehrig  0

Mantle  0

Maris   0

 

___________________________________________________

 

Game 2

 

Wednesday, April 13, 1927 - 3:30 PM Yankee Stadium

 

Starting pitchers (Ruether played for two teams in 1926):

 

First     Last      Throws Year     Team    L          Wins    Losses  ERA     SO

Dutch   Ruether            Left      1926    Was     A         12        6          4.84     48

Dutch   Ruether            Left      1926    NY      A         2          3          3.50     8

 

"So far the apathetic Athletics have displayed nothing" - James Harrison, New York Times - Thursday, April 14, 1927.

 

Yanks 10 (Ruether), Athletics 4.

 

Neither Ruth nor Gehrig homered.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses

1927    2          0

1961    1          1

 

Ruth     0

Gehrig  0

Mantle  0

Maris   0

 

___________________________________________________

 

Game 3

 

Thursday, April 14, 1927- 3:30 PM      Yankee Stadium

 

Starting pitchers:

 

First     Last      Throws Year     Team    L          Wins    Losses  ERA     SO

Eddie   Rommel            Right    1926    Phi       A         11        11        3.08     52

Bob      ShawkeyRight  1926    NY      A         8          7          3.62     63

 

Yanks 9, Athletics 9.  Each team used four pitchers including Hoyt and Grove, the opening day starters.  Halted after 10 because of darkness.  Daylight savings time would not come until Sunday, April 24, 1927.  You really have to wonder what they were thinking about to start games so late in the day and so early in the spring.  It shows that they expected the games to be played quickly.  The records counted.

 

Attendance: 12,000

 

This tie game would prove a factor in the 1961 season.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    2          0          1

1961    2          1          0

 

Ruth     0

Gehrig  0

Mantle  1

Maris   0

 

___________________________________________________

 

Game 4

 

Friday, April 15, 1927 - 3:30 PM         Yankee Stadium

 

Good Friday.  20,000 attended.

 

Starting pitchers (Ehmke played for two teams in 1926):

 

First                 Last      Throws Year     Team    L          Wins    Losses  ERA     SO

Herb                PennockLeft     1926    NY      A         23        11        3.62     78

Howard            Ehmke  Right    1926    Bos      A         3          10        5.46     38

Howard            Ehmke  Right    1926    Phi       A         12        4          2.81     55

 

First inning on a  2-1 count Ruth homers to right.  Ruth had hit 10 homers off Ehmke already.

 

Yanks 6 (Pennock), Athletics 3

 

"George Herman … belted a home run and cut off a tying run at the plate by one of his marvelous throws … Wotta man!" - Paul Gallico, New York Daily News - Saturday, April 16, 1927.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    3          0          1

1961    3          1          0

 

Ruth     1

Gehrig  0

Mantle  3

Maris   0

 

___________________________________________________

 

Game 5

 

Saturday, April 16, 1927- 3:30 PM      Yankee Stadium

 

Starters:

 

First     Last      Throws Year     Team    L          Wins    Losses  ERA     SO

Urban   Shocker           Right    1926    NY      A         19        11        3.38     59

Red      Ruffing  Right    1926    Bos      A         6          15        4.39     58

 

Attendance: 30,000

 

Yanks 5, Red Sox (Ruffing) 2.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    4          0          1

1961    ?          ?          0

 

Ruth     1

Gehrig  0

Mantle  3

Maris   0

 

___________________________________________________

 

Game 6

 

Sunday, April 17, 1927 - 3:30 PM       Yankee Stadium           Easter

 

"Henry Louis Gehrig, the Morningside scholar, whiled away the golden hours by slapping two home runs into the right field bleachers…  In the first inning, with two mates on base, the ex-Columbian stung a line drive that cleared the wire fence and landed with a joyful plop a few feet inside the right field foul line… Gehrig's next bid for fame and fortune came in the eighth when he established the old toehold and brushed another homer into the right field pavilion.  Mr. Ruth, who had just walked, was so lost in admiration that he was almost trampled upon by the home run hitter." - James Harrison, New York Times - Monday, April 18, 1927.

 

Attandance: 35,000

 

Yanks (Hoyt) 14, Red Sox 2.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    5          0          1

1961    ?          ?          0

 

 

Ruth     1

Gehrig  2

Mantle  4

Maris   0

 

___________________________________________________

 

Game 7

 

Monday, April 18, 1927 - 3:30 PM      Yankee Stadium

 

Yanks (Ruether) 3, Red Sox 0. Time: 1:29

 

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    6          0          1

1961    ?          ?          0

 

Ruth     1

Gehrig  2

Mantle  4

Maris   0

 

___________________________________________________

 

Game 8

 

Tuesday, April 19, 1927 - 3:30 PM      Yankee Stadium

 

Red Sox starter:

 

First     Last      Throws Year     Team    L          Wins    Losses  ERA     SO

Hal       Wiltse   L          1926    Bos      A         8          15        4.22     59

 

 

First win for the Red Sox, first loss for the Yankees.

 

Red Sox 6 (Wiltse), Yanks (Shawkey) 3.

 

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    6          1          1

1961    ?          ?          1

 

Ruth     1

Gehrig  2

Mantle  4

Maris   0

 

___________________________________________________

 

Game 9

 

Wednesday, April 20, 1927 - Philadelphia: Shibe Park

 

Opening day for the Athletics.

 

Attendance: 38,000 - record for Philadelphia baseball

 

Athletics 8 (Grove), Yanks (Shocker) 5.

 

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    6          2          1

1961    ?          ?          1

 

Ruth     1

Gehrig  2

Mantle  5

Maris   0

 

___________________________________________________

 

Game 10

 

Thursday, April 21, 1927 - Philadelphia: Shibe Park

 

The Yanks started 29 year-old rookie Wilcy Moore.

 

"Lou Gehrig, the Columbia savant, smacked a long and rackish home run against the left field stand in the sixth with two on base...  Gehrig has driven in 19 runs, Meusel 14, Lazzeri 13, and the honorable Babe - 1.  Ouside of his one homer, George's season has been a blank." - James Harrison, New York Times - Friday, April 22, 1927.

 

Yanks (Moore) 5, Athletics 6.

 

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    7          2          1

1961    ?          ?          1

 

Ruth     1

Gehrig  3

Mantle  5

Maris   0

 

Through the first ten games the home run totals have been distributed as follows with the players sorted by their totals through game ten.

 

Game   1          2          3          4          5          6          7          8          9          10

Mantle  0          0          1          3          3          4          4          4          5          5

Gehrig  0          0          0          0          0          2          2          2          2          3

Ruth     0          0          0          1          1          1          1          1          1          1

Maris   0          0          0          0          0          0          0          0          0          0

 

___________________________________________________

 

Friday, April 22, 1927 - rain out in Philadelphia.

 

___________________________________________________

 

Game 11

 

Saturday, April 23, 1927 - Philadelphia: Shibe Park

 

Athletics starting pitcher:

 

First     Last      Throws Year     Team    L          Wins    Losses  ERA     SO

Rube    Walberg           Left      1926    Phi       A         12        10        2.80     72

 

A two out throwing error in the ninth by shortstop Mark Koenig cost the Yanks the game.  However, Gehrig might have made a better play to catch it.

 

"Gehrig stuck up his glove.  The burly first-sacker should have jumped and used both hands.  But he depended on his mitt.  The ball skidded off the side of his glove.  Boley (Philadelphia's shortstop), who advanced from second to third on the force play, scampered home while Gehrig scrambled toward the grandstand in pursuit of the fatal spheroid." - Bill Brandt, Philadelphia Public Ledgeer - Sunday, April 24, 1927.

 

"He (Ruth) stepped to the plate in the first inning and slambanged his second home run of the season, a line dive that dipped into 20^th Street and bounced up on a porch front.  Hardly had the applause died when Ruth's disciple, Lou Gehrig, outdid the maestro himself … the Columbia gem knocked the ball into the wind, and it blew across a 20^th Street housetop … Walberg was chargeable with those two tremendous thumps, but no more.  Ruth whaled two loud drives to left " - Bill Brandt, Philadelphia Public Ledger - Sunday, April 24, 1927.

 

Cold. 

 

Attendance: 35,000

 

Athletics 4 (Walberg), Yanks (Moore) 3.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    7          3          1

1961    5          5          1

 

Game   11

Mantle  7

Gehrig  4

Ruth     2

Maris   1

___________________________________________________

 

Game 12         

 

In 1927 Philadelphia and Boston were the only two American League cities that had blue laws prohibiting games on Sunday.  Therefore, the Yankees had to move on.

 

Sunday, April 24, 1927 - Washington, D.C. Griffith Stadium

 

Daylight savings time started.

 

Senators starter:

 

First     Last                  Throws Year     Team    L          Wins    Losses  ERA     SO

Sloppy Thurston           Right    1926    Chi       A         6          8          5.02     35

 

"Washington - Our Mr. Ruth gave the bal another buggy ride over the right-field … George's four-bagger was a high, mammoth affair which cleared a 45-foot wall 328 feet distant from the plate.  The figure experts got out pen and paper and calculated that the ball had travelled some 400 feet before it disappeared over the top of a tree" - James Harrison, New York Times - Monday, April 25, 1927.

 

Attendance: 20,000

 

Yanks (Shocker) 6, Senators 2.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    8          3          1

1961    ?          ?          1

 

Game   12

Mantle  7

Gehrig  4

Ruth     3

Maris   1

 

___________________________________________________

 

Game 13

 

Monday, April 25, 1927 - Washington, D.C. Griffith Stadium

 

"Babe Ruth fanned twice when any kind of hit would have meant victory." - Monitor, New York World - Tuesday, April 26, 1927.

 

Ruth on his slump: "If I'm hitting I'll hit any of 'em.  When I'm in a slump, I'm a sucker for everybody…  I don't suppose I'll ever break that 1921 record (59 homers).  To do that you've got to start early, and the pitchers have got to pitch to you.  I don't start early and the pitchers haven't really pitched to me in four seasons.  I get more bad balls to hit than any other six men - and fewer good ones." - New York Evening Journal - Tuesday, April 26, 1927.

 

Babe has one big ambition.  He'd like to round out to a total of 500 home runs before he pus aside his uniform, and that's a pretty big assignment.  Right now he has 359 to his credit, which leaves him 114 to go." - New York Evening Journal - Tuesday, April 26, 1927.

 

"There is no other player who uses his shoulders and his body with better effect.  It makes good timing a trifle more complicated, but it adds 40 percent to the mule power of the ensuing wallop when it lands." - Grantland Rice, New York Herald-Tribune - Tuesday, April 26, 1927.

 

"Those who have been closest to him are the ones who vote him superman of the diamond.  He is a hero to the 'hard-boiled' ballplayers.  When Ruth goes to bat in practice the other players stop their bunting games and warm-up exercises to watch him swing." - John Kieran, New York Times - Tuesday, April 26, 1927.

 

Senators 5 (Lisenbee), Yanks (Hoyt) 4.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    8          4          1

1961    ?          ?          1

 

Game   13

Mantle  7

Gehrig  4

Ruth     3

Maris   1

 

___________________________________________________

 

Tuesday, April 26, 1927 - game in Washington called because of cold.

 

Wednesday, April 27, 1927 - rain out in Washington.

 

"The greatest offender (leaving runners on base) has been our own George Herman Ruth… it isn't always the Babe's fault.  Thirteen times … he was given bases on balls … Gehrig, Meusel, et. Al., even at their best cannot take his place … During Ruth's slump Gehrig has assumed the hero role … But the boys need Ruth in there to make their attack 100 percent." - Ford Frick, New York Evening Journal - Wednesday, April 27, 1927.

 

"The Bambino … is as natural a showman as the late Phineas T. Barnum." - John Kieran, New York Times - Wednesday, April 27, 1927.

 

Thursday, April 28, 1927 - game in Boston called because of cold.

 

"If Miller Huggins were asked to name his most valuable player … Lou Gehrig … heading fast for a prominent place among baseball's great player … Soon he will tower above his teammates and will be ready to take the place of Babe Ruth as the man who can 'do anything well on a ball field.'  Of the Yankees' 86 runs to date Gehrig has driven in 21.  He has scored 15 runs himself, 4 of which were homers.  Subract these 4, which are included in the runs driven in, and you find that Columbia Lou has been responsible for 32 runs (in 13 games).  This percentage (37%) is amazing in view of the fact that Gehrig is in only his second year as a regular." - Arthur Mann, New York Evening Journal - Friday, April 29, 1927.

 

If a player accumulates 200 runs (Runs + RBI - HR) in a season, he has had a monster year.  Gehrig is on pace to produce 381 runs.  Any percentage of his teams runs over 20% is outstanding, over 25% is great, over 30% is extremely rare. Gehrig was also on pace to amass 236 Runs Batted In which would shatter Babe Ruth's major league record of 171 set in 1921 the same year he hit 59 homers and set the home run record for the third consecutive year.  Entering 1927 only two other players had 150 RBI in a season, both in 1922:

 

Ken Williams    St. Louis Browns                      155

Rogers Hornsby           St. Louis Cardinals       152.    

___________________________________________________

 

Game 14

 

Friday, April 29, 1927 - Boston Fenway Park

 

"Mr. Ruth started things by hoisting one of Slim Harris's best fastballs far over the right field stands… Gehrig tripled … (Ruth's) double was a near homer.  It hit on top of the wall in left field" - Ford Frick, New York Evening Journal - Saturday, April 30, 1927.

 

Yanks (Ruether) 9, Red Sox (Harris) 0.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    9          4          1

1961    ?          ?          1

 

Game   14

Mantle  7

Gehrig  4

Ruth     4

Maris   1

 

___________________________________________________

 

Game 15

 

Saturday, April 30, 1927 - Boston Fenway Park

 

The Yanks blew a 2-0 lead in the ninth with New York Mayor Jimmy Walker in attendance.  With the score tied, Yankee reliever Wilcy Moore walked the first batter he faced to load the bases with nobody out. Moore got the next two batters only to walk in the winning run on a 3-2 pitch.  Mayor Walker supposedly fainted.

 

Red Sox 3, Yanks (Shocker) 2.

 

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    9          5          1

1961    ?          ?          1

 

Game   15

Mantle  7

Gehrig  4

Ruth     4

Maris   1

 

___________________________________________________

 

Game 16

 

In 1927 Philadelphia and Boston were the only two American League cities that had blue laws prohibiting games on Sunday.  Therefore, the Yankees had to move on.

 

Sunday, May 01, 1927- 3:30 PM         Yankee Stadium

 

Oddly, the Yankees returned home for this one game.  The previous Sunday, after three games in Philadelphia, they moved on to Washington for games on Sunday and Monday.  This is a different pattern than that followed by the 1961 Yankees.  The norm became playing weekend games on Friday through Sunday, with Sunday often being a doubleheader.

 

"The victory came in the first crucial game of the year and left the Yankees unaccompanied as leaders in the league.  Ruth's two homers put him ahead of the schedule he created in 1921, when he hit his sixth homer on May 2." - Richards Vidmer, New York Times - Monday, May 02, 1927.

 

I'm not sure what Vidmer is refering to: the date or the game.  It's not the pace (154/60) which is right at 6 homers in 16 games.  In 1921 Ruth hit number six in game 13.  My guess is that Vidmer is referring to the date. After this game the Yankees led the Athletics by one game.

 

"Ruth's first inning homer happened after Koenig had walked.  It was a thing of beauty and a joy to watch as it sailed almost on a line to the exit gap in the bleacher section.  There was never any question as to where it finally wouls come to rest, and right fielder Ty Cobb didn't even bother to turn to see if it killed anybody." - Richards Vidmer, New York Times - Monday, May 02, 1927.

 

Vidmer makes no mention of the fact that Ruth has just passed Gehrig in home runs 5-4.

 

"In the sixth … Lou out did the Babe's drive.  Again it was Koenig, who had walked.  He romped in ahead of Gehrig and the Yankees were ahead to stay." - Richards Vidmer, New York Times - Monday, May 02, 1927.

 

Again, Vidmer does not mention that Gehrig has come back to tie Ruth.  Outdoing Babe probably means that Gehrig's homer was longer.

 

"The Babe's second home run was made off Walderg in the eighth, and it was the bigest and best of the day." - Richards Vidmer, New York Times - Monday, May 02, 1927.

 

Walderg is the first repeat victim for Ruth this season.  In game eleven Ruth hit number 2 and Gehrig hit number 4 off Walderg.

 

"Babe Ruth never stood in higher favor with his club and with the public.  Thousands waitedfr a peep at him after yesterday's game." - Will Wedge, New York Sun - - Monday, May 02, 1927.

 

 

Attendance: 70,000

 

Yanks (Pennock) 7, Athletics (Quinn)3.

 

Yanks 6, Twins 2.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    10        5          1

1961    ?          ?          1

 

Game   16

Mantle  8

Ruth     6

Gehrig  5

Maris   1

 

___________________________________________________

 

Game 17

 

Monday, May 02, 1927 - Washington, D.C. Griffith Stadium

 

At least Lazzeri homered.

 

Yanks 9 (Hoyt), Senators 6.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    11        5          1

1961    ?          ?          1

 

Game   17

Mantle  8

Ruth     6

Gehrig  5

Maris   2

_________________________________________________

 

Game 18

 

Tuesday, May 03, 1927 - Washington, D.C. Griffith Stadium

 

Yanks (Moore), Senators 4.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    12        5          1

1961    ?          ?          1

 

Game   18

Mantle  9

Ruth     6

Gehrig  5

Maris   2

 

_________________________________________________

 

Game 19

 

Wednesday, May 04, 1927 - Washington, D.C. Griffith Stadium

 

The Senators scored all seven of their runs in the first inning.  Starter Bob Shawkey relieved in the first but then Myles Thomas pitched the last seven.  Gehrig tied Ruth with number six.

 

Senators 7, Yanks (Ruether) 4.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    12        6          1

1961    ?          ?          1

 

Game   19

Mantle  9

Gehrig  6

Ruth     6

Maris   2

 

_________________________________________________

 

Game 20

 

Thursday, May 05, 1927 - Washington, D.C. Griffith Stadium

 

"Babe Ruth was almost a total loss in the Washington series, with 4 singles in 16 times at bat.  It is to be  hoped this is the calm before the storm." - Herbert Allan, New York Post - Friday, May 06, 1927

 

Senators 6 (Lisenbee), Yanks (Shocker) 1.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    12        7          1

1961    ?          ?          1

 

Game   20

Mantle  9

Gehrig  6

Ruth     6

Maris   3

 

 

For games 11 through 20 the home run totals have been distributed as follows with the players sorted by their totals through game 20.

 

Game   11        12        13        14        15        16        17        18        19        20

Mantle  7          7          7          7          7          8          8          9          9          9

Gehrig  4          4          4          4          4          5          5          5          6          6

Ruth     2          3          3          4          4          6          6          6          6          6

Maris   1          1          1          1          1          1          2          2          2          3

 

_________________________________________________

 

Game 21

 

Saturday, May 07, 1927 - Chicago Comiskey Park

 

"Anyone skeptical of the drawing power of George Herman Ruth must have been convinced yesterday… in batting practice the Bambino lifted a ball clear of the second tier of bleachers in right field.  The crowd cheered.  The architects had said no one could ever hit a ball out of the park.  But they hadn't counted on Mr. Ruth." - Chicago Tribune - Sunday, May 08, 1927.

 

"There was just as much noise when Ruth struck out in the fifth as there was when Gehrig hit his home run with the bases full in the ninth.  They don'e pay to see Gehrig hit 'em." - Rud Rennie, New York Herald-Tribune - Sunday, May 08, 1927.

 

"Chicago - There was still some doubt about yesterday's ball game when Lou Gehrig stepped to the plate in the ninth inning with a Yankee perched on every base.  After young Mr. Gehrig had taken his full swing there was no further doubt.  Gehrig's bit in that closing burst by the Hugmen was a home run that landed wel up in the right field pavilion of Comiskey Park's revamped ball yard.  During the winter they added a lot more seats and no batted ball had touched the new green seats...  he drew a noisy greeting from some 35,000 fans who had shivered through a chilly afternoon in the hope of seeing the Babe knock one into the new section.  The blow, by the way, pushed Lou out in front of the Bambino in the home run statistics for 1927, sevn to six." - Bill Slocum, New York American - Sunday, May 08, 1927.

 

On Thursday, July 23, 1925 Gehrig hit his first grand slam home run.  This was his second.  There were many more to come.

 

This is the first mention of the race between Ruth and Gehrig.  The issue had been joined.

 

Yanks (Pennock) 8, White Sox 0.

 

Attendance: 35,000

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    13        7          1

1961    ?          ?          1

 

Game   21

Mantle  9

Gehrig  7

Ruth     6

Maris   3

 

_________________________________________________

 

Game 22

 

Sunday, May 08, 1927 - Chicago Comiskey Park

 

"Most of the fans were pulling for the big boy (Ruth) to sock one out…  Lou Gehrig got two triples, and Ruth made a single and a double." Edward Burns, Chicago Tribune - Monday, May 09, 1927.

 

The Yanks led Philadelphia by two and half games.

 

Yanks (Hoyt) 9, White Sox 0.

 

Attendance: 52,000

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    14        7          1

1961    ?          ?          1

 

Game   22

Mantle  9

Gehrig  7

Ruth     6

Maris   3

_________________________________________________

 

Game 23

 

Monday, May 09, 1927 - Chicago Comiskey Park

 

White Sox starter:

 

First     Last      Throws Year     Team    L          Wins    Losses  ERA     SO

Red      Faber   Right    1926    Chi       A         15        9          3.56     65

 

Ruether started for the Yanks.  Lazzeri made his first error of the season.

 

"The mighty son of Old Italy not only made his first error in the field, but he made a mental bungle in the tenth inning which gave the White Sox a victory…  the game was the best hurling duel the Yankees have engaged in this season, between Red Faber and Dutch Ruether." - Charles Segar, New York Daily Mirror - Tuesday, May 10, 1927.

 

Red Faber was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1964.

 

Attendance: 13,000

 

White Sox 2, Yanks (Moore) 1, 10 innings.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    14        8          1

1961    ?          ?          1

 

Game   23

Mantle  9

Gehrig  7

Ruth     6

Maris   3

_________________________________________________

 

Game 24

 

Tuesday, May 10, 1927 - St. Louis Sportsman's Park III

 

"There was no luck to Lou Gehrig's slashing single with the bases full in the ninth.  The godess of chance may have been smiling on Babe Ruth when he got his first inning home run … Babe got hold of a curve ball which seemed good only for a long fly.  A strong wind carried the ball back until it lazily dropped on top of the high wall in front of the right field stands and bounced among the natives." - Pat Robinson, New York Telegram - Wednesday, May 11, 1927.

 

"Gehrig is a great ballplayer, but he still has much to learn about playing fist base.  This is apparent when watching George Sisler" - Rud Rennie, New York Herald-Tribune - Wednesday, May 11, 1927.

 

Sisler was in his final season with the Browns.  He started with them in 1915.  He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1939.

 

Yanks (Moore) 8, Browns 7.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    15        8          1

1961    ?          ?          1

 

Game   24

Mantle  9

Gehrig  7

Ruth     7

Maris   3

_________________________________________________

 

Game 25

 

Wednesday, May 11, 1927 - St. Louis Sportsman's Park III

 

Browns starting pitcher:

 

First     Last      Throws Year     Team    L          Wins    Losses  ERA     SO

Ernie    Nevers Right    1926    StL       A         2          4          4.46     16

 

"St. Louis - Last October (in the World Series against the Cardinals) … G. Herman Ruth knocked a baseball into the center field bleachers of the local sports arena - a feat performed by no other batter in the history of Sportsman's Park.  Well, the big boy duplicated that resounding blow yesterday, and this festive wallop drove in the runs that beat the Browns.  Ruth's eighth homer of the season happened in the first inning with Koenig on first base…  Ruth's hit was higher than his World Series homer, but not as hard nor as far.  It got into the center part of the pavilion by only a matter of a foot or two … bounding … like Old Faithful." - James Harrison, New York Times -Thursday, May 12, 1927.

 

Ernie Nevers, Ruth's victim, was inducted into the FOOTBALL Hall of Fame.

 

Yanks (Shocker) 4, Browns 2.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    16        8          1

1961    ?          ?          1

 

Game   25

Mantle  9

Ruth     8

Gehrig  7

Maris   3

 

_________________________________________________

 

Game 26

 

Thursday, May 12, 1927 - St. Louis Sportsman's Park III

 

Browns starter, who had pitched for the Yankees:

 

First     Last      Throws Year     Team    L          Wins    Losses  ERA     SO

Sam     Jones    Right    1926    NY      A         9          8          4.98     69

 

"I has rather see Ruth than Gehrig in a tight place," said San Howley, Manager of the Browns.  "Sometimes you can figure what the Babe is going to do, but you never can tell about Gehrig.  He is likely to hit any kind of a ball to any field." - Frank Graham, New York Sun - Friday, May 13, 1927.

 

Yanks (Pennock) 4, Browns 3 (Jones).

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    17        8          1

1961    ?          ?          1

 

Game   26

Mantle  9

Ruth     8

Gehrig  7

Maris   3

_________________________________________________

 

Game 27

 

Friday, May 13, 1927 - St. Louis Sportsman's Park III

 

First     Last      Throws Year     Team    L          Wins    Losses  ERA     SO

Ernie    Wingard           Left      1926    StL       A         5          8          3.57     30

 

"Babe Ruth went to bat five times, but Ernie Wingard, the Browns southpaw, walked him the first three times." - Charles Segar, New York Daily Mirror - Saturday, May 14, 1927.

 

"Yes," he (Ruth) said, "it's (Sportsman's Park) a good ball park to hit in.  All the parks are good except the Stadium.  There is no background there at all.  But the best of them all is the Polo Grounds.  Boy, how I used to sock 'em in there.  I cried when they took me out of the Polo Grounds." - Frank Graham, New York Sun - Saturday, May 14, 1927.

 

Yanks (Hoyt) 5, Browns (Wingard) 1.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    18        8          1

1961    ?          ?          1

 

Game   27

Mantle  9

Ruth     8

Gehrig  7

Maris   3

 

Saturday, May 14 and Sunday, May 15, 1927 - rain outs in Detroit.

 

"The Bambino is the whole show in Babe Comes Home…  It hinges about Babe Dungan, slugging outfield of the Los Angeles Angels" - Harold Heffernan, Detroit News - Monday, May 16, 1927.

 

Babe's silent movie was made in Hollywood, California and the Los Angeles Angels were a team in the Pacific Coast League which had produced San Franciscans  Tony Lazzeri and Mark Koenig.  Later Joe DiMaggio would join the Yankees from there.

 

The Yanks led Chicago by three games, Philadelphia by four and a half.

_________________________________________________

 

Game 28

 

Monday, May 16, 1927 - Detroit  Tiger Stadium

 

Detroit - Those cannon-like bats which Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, and Bob Meusel wield were turned on the Tigers yesterday with splendid results.  The Yankees 'Big Three' got in blows at opportune moments and brought Col. Ruppert's Rough Riders their fifth straight victory.  Leading the attack was that mother's boy from the Bronx, Lou Gehrig.  'Columbia Lou' made three hits, one of them a third inning home run which gave Lou equal standing with Ruth for home run honors.  Gehrig's other two blows were doubles… the tall Californian (Meusel) upset all Yankee tradition by stealing three bases in the third inning." - Charles Segar, New York Daily Mirror - Tuesday, May 17, 1927.

 

Ruth drove in three runs with a single and sac fly.

 

Yanks 6 (Ruether), Tigers 2.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    19        8          1

1961    ?          ?          1

 

Game   28

Mantle  10

Gehrig  8

Ruth     8

Maris   3

 

_________________________________________________

 

Game 29

 

Tuesday, May 17, 1927 - Detroit Tiger Stadium

 

Detroit - Mr. Herman Ruth, the eminent thespian, demonstrated again the versatility that has endeared him to the hearts of his countrymen.  In the eighth inning he knocked a baseball out of the lot, and those who came to jeer remained to cheer.  Ruth's opus which sailed over the scoreboard in left center and bounced into the front yard of one of his screen admirers, was his ninth of the season, putting him ahead of the dusty parade" - James Harrison, New York Times - Wednesday, May 18, 1927.

 

Later Harrison mentions the "Manhattan bats".  What an odd reference.  Did he forget that the Yankees had moved from Manhattan to the Bronx when they left the Polo Grounds for Yankee Stadium in 1923?

 

Yanks 9 (Pennock), Tigers 2.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    20        8          1

1961    ?          ?          1

 

Game   29

Mantle  10

Ruth     9

Gehrig  8

Maris   4

 

Wednesday, May 18, 1927 - rain out in Cleveland

_________________________________________________

 

Game 30

 

Thursday, May 19, 1927 - Cleveland League Park II

 

"In the first inning, with one man on, Lou hit a line drive to the deepest point n center.  Then, with the fans urging him on, with legs working like the drivers on engines and arms flailing wildly, he ran it out - on and on past second and third and into the plate in a frenzy of dust and excitement for his ninth homer of the season.  Once more he is tied up with the Babe for big league honors.  And the first guy to shake his hand and wish him luck, the first chap to help him out of the dirt where he slid was George Herman himself.  A great pair these two." - Ford Frick, New York Evening Journal -Friday, May 20, 1927.

 

Ruth would have had to come out of the dugout because he was not on base.

 

Yanks 4 (Moore), Indians 2.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    21        8          1

1961    ?          ?          1

 

Game   30

Mantle  10

Gehrig  9

Ruth     9

Maris   5

 

For games 21 through 30 the home run totals have been distributed as follows with the players sorted by their totals through game 30.

 

Game   21        22        23        24        25        26        27        28        29        30

Mantle  9          9          9          9          9          9          9          10        10        10

Gehrig  7          7          7          7          7          7          7          8          8          9

Ruth     6          6          6          7          8          8          8          8          9          9

Maris   3          3          3          3          3          3          3          3          4          5

 

_________________________________________________

 

Game 31

 

Friday, May 20, 1927 - Cleveland League Park II

 

Indian starter:

 

First     Last      Throws Year     Team    L          Wins    Losses  ERA     SO

George Uhle     R          1926    Cle       A         27        11        2.83     159

 

In 1926 Uhle led the majors in wins.  Against the Yankees he won six and lost one.

 

"George Uhle's mastery over the Yankees still holds…  the greatest hitting ball club of recent years … Uhle fanned the Columbia slugger (Gehrig) twice in crucial situations … in the first on three curve balls … in the fifth … he swung at two fast balls for his last two strikes … Gehrig is a fast-ball hitter.  Pitching to his strength was daring" - Stuart Bell, Cleveland Press - Saturday, May 21, 1927

 

Shades of Frank Larry in 1961.

 

Indians 2 (Uhle), Yanks (Hoyt) 1.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    21        9          1

1961    ?          ?          1

 

Game   31

Mantle  10

Gehrig  9

Ruth     9

Maris   6

_________________________________________________

 

Game 32

 

Saturday, May 21, 1927- Cleveland League Park II

 

LINDBERGH DOES IT1!  TO PARIS IN 33 1/2 HOURS;

FLIES 1,000 MILES THROUGH SLEET AND SNOW;

CHEERING FRENCH CARRY HIM OFF FIELD

 

Headline, New York Times - Sunday, May 22, 1927

 

"Word of his (Lindbergh ) arrival came over the wires in the last of the seventh inning and spread like a breeze through the stands.  The national pastime came to a pause.  Fifteen thousand persons bared their heads and stood silent, but proud, while the band played 'The Star Spangled Banner.'  It was a simple tribute to a great deed…  in the twelfth with the bases loaded and 2 outs, and the count 3 and 2 on Charlie Jamieson, Moore walked the batter, forcing in the winning run." - Rud Rennie, New York Times  - Sunday, May 22, 1927.

 

Attendance: 15,000

 

Indians 5 (Hudlin), Yanks (Moore) 4 in 12 innings.  Moore pitched the last five innings.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    21        10        1

1961    ?          ?          1

 

Game   32

Mantle  10

Gehrig  9

Ruth     9

Maris   7

_________________________________________________

 

Game 33

 

Sunday, May 22, 1927 - Cleveland League Park II

 

"G. H. Ruth brought balm to the Cleveland wounds by elevating homer No. 10 over the right field fence …  On a field less tiny than the Cleveland enclosure the right fielder could have camped under this blow and had plenty of time for a ham sandwich and a bottle of pop.  The ball went 600 feet - 300 feet up and 300 feet down.  It cleared the high right field screen with almost six inches to spare.  George actually blushed as he loped around the sacks." - James Harrison, New York Times - Monday, May 23, 1927.

 

Attendance: 23,000; crowd overflowed onto the field this could reduce the right field distance from 290 to 240 feet.

 

Yanks (Shocker) 7, Indians 2.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    22        10        1

1961    ?          ?          1

 

Yanks lead Chicago by 4, St. Louis by 5, and Philadelphia by five and a half.

 

Game   33

Ruth     10

Mantle  10

Gehrig  9

Maris   7

_________________________________________________

 

Game 34

 

Monday, May 23, 1927 - Washington, D.C. Griffith Stadium

 

"The Yankee runs scored in the opening inning when Ruth and Gehrig smacked their eleventh and tenth homers respectively.  The Babe planted one into the stands in center field, and Lou followed with a clout over the high right field wall." - Charles Segar, New York Daily Mirror - Tuesday, May 24, 1927.

 

Senators 3, Yanks (Thomas) 2.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    22        11        1

1961    ?          ?          1

 

Game   34

Ruth     11

Gehrig  10

Mantle  10

Maris   7

 

Tuesday, May 24, 1927 - rain out in New York v. Philadelphia

 

Wednesday, May 25, 1927 - rain out in New York v. Philadelphia

 

"When a winning run is on second, with two men down, let someone else have their Ruths and Gehrigs.  What's needed in a spot like that is a man who will hit the ball, and that man is Earle Combs." - Ford Frick, New York Evening Journal - Thursday, May 26, 1927.

_________________________________________________

 

Game 35

 

Friday, May 27, 1927- Yankee Stadium; first game of double header.

 

"The Washington Senators have 'Lizzie, he Yankee tamer,' Horace Lisenbee, who tamed the Yankees for the third time this spring … Our frolicsome Columbia alumnus, Lou Gehrig, again caught up with the biffing Bambino in that private home-run war.  Lou birched his eleventh four-bagger among the happy four0bit customers in the right-field bleachers.  They scambled cheerfully for the souvenir." - Fred Lieb, New York Post - Saturday, May 28, 1927.

 

I think that Lieb meant that Gehrig had played at Columbia University, not that he actually graduated.

 

Senators 7 (Lisenbee), Yanks (Pennock) 2.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    22        12        1

1961    ?          ?          1

 

Game   35

Gehrig  11

Ruth     11

Mantle  10

Maris   8

 

_________________________________________________

 

Game 36

 

Friday, May 27, 1927 - Yankee Stadium; second game of double header

 

"Mr. Lou Gehrig … has pounded over more runs than any other man in either league … Lou has smacked 46 runs over the plate …  The more or less famous George Herman Ruth is running a close fourth with 24" - Ford Frick, New York Evening Journal - Saturday, May 28, 1927.

 

Saturday, May 28, 1927

 

Yanks 5 (Hoyt), Senators 0.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    23        12        1

1961    ?          ?          1

 

Game   36

Gehrig  11

Ruth     11

Mantle  10

Maris   8

_________________________________________________

 

Game 37

 

Saturday, May 28, 1927 - Yankee Stadium; first game of double header

 

"In the first inning …  He (Ruth) crashed into the right field stands to catch what looked like a home run for Bucky Harris." - Rud Rennie, New York Times - Sunday, May 29, 1927.

 

"G. Ruth had one of his most succulent days in the earlier soiree (did Murray the K know?).  He collected a homer, a triple, and a single in four times at bat… the homer provided the biggest moment of the day when it went soaring into the right-center bleachers with two on in the seventh.  This modest tap, which put the Babe ahead of his classmate, Louis Gehrig, in the home-run sweepstakes, barely cleared the chicken wire, but it was a long-flung drive, hurdling the barrier about 50 feet to the right of the scoreboard." - James Harrison, New York Times - Sunday, May 29, 1927.

 

Don't be misled.  Ruth's homer probably went over the fence where it measured 433 feet.

 

Attendance: 40,000

 

Yanks 8 (Shocker), Senators 2.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    24        12        1

1961    ?          ?          1

 

Game   37

Ruth     12

Gehrig  11

Mantle  10

Maris   8

_________________________________________________

 

Game 38

 

Saturday, May 28, 1927 - Yankee Stadium; second game of double header

 

Senators starter:

 

First     Last      Throws Year     Team    L          Wins    Losses  ERA     SO       Starts   Saves

Firpo    MarberryRight  1926    Was     A         12        7          3.00     43        5          22

 

Mayberry and Wilcey Moore were the best relief pitchers of 1927.  Moore was making his first major league start.  Both went nine innings.

 

"Bucky (Harris, Washington's manager and starting second baseman) stepped on Gehrig's ankle crossing first and Lou fell forward on his face and went into such convulsions that the customers feared his leg had been brocken or cut off at the ankle…  Gehrig finally got up and resumed play" - James Harrison, New York Times - Sunday, May 29, 1927.

 

This was in the eighth inning and on the play Mayberry scored the winning run from third.

 

Attendance: 40,000

 

Senators 3 (Marberry), Yanks 2 (Moore).

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    24        13        1

1961    ?          ?          1

 

Game   38

Ruth     12

Gehrig  11

Mantle  10

Maris   9

 

This is the one-quarter point in a 154 game schedule.  A player should be at 15 homers to be on pace for 60.

_________________________________________________

 

Game 39

 

Sunday, May 29, 1927 - 3:30 PM Yankee Stadium

 

"In the eighth inning, with two strikes on Ruth, (Dan) MacFayden grew careless and shot a ball over the plate just on the outside.  The Babe lashed out in desperation and made one of his very unusual homers, a drive into the left field stands…  Gehrig … hit on hard luck.  Bill Jaconson was lying in wait with the wire of the left field screen in his back when Lou socked one in the first inning, and he went over to the running (not warning) track in left center for a great catch…  In the sixth Lou smashed a drive into center … Ira Flagstead … was nearing the flagpole beyond the running track … and speared the ball.  That was a homer filched from the Gehrig record.  Flagstead was cheered for three minutes." - Monitor, New York Wold - Monday, May 330, 1927.

 

"Why Babe Ruth doesn't hit oftener to left field is one of those mysteries that only George himself can solve…  if Herman wants to hit about .500 all he has to do is to shift his line of attack…  The Bambino is a victim of his own home run record.  If he would but say the word he could compile a batting average that would make Hornsby's efforts look ill." - James Harrison, New York Times - Monday, May 30, 1927.

 

Here is Rogers Hornsby's record with the St. Louis Cardinals for the preceding six years with his top five finishes in parentheses.

 

Year     Runs     RBI      HR       BA

1921    131 (1) 126 (1) 21 (2)   .397 (1)

1922    141 (1) 152 (1) 42 (1)   .401 (1)

1923    89        83        17 (5)   .384 (1)

1924    121 (2) 94        25 (2)   .424 (1) - 20^th century record

1925    133 (2) 143 (1) 39 (1)   .403 (1)

1926    96        93        11        .317

 

Attendance: 40,000

 

Yanks (Thomas) 15, Red Sox 7.  Ruether started for the Yanks.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    25        13        1

1961    ?          ?          1

 

The Yanks led Chicago by one and a half and Philadelphia by four games.

 

Game   39

Ruth     13

Gehrig  11

Mantle  11

Maris   9

_________________________________________________

 

Game 40

 

Monday, May 30, 1927 - Philadelphia: morning Shibe Park; first game of double header

 

"John Shibe (As VP) declared that if he had a capacity for 80,000 he could have sold out for each game.  It was a remarkable tribute to the popularity of baseball.  All parks are too small and antiquated.  The owners must build them larger." - James Isaminger, Philadelphia Inquirer - Tuesday, May 31, 1927.

 

It was more of a tribute to Ruth and the Yankees.  For the entire 1927 season the Philadelphia Athletics drew only 605,529 fans.  The Yanks drew 1,164,015.

 

Athletics 9, Yanks (Shawkey) 8.

 

Attendance: 40,000 - morning

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    25        14        1

1961    ?          ?          1

 

Game   40

Ruth     13

Mantle  13

Gehrig  11

Maris   11

 

For games 31 through 40 the home run totals have been distributed as follows with the players sorted by their totals through game 40.

 

Game   31        32        33        34        35        36        37        38        39        40

Ruth     9          9          10        11        11        11        12        12        13        13

Mantle  10        10        10        10        10        10        10        10        11        13

Gehrig  9          9          9          10        11        11        11        11        11        11

Maris   6          7          7          7          8          8          8          9          9          11

 

_________________________________________________

 

Game 41

 

Monday, May 30, 1927 - Philadelphia: afternoon Shibe Park; second game of double header

 

" Philadelphia - Babe Ruth transformed the jeers of 40,000 fans into cheers when he hit his fourteenth home run of the season in the afternoon game yesterday.  The circuit blow came in the eleventh and was the deciding run…  For three hours and five minutes the teams battled on; then the illustrious Bambino came to bat in the eleventh.  Rube Walberg got a count of two and two on him.  The next one was to Babe's liking and he socked it into the upper stands in left field." - Charles Segar, New York Daily Mirror - Tuesday, May 31, 1927.

 

This was the third home run that Babe Ruth has hit off Walberg this season.  The others were in game 11, when Gehrig also homered off Walberg, and game 16.

 

Attendance: 40,000 - afternoon

 

Yanks 6 (Moore), Athletics 5 in 11 innings.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    26        14        1

1961    ?          ?          1

 

Game   41

Ruth     14

Mantle  14

Maris   12

Gehrig  11

_________________________________________________

 

Game 42

 

Tuesday, May 31, 1927 - Philadelphia: Shibe Park; first game of double header

 

"Ruth, Gehrig, and Collins slammed out four-baggers in the opener ." - James Harrison, New York Times - Wednesday, June 01, 1927.

 

Attendance: 25,000

 

Yanks 10 (Hoyt), Athletics 3.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    27        14        1

1961    ?          ?          1

 

Game   42

Ruth     15

Mantle  14

Gehrig  12

Maris   12

_________________________________________________

 

Game 43

 

Tuesday, May 31, 1927 - Philadelphia: Shibe Park; second game of double header

 

"The Babe went crazy and ran amuck.  He clouted homer no. 15 in the first game and No. 16 in the second, making 5 roundtrippers in 4 days.  You should have seen the second one.  It cleared the right field fence a foot inside the foul line, soared over a two story house across the street, and when last seen it was headed for the North Philadelphia Station." - James Harrison, New York Times - Wednesday, June 01, 1927.

 

"The Babe batted right-handed his final appearance." - Ford Frick, New York Evening Journal - Wednesday, June 01, 1927.

 

Attendance: 25,000

 

Yanks 18 (Shocker), Athletics 5.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    28        14        1

1961    ?          ?          1

 

Game   43

Ruth     16

Mantle  14

Maris   13

Gehrig  12

_________________________________________________

 

Game 44

 

Wednesday, June 01, 1927  - Philadelphia: Shibe Park

 

"Babe Ruth is getting the ingredient he needs to set a new home run record - competition.  Lou Gehrig has blossomed forth as a formidable rival for Babe's slugging crown, and the threatened invasion of his sacred precinct has aroused in Babe the urge to do better things - an urge that has not moved him since his record season of 1921.  If Gehrig does not falter he may be the means of forcing the Bam to break his own record this season." - Jack Conway, New York Daily News - Thursday, June 02, 1927.

 

Walberg came back from Monday's clobbering to retire Ruth four times.

 

Yanks 2 (Thomas), Athletics (Walberg) 1.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    29        14        1

1961    ?          ?          1

 

Game   44

Ruth     16

Maris   14

Mantle  14

Gehrig  12

_________________________________________________

 

Game 45

 

Thursday, June 02, 1927 - 3:30 PM Yankee Stadium

 

Yanks 2 (Ruether), Tigers 0.  Time: 91 minutes.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    30        14        1

1961    ?          ?          1

 

Game   45

Ruth     16

Maris   15

Mantle  14

Gehrig  12

_________________________________________________

 

Game 46

 

Friday, June 03, 1927 - 3:30 PM Yankee Stadium

 

"Heinrich Lou Gehrig … whistled a homer into those right field bleachers, but he was unfortunate enough to hit it when no tenants were on base." - Fred Lieb, New York Post - Saturday, June 04, 1927.

 

Tigers 3, Yanks (Pennock) 1.  

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    30        15        1

 

Game   46

Ruth     16

Maris   15

Mantle  15

Gehrig  13

 

"Players in both major leagues are reporting almost daily the reappearance of the jackrabbit ball … The increasing number of home runs in the American League started talk of the jackrabbit's reappearance" - Bozeman Bulger, New York Evening Worldd - Sunday, June 05, 1927.

_________________________________________________

 

Game 47

 

Sunday, June 05, 1927 - 3:30 PM Yankee Stadium

 

Tigers starter:

 

First     Last      Throws Year     Team    L          Wins    Losses  ERA     SO

Earl      WhitehillLeft     1926    Det       A         16        13        3.99     109

 

"The Yanks won, thanks to a timely single by your playmate, George Herman Ruth, who also smacked his seventeenth homer of the year.  His hit (single) in the eighth was most timely …  Combs scored what proved to be the winning run.  It was a great game for the crowd.  The first flinging of the straw hats followed Ruth's homer…  The Babe's No. 17 came in the sixth, and it was a most convincing wallop (off)   Earl Whitehill, ace of the Tiger staff, … hit so hard that it was sill going up when it landed far across the right field screen and well up among the bleacherites." - Monitor, New York World - Monday, June 06, 1927.

 

"Baseball statisticians are inviting attention to the fact that Babe Ruth is on his way to beating his own record of 59 home runs in a single season…  With the stout Mr. Ruth chasing his record through the various big league cities, this ought to be the most profitable season in the history of the national pastime…  Outside of Charles Chaplin, I do not know of an entertainer who has provided more enjoyment than the Babe … the greatest money maker as an entertainer for all time." - W.O. McGeehan, New York Herald-Tribune - Monday, June 06, 1927.

 

Attendance: 40,000

 

Yanks 5           (Thomas ), Tigers 3 (Whitehill).

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    31        15        1

 

The Yanks led Chicago by one and a half and Philadelphia by seven and a half.

 

Game   47

Ruth     17

Maris   15

Mantle  15

Gehrig  13

_________________________________________________

 

Game 48

 

Tuesday, June 07, 1927 - 3:30 PM Yankee Stadium

 

White Sox starter:

 

First     Last      Throws Year     Team    L          Wins    Losses  ERA     SO

Tommy Thomas            Right    1926    Chi       A         15        12        3.80     127

 

"It seems likely that Babe Ruth gets his tremendous hitting power from the fact that his weight is above the waistline.  The Babe is built like a top, and when he slashes at a ball he spins like a top.  That is how his bat gets its tremendous velocity." - Walter Trumbull, New York Post - Wednesday, June 08, 1927.

 

"(In the fourth) Goerge Herman swung from the hips and a towering fly dropped deep into the bleachers in right center.  The Heinrich Lou took his wallop.  This time a wicked liner flew into the bleachers about ten feet fair." - Fred Lieb, New York Post - Wednesday, June 08, 1927.

 

"With his own eyes your reporter saw G. H. Ruth and L. Gehrig line two baseballs in succession in the right field stands." - Paul Gallico, New York Daily News - Wednesday, June 08, 1927.

 

Yanks 4 (Hoyt), White Sox 1 (Thomas).

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    32        15        1         

 

Game   48

Ruth     18

Maris   16

Mantle  15

Gehrig  14

_________________________________________________

 

Game 49

 

Wednesday, June 08, 1927 - 3:30 PM Yankee Stadium

 

Tony Lazzeri, "favorite son of Italy", hit three home runs doubling his total for the season.

 

"Every time there is an insinuation that the baseballs have been made livelier there is a tearful protest from the manufacturers, who insist that the specifications for league balls have not been changed…  But when Signor Lazzeri gets himself three home runs in one game, it must be that the baseball has - to put it mildly - greater resilience than the baseball of a few years ago." - W.O. McGeehan, New York Herald-Tribune - Thursday, June 09, 1927

 

Yanks (Thomas ) 12, White Sox 11 in 11 innings. Thomas pitched the last two innings.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    33        15        1         

 

Game   49

Ruth     18

Maris   17

Mantle  15

Gehrig  14

_________________________________________________

 

Game 50

 

Thursday, June 09, 1927 - 3:30 PM Yankee Stadium

 

"Ruth hit one so far out that Bib Falk couldn't hold it and it went for one of the Babe's infrequent triples.  Just to cash full value on the hit our Bambino immediately proceeded to steal home. " - Fred Lieb, New York Post - Friday, June 10, 1927.

 

Yanks 8           (Pennock ), White Sox 3.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    34        15        1

 

Game   50

Ruth     18

Maris   17

Mantle  15

Gehrig  14

 

For games 41 through 50 the home run totals have been distributed as follows with the players sorted by their totals through game 50.

 

Game   41        42        43        44        45        46        47        48        49        50

Ruth     14        15        16        16        16        16        17        18        19        19

Maris   12        12        13        14        15        15        15        16        17        17

Mantle  14        14        14        14        14        15        15        15        15        15

Gehrig  11        12        12        12        12        13        13        14        14        14

_________________________________________________

 

Game 51

 

Friday, June 10, 1927 - 3:30 PM Yankee Stadium

 

White Sox starter:

 

First     Last      Throws Year     Team    L          Wins    Losses  ERA     SO

Ted      Lyons   Right    1926    Chi       A         18        16        3.01     51

 

"Yesterday the ace of the White Sox pitching staff bewildered the powerful Yankee hitters with his several windups.  He'd swing his arms back and forth maybe twice, maybe three or four times, before delivering the ball.  On one occasion he annoyed Ruth so much that the Babe twice stepped out of the box" - Rud Rennie, New York Herald-Tribune - Saturday, June 11, 1927.

 

White Sox 4 (Lyons), Yanks 2 (Shocker).

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    34        16        1

 

Game   51

Ruth     18

Maris   17

Mantle  15

Gehrig  14

_________________________________________________

 

Game   52

 

Saturday, June 11, 1927 - 3:30 PM Yankee Stadium

 

Babe Ruth hit two home runs.

 

Yanks 6 (Thomas), Indians 4.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    35        16        1

 

Game   52

Ruth     20

Maris   18

Mantle  16

Gehrig  14

_________________________________________________

 

Game   53

 

Sunday, June 12, 1927 - 3:30 PM Yankee Stadium

 

"Our extravagant champions gave the Indians a seven-run start … not even G. Ruth's twenty-first homer could loosen the Indians stranglehold.  Herman the Great larruped the ball midway up the right-field slope in the seventh and tickled 45,000 fans mightily … The Babe hit a homer when it didn't mean much and fanned twice when one-fourth of a homer … would have meant the game … in the fifth and … in the ninth …  The homer, then, was merely icing on the cake.  It was pretty icing at that.  George Uhle was pitching when the seventh round started, and George Uhle is a mean hombre as far as George Ruth is concerned.  He has fanned him many a time and oft, as he did later in the ninth, but this time Ruth caught hold of the ball and gave it a buggy ride high, far, and handsome.  It bounced into the laps of the customers in the middle of the right field bleachers." - James Harrison, New York Times - Monday, June 13, 1927.

 

Attendance: 45,000

 

Indians 8, Yanks 7 (Hoyt).

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    35        17        1

 

Yanks led Chicago by four and Philadelphia by six and a half.

 

Game   53

Ruth     21

Maris   18

Mantle  17

Gehrig  14       

_________________________________________________

 

Game   54

 

Monday, June 13, 1927 - 3:30 PM Yankee Stadium

 

Lindbergh was honored with a ticker tape parade from Battery Park up Broadway through the canyon of heroes to City Hall.

 

Yanks 14 (Pennock ), Indians 6.

 

Attendance: 20,000

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    36        17        1         

 

Game   54

Ruth     21

Maris   18

Mantle  17

Gehrig  14

 

Tuesday, June 14, 1927 - rain out in New York.

 

"With the season a fraction more than one-third finished, G. Herman Ruth is running neck and neck with home run record of 1921.  At that time all hands were agreed that the record would stand until the bleachers were moved into the base lines." - John Kiernan, New York Times - Wednesday, June 15, 1927.

_________________________________________________

 

 

Game   55

 

Thursday, June 16, 1927 - 3:30 PM Yankee Stadium

 

Browns starter:

 

First     Last      Throws Year     Team    L          Wins    Losses  ERA     SO

Milt      Gaston R          1926    StL       A         10        18        4.33     39

 

Anticipation of Lindbergh's arrival, distracting the crowd from the first inning home runs by Ruth and Gehrig.  He finally made a dramatic entrance, to much fanfare, at the end of the game.  The crowd chanted "Lindy! Lindy! Lindy!"

 

Yanks 8 (Hoyt), Browns 1        .

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    37        17        1

 

Game   55

Ruth     22

Maris   20

Mantle  18

Gehrig  15

_________________________________________________

 

Game   56

 

Friday, June 17, 1927 - 3:30 PM Yankee Stadium

 

"During the fourth inning on Thursday, Milt Gaston set the home run king down on three pitched balls - two called strikes and then a swing such as only George Herman can make at a speeding ball.  The third strike did the trick.  Babe put so much energy into it that he strained his right knee badly" - New York American - Saturday, June 18, 1927.

 

"Mr. George Herman Ruth pulled up lame in the first inning and had to leave.  Babe pulled a tendon or wrenched his knee or something in Thursday's game.  Perhaps he'll be out for three or four days, thereby taking a decided sock on the chin in his quest for a new home run record." - Ford Frick, New York Evening Journal - Saturday, June 18, 1927.

 

Yanks 3           (Shocker), Browns 2.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    38        17        1

 

Game   56

Ruth     22

Maris   20

Mantle  18

Gehrig  15

_________________________________________________

 

Game   57

 

Saturday, June 18, 1927 - 3:30 PM Yankee Stadium

 

"Study as an oak, this Henry Louis Gehrig, powerful legs supporting a robust body and huge arms rippling with sinews…  This Henry Louis Gehrig yesterday fashioned two superb home runs, and those two masculine socks into the right field bleachers defeated the Browns… he also pelted a triple to left … Lou's sixteenth came in the first inning … in the eighth … Lou trudged to the plate and projected a missile into the bleachers again…  Babe Ruth, still suffering a strained knee, played eight innings, and his only hit was a wasted single in the sixth." - Marshall Hunt, New York Daily News - Sunday, June 19, 1927.

 

"There didn't seem any way of making pitchers pitch to Ruth.  Then along came Lou… strange as it may seem, the harder Lou hits, the better chance Ruth has of breaking his record this year.  Lou Gehrig has made it inadvisable to walk Ruth… Gehrig  … is just as likely to place the ball in the stands … if he avoids injuries, and if nothing happens to Gehrig, he ought to give his own record a terrible tussle." - Rud Rennie, New York Herald-Tribune - Sunday, June 19, 1927.

 

Yanks 8 (Thomas), Browns 4.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    39        17        1         

 

Game   57

Ruth     22

Maris   21

Mantle  18

Gehrig  17

 

Sunday, June 19, 1927 - rain out in New York.

 

Monday, June 20, 1927 - rain out in Boston.

_________________________________________________

 

Game   58

 

Tuesday, June 21, 1927 - Boston Fenway Park; first game of double header

 

Gehrig homered to left.

 

Yanks 7 (Pennock), Red Sox 3.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    40        17        1         

 

Game   58

Ruth     22

Maris   22

Gehrig  18

Mantle  18

_________________________________________________

 

Game   59

 

Tuesday, June 21, 1927 - Boston Fenway Park; second game of double header

 

"Boston - The Babe, still regarded as one of Boston's own, limped through twp games and disappointed fans who came to see his home run record grow.  He hit the fence in left field for a double" - Bill Slocum, New York American - Wednesday, June 22, 1927.

 

Yanks 7 (Hoyt), Red Sox 2.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    41        17        1

 

Game   59

Ruth     22

Maris   22

Mantle  19

Gehrig  18

_________________________________________________

 

Game   60

 

Wednesday, June 22, 1927      - Boston Fenway Park; first game of doubble header

 

"George Herman Ruth cut two more notches in the handle of his trusty rifle during the earlier proceedings.  The Babe biffed one over the garden wall in left center in the fifth inning, and on his next time at bat, in the seventh, he socked a venomous blow into an open space between the right field and center field bleachers.  No. 23 was long, but 24 was longer…  George in now slightly ahead of his 1921 record, despite a crippling leg that interferes with his stance." - James Harrison, New York Times - Thurssday, June 23, 1927.

 

Yanks 7 (Moore), Red Sox 4 (Ruffing).

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    42        17        1         

 

Game   60

Ruth     24

Maris   22

Mantle  19

Gehrig  18

 

For games 51 through 60 the home run totals have been distributed as follows with the players sorted by their totals through game 60.

 

Game   51        52        53        54        55        56        57        58        59        60

Ruth     18        20        21        21        22        22        22        22        22        24

Maris   17        18        18        18        20        20        21        22        22        22

Mantle  15        16        17        17        18        18        18        18        19        19

Gehrig  14        14        14        14        15        15        17        18        18        18

_________________________________________________

 

Game   61       

 

Wednesday, June 22, 1927  - Boston Fenway Park; second game of double header

 

Yanks 3 (Shocker), Red Sox 2.

           

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    43        17        1

 

Game   61

Ruth     24

Maris   23

Mantle  20

Gehrig  18                   

_________________________________________________

 

 

Game   62

 

Thursday, June 23, 1927 - Boston Fenway Park

 

"Boston - On a balmy summer afternoon in Boston, Henry Louis Gehrig, son of Columbia, scaled the dizzy heights by hitting three home runs in one game, the second Yankee to turn the trick this season.  He is now only three homers behind Ruth, is Mr. Gehrig, and the race between them is furnishing the greatest slugging competition in the history of baseball… Ruth the other night … said that Columbia Lou is the only man that would beat the Babe's record.  That's the Babe's prediction, and he's sticking to it … One drive went over the fence in left center.  The second was a mammoth liner that landed in right center.  The third was a gem, high, mammoth, and powerfully stroked, arching its way a quarter of the way up the stand in right center… three homers as handsome and as far as any man ever hit in one game.  Nearly every one was as far flung as Ruth's second homer in the first game Wednesday." - James Harrison, New York Times - Friday, June 24, 1927.

 

Yanks 11 (Ruether), Red Sox 4.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    44        17        1

 

Game   62

Ruth     24

Maris   24

Gehrig  21

Mantle  20

 

"Lou Gehrig isn't another Babe Ruth because there will never be another Ruth.  No one else has ever has hit a baseball as far as the Bambino … and doubtless no one ever will, nor has any other player ever had quite the color of the Babe.  Yet Gehrig is the nearest approach to Ruth in modern baseball." - Frank Graham, New York Sun - Saturday, June 25, 1927.

_________________________________________________

 

Game   63

 

Friday, June 24, 1927 - Yankee Stadium; first game of double header

 

Athletics 7 (Grove), Yanks (Pennock) 6.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    44        18        1

 

Game   63

Maris   25

Ruth     24

Gehrig  21

Mantle  20

_________________________________________________

 

Game   64

 

Friday, June 24, 1927 - Yankee Stadium; second game of double header

 

"Babe Ruth's bad leg, which he hurt again in Friday's exhibition game at Springfield, gave way in the ninth inning of the first game yesterday, and Durst ran for him.  The Babe played one inning of the second affair and then retired.  He could hardly walk." - James Harrison, New York Times

 

In game 11 Walberg had given up homers to both Ruth and Gehrig.  In games 16 and 41 he gave up homers to Ruth.

 

Athletics 4 (Walberg), Yanks (Hoyt) 2.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    44        19        1

 

Game   64

Maris   26

Ruth     24

Gehrig  21

Mantle  20

_________________________________________________

 

Game   65

 

Sunday, June 26, 1927 - Yankee Stadium; first game of double header

 

Attendance: 61,000

 

Athletics 4, Yanks 2 (Thomas).

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    44        20        1

 

Game   65

Maris   26

Ruth     24

Gehrig  22        ???

Mantle  22       

_________________________________________________

 

 

Game   66

 

Sunday, June 26, 1927 - Yankee Stadium; second game of double header

 

"Master Henry Louis Gehrig's twenty-second homer was part of the show…  Babe Ruth couldn't play.  His had right knee will keep him off the field for about four days.  Gehrig, meanwhile, improved his time with his second game homer.  He is only two behind the Babe now." - Monitor, New York World - Monday, June 27, 1927.

 

Attendance: 61,000

 

Yanks  7 (Moore), Athletics 3.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    45        20        1

 

The Yanks led Philadelphia by 8 and Chicago by nine and a half.

 

Game   66

Maris   27

Ruth     24

Gehrig  22

Mantle  22

_________________________________________________

 

Game   67

 

Monday, June 27, 1927 - 3:30 PM Yankee Stadium

 

" Henry Louis Gehrig' today is the outstanding player in baseball…  There is not an ounce of superfluous flesh on his huge frame…  Gehrig's hitting will undoubtedly raise him to heights never before attained by a player.  His constant improvement is quite evident.  Pitchers are beginning … to throw wide ones…  His  powerful arms … enable Gehrig to hit to all fields without extra effort.  He is known as a stiff-arm swinger, in contrast to Ruth, who is the pivoting, free-swinging type.  Ruth's power comes from the tremendous swing and the fact that his timing is almost perfect.  Gehrig does not swing the bat much.  His arms and shoulders are so strong that when the bat meets the ball it has about the same momentum as Ruth's…  There are no girls in his life as yet…  thus far he has failed to show any interest in anything but his batting, his mother, and fishing.  With his perfect health, of which he is proud, he should be guarding first base for the Yankees in 1937.  No part of his huge frame has given any sign of breaking down" - Arthur Mann, New York Evening World - Tuesday, June 28, 1927.

 

"In an income tax appeal, Babe Ruth discloses the interesting information that during the season of 1924 he spent $9,000 on 'entertaining sports writers in order to constantly keep himself before the public'… Lou Gehrig, who is crowding Ruth for home runs, isn't paying for publicity." - Joe Vila - Tuesday, June 28, 1927

 

Yanks  6 (Ruether), Athletics 2.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    46        20        1

 

Game   67

Maris   27

Ruth     24

Gehrig  22

Mantle  22

_________________________________________________

 

Game   68

 

Tuesday, June 28, 1927 - 3:30 PM Yankee Stadium

 

"The Athletics put on the most spectacular ninth inning rally seen in New York this season … starting the ninth with a score of 9 to 0 … While George Herman Ruth nursed his knee another day, biffing Lou Gehrig got within one of George's home-run total.  In the third inning Heinrich Lou knocked No. 23 out to the right field sun worshippers." - Fred Lieb, New York Post - Wednesday, June 29, 1927.

 

"Opposing pitchers have become so scared of this dynamiter (Gehrig) that they chant to Huggins: 'You can bring Babe and Tony too, but for Gawd's sake, Hug, don't bring Lou, Lou!'" - Ed Sullivan, New York Graphic - Wednesday, June 29, 1927.

 

The New York Yankees of today are the greatest ball club of all time, mainly because of their terrific power.  The observation was made by Wilbert Robinson, manager-president of the Brooklyn Dodgers" - Dan Daniel, New York Telegram - Wednesday, June 29, 1927.

 

Yanks 9 (Shocker), Athletics 8.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    47        20        1

 

Game   68

Maris   27

Ruth     24

Gehrig  23

Mantle  22       

_________________________________________________

 

Game   69

 

Wednesday, June 29, 1927 - 3:30 PM Yankee Stadium

 

"Clouting Lou Gehrig caught up with Babe Ruth by hitting his twenty-fourth home run of the season off Harold Wiltse, a young southpaw, yesterday,  Ruth played but got no home runs.  The big fellow, however, smashed out four solid its … Gehrig's home run came in the fifth inning with the score tied and the bases unoccupied. Wiltse broke over a curve ball that Gehrig swung at.  There didn't appear to be any great effort behind the swing, but the ball sailed high and far into right field and landed well up in the bleachers.  As soon as the ball left the bat, the crowd started cheering and never stopped until the first baseman disappeared under the dugout.  Ruth, who was sitting on a box resting up against the right field stand, appeared to enjoy the ovation that Gehrig received.  Babe missed a home run by a few inches … in the third, Ruth drove a ball that hit the railing near the top close to the left field foul line … a few inches higher, the Babe would have had his twenty-fifth home run … he got a double" - Monitor, New York World - Thursday, June 30, 1927.

 

"Yankee Stadium, outside the dugout.  Two o'clock.  Hot sunlight… The swarm of Yankees stroll off the field looking hot … he (Ruth) easily dominates the dugout even when silent.  His sudden answers are usually funny and nearly always unprintable.  Lou Gehrig moves about quietly, not entering in much of the banter.  His position on a level with the home-run king seems to make him serious… As they started out to take their positions, I asked Huggins is there's any jealousy between Ruth and Gehrig.  'Not a bit', answered Huggins smiling." - Burris Jenkins, New York Evening Worldd - Thursday, June 30, 1927.

 

Yanks 8 (Pipgras), Red Sox 2.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    48        20        1         

 

Game   69

Maris   27

Gehrig  24

Ruth     24

Mantle  22

_________________________________________________

 

Game   70

 

Thursday, June 30, 1927 - 3:30 PM Yankee Stadium

 

"It wasn't the ball game that drew the customers to the ball yard; they had come to see the great home run derby between G. Herman Ruth and H. Louis Gehrig.  Mr. Gehrig, the favorite son of Morningside Heights, smacked his twenty-fifth home run of the season in the first inning … It was the first time in many years that anyone had had the effrontery to challenge the monarch's title to his thrown.  In the fourth … Babe took a toe hold and swung; there was a loud, ringing crash, and the ball leaped through the murky air and made a non-stop hop into the right field bleachers… You can't beat the Babe when it comes to rising to the occasion.  Of the two homers, Ruth's was the longer and higher, but Gehrig's was by far the sharper and harder hit." - James Harrison, New York Times - Friday, July 01, 1927.

 

"If Lou Gehrig outhits Babe Ruth this season and leads Ruth in home runs, will he take Ruth's position as the outstanding figure in baseball? … Can Lou Gehrig develop into another Babe Ruth?  One must answer with that rather evasive 'Yes and no' … it is only a matter of time when 'Biffin Lou' of Columbia passes the illustrious  Babe of Baltimore.  If he doesn't catch Ruth this year he'll surely do it next year or the year after that.  Even before Gehrig went on his present home run spree, ballplayers recognized Gehrig as Ruth's logical successor.  Whether Gehrig can become the drawing card that Ruth is … only time can answer … Lou doesn't have the Babe's color … his (Gehrig's) habits are of the very best … but with Ruth they loved him for his naughtiness … He (Gehrig) plays the game as hard as Ruth, loves to play it as much, yet Lou will get all of his publicity on the ball field.  Then Ruth was the first great home run monarch.  When Ruth hit 54 and 59 in 1920 and 1921, he was the Lindbergh of the home run brigade.  Anyone who now gets over 50 home runs will only be following the trail of the great home run pioneer." - Fred Lieb, New York Post - Friday, July 01, 1927.

 

"Not only is Lou Gehrig a model ballplayer, but off the field he is an estimable citizen." - Jack Conway New York, Daily News - Friday, July 01, 1927.

 

Yanks 13 (Moore ), Red Sox 6 (Harris).

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    49        20        1         

 

Game   70

Maris   27

Gehrig  25

Ruth     25

Mantle  23

 

For games 61 through 70 the home run totals have been distributed as follows with the players sorted by their totals through game 70.

 

Game   61        62        63        64        65        66        67        68        69        70

Maris   23        24        25        26        26        27        27        27        27        27

Gehrig  18        21        21        21        22        22        22        23        24        25

Ruth     24        24        24        24        24        24        24        24        24        25

Mantle  20        20        20        20        22        22        22        22        22        23

 

_________________________________________________

 

Game   71

 

Friday, July 01, 1927 - 3:30 PM Yankee Stadium

 

"Just one Colossus straddles the baseball world this pleasant morning, Mr. Henry Louis Gehrig, named for two kings and a king in his own right…  The crowd watched the fuel between Ruth and Gehrig, and other happenings meant nothing…  Gehrig is king but on a teetering thrown…  Ruth singled in the first and came home on Gehrig's homer." - Monitor, New York World - Saturday, July 02, 1927.

 

"Ruth is big and jovial and smiling.  So is Lou.  Lou is good natured.  So is Babe.  But there the resemblance ends…  Like you and I, the Babe is only human.  He has shortcomings and weaknesses.  But he is and ever will be a big-hearted, smiling, generous kid.  A boy who never grew up…  this writer … has never seen him make a bad play.  His is true baseball instinct.  To him never came the bitterness of learning by experience…  Ruth would go the limit for a friend or an acquaintance…  Babe has no idea of thrift…  The Babe is still a kid at heart … that's his greatest charm.  Gehrig is quite the opposite.  Stolid and plodding by nature, his baseball has come to him through hard work.  His is not true baseball instinct.  He learns by experience.  On the field he doesn't think rapidly.  He must master each lesson as it comes … and once a fact has been mastered he never forgets.  Unlike the Babe, too, Gehrig is imbued with real thrift…  Lou's whole life centers around his family…  he doesn't make new acquaintances easily.  He's too shy and too retiring… Being naturally slow, Lou is frequently panned by his teammates for making poor plays … He takes it all without a comeback.  He's pathetically eager to learn, and thinks Babe Ruth and Miller Huggins are the two greatest men in the world…  'There'll never be another guy like the Babe,' says Lou.  'I get more kick out of seeing him hit one than I do from hitting one myself.'  'There's only one man who will ever have a chance of breaking my record,' countered the Babe, 'and that's Lou Gehrig.  He's a great kid.'" - Ford Frick, New York Evening Journal - Saturday, July 02, 1927.

 

Yanks 7 (Pennock), Red Sox 4.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    50        20        1

 

Game   71

Maris   27

Gehrig  26

Ruth     25

Mantle  23       

_________________________________________________

 

 

Game   72

 

Saturday, July 02, 1927 - 3:30 PM Yankee Stadium

 

"Bitter disappointment came to 18,000 fans who braved watching the Red Sox in the hope that G. Herman Ruth and Lou Gehrig continue their home run duel...  Lou and Babe were able to collect only a single apiece." - Monitor, New York World - Sunday, July 03, 1927.

 

Attendance: 18,000

 

Yanks 3 (Ruether), Red Sox 2 (Russell).

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    51        20        1

 

Game   72

Maris   27

Gehrig  26

Ruth     25

Mantle  24

_________________________________________________

 

Game   73

 

Sunday, July 03, 1927 - Washington Griffith Stadium

 

"Washington - Though our Mr. Ruth came out with his twenty-sixth home run, tying Lou Gehrig, the Yankees failed to halt the mad ace of the Senators, who won their tenth straight game before a wildly cheering crowd of 30,000… Ruth's smack was the longest ever hit into the center field bleachers at Griffith Field, landing at the very edge of the stand, a little to the right of dead center and a dozen rows from the top." - James Harrison, New York Times - Monday, July 04, 1927.

 

Attendance: 30,000

 

Senators 6, Yanks 5 (Thomas).

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    51        21        1

 

Yanks still led Washington by nine and a half and Chicago ten and a half.

 

Game   73

Maris   27

Gehrig  26

Ruth     26

Mantle  25

_________________________________________________

 

Game   74

 

Monday, July 04, 1927 - Yankee Stadium; first game of double header

 

"The biggest crowd in baseball history, more than 74,000 persons stampeded Yankee Stadium yesterday … the Yanks 11 1/2 games ahead in the so-called pennant struggle, and Henry Louis Gehrig sent the crowd into a delirium of joy by hitting a homer in each game, putting  him two up on Mr. George H. Ruth…  Gehrig's first homer was made off Walter Johnson with two on base in the eighth inning of the first game.  Gehrig's second came in round seven of the next game with the bases full, a tremendous drive into the right center field bleachers." - James Harrison, New York Times - Tuesday, July 05, 1927.

 

??? both in game 74 ???

 

Attendance: 72,641

 

Yanks 12 (Pipgras ), Senators 1.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    52        21        1

 

Game   74

Maris   28

Gehrig  27

Mantle  27

Ruth     26

_________________________________________________

 

Game   75

 

Monday, July 04, 1927 - Yankee Stadium; second game of double header

 

"To the New York baseball patron, the home run is bigger than the game…  Whenever a four-base knock was made … the stupendous steel and concrete structure was shaken to its foundation by the roars from the customers.  But nothing else aroused the crowd." - John Keller, Washington Evening Star - Tuesday, July 05, 1927.

 

"It seems to be slightly better than an even bet that Lou Gehrig will beat Babe Ruth in the great Home Run Derby of 1927.  While it does not appear likely that Buster Lou will excel the Babe's record of 59 homers, even that is not without the pale of probability.  Gehrig has everything in his favor - power, youth, perfect physical condition, an ideal stance, and splendid coordination.  Another potent ally is unbounded confidence.  Just now Gehrig is hitting a harder ball than even Ruth himself, and he is making longer drives… the Babe is what is known a dead right field hitter.  Gehrig also hits to right, but he lands in a broader radius.  If Gehrig could master the trick of pulling his drives into dead right, there would be no real contest with the Babe.  Lou would smack at least 65 homers this season…  Gehrig is hitting more impressively than Ruth.  The Babe finds himself confronted with a most serious challenge, and he is making savage efforts to pull away from the collegian.  But Gehrig won't be left behind as the big derby swings into the second half of the season." - Dan Daniel, New York Telegram - Tuesday, July 05, 1927.

 

 

Attendance: 72,641

 

Yanks 21 (Moore), Senators 1.           

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    53        21        1

 

Game   75

Maris   30

Gehrig  28

Mantle  28

Ruth     26

_________________________________________________

 

Game   76

 

Tuesday, July 05, 1927 - Yankee Stadium

 

Yanks 7 (Shawkey), Senators 6.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    54        21        1

 

Game   76

Maris   30

Gehrig  28

Mantle  28

Ruth     26

 

"The jackrabbit ball is with us again… and the home run epidemic follows.  This is known as commercializing baseball and jeopardizing the lives and limbs of the players." - Paul Gallico, New York Daily News - Thursday, July 07, 1927.      

_________________________________________________

 

 

Game   77

 

Friday, July 08, 1927 - Detroit Tiger Stadium; first game of double header

 

Attendance: 25,000

 

Tigers 11, Yanks 8 (Ruether).

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    54        22        1

 

Game   77

Maris   31

Gehrig  28

Mantle  28

Ruth     26

_________________________________________________

 

Game   78

 

Friday, July 08, 1927 - Detroit Tiger Stadium; second game of double header

 

"In the merry race for home run honors, a purely private affair, George Herman Ruth gained a notch on Henry Louis Gehrig when he punched his twenty-seventh round-trip ticket to deep center field in the second game.  It was one of those homers he had to run for, but he made the circuit and finished standing up" - Richards Vidmer, New York Times - Saturday, July 09, 1927.

 

Attendance: 25,000

 

Yanks 10 (Pipgras), Tigers 8.  The game ended at 8:29 PM.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    55        22        1

 

Game   78

Maris   32

Gehrig  28

Mantle  28

Ruth     27       

_________________________________________________

 

Game   79

 

Saturday, July 09, 1927 - - Detroit Tiger Stadium; first game of double header

 

"Detroit - The king is back on his thrown.  When Babe Ruth knocked out his twenty-eighth home run of the season he caught up with Lou Gehrig, pretender to the crown of clout.  When he walloped his twenty-ninth he once more took his place at the head of the procession…  The monarch's blows were smote in the first game while Ken Holloway was in the box.  Both sailed into the center field bleachers, but the second one sailed higher and further." - Richards Vidmer, New York Times - Sunday, July 10, 1927.

 

Attendance: 30,000

 

Yanks 19 (Pipgras), Tigers 7 (Holloway).

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    56        22        1         

 

Game   79

Maris   32

Ruth     29

Gehrig  28

Mantle  28

_________________________________________________

 

Game 80

 

Saturday, July 09, 1927 - - Detroit Tiger Stadium; second game of double header

 

Attendance: 30,000

 

Tigers 14 (Gibson), Yanks 4 (Shocker).

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    56        23        1

 

Game   80

Maris   32

Ruth     29

Gehrig  28

Mantle  28

 

For games 71 through 80 the home run totals have been distributed as follows with the players sorted by their totals through game 80.

 

Game   71        72        73        74        75        76        77        78        79        80

Maris   27        27        27        28        30        30        31        32        32        32

Ruth     25        25        26        26        26        26        26        27        29        29

Gehrig  26        26        26        27        28        28        28        28        28        28

Mantle  23        24        25        27        28        28        28        28        28        28

 

_________________________________________________

 

Game 81

 

Sunday, July 10, 1927 - Detroit Tiger Stadium

 

The Yanks led Washington by 9 1/2, and Detroit and Chicago by 12 1/2.

 

Tigers 6 (Whitehill), Yanks 3 (Pennock).

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    56        24        1

 

Game   81

Maris   32

Ruth     29

Mantle  29

Gehrig  28

_________________________________________________

 

Game   82

 

Monday, July 11, 1927 - Detroit Tiger Stadium

 

"Detroit - The Buster and the Babe are neck and neck once more in the Great American Home Run Handicap of 1927… Buster  Gehrig hit his twenty-ninth home run of the season, putting him again on even terms with Babe Ruth…  He belted it on a line into the bleachers that nestle between right and center field" - Richards Vidmer, New York Times - Tuesday, July 12, 1927.

 

Yanks 8 (Hoyt), Tigers 5 (Stoner).

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    57        24        1

 

Game   82

Maris   33

Gehrig  29

Ruth     29

Mantle  29

_________________________________________________

 

Game   83

 

Tuesday, July 12, 1927 - Cleveland

 

"After failing to hit safely in 14 consecutive at bats, the slumbering Babe awoke in the ninth inning, measuring the distance to the high right field fence … It was a sock to speak of in glowing terms.  It was high and hard … but the most remarkable thing about it was that it broke the tie between the King of Clout and the pretender to the throne, Lou Gehrig.  Morehart was on second at the time, and Joe Shaute was pitching. " - Richards Vidmer, New York Times - Wednnesday, July 13, 1927.

 

Yanks 7 (Shocker), Indians 0 (Shaute).

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    58        24        1         

 

Game   83

Maris   33

Ruth     30

Gehrig  29

Mantle  29

_________________________________________________

 

Game   84

 

Wednesday, July 13, 1927 - Cleveland

 

"In four official trips to the plate yesterday Mr. George Herman Ruth smacked out as many hits, the final one a double…  Not so many days ago he was in a slump.  He made 18 consecutive trips to the plate without anything that bore the faintest resemblance to a hit.  Then Paul Whiteman presented him with a saxophone.  Since getting the sax, the Babe has been pounding the ball over the lot with a vengeance…  Comrade Gehrig isn't doing well.  For several days his hits have been falling off to singles and doubles, and yesterday he had only a base on balls to show for a day's work." - Ford Frick, New York Evening Journal - Thursday, July 14, 1927.

 

Yanks 5 (Reuther), Indians 3.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    59        24        1

 

Game   84

Maris   34

Ruth     30

Mantle  30

Gehrig  29

_________________________________________________

 

Game   85

 

Thursday, July 14, 1927 - Cleveland

 

"Mr. (Walter) Miller interfered with the home run business operated by Mr. George Herman Ruth and Mr. Louis Gehrig.  The two gentlemen faced Mr. Miller four times each, and all that was gleaned out of the eight times at bat was a base on balls to Mr. Ruth.  This pass, in the third inning, filled the bases when there were two outs and nobody but Mr. Gehrig at bat… Mr. Gehrig watched a third strike float across home plate." - Stuart Bell, Cleveland Press - Friday,, July 15, 1927.

 

Indians 4  (Miller), Yanks 1 (Moore).

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    59        25        1

 

Game   85

Maris   34

Mantle  31

Ruth     30

Gehrig  29

_________________________________________________

 

Game   86

 

Friday, July 15, 1927 - Cleveland

 

The Yanks entered the eighth inning six runs down against starter George Uhle but rallied to win.

 

Yanks 10 (Thomas ), Indians 9.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    60        25        1         

 

Game   86

Maris   35

Mantle  31

Ruth     30

Gehrig  29

_________________________________________________

 

Game   87

 

Saturday, July 16, 1927 - St. Louis Sportsman's Park

 

Ruth was 0 for 5 with two double plays.  Gehrig had a single and double and three RBI.

 

"The crowd yesterday set two records.  It was the smallest gathering before which the Yanks have played on this trip and the largest attendance the Browns have drawn in Sportsman's Park this year.  There is only one thing wrong with that statement.  The Browns didn't draw the 10,000 who sweltered in the heat.  They came to see the Babe and the Buster." - Richards Vidmer, New York Times - Sunday, July 17, 1927.

 

Attendance: 10,000

 

Yanks 5 (Pennock), Browns 2 (Sam Jones).

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    61        25        1         

 

Game   87

Maris   35

Mantle  32

Ruth     30

Gehrig  29

_________________________________________________

 

Game   88

 

Sunday, July 17, 1927 - St. Louis Sportsman's Park

 

"St. Louis - Bam 'Em Babe was a bust yesterday.  But Bust 'Em Lou came through with the bam…  Mr. Gehrig's home run came in the eighth inning with the Browns leading 4 to 3.  Mr. Ruth had fanned, to he great flee of the assembled burghers, who were out in goodly numbers and much Sabbath enthusiasm.  Mr. Gehrig swung viciously at a fast one - and parked it high up in the center field bleachers in the more distant corner of the lot…  Next came (Bob) Meusel, and Bob was so inspired by Lou's clout that he grabbe one for himself" - Ford Frick, New York Evening Journal - Monday, July 18, 1927.

 

"Lou Gehrig has now made a home run in every American League park this year.  The only park in which Babe Ruth has failed to homer this year is Chicago's Comiskey Park." - New York Telegram.

 

Yanks 5 (Moore ), Browns 4 (Gaston).

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    62        25        1

 

Yanks led Washington by twelve and Philadelphia by 14 1/2.

 

Game   88

Maris   35

Mantle  33

Gehrig  30

Ruth     30

_________________________________________________

 

Game   89

 

Monday, July 18, 1927- St. Louis Sportsman's Park, Ladies Day

 

"He (Gehrig) socked another, into the left field stands.  Now our Mr. Gehrig leads our Mr. Ruth in the great home run sweepstakes 31 to 30…  Oh yes, our Mr. Ruth went hitless.  During batting practice he sprained four fingers signing programs for the fair visitors, it is said." - Ford Frick, New York Evening Journal - Tuesday, July 19, 1927.

 

Attendance: 18,527

 

Yanks 10 (Pipgras ), Browns 6.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    63        25        1

 

Game   89

Maris   35

Mantle  35

Gehrig  31

Ruth     30

_________________________________________________

 

Game   90

 

Tuesday, July 19, 1927 - St. Louis Sportsman's Park

 

"The great home run race afforded no added thrills.  Lou Gehrig blazed a three-bagger close to the top of the fence in left and the Babe, after making a long single and walking once, drove a deep fly to center and then fanned on three pitches in the ninth…  But the Babe made his presence felt even if he didn't hit.  He dragged down a liner hit by Bing Miller in the sixth with two men on base, charging straight for the concrete wall.  He stopped just in time or there would have been either a marred fence or a broken up home run star.  In the eighth Ruth made two smart catches of short flies, speeding desperately for the infield.  The Browns rooters actually cheered the Babe in his feats." - Martin Haley St. Louis Globe-Democrat - Wednesday, July 20, 1927.

 

Yanks 6 (Reuther), Browns 1 (Stewart).

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    64        25        1

 

Game   90

Maris   35

Mantle  35

Gehrig  31

Ruth     30

 

For games 81 through 90 the home run totals have been distributed as follows with the players sorted by their totals through game 90.

 

Game   81        82        83        84        85        86        87        88        89        90

Maris   32        33        33        34        34        35        35        35        35        35

Mantle  29        29        29        30        31        31        32        33        35        35

Gehrig  28        29        29        29        29        29        29        30        31        31

Ruth     29        29        30        30        30        30        30        30        30        30

_________________________________________________

 

Wednesday, July 20, 1927 - St. Paul, Minnesota - Lexington Park

 

exhibition game v. American Association team (Saints)

 

"St. Paul, July 20 - The King of Clout still reigns supreme, and the Prince is just a pretende.  Buster Gehrig is a home run ahead of Babe Ruth, but the popular verdict is that Babe is mightier than the mathematicians.

 

The Yankees came here to play an St. Paul club.  Some 15,000 citizens braved a threatened storm to see the celebrated socker.  But that's not the point of this story.  This little tale concerns the relative popularity of the Babe and the Buster.

 

A few days (Sunday, July 17, 1927 ) ago in St. Louis Ruth came to bat in the eighth inning with the Yanks one run behind.  He ingloriously struck out.  Gehrig stepped up and socked the ball over the fence.  But the Babe was besieged by the boyhood of America.  They surrounded him at the exit gate and thrust baseballs, scorecards, autograph books, and bis of paper at him with demands for his signature.  The Buster walked out of the gate and up the street alone and unmolested.

 

Last night as the special train carried the Yanks through Hannibal (Missouri), Keokuk (Iowa), Burlington (Iowa), and other rural regions it was met at every stop by throngs who demanded a look at Babe Ruth.  The Babe never failed to step out on the platform with a smile and a few words.  But only when the Babe went in and dragged him out did the Buster appear.

 

Today it was the same.  Throughout the game Ruth, who played first base, was kept busy signing baseballs, and otherwise tormented by his worshippers.  One youth even rushed out to the diamond and took the Babe a bottle of pop.  Gehrig was practically in seclusion in right field until the eighth inning, when he was surrounded by autograph seekers.

 

Two showers in the ninth inning gave the game a farcical finish.  One was a shower of rain, and the other a shower of cushions hurled by fans when Ruth went in to pitch.  They seemed to think that his appearance in the box was a signal for a holiday.  Perhaps they never heard that Mr. Ruth was once the leading pitcher in the American League." - Richards Vidmer, New York Times - Thursday, July 21, 1927.

 

"I had never seen anything like the reception Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig got on the way from St. Louis to St. Paul, where crowds met them at every station, even after midnight.  Nothing would do, though both had gone to bed, than that they must get into their clothes and go out on the platform and make speeches.  Babe took it all very easily because it is old stuff to him, but Lou was very much embarrassed most of the time and hardly knew what to say." - Jimmie Pattison, New York Telegram - Thursday, July 21, 1927.  This was written by a student athlete from Madison High School in Brooklyn who had been selected New York City baseball MVP and rewarded by the paper with a Yankees road trip.

 

Yanks 9, Saints 8.

_________________________________________________

 

Game   91

 

Thursday, July 21, 1927 - Chicago Comiskey Park

 

Yanks 4 (Hoyt), White Sox 1 (Connally).

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    65        25        1

 

Game   91

Mantle  36

Maris   35

Gehrig  31

Ruth     30

_________________________________________________

 

Game   92

 

Friday, July 22, 1927 - Chicago Comiskey Park

 

White Sox 7, Yanks 5 (Pennock).

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    65        26        1         

 

Game   92

Mantle  37

Maris   36

Gehrig  31

Ruth     30

_________________________________________________

 

Game   93

 

Saturday, July 23, 1927 - Chicago Comiskey Park

 

"The twin killers, Ruth and Gehrig, confined their clouts to singles and doubles, which disappointed the crowd not a little." - Richards Vidmer, New York Times - Sundday, July 24, 1927.

 

"The writer sought the opinion of Babe Ruth and Miller Huggins on why there are more homeruns than ever before.  Ruth's reply … 'they're hitting … farther because they're all swinging from the hips.' … A lucid explanation but not enough… 

 

'It's the pitching for one thing, ' said Miller Huggins.  'The days of the shine ball, the sailer, the fingernail ball, and what not are gone… Babe tells me that when he pitched umpires came on the field with no more than four balls.  Now they bring on two dozen, and a new ball is thrown in if the cover is the least scratched or marred, keeping better balls in the game to hit.  And then there are increased opportunities for home runs.  There isn't as much bunting or sacrificing … Further, they hit at two and none and three and one nowadays where they didn't use to do that at all.'" - W.B. Hanna, New York Herald-Tribune - Sunday, July 24, 1927.

 

Attendance: 30,000

 

Yanks 5 (Shocker ), White Sox 2.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    66        26        1

 

Game   93

Mantle  37

Maris   36

Gehrig  31

Ruth     30

_________________________________________________

 

Game   94

 

Sunday, July 24, 1927 - Chicago Comiskey Park

 

"Chicago - His Highness Babe Ruth knotted up the great home run scramble when he gave a fast ball a faster ride into the right field stands at the new White Sox park, setting his season figure abreast of Larruping Lou Gehrig, the Crown Prince, who has been giving his old man a lot of worry.

 

It was a day for crashing records.  The record for attendance at the park was fractured with an outpouring of close to 50,000.  The Babe hit these three record breakers:

1.        The longest drive ever hit inside the park, a three-bagger in the first.

2.        The longest home run ever hit here, a drive into the upper stands in right, where no one had hitherto hit a ball.

3.        The highest foul ball.

That was enough.  He scored two of his team's runs and made a couple of galloping catches in left, but he does those things every day…  in the third - two out and the Babe striding to the plate.  The crowd clamored and the Babe heard them.  He let one go by and then swung, not with any great effort.  But the effect was marvelous.  The ball rose and climbed until it lodged among the white-shirted throng half way up in the upper stands toward right center, where no ball had been hit before." - Monitor, New York World - Monday, July 25, 1927.

 

Attendance: 50,000

 

Yanks 3 (Pipgras ), White Sox 2.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    67        26        1

 

Yanks led Washington by 13; Chicago was fifth, twenty back.

 

Game   94

Mantle  37

Maris   36

Gehrig  31

Ruth     31

_________________________________________________

 

Game   95

 

Tuesday, July 26, 1927 - Yankee Stadium; first of a doubleheader

 

"Babe Ruth, who hit only five home runs in the West (games 77 through 93) and batted a mere .340, has emerged from his slump.  Although he complains that the Stadium is not arranged to suit his fancy, it was at the Stadium the Babe emerged…  Lifted a ball into the right field bleachers with Koenig on base in the first inning of the first game…  Lifted another ball into the right field bleachers in the sixth…  Lou got two singles in the first game." - Frank Graham, New York Sun - Wednesday, July 27, 1927.

 

Yanks 15 (Reuther), Browns 1.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    68        26        1         

 

Game   95

Maris   38

Mantle  38

Ruth     33

Gehrig  31

_________________________________________________

 

Game   96

 

Tuesday, July 26, 1927 - Yankee Stadium; second of a doubleheader

 

"Lou got two single in the first game and a home run and a double in the second." - Frank Graham, New York Sun - Wednesday, July 27, 1927.

 

Yanks 12 (Hoyt ), Browns 3.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    69        26        1

 

Game   96

Maris   40

Mantle  38

Ruth     33

Gehrig  32

_________________________________________________

 

Game   97

 

Wednesday, July 27, 1927 - Yankee Stadium

 

"The Crown Prince of Swat, otherwise known as Lou Gehrig, tied the King of Clout, known to millions as Babe Ruth, in home runs by parking the ball into the right field bleachers in the sixth inning yesterday… it sailed high and far and landed well up in the bleachers.  Babe (Ruth walked on 3-2) waited for Lou at the plate, and then they walked back to the bench." - William Hennigan, New York World - Thursday, July 28, 1927.

 

Yanks 4 (Pennock),Browns 1.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    70        26        1         

 

Game   97

Maris   40

Mantle  39

Gehrig  33

Ruth     33

_________________________________________________

 

Game   98

 

Thursday, July 28, 1927 - Yankee Stadium

 

"Babe Ruth came to bat in the eighth inning … driving his thirty-fourth home run of the year up into the sloping terraces of seats in right center, and he took the lead in the home-run walloping contest.  Lou Gehrig came next … Lou couldn't do anything about it.  He fanned." - Monitor, New York World - Friday, July 29, 1927.

 

"(Christy) Walsh has probably grossed a quarter of a million dollars on Ruth's Writings.  He is by far the biggest seller of authorship by proxy (ghost writing) sports has ever known.  There have been times when Ruth's returns from this source have exceeded his yearly income on the diamond.  Two weeks ago Wlash signed a new five-year contract with Ruth as his manager and adviser in all activities apart from the business of crashing the old apple.  The intricate details connected with endorsing corn plasters, abdominal belts, and headache wafers, as well as movie contracts, must first be passed on by Walsh - the man who made the Ruthian bankroll what it is today." - Joe Williams, New York Telegram - Friday, July 29, 1927.

 

One of the things that Walsh did was to persuade Ruth to put money into an annuity.  This enabled Babe to live quite comfortably after his retirement.

 

Yanks 9 (Shocker), Browns 4.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    71        26        1         

 

Game   98

Maris   40

Mantle  39

Ruth     34

Gehrig  33

_________________________________________________

 

Game   99

 

Friday, July 29, 1927 - Yankee Stadium

 

"Whenever the Yankees threatened to score, (the slumping) Meusel was brought to bat - usually through intentional passes to Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig… Meusel flopped on four occasions … There were no home runs.  They wouldn't let the Babe have a fair chance, and Lou Gehrig wasn't overstrong.  Whenever Ruth had a chance to hit the ball - two doubles, a single, and two passes in five times at bat tell the tale…  Hudlin pitched well in the pinch, as a total of twelve Yankees left on base testifies.  Whenever he got into a jam he passed Ruth and Gehrig, and Meusel did the rest." - Monitor, New York World - Saturday, July 30, 1927.

 

Indians 6 (Hudlin), Yanks 4 (Pipgras).

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    71        27        1         

 

Game   99

Maris   40

Mantle  39

Ruth     34

Gehrig  33

_________________________________________________

 

Game   100

 

Saturday, July 30, 1927 - Yankee Stadium; first of a doubleheader

 

"Fortune smiled on Buster Gehrig yesterday but had nothing, but frowns for his twin-thriller, Babe Ruth.

 

As a result of this fickle favoritism, Louis, the Prince of Punch, sits on the home run thrown, while George, the King of Clout, looks to his lost laurels with a worried expression.

 

Fortune not only helped Gehrig to make his second home run of the afternoon, but robbed Ruth of two.  The first the Buster busted into the right field bleachers was the genuine article.  It was hammered fair and square and landed high up against the sun seats, but his second barely got into the left field section and then only after taking a hop off the running track.

 

While 40,000 fans saw the persistent pretender to the throne catch up and pass the king, they also saw the Babe himself fling two mighty punches into the high heavens, only to have them gathered in by the center fielder who was playing somewhere in the next county.  The Babe hit those two hard enough to keep pace with Gehrig, but they were in the wrong direction…  the Buster had taken the lead in the great American Home Run Handicap." - Richards Vidmer, New York Times - Sunday, July 31, 1927.

 

Attendance: 40,000

 

Yanks 7 (Reuther), Indians 3.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    72        27        1         

 

Game   100

Maris   40

Mantle  39

Gehrig  35

Ruth     34

 

For games 91 through 100 the home run totals have been distributed as follows with the players sorted by their totals through game 100.

 

Game   91        92        93        94        95        96        97        98        99        100

Maris   35        36        36        36        38        40        40        40        40        40

Mantle  36        37        37        37        38        38        39        39        39        39

Gehrig  31        31        31        31        32        32        33        33        33        35

Ruth     30        30        30        31        33        33        33        34        34        34

_________________________________________________

 

Game 101

 

Saturday, July 30, 1927 -Yankee Stadium; second of a doubleheader

 

Attendance: 40,000

 

Yanks 5 (Hoyt), Indians 0.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    73        27        1

 

Game   101

Maris   40

Mantle  39

Gehrig  35

Ruth     34

 

Sunday, July 31, 1927 - rain out in New York v. Indians

 

"With the Buster leading the Babe, 35 to 34, in the great American Home Run Handicap , sentiment around the circuit seems about evenly divided.  Those favoring the Babe point out that he has been a pretty good king in the past, but the other faction points out that a lot of good kings are losing their thrones (not to mention the Kaiser and the Czar), and they would like to see the Buster take over the chair.

 

As for the Babe and the Buster, they cheer each other on…  It's the greatest act in baseball.  It's all spontaneous and not at all rehearsed… they're pals … the twin thrillers have joined up as a bridge team.  They never play as opposites, always as partners.  Which is a pretty fair tip-off on their respect for each other." - Richards Vidmer, New York Times - Monday, August 01, 1927.

 

Yanks lead Washington by 13 and Detroit by 19.

_________________________________________________

 

Monday, August 01, 1927

 

Indians 2, Yanks 1  (Pennock).  Rained out after 6.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    73        28        1

 

Game   102

Maris   40

Mantle  39

Gehrig  35

Ruth     34

_________________________________________________

 

Game   103

 

Wednesday, August 03, 1927 - Yankee Stadium; first of a doubleheader

 

Gehrig homered.

 

Thursday, August 04, 1927.

 

Tigers 6, Yanks 5 (Shocker).   

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    73        29        1

 

Game   103

Maris   40

Mantle  39

Gehrig  36

Ruth     34

_________________________________________________

 

Game   104

 

Wednesday, August 03, 1927 - Yankee Stadium; second of a doubleheader

 

"With only 51 games remaining, the query fired by all hands since the season started - 'Do you think Gehrig will beat out Ruth?' - seems to need revision.  It's now, 'Do you think Ruth will beat out Gehrig?'  The Master Mauler is now the pursuer, not the pursued… Still … it seems wise not to compose obituaries until the race is won … he (Gehrig) isn't hitting over his head … His thirty-sixth and thirty-seventh yesterday one in each game, were clouts like the others - tremendous drives into the right field bleachers." - James Kahn, New York Graphic - Thursday, August 04, 1927.

 

"The Babe's long reign as king of the sluggers appears to be drawing to a close.  Gehrig will be cock of the wall from now on until a new slugger comes along." - Jack Conway, New York Daily Mirror - Thursday, August 04, 1927.

 

"'King Ruth' just missed a home run in the seventh inning of the second game yesterday…  Like Dempsey, the Babe is the real idol of the fans, and they cheered long and loud for a home run…  Ruth swung viciously at a curve ball and drove it high and far into center field…  It hit the top of the railing and bounced back into the field.  Instead of his thirty-fifth home run, all the Babe got was a double (and two RBI)." - William Hennigan  - Thursday, August 04, 1927.

 

Yanks 8 (Moore ), Tigers 6.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    74        29        1

 

Game   104

Maris   40

Mantle  40

Gehrig  37

Ruth     34

_________________________________________________

           

Game   105

 

Thursday, August 04, 1927 - Yankee Stadium

 

Tigers 6, Yanks 2 (Reuther).

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    74        30        1

 

Game   105

Maris   40

Mantle  40

Gehrig  37

Ruth     34

_________________________________________________

           

Game   106

 

Friday, August 05, 1927 - Yankee Stadium

 

"Mr. George Herman Ruth hit his thirty-fifth home run of the season yesterday … the only one of the day.  Earlier Babe socked out a double that was about as long as three ordinary homers.  The ball carried to the wall in dead center on a fly and would have been a homer almost anywhere else in the park.  Mr. Gehrig socked a triple as his contribution, bringing Mr. Ruth home grinning." - Ford Frick, New York Evening Journal - Saturday, August 06, 1927.

 

"Ruth's homer yesterday was a low-flung liner, and Red Wingo almost batted it down with his glove as it cleared the screen.  If he had, it would have only added to the Babe's hard luck of the past three or four days." - Monitor, New York World - Saturday, August 06, 1927.

 

Yanks 5 (Hoyt) Tigers 2.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    75        30        1

 

Game   106

Maris   41

Mantle  40

Gehrig  37

Ruth     35

_________________________________________________

 

Game   107

 

Saturday, August 06, 1927 - Yankee Stadium

 

Ted Lyons defeated the Yankees for the third time in 1927.  It was his 18^th win, which led the league.

 

Attendance: 30,000

 

White Sox 6 (Lyons), Yanks 3 (Pennock).       

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    75        31        1

 

Game   107

Maris   41

Mantle  40

Gehrig  37

Ruth     35

_________________________________________________

 

Game   108

 

Sunday, August 07, 1927

 

Atendance: 45,000

 

Yanks 4 (Shocker ), White Sox 3.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    76        31        1

 

Yanks led Washington by 11 1/2 and Detroit by 18 1/2.

 

Game   108

Mantle  42

Maris   41

Gehrig  37

Ruth     35

 

Monday, August 08, 1927 - rain out in New York v. White Sox.

_________________________________________________

 

 

Game   109

 

Tuesday, August 09, 1927 - Philadelphia Shibe Park

 

"Only Lou Gehrig, the new home run king, and his powerful bat stood between Rube Walberg and he distinction of administering a shutout to the New York Yankees … Gehrig drove a home run over the right field fence in the ninth round… Walberg flung a speedy pitch to Gehrig, the first batter in the last frame.  Wham!  A powerful left hand swing from a pair of massive shoulders.  The ball ever stopped until it bounced on the roof top of a 20^th Street residence and disappeared." - John Nolan, Philadelphia Evening Bulletin - Wednesday, August 10, 1927.

 

Attendance: 20,000

 

Athletics 8, Yanks 1 (Reuther).

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    76        32        1

 

Game   109

Mantle  43

Maris   41

Gehrig  38

Ruth     35

_________________________________________________

 

Game 110

 

Wednesday, August 10, 1927 - Washington Griffith Stadium

 

"They haven't had such a stormy afternoon in the National Capital since the days of the big war… George Herman Ruth accounted for all four New York runs with a single in the first inning and a home run in the third.  The homer, Babe's thirty-sixth, came with two runners on base." - Bill Slocum, New York American - Thursday, August 11, 1927.

 

Yanks 4 (Hoyt), Senators 10.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    77        32        1

 

Game   110

Mantle  43

Maris   41

Gehrig  38

Ruth     36

 

For games 101 through 110 the home run totals have been distributed as follows with the players sorted by their totals through game 110.

 

Game   101      102      103      104      105      106      107      108      109      110

Mantle  39        39        39        40        40        40        40        42        43        43

Maris   40        40        40        40        40        41        41        41        41        41

Gehrig  35        35        37        37        37        37        37        37        38        38

Ruth     34        34        34        34        34        35        35        35        35        36

 

_________________________________________________

 

Game   111

 

Thursday, August 11, 1927 - Washington Griffith Stadium

 

"The 'Bustin' Babe' had nothing but a walk and a stolen base, while he fanned to end the sixth with a man on base.  A triple and a pass were the best Gehrig could draw. " - Frank Young, Washington Post - Friday, August 12, 1927.

 

Rookie right hander Horace Hod Lisenbee was now 5-0 v. the Yanks.

 

Senators 3 (Lisenbee), Yanks 2 (Pipgras).  11 innings.

 

Attendance: 11,000

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    77        33        1

 

Game   111

Mantle  43

Maris   41

Gehrig  38

Ruth     36

 

"When Babe Ruth knocks out a home run he puts everything, from his ankles to his ears, into the clout.  Babe follows through like a golfer.  He uses every flexible muscle in his body, in his legs, and in his long arms.

Lou Gehrig is a shoulder hitter.  He takes short chop at the ball.  He is not a long swinger like Ruth.   He is a tremendously powerful man, built like a wrestler.  His shoulders slope, his neck is long and thick, his arms are like an ordinary man's legs, and his wrists and hands might make him a world's champion knocker-out if he went in for boxing instead of baseball.

Gehrig looks much more the natural athlete.  He doesn't have to bake off a lot of stomach every spring, as Ruth does.  Ruth and Gehrig are a couple of behemoths, but Gehrig looks like a fellow who will last longer.

The battle between the mastodonic swatters has been the most interesting thing in many years of baseball.  Baseball fans used to watch their favorite teams.  Now they watch their favorite individual players.  A Ruth or a Gehrig is like a boxing champion, monopolizing all the ballyhoo.

Both Ruth and Gehrig started late, which makes the home run record a tough one to break.  To reach record figures one of the home run kings will have to clout about three a week for the rest of the season.  Ruth's record doesn't seem seriously endangered." - Robert Edgren, New York Evening World - Friday, August 12, 1927.

_________________________________________________

 

Game   112

 

Saturday, August 13, 1927 - Washington Griffith Stadium

 

Ruth walked once and Gehrig twice.

 

Yanks 6 (Moore), Senators 3.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    78        33        1

 

Game   112

Mantle  43

Maris   41

Gehrig  38

Ruth     36

_________________________________________________

 

Game   113

 

Sunday, August 14, 1927- Washington Griffith Stadium

 

"Bob Meusel is suffering from headaches and biliousness.  Meusel plays all the sun fields to favor Ruth's eyes.  Now lanky Bob is paying dearly for his services.  He leaves ball games each night with terrific headaches and is trying to struggle along on a handful of aspirin.  Rest, not medicine, is the only remedy for his condition.  Staring into the sun for two and one-half hours each day is far from a joke." - Arthur Mann, New York Evening World - Monday, August 15, 1927.

 

"The Babe can peg them in almost as well as Meusel.  How many times do runners try to make two bases on a single to right field on Ruth?  Not often, unless the hit and run play is on and the base runner has a long lead.  Ruth is such a good hitter that he has never been given full credit for his fielding ability.  Few fielders cover more ground than Ruth.  Like Hans Wagner, the Babe is a very fast big man.  He gets over the ground in pursuit of fly balls, and before the Yanks had Combs, Huggins once told me that Ruth was the fastest man on the club going from first to third." - Fred Lieb, New York Post - Monday, Auggust 15, 1927.

 

Yanks 6 (Hoyt), Senators 2.

 

Attendance: 24,000

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    79        33        1

 

The Yanks led Washington by 13 and Detroit by 17.

 

Game   113

Mantle  43

Maris   41

Gehrig  38

Ruth     36

_________________________________________________

 

Game   114

 

Tuesday, August 16, 1927 - Chicago Comiskey Park

 

" Chicago - When Commy Comiskey rebuilt his Sox Park this winter he took one long look and then announced proudly, 'Well, nobody is going to hit a ball over those right field stands!'

Commy was wrong.

Our George Herman Ruth did that very thing yesterday - did it with a tremendous prod of his huge shoulders that not only sent the ball over the roof, but landed it well into the center of an auto-parking space beyond.

And Now Herman has 37 to his credit, only one behind Comrade Gehrig, who was unable to manufacture anything more potent than a double.  Some 18,000 cash customers thrilled to the might of the Babe's blow, and came near mobbing him as a sort of concert performance to the main show.  As the Babe came galloping in from the outfield at the finish, it seemed as though every kid from Chicago was at his heels or swarming around his feet.

At the steps to the dugout he was entirely halted, and for a moment it looked as though he would go down under the swarming mob.  But the cops came to his rescue, and he dashed down to shelter with the pack yelping at his heels.  Quite a boy, this George Herman of ours." - Ford Frick, New York Evening Journal - Wednesday, August 17, 1927.

 

"Whang!  As the ball coursed its way to right the crowd rose in silence and twisted its respective necks.  Higher, higher!  My gosh!  It disappeared over the roof!" - Marshall Hunt, New York Daily News - Wednesday, August 17, 1927.

 

"Ruth pitched a perfect strike over the plate from deep left field and prevented the Sox from scoring in the first inning.  The bases were filled with one out when (outfielder Bibb) Falk flied to the Babe, whose throw doubled (rookie shortstop) Ray (Roy?) Flaskamper at the plate." - Richards Vidmer, New York Times - Wednesday, August 17, 1927.

 

Attendance: 18,000

 

Yanks 8 (Pennock), White Sox 1.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    80        33        1         

 

Game   114

Mantle  44

Maris   42

Gehrig  38

Ruth     37

_________________________________________________

 

Game   115

 

Wednesday, August 17, 1927 - Chicago Comiskey Park

 

" Chicago - Today, in the eighth inning G.H. Ruth clawed futilely at the gelid ambient three times when the bases were full and there was a chorus of razz-berries from the 8,000 addicts.  But in the eleventh!  Ah, in the eleventh the estimable soul accepted one ball from George (Sarge) Connally and one strike and then there was that devastating club swishing from behind his bull-like neck and there was that tell-tale sound of mighty impact.  The ball zoomed against the wind and whistled its way into the lower stands in left field.  O, that ball ahd to grunt and strain itself to clear the wall in front of the stands … Thirty-eight for the Bambino!  He is now tied with Henry Looey Gehrig, in the greatest home run contest in all of baseball's gripping history. Thirty-eight apiece - Babe and Lou.  What a pair!  As Babe came loping home in the eleventh, Comrade Gehrig rushed toward the plate and was the first to grip his hamlike paw." - Marshall Hunt, New York Daily News - Thursday, August 18, 1927.

 

" Chicago - The daily 100 yard dash of the Babe becomes more arduous.  He is compelled to put on more speed each afternoon at about 5:30.  If it continues the 'King' will be a mere shadow of 215 pounds when he returns to the Stadium.  The dash  is executed from right field to the steps of the dugout each day immediately after the final out.  The Babe is paced by his friends and admirers, the kids.  The tipoff on this Babe-Lou thing is that the Babe must do this daily dash while Columbia Lou ambles peaceably enough through the milling populace…  The Babe must increase the speed of his dash, because the impulse to smite his back becomes stronger with each home run." - Fred Lieb, New York Post - Thursday, August 18, 1927.

 

Yanks 3 (Moore), White Sox 2.  11 innings.

 

Attendance: 8,000

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    81        33        1

 

Game   115

Mantle  44

Maris   43

Gehrig  38

Ruth     38

_________________________________________________

 

Game   116

 

Thursday, August 18, 1927 - Chicago Comiskey Park

 

"The great home run handicap was at a standstill.  Mr. Ruth got a double and struck out twice in five at bats, while Lou made a single and a double in four official trips to the plate." - Ford Frick, New York Evening Journal - Friday, August 19, 1927.

 

Yanks 5 (Moore), White Sox 4.  12 innings.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    82        33        1

 

Game   116

Mantle  45

Maris   44

Gehrig  38

Ruth     38

_________________________________________________

 

Game   117

 

Friday, August 19, 1927 - Chicago Comiskey Park

 

"In the ninth inning … Henry Louis Gehrig stepped confidently to the plate, rubbed his hands with dirt, and, like all ballplayers, wiped it off on his pantaloons.   Wham!  The ball whistled its way into the lower right field stands for Gehrig's thirty-ninth home run of the season.  Once again New York's own kid leads the illustrious G. Herman Ruth in the greatest home run race of all times… a run scored in the sixth by successive hits by Koenig, Ruth, and Gehrig" - Marshall Hunt, New York Daily News - Saturday, August 20, 1927

 

White Sox 3 (Blankenship), Yanks 2 (Hoyt).

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    82        34        1

 

Game   117

Maris   45

Mantle  45

Gehrig  39

Ruth     38

_________________________________________________

 

Game   118

 

Saturday, August 20, 1927 - Cleveland

 

"Babe Ruth saw to it that Lou Gehrig didn't hold his home run lead long.  In the first inning Ruth belted his thirty-ninth off (Jake) Miller, the southpaw, who was soon belted from the arena.  It was the longest ball the Babe ever hit here.  It went far over the right field fence across the street and into a back yard without ever touching the roof." - W.B. Hanna, New York Herald-Tribune - Sunday, August 21, 1927.

 

Indians 14 (Grant), Yanks 8 (Shawkey).

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    82        35        1

 

Game   118

Maris   46

Mantle  45

Gehrig  39

Ruth     39

_________________________________________________

 

Game   119

 

Sunday, August 21, 1927 - Cleveland

 

" Cleveland  - Willis Hudlin, a cocky young right hander with as big a curve ball as you will see in the major leagues and with far greater nerve, is proving the latest Yankee killer…  The Bambino was unable to appear at bat more than once.  He hurt his back swinging at a ball, and he could hardly run out a long hit to center.  He made first base, but Ced Durst ran for him, and the Babe watched the remainder of the game from a box near the Indian dugout." - Charles Segar, New York Daily Mirror - Monday, August 22, 1927.

 

Indians 7 (Hudlin), Yanks 4 (Pipgras).

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    82        36        1

 

Yanks led Detroit by 14 and Washington by 15.

 

Game   119

Maris   48

Mantle  45

Gehrig  39

Ruth     39

_________________________________________________

 

Game   120

 

Monday, August 22, 1927 - Cleveland

 

"Babe Ruth's fortieth homer (over the right field fence) of the year … put him one ahead of his persistent pursuer in the Great American Home Run Handicap, Louis Henry Gehrig." - Richards Vidmer, New York Times - Tuesday, August 23, 1927.

 

Indians 9 (Shaute), Yanks 4 (Moore). Moore started.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    82        37        1

 

Game   120

Maris   48

Mantle  45

Ruth     40

Gehrig  39

 

For games 111 through 120 the home run totals have been distributed as follows with the players sorted by their totals through game 120.

 

Game   111      112      113      114      115      116      117      118      119      120

Maris   41        41        41        42        43        44        45        46        48        48

Mantle  43        43        43        44        44        45        45        45        45        45

Ruth     36        36        36        37        38        38        38        39        39        40

Gehrig  38        38        38        38        38        38        39        39        39        39

_________________________________________________

 

Game   121

 

Wednesday, August 24, 1927 - Detroit Tiger Stadium

 

Lazzeri broke a 5-5 tie in the ninth with his 16^th homer, a grand slammer.  This broke Detroit's 13 game winning streak.

 

Yanks 9 (Moore), Tigers 5 (Carroll).

 

Attendance: 25,000

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    83        37        1

 

Game   121

Maris   48

Mantle  45

Ruth     40

Gehrig  39

_________________________________________________

 

Game   122

 

Thursday, August 25, 1927 - Detroit Tiger Stadium

 

" Detroit - Mr. Gehrig started thing off properly in the second inning by fashioning his fortieth home run of the season off the swinging side-arm curve of Sir Earl Whitehill.  As clouts go, this one wasn't much.  Just a short loping fly.  But it counted - and Lou is tied up again with our Mr. George Herman Ruth in the grand American home run handicap.  Following his home-run effort, Lou continued to thrust his ponderous frame into the thick of the affray.  No less than four of the Yankees' runs were the result of his bludgeoning, and he scored twice himself.  Quite a day for Henry, quite a day." - Ford Frick, New York Evening Journal - Friday, August 26, 1927.

 

"There has been nothing like the slugging race between Gehrig and Ruth in all baseball history.  Ruth and Gehrig opened their act back in April, and they have been spilling climaxes all along the route for over four months." - Grantland Rice, New York Herald-Tribune - Friday, August 26, 1927.

 

Yanks 8 (Pennock), Tigers 2.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    84        37        1         

 

Game   122

Maris   48

Mantle  45

Gehrig  40

Ruth     40

_________________________________________________

 

Game   123

 

Friday, August 26, 1927 - Detroit Tiger Stadium

 

"The Babe came up in the seventh with the bases filled and the Yankees trailing by three runs.  He promptly cleared the bases and tied the score with a triple to center." - Sam Greens, Detroit News - Saturday, August 27, 1927

 

Yanks 8 (Moore ), Tigers 6.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    85        37        1

 

Game   123

Maris   49

Mantle  46

Gehrig  40

Ruth     40

_________________________________________________

 

Game   124

 

Saturday, August 27, 1927 - St. Louis Sportsman's Park III

 

"St. Louis - Among the Yankees' feats yesterday were Ruth's forty-first home run … The Babe went high and far over the right field roof with his home run and once more broke away from Lou Gehrig, who is now one behind."  A double by Gehrig, and a triple and homer by Ruth, composed the day's grist for the menacing monarchs.  The eighth was an odd Yankee home run inning.  On the heels of Koenig's hit, Ernie Nevers made so bold as to put one within reach of Ruth's loaded weapon.  Then over the hills and far away.  The Babe blazed a trail atop the right field stand without touching any part of it. - W.B. Hanna, New York Herald-Tribune - Sunday, August 28, 1927.

 

Yanks 14 (Hoyt), Browns 4.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    86        37        1

 

Game   124

Maris   49

Mantle  46

Ruth     41

Gehrig  40

_________________________________________________

 

Game   125

 

Sunday, August 28, 1927 - St. Louis Sportsman's Park III

 

"St. Louis - The Babe leaped into a lead of two home runs over Gehrig.  In the  first inning, off Wingard, he rushed a long, low swiftly driven ball over the right field roof and into some other part of St. Louis.  It merely skimmed the roof.  Gehrig, however, outbatted Ruth.  Lou had three hits, while Ruth struck out twice." - W.B. Hanna, New York Herald-Tribune - Monday, August 29, 1927.

 

Yanks 10 (Shocker), Browns 6.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    87        37        1

 

Yanks led Philadelphia by 16 and Detroit by 17 1/2.

 

Game   125

Maris   50

Mantle  46

Ruth     42

Gehrig  40

_________________________________________________

 

Game   126

 

Monday, August 29, 1927 - St. Louis Sportsman's Park III; Ladies Day

 

"Ruth proved that he doesn't have to hit home runs to draw applause.  The Big Bam gave as colorful an exhibition as ahs been seen in an outfield here in many months.  Six times he devoured fly balls, and on four occasions he climbed to stardom to turn Brownie batters back to the bench with black words on quivering lips.  Babe went to the foul line for Harry Rice's fly with the bases loaded and two gone in the fourth.  In the fifth, he made successive glove-hand catches, first to pick Bing Miller's low liner off the turf, and again to spear Oscar Melillo's high liner near the left-field wall.  Then to top his performance, the animated Apple King sprinted far into left center to rob Leo Dixon of a double in the sixth.

Meanwhile the Babe's shadow, Lou Gehrig, was making home-run hay while the Babe was shinning.  Lou hit his forty-first of the season with two mates on the runways in the third inning, placing him within one homer of Ruth's total." - Martin Haley, St. Louis Globe-Democrat - Tuesday, August 30, 1927.

 

Yanks 8 (Pennock ), Browns 3.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    88        37        1         

 

Game   126

Maris   50

Mantle  46

Ruth     42

Gehrig  41

_________________________________________________

 

Game   127

 

Wednesday, August 31, 1927 - Yankee Stadium

 

"'Push 'Em Up Tony' Lazzeri hit two home runs yesterday, one into the left field stand and the other into the right field bleachers, and was sitting under the spotlight when along came Ruth in the eighth inning.  The Babe smashed out his forty-third home run of the season and was again two up on Lou Gehrig.

Ruth's latest home run was a real clout.  He swung in his characteristic way at one of Tony Welzer's curves, and the ball sailed high and far into right field.  For a second or two it looked as if the ball would land outside the park.  At that it cleared the heads of the fans in the bleachers and landed near the top of the stand." - William Hennigan New York World - Thursday, September 01, 1927.

 

Lazzeri now had 18 homers.  He would finish with that total and be third in the league.

 

Yanks 8 (Pipgras), Red Sox 3.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    89        37        1

 

Game   127

Maris   50

Mantle  46

Ruth     43

Gehrig  41

 

Thursday, September 01, 1927- rain out in New York v Red Sox.

_________________________________________________

 

Game   128

 

Friday, September 02, 1927 - Philadelphia Shibe Park

 

"Overshadowing everything in the game were the mighty hulks of Ruth and Gehrig, The Bambino and Slambino of the Gargantuan Gotham gang.

 

In the first inning, with two out, came the thunder and lightning.

 

The Bambino flailed a long spinning liner to right-center.  Cobb turned his back on second base and stood as if to play the rebound off the stone wall.  But the ball cleared the wall.

 

'Forty-four!' shrieked the home-run accountants.  'That puts him three ahead of Gehrig.'

 

'Yes, buy Gehrig hasn't been to bat yet!'

 

Gehrig came immediately, and slambinoed his team as neatly as at any time this beam-slamming season.  Gehrig took a cut at Walberg's first pitch.  Gehrig's bat likewise fired a liner, but this one aimed dead to right.  Right fielder Walter French did a pivot, like Cobb, but not to play any wall-bounces.

 

Gehrig's liner cleared not only the fence but also the porch roof across the street and the bay windows full of pallid faces, and almost the very rooftops…

 

(In the second) the act went after the altitude record.  Walberg slow-balled Ruth, and the Bambino exalted a sky-high fly to right.  French retreated until his back nearly touched the wall.  The Ball fell into his hands, counting a sacrifice fly, scoring Combs from third.

 

Slam outbammed Bam again.  His skyscrapper scraped a higher sky.  French backed up again, but this time he came away from the wall empty handed.  The Gehrig fly came down beyond the farthermost concrete, though it did not put a hole in anybody's tin roof." - Bill Brandt, Philadelphia Public Ledger - Saturday, September 03, 1927.

 

"The most astonishing that has ever happened in organized baseball is the home run race between George Herman Ruth and Henry Louis Gehrig.  Even as these lines are batted out of the office typewriter, youths dash out of the AP and UP ticker room every tow or three minutes shouting - 'Ruth just hit one!  Gehrig just hit another one!'  There has never been anything like it.

 

If anything ever looked to be permanent, say three years ago, it was Babe Ruth's record of 59 home runs in one season.  You could have given any kind of odds that it would never be duplicated, certainly not within ten or fifteen years.  Now Lou Gehrig is a sure thing to break the mark within a few years, and a lot of experts will be confounded again.

 

Gehrig, of course, cannot approach Ruth as a showman and an eccentric, but there is time even for that.  Lou is only a kid.  Wait until he develops a little more and runs up against the temptations that beset a popular hero.  Ruth without temptations might be a pretty ordinary fellow.  Part of his charm lies in the manner with which he succumbs to every temptation that comes his way.  That does not mean that Henry Louis must take up sin to become a box office attraction.  Rather one awaits to see his reactions to life, which same reactions make a man interesting or not.  Right now he seems devoted to fishing, devouring pickled eels, and hitting home runs, of which three things the last is alone of interest to the baseball public.

 

For this reason it is a little more difficult to write about Henry Louis than George Herman.  Ruth is either planning to cut loose, is cutting loose, or is repenting the last time he cut loose.  He is a news story on legs going about looking for a place to happen.  He has not lived a model life, while Henry Louis has, and if Ruth wins the home run race it will come as a great blow to the pure." - Paul Gallico, New York Daily News - Saturday, September 03, 1927.

 

Yanks 12  (Hoyt ), Athletics 2.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    90        37        1

 

Game   128

Maris   50

Mantle  46

Ruth     44

Gehrig  43

_________________________________________________

 

Game   129

 

Saturday, September 03, 1927 - Philadelphia Shibe Park

 

"Lefty Grove put a muzzle and collar on Murderer's Row and made toothpicks ut of the large lumber lugged to home plate by Ruth and Gehrig... their first shutout of the season" - Bill Brandt, Philadelphia Public Ledger - Sunday, September 04, 1927.

 

Athletics 1 (Grove), Yanks 0 (Moore).

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    90        38        1

 

Yanks led Philadelphia by 17, and Washington and Detroit by 21.

 

Game   129

Maris   51

Mantle  46

Ruth     44

Gehrig  43

_________________________________________________

 

Game   130

 

Monday, September 05, 1927 - Boston Fenway Park; first game of doubleheader

 

"To say that yesterday was a banner day at Fenway Park is putting it meekly.  The crowd of 38,000 which jammed its way into the park was paying tribute once more to George Herman 'Babe' Ruth's ability to draw the public everywhere.  A crowd from all parts of New England, estimated as high as 70,000, tried to force its way into the enclosure…  The battle between Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig goes merrily onward, with the two deadlocked once more.  In the third inning of the first game the former Columbia University star sent one of Charles Ruffing's pitches into the right field bleachers, scoring Koenig ahead of him.  Gehrig has found Boston pitchers easier to solve than Ruth.  He totalled 10 four-base hits off the Red Sox compared to 6 made by Ruth…  It was 6:30 when the first game was over and most of the crowd had started home." - Boston Evening Transcript - Tuesday, SSeptember 06, 1927.

 

RedSox            12, Yanks 11 (Hoyt).  18 innings.

 

Attendance: 38,000

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    90        39        1

 

Game   130

Maris   51

Mantle  46

Gehrig  44

Ruth     44

 

For games 121 through 130 the home run totals have been distributed as follows with the players sorted by their totals through game 130.

 

Game   121      122      123      124      125      126      127      128      129      130

Maris   48        48        49        49        50        50        50        50        51        51

Mantle  45        45        46        46        46        46        46        46        46        46

Gehrig  39        40        40        40        40        41        41        43        43        44

Ruth     40        40        40        41        42        42        43        44        44        44

_________________________________________________

 

Game   131

 

Monday, September 05, 1927 - 6:45 PM Boston Fenway Park; second game of doubleheader

 

"With the sun fast sinking, Umpire Nallin called the second game at the end of five innings." - Boston Evening Transcript - Tuesday, September 06, 1927.

 

Yanks 5 (Shocker ), Red Sox 2.  5 Innings, called because of darkness.

 

Attendance: 38,000

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    91        39        1

 

Game   131

Maris   51

Mantle  46

Gehrig  44

Ruth     44

_________________________________________________

 

Game   132

 

Tuesday, September 06, 1927 - Boston Fenway Park; first game of doubleheader

 

"In the fifth inning game, the Babe's slugging teammate, Lou Gehrig, got a homer with none on and temporarily went one ahead of Ruth.  Then the Bam heard the fervent prayers of his New England devotees … in the sixth inning of the first game, with two on base, off the delivery of Tony Welzer … the longest ever made at Fenway Park … cleared the high board fence in left center field, only a few yards from dead center… It cleared a wall that rises at least 35 feet and must have landed 500 feet from home…  the wind was cutting across the path of the parabola… he was not hitting the cripple, as the count was one ball and one strike …  No other player has ever hit a ball over that part of the left center fence, and that the Bambino is a left hand batter adds considerably to the rating of the smash.  In the very next (7) inning Ruth lofted a tremendously high fly off Welzer, and it carried on and on until it just cleared the fence in front of the open space between the two sections of bleachers in right…  The count was three balls and no strikes when he made No. 46, and the ball went an amazing distance into the air and was helped by the wind." - Burt Whitman, Boston Herald - Wednesday, September 07, 1927.

 

Attendance: 20,000

 

Yanks 14 (Pennock), Red Sox 2.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    92        39        1         

 

Game   132

Maris   51

Mantle  47

Ruth     46

Gehrig  45

_________________________________________________

 

Game   133

 

Tuesday, September 06, 1927 - Boston Fenway Park; second game of doubleheader

 

"Babe Ruth showed old Boston friends, to the number of 20,000, why he is still baseball's master slugger by making three home runs yesterday afternoon…  the crowd showed interest in one thing, the Home Run Derby…  The Sox had a 5-0 (?) lead when Ruth came to bat in the ninth inning of the second game.  He lashed the second pitch (one strike and no balls) to the very middle of the center field bleachers, a mighty wallop … the Bam said last night that he thought he had his swing going well.  He hopes to get a couple more today, his last appearance in Boston this year.  He says he likes Fenway Park as a home run stage.  He likes the background in center field when there is no overflow crowd to blur the vision." - Burt Whitman, Boston Herald - Wednesday, September 07, 1927.

 

Attendance: 20,000

 

Red Sox           3, Yanks 2 (Reuther).

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    92        40        1

 

Game   133

Maris   51

Mantle  48

Ruth     47

Gehrig  45

_________________________________________________

 

Game   134

 

Wednesday, September 07, 1927 - Boston Fenway Park

 

"Two vicious drives, one clearing the distant left field wall and the other flopping into the outstretched spaces of the center field bleachers, carried Babe Ruth within hailing distance of his home run record.

 

Crashing his fifth circuit wallop in two days (three games) - another record, by the way - Babe incrreased his lead to four over Lou Gehrig.

 

Ruth hit his forty-eighth homer odd Danny MacFayden in the first inning.  It soared over the left field wall far beyond the clock.  It was a mighty blow but not as long as that made by him on Tuesday.

 

'Slim' Harris was Ruth's forty-ninth victim, in the eighth.  This drive landed in the center field seats.  Babe also made a double and a single, and then went out on strikes.  Meanwhile Gehrig couldn't get under the ball, although he did get two doubles." - Eddie Hurley, Boston Daily Advertiser - Thursday, September 08, 1927.

 

"For several weeks about the only race in the American League was between Ruth and Gehrig for the home run honors, and now it appears that the 'Babe' has eliminated Gehrig and the only thing left for him to beat is his own record." - James O'Leary, Boston Globe - Thursday, September 08, 1927.

 

"Baseball magnates who welcomed (?) broadcasting of ball games from their parks have not developed enthusiasm for the idea as the season progresses … The trouble seems to be that the majority of 'announcers', however good they may be as entertainers, do not know enough about baseball to get by.  Not only that, some of them are more 'opinionated', than fair or square." - The Sporting News - Thursday, September 08, 1927.

 

 

Yanks 12 (Shawkey), Red Sox 10.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    93        40        1

 

Game   134

Maris   51

Ruth     49

Mantle  48

Gehrig  45

_________________________________________________

 

Game   135

 

Thursday, September 08, 1927 - Yankee Stadium; Tony Lazzeri Day

 

"George Herman Ruth failed to add any homers to his collection, but he was walked three times.  As for Gehrig, he walked twice and fanned twice." - Fred Lieb, New York Post - Friday, September 09, 1927.

 

Yanks 2 (Hoyt), Browns 1.  Number 29 for Hoyt.

 

1927    94        40        1

 

Game   135

Maris   53

Ruth     49

Mantle  48

Gehrig  45

_________________________________________________

 

Game   136

 

Friday, September 09, 1927 - 3:30 PM Yankee Stadium

 

"The king felt in the rather democratic mood to indulge in some menial labor yesterday.  He hit no regal home runs, but when, early in the contest, the Yankees were in dire need of a few runs to put the Browns in their proper place, Babe Ruth thumped two vigorous singles off his loyal bat and drove in three runs, roused the Yanks out of a sound sleep, and tossed the deluded Brownies into a panic." - John Drebinger, New York Times - Saturrday, September 10, 1927.

 

Yanks 9 (Shocker), Browns 3.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    95        40        1

 

Game   136

Maris   53

Mantle  50

Ruth     49

Gehrig  45

_________________________________________________

 

Game   137

 

Saturday, September 10, 1927 - 3:30 PM Yankee Stadium

 

"The New Yorks won their twenty-first consecutive game from the visitors, thereby establishing a record for the American League and tying the National League record…  In the fifth, Prof. E.B. Combs singled to left to become the first American Leaguer to make 200 hits this year." - Marshall Hunt, New York Daily News - Sunday, September 11, 1927.

 

Attendance: 20,000

 

Yanks 1 (Moore), Browns 0 (Stewart).

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    96        40        1

 

Game   137

Maris   53

Mantle  50

Ruth     49

Gehrig  45

_________________________________________________

 

Game   138

 

Sunday, September 11, 1927 - 3:30 PM Yankee Stadium; Joe Dugan Day

 

"35,000 occupied the chairs and benches of the Ruppert enclosure (not the House that Ruth built) … one Yankee blow evoked a symphony of ebullience among the addicts, and that was - yes, you guessed it - a home run by that incomparable captain of the home run industry, G. Herman Ruth.  It was fashioned in the fourth inning, with no colleagues on base, and we suspect it was just about one of the longest he ever clubbed in the Bronx bazaar.  O, you've heard that before, but Babe's fiftieth four-base contribution found haven about ten rows below the right field advertisements and well to the left.

 

No. 50 for the Bambino!

 

Now we are almost positive that the Bambino has clinched the home run championship.  It will be an arduous job for Comrade Gehrig to catch up with him, eh?" - Marshall Hunt, New York Daily News - Monday, September 12, 1927.

 

Yanks now had 141 homers which broke the record of the 1884 Chicago Cubs.

 

Attendance: 35,000

 

Browns 6 (Gaston), Yanks 2 (Pennock).

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    96        41        1

 

Yanks led Philadelphia by 14 and Detroit by 20 1/2.

 

Game   138

Maris   53

Ruth     50

Mantle  50

Gehrig  45

_________________________________________________

 

Game   139

 

Tuesday, September 13, 1927 - Yankee Stadium; first game of a doubleheader

 

"Ruth hit his first home run, a terrific drive into the right field bleachers in the seventh inning of the early performance, at the expense of Willis Hudlin.  It came after Mark Anthony Koenig had singled." - William Hennigan, New York World - Wednesday, September 14, 1927.

 

Yanks 5 (Pipgras), Indians 3.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    97        41        1

 

Game   139

Maris   53

Ruth     51

Mantle  51

Gehrig  45

_________________________________________________

 

Game   140

 

Tuesday, September 13, 1927 - Yankee Stadium; second game of a doubleheader

 

"The Yankees clinched the American League pennant yesterday and Ruth drew nearer to his 1921 record…   (Ruth's) second home run came in the fourth inning of the second game, another drive into the right field bleachers.  None of Ruth's co-workers were on base at the time …  There is still the possibility of Ruth's reaching the 59 home runs that he made in 1921.  The Babe said that he believed that he would equal the record, if not shatter it, if the opposing pitchers would pitch to him in the remaining 14 games.  They probably will now that the Yankees have won the pennant." - William Hennigan, New York World - Wednesday, September 14, 1927.

 

Yanks 5 (Hoyt), Indians 3.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    98        41        1

 

Game   140

Maris   54

Ruth     52

Mantle  51

Gehrig  45

 

For games 131 through 140 the home run totals have been distributed as follows with the players sorted by their totals through game 140.

 

Game   131      132      133      134      135      136      137      138      139      140

Maris   51        51        51        51        53        53        53        53        53        54

Ruth     44        46        47        49        49        49        49        50        51        52

Mantle  46        47        48        48        48        50        50        50        51        51

Gehrig  44        45        45        45        45        45        45        45        45        45

_________________________________________________

 

Game   141

 

Wednesday, September 14, 1927 - 3:30 PM Yankee Stadium

 

"Apparently little Miller Huggins is not going to give his regulars a rest before the World Series starts.  Yesterday he used all of his 'big guns' against the Indians…  Neither Babe Ruth nor Lou Gehrig came through with a home run." - William Hennigan, New York World - Thursday, September 15, 1927.

 

Yanks 4 (Reuther), Indians 1.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    99        41        1

 

Game   141

Maris   55

Ruth     52

Mantle  51

Gehrig  45

_________________________________________________

 

Game   142

 

Thursday, September 15, 1927 - 3:30 PM Yankee Stadium

 

"The Yankees missed their one hundredth victory of the season and Babe Ruth his fifty-third home run by a matter of five or six inches yesterday.  Ruth's near home run came in the fifth inning … Ruth hit a high drive into right field … and the crowd let out a yell … Homer Summa … rushed up against the bleachers and put his back against the screen.  As the ball descended, Summa leaped and caught it in his upstretched gloved hand.  It was quite a spectacular catch, and the crowd cheered.  Ruth hit the ball hard throughout the game.  In the third inning the big fellow hit another drive that Summa caught close to the bleachers.  In the eighth he swung viciously at a curve and rammed the ball into deep center … Ruth stopped at second with a double.  Gehrig followed with his lone single of the day, and Ruth scored." - William Hennigan, New York World - Friday, September 16, 1927.

 

Indians 3, Yanks 2 (Thomas).

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    99        42        1

 

Game   142

Maris   55

Ruth     52

Mantle  52

Gehrig  45

_________________________________________________

 

Game   143

 

Friday, September 16, 1927 - 3:30 PM Yankee Stadium

 

George Herman 'Babe' Ruth clouted his fifty-third home run and the Yankees scored their one hundredth victory of the season…  Ruth smashed the ball into the right filed bleachers in the third inning " - William Hennigan, New York World - Saturday, September 17, 1927.

 

"The scene is the Yankee dugout before yesterday's game…  Enter Babe Ruth with a new glove.  Huggins - Let me see that.  Why, you use a smaller glove than I did.  Ruth - Sure.  I like them small.  I'm going to break this one in for the series." - Frank Graham, New York Sun - Saturday, September 17, 1927.

 

Yanks 7 (Moore), White Sox 3.

 

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    100      42        1

1961    97        45        1

 

Game   143

Maris   56

Ruth     53

Mantle  52

Gehrig  45

_________________________________________________

 

Game   144

 

Saturday, September 17, 1927 - Yankee Stadium; first game of a doubleheader

 

"The Babe did a lot of walking, too much to suit the fans.  In the first game the spitball rivals, Shocker and Faber, had duel … Both veterans of the damp delivery were in form reminiscent of their best days.  In the third inning of the first game, Alex Metzler hit a fluke home run off Shocker.  With two out, Combs came in on Metzler's liner instead of making sure and playing it on the bounce.  But he was trying and not standing there like a wooden man, as Ruth did.  The $70,000 star was a 7-cent supernumerary on that play, and the hit became a homer because he didn’t back up Combs." - W.B. Hanna, New York Herald-Tribune - Sunday, September 18, 1927.

 

Yanks 3 (Shocker), White Sox 2 (Faber).

 

Sunday, September 10, 1961 - Yankee Stadium; first game of a doubleheader

 

Attendance: 57,824

 

Yanks 7 (Coates), Indians 6 (Locke).

           

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    101      42        1

1961    98        45        1

 

Game   144

Maris   56

Ruth     53

Mantle  52

Gehrig  45

_________________________________________________

 

Game   145

 

Saturday, September 17, 1927 - Yankee Stadium; second game of a doubleheader

 

Yanks 8 (Pennock), White Sox 1 (Connally).

 

Sunday, September 10, 1961 - Yankee Stadium; second game of a doubleheader

 

"Mickey Mantle edged back into the home run derby at the Stadium yesterday with his fifty-third homer of the year but Roger Maris, the pace-setter in the joint assault on Babe Ruth's record of sixty, remained stalled at fifty-six…

 

Mantle, trailing Maris by three as the thrilling home run derby moves into its final stages, is now two (wrong) games behind the Ruthian pace of 1927.  Maris, though held to two singles, one in each game yesterday, is still four games ahead of Ruth's timetable.

 

Yesterday's second game was the 144^th for the Yanks.  Ruth's fifty-third homer came in his 143d game.  His fifty-sixth was hit in his 149^th game.

 

Maris and Mantle now have ten games left if they are to match Ruth's record within the 154-game limit set by Commissioner Ford Frick.  Eighteen games remain on the yanks full schedule of 162 games.

 

Mantle's homer gave the M-squad a combined total of 109, which surpasses the combined Ruth-Gehrig total of 107 in 1927…  Jim Perry was the victim of Mantle's blast deep into the lower right-field stand in the third inning." - John Drebinger, New York Times - Monday, September 11, 1961.

 

"Yesterday's crowd gave the Yanks a total home attendance to date of 1,657,031.  That not only tops last year's figure, but is the highest home attendance for the Bombers since 1951 when the drew 1,950,107." - New York Times - Monday, September 11, 1961.

 

Attendance: 57,824

 

Yanks 9 (Daley), Indians 6 (Perry).

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    102      42        1

1961    99        45        1

 

The 1961 Yankees just swept five games from Cleveland and led Detroit by 11 1/2, Baltimore by 13 1/2 and Chicago by 20 1/2; their magic number was 8.

 

Game   145

Maris   56

Ruth     53

Mantle  53

Gehrig  45

 

"The Yankees have been doing some unabashed rooting of recent weeks…  Los Angeles has a seating capacity of more than 90,000, Cincinnati can accommodate 30,000 … this is baseball's last shot at a monstrous pay day because the Dodgers will move next year from monstrous O'Malley's Alley to tidy Chavez Ravine.  Playing the refugees from Ebbets Field rather than the Redlegs would mean at least $3,000 extra for each Yankee.  Both winning and losing shares would set records." - Arthur Daley, New York Times - Tuesday, September 12, 1961.

 

“With Maris and Mantle and Ralph Houk, the manager, missing, there was no fanfare as the Bombers left Penn Station (for Chicago).

 

The Yanks, now eleven and a half games in front of the second-place Detroit Tigers, had five ‘rooters’ on hand as some of the players departed.

 

The ‘rooters’ – all under 15 years of age – were looking for Maris and Mantle.  Roger and Mickey had a television commercial and will fly to Chicago today…

 

Houk boarded the train at Newark, along with Yogi Berra and other Yankees who make their homes in New Jersey...

 

The Wednesday night game in Baltimore, Sept. 20, will be game No. 154, the legal limit established by Ford Frick, commissioner of baseball, for Maris or Mantle to either tie or surpass Ruth’s 1927 home-run mark of sixty.

 

Maris, with fifty-six home runs, is four games ahead of the Babe’s mark, while Mantle, with fifty-three, trails Ruth’s pace by two games. ” - William Briordy - New York Times - Tueesday, September 12, 1961.

 

_________________________________________________

 

Game   146

 

Sunday, September 18, 1927 - Yankee Stadium; first game of a doubleheader

 

Yanks 2 (Pipgras), White Sox 1.

 

Tuesday, September 12, 1961 - Chicago Comiskey Park

 

“(Rain) brought a halt to the home-run duel between Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle … they have only nine games left if they are to reach the goal within the 154-game limit stipulated by baseball Commissioner Ford Frick, for record recognition…

 

Maris is three games ahead of Ruth’s record pace and Mantle is three games behind…

 

Mantle came close to hitting one in his second time up, in the second inning.  He stroked a powerful shot to dead center.  Jim Landis caught that one in front of the 415-foot mark.” – John Drebinger, New York Times - Wednesday, September 13, 1961.

 

“Chicago - Sept. 12 - Roger Maris is a forthright young man who speaks his piece, let’s the chips fall where they may and, possibly, would rather be right than the home run king of the majors.

 

In the unbearably hot dressing room where the Yankees awaited the official calling-off of tonight’s damp doings at Comiskey Park, Maris blamed Hank Soar, the plate umpire, for his failure to hit a homer in four attempts.

 

Maris insisted he was right and Soar was wrong at least times on strike calls during the abbreviated contest.  ‘I didn’t get to many strikes, yet they were being called strikes,’ Maris complained.  ‘I was swinging in self defense.’

 

‘Soar is usually a good umpire,’ he went on, ‘but he was off tonight.’

 

He went on:

 

‘In the second inning, he called a third strike against me, saying I had swung, although I checked my swing.  My body moved but the bat didn’t.  Then in the sixth, I was going to bunt, but the pitch was high and unbuntable, but he called that a strike too.’

 

Maris did not pinpoint the third time he felt Soar had erred.

 

Why would Maris, who now has only nine games left in which he can, in accordance with Commissioner Ford Frick’s ruling, catch or pass Ruth within 154, want to waste a pitch with a bunt?

 

‘Why not bunt?’ he countered.  ‘Bobby Richardson was at third, Tony Kubek on first, two were out and the infield was laying back.  A successful bunt would have squeezed over an important run…

 

Look, right now wining the pennant is as important to me as breaking that record.

 

It’ll be all right with me if, from now until the end of the season, we are rained out in the sixth inning of every ball game in which we are leading.’” - Louis Effrat, New York Times - Wednesday, September 13, 1961.

 

Attendance: 36,166

 

Yanks 4 (Terry), White Sox 3 (Pierce) – 6 innings.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    103      42        1

1961    100      45        1

 

Game   146

Maris   56

Ruth     53

Mantle  53

Gehrig  45

 

“In mid-July a flash flood in Baltimore washed out a Yankee-Orioles game before it had gone the legal distance and left it three outs short of going into the records as official.  Swept down the drain with it were homer No. 36 by Roger Maris and homer No. 34 by Mickey Mantle.  Each had to be smitten again at later dates.

 

‘I look on it like the big fish that got away,’ recently remarked a harassed and bedeviled Maris, trying to be nonchalant.  It may yet haunt him, though, because the vise is tightening…

 

Jimmy Foxx, down in his luck nowadays and refusing to submit to interviews, would be able to tell what it felt like to come close to Babe Ruth’s record of sixty and miss.  Old Double X hit fifty-eight in 1932.  But he also hooked a few ‘big ones that got away.’  If he won’t talk now, he spoke freely in happier days and some of the things he said then are still remembered.

 

‘I hit two home runs that year’ he said, ‘that were washed out by rain.  I also hit three off the screen in St. Louis and the screen wasn’t there when the Babe got his sixty.’

 

A fellow doesn’t have to be an expert at mathematics to be able to add a few simple figures.  The official Foxx total was fifty-eight.  Put atop that total the two washed-out homers and the three screened-out homers.  The result is sixty-three, not that you’ll ever find that number in any record books.

 

It almost seems that the gods want to protect Babe Ruth’s sacred sixty from sacrilege.  Perhaps the vaunted M boys, Maris and Mantle, will make that discovery themselves.” - Arthur Daley, - New York Times - Wednesday, September 13, 1961.

 

Arthur Daley needs a logic expert to help him examine this Foxx matter more thoughtfully.  Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis had a wall that was eleven and a half feet high.  On Friday, July 05, 1929 a twenty-one and a half foot screen was added from right center to right field making the total height 33 feet.  Foxx was a right-handed batter, so his primary field was left.  Foxx is claiming that in the 11 games that the As played in St. Louis in 1932 he hit THREE balls above the wall but off the screen.

 

More to the point, did Foxx or Daley want to compare the home parks of Ruth and Foxx where each played 77 games?

 

Name               Type    Left      LC       Center  RC       Right    City                  Year     Ave

Shibe                Park     334      405      420      390      307      Philadelphia      1932    371

Yankee                        Stadium            280      460      490      429      295      New York        1927    391

 

Left field increased in Shibe Park from 312 in 1927 to 334 in 1930.  The distances in Yankee Stadium were less in 1932; center field was reduced from 490 to 461.  Let’s match up their home park primary fields, left for Foxx and right for Ruth.

 

Line      Middle Center  Average

Shibe                Park     334      405      420      386

Yankee                        Stadium            295      429      490      405

 

How many more home runs did Ruth lose because of this difference?  And Foxx had the curving rule in his favor.  Daley’s implication that Foxx had a claim on 63 homers is silly.

 

“Chicago. Sept. 13 – … He (Hank Greenberg) is cognizant of the pressure, the anxiety, the loss of privacy and the myriad problems with which the Yankees’ M-squad is confronted.

 

In 1938, Greenberg walloped fifty-eight homers for the Detroit Tigers.  With five games remaining, he lloked like a cinch to crack Babe Ruth’s record of sixty…  Just about all the world figured that the Bronx-born Henry Greenberg would go all the way in his quest of Ruth’s record.  He didn’t.  Today, in a reminiscent mood, he told why:

 

‘Mostly, it was the pressure.  Not only was the pressure on me; it was on the pitchers too.  It was that same pressure that now is on Maris and Mantle.

 

What is pressure?  It’s the tension.  You fear time is running out.  You become impatient.  You become paralyzed at the plate.  You’re so fearful that you’re going to swing at a bad pitch, you wind up taking a good one.  Then you become so disgusted with yourself you start swinging at the bad pitches.’

 

Handsome Hank paused, then continued:

 

‘As for Maris and Mantle, I think one, both might, break Ruth’s record, but not in 154 games, the limit ruled by Comissioner Ford Frick.  If I were Maris or Mantle, I’d forget the 154-game ruling and concentrate on hitting sixty-one homers in 162 games.  If either breaks the record after the deadline  set by the commissioner, who’s going to deny them the honor?’

 

Standing near by, Ralph Kiner, who slugged fifty-four homers for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1949, seconded the motion.

 

‘ I think Maris has only a slim chance to break the record in 154 games.  Mantle none, but I think both will do it in 162, and if that happens the record will be recognized by the fans,’ Kiner said…

 

Greenberg was asked to compare the two members of the M-squad.

 

‘Such a comparison would be unfair,’ he said.  ‘Mantle is in the prime of his career, mature and secure.  Maris is approaching it.  Roger, who played for me when I was the general manager in Cleveland, must learn not to try to overpower the ball.  I believe the next five years will be his best…

 

In 1938 I had fifty-six homers in 148 games.  The next day I hit two and I figured I’d get three more easily.  I thought that with about twenty at bats to go and even if the pitchers would be extra careful, I’d still get about twenty-five good pitches to swing at.

 

Well, Bobo Newsome of the St. Louis Browns stopped me with only a double.  Then Howard Mills, a left-hander with the same team, held me to a long foul.  He was wild that day and walked me three times.

 

Against Denny Galehouse at Cleveland’s old League Park, I hit only a double.  That left me with only two games, one set for Saturday, the last one for Sunday.

 

But Saturday turned up cloudy and it was decided to call off that game and schedule a double-header for Sunday.  And in order to accommodate a big crowd, the double-header was switched to the bigger Municipal Stadium, which didn’t help me either.

 

In the first game, Bob Feller struck out eighteen, holding me to a double.  In the second game, I got three singles but we had no lights in those days and after six innings the game was called on account of darkness.  I lost a couple of times at bat because of it…

 

I was getting $35,000.  They offered me the same salary.  I had a helluva fight before I got a $5,000 raise.’” - Louis Effrat, New York Times - Thursday, September 14, 1961.

 

_________________________________________________

 

Game   147

 

Sunday, September 18, 1927 - Yankee Stadium; second game of a doubleheader

 

"The one and only George Herman Ruth … smacked his fifty-fourth in the fifth frame of the second game.  The clout was a ponderous one, landing far from the sight of any customer who sat in the stands.  When last seen it was travelling in the direction of the scoreboard." - Joseph Roberts, New York Morning Telegraph - Monday, September 19, 1927.

 

Yanks 5 (Hoyt), White Sox 1 (Lyons).

 

"Simply because they believe he packs the wallop, most of your Yankees pick Jack Dempsey to win from Gene Tunney in Chicago tomorrow night.  Among Dempsey's strongest boosters are the twin sons of swat, Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth.  'I've stuck with Dempsey in all his fights, and I'm sticking with him now,' the Babe declared.  'Dempsey packs the wallop - and the wallop counts in fighting as in baseball.'  'I'm for Dempsey,' Gehrig said.  'I believe Dempsey will wear Tunney down and put him away.'  Miller Huggins, the master strategist, is a Tunney man.  'Tunney is too fast, too clever,' Miller opines, 'He'll hold Dempsey off just like clever, smart pitching can stop the sluggers.'" - Ford Frick, New York Evening Journal - Wednesday, September 21, 1927.

 

Thursday, September 14, 1961 – Chicago Comiskey Park; first game of a doubleheader

 

Attendance: 18,120

 

White Sox 8 (Herbert), Yanks 3 (Sheldon)

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    104      42        1

1961    100      46        1

 

Game   147

Maris   56

Ruth     54

Mantle  53

Gehrig  45

_________________________________________________

 

Game   148

 

Wednesday, September 21, 1927 - 3:30 PM Yankee Stadium

 

"Babe Ruth's stupendous home run in the ninth inning ... saved the champions from a shutout.  Babe mauled Gibson, who had pitched the Yankees into complete submission, for a drive into the far angle of the right field bleachers…  Ruth's homer sent the crowd, which had been in a sour and sarcastic mood, home in a much better frame of mind.  The Yankees played fumbling, indolent baseball…  Ruth, by way of contrast with the others, went to the screen in the ninth inning and nabbed a big drive from little Jackie Tavener.  There was more action and style in that play than in all the rest of the home defense put together." - W.B. Hanna, New York Herald-Tribune  - Thursday, September 22, 1927.

 

Tigers 6 (Gibson), Yanks 1 (Reuther).

 

Thursday, September 14, 1961 – Chicago Comiskey Park; second game of a doubleheader

 

Attendance: 18,120

 

“… the mighty home run duel between Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle remained suspended for the third successive game.  Amid the cheers and jeers of 18,120 on-lookers, neither could poke a ball out of the playing field… the White Sox, trailing by two runs, battered Luis Arroyo, the Bombers ace reliever, for three runs in the last of the ninth…  As for Maris and Mantle, time continued to run out on them in their desperate bid to draw even with Babe Ruth’s 1927 record of sixty homers.  With neither hitting even one in any of the three games here, Maris stands at fifty-six and Mantle at fifty-three.

 

They now have only seven games remaining to reach their objective within the 154-game limit set by Commissioner Ford Frick.  Over the full season, however, they have fifteen games left.  Maris is still two games ahead of the Ruthian pace of 1927, but Mantle now trails by four games.

 

Maris never even came close to a homer today … Mantle went hitless in both games but smacked two towering flies.  One was caught in deep center in the first game, the other in front of the right-field stand in the second.” – John Drebinger, New York Times - Friday, September 15, 1961.

 

“Chicago, Sept. 14 – In the Yankees’ dressing room after he had gone hitless in seven official trips to the plate in today’s double-header with the Chicago White Sox, Mickey Mantle was ready to toss in the towel in his quest of a home run record.

 

‘I can’t make it, not even in 162 games,’ said Mickey, referring to the record sixty homers by Babe Ruth in the 154-game 1927 season.  ‘I figure if I could have been able to hit a couple here, I might have been able  to do it.  But I don’t think I can do it now.’

 

Roger Maris … did not appear so disappointed… With fifty-six homers, he is one ahead of Ruth’s pace.  His total covers 148 games, including a tie.  Ruth hit fifty-six in 149 games in his record year with the Bombers (the Yanks were not known as the Bronx Bombers in 1927).

 

Mantle said he had no excuses.  ‘I just didn’t hit a ball good all day’, he said.

 

‘Isn’t that always the way?’ Maris asked.  ‘The wind (25 miles per hour) favored a pull-hitter like me, but I didn’t really get under the ball in either game.’

 

With the Commissioner of Baseball and the president of the American League on opposite sides concerning the Yankee M-squad’s quest of the controversial home run record, a two-part question arises”

 

What’s going to be done about it and who’s going to do it?

 

Ford Frick, the commissioner, is holding out for 154 games as the span in which Maris and/or Mantle must hit sixty-one homers to be credited with a record.

 

Joe Cronin, the league president, insisted today that sixty-one homers at any stage of this 162-game season should be recognized as a record.

 

‘You don’t break the 100-meter record in the 100-yard dash,’ Frick told The Associated Press in reply to criticism by Cronin earlier in the day.  'There’ll be two records – the most home runs in a 162-game schedule and the most home runs in a 154-game schedule.’

 

Both sluggers were reluctant to get involved in any argument between the Commissioner and the league head.

 

‘I’d like to do it in 154 games,’ Maris said, ‘but I’ll be proud of whatever I get.’

 

Mantle said” ‘It really doesn’t matter to me, although all along I’ve said only 154 games should be recognized.’

 

There is a group of men to whom baseball records matter considerably.  It is the Major League Records Committee and it has been functioning since 1958.

 

This group, authorized by Frick, Cronin and Warren Giles, the National League president, is supposed to have the last word on records.

 

‘Why not let the records committee decide whether the home-run record must be broken within 154 or 162 games?’ some observers asked today.

 

Serving on that committee are Joe McKenney and Dave Grote of the American and National League public relations offices respectively; Seymour Siwoff of the Elias Statistical Bureau; Cliff Kachline of the Sporting News; John Drebinger of The New York Times; Dan Daniel of The New York World-Telegram and Sun and Joe Reichler of the Associated Press.

 

The records committee is scheduled to meet at Tampa, Fla. in December.  The question of the homer record time limit is certain to arise.

 

At least one member will resign if the committee is not empowered to make the decision.

 

‘I don’t care which way we vote, so long as we vote,’ he said.” – Louis Effrat, New York Times - Friday, September 15, 1961.

 

White Sox 4 (Kemmerer), Yanks 3 (Arroyo)

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    104      43        1

1961    100      47        1

 

Game   148

Maris   56

Ruth     55

Mantle  53

Gehrig  45

_________________________________________________

 

Game   149

 

Thursday, September 22, 1927 - 3:30 PM Yankee Stadium

 

"GENE TUNNEY KEEPS TITLE BY DECISION AFTER 10 ROUNDS; DEMPSEY INSISTS FOE WAS OUT IN THE 7^TH AND WILL APPEAL; 150,000 SEE CHICAGO FIGHT, MILLIONS LISTEN ON RADIO" - New York Times page 1 headline Friday, September 23, 1927.

 

"George Herman Ruth scored a clean knockout over the Detroit Tigers in the ninth round of their battle at the Stadium yesterday.  The decisive punch was a left-hand swing to the right field bleachers, and it landed so high and far that there was no chance for a claim of foul.  The Yankees were hanging on the ropes when Babe took his swing, and it took just that sort of punch to carry hem to victory…  The ball landed so far up in the bleachers that it cleared most of the spectators after it had passed the screen.

 

Babe had to fight his way through admiring fans as he made his jaunt down the last quarter from third base to the plate, all the time carrying his home run bat.

 

There was another fight to escape through the dugout, and Babe had to be careful not to spike any of his public as he made his way toward the showers.  Babe's hit registered the hundred  fifth victory of the year for the Yankees, tying the American League record.

 

Mark Koenig atoned for an earlier miscue by opening the home ninth with a clean single to right, and ten came the Bambino, hitless through four previous turns at the plate.  Ken Holloway was pitching, and Babe let the first two pitches glide by.  He swung at the third, hit one of his hardest and highest homers, and the Tigers started moving toward the clubhouse before the ball ever landed.  Right fielder Harry Heilman took one glance, saw there was no chance, and let it ride." - Bill Slocum, New York American - Fridaay, September 23, 1927.

 

"Lou Gehrig's big bat battered down another of the Babe's former major league records.  The Columbian hit a triple and a single yesterday, and each knocked in a run, giving Gehrig 172 runs batted in and beating Ruth's former mark by 2.  The Babe batted 170 runs in 1921, far more than anyone had ever done." - Fred Lieb, New York Post - Friday, September 23, 1927.

 

"Babe Ruth has taken … another movie role - not a starring part … Harold (Lloyd) is portraying a taxicab driver, in the film, who, like every other New Yorker, is an ardent Babe Ruth rooter.  The Bambino works with Lloyd mornings and is driven to Yankee Stadium in time for the big game every afternoon by Harold himself." - Irene Thirer, New York Daily News - Friday, September 23, 1927.

 

Yanks 8 (Pennock), Tigers 7 (Holloway).

 

Friday, September 15, 1961 – Detroit Tiger Stadium; first game of a twilight-night doubleheader

 

TV: 7:30 PM WPIX, channel 11

 

Attendance: 46,267

 

Detroit, Sept. 15 – “… the Bombers set a major league club record of 223 homers in a season… the former … mark of 221 set by the New York Giants an 1947 and equaled by the Cincinnati Reds in 1956.

 

(Maris) failed to get a hit in five times at bat … striking out twice…   (Mantle) stroked a powerful double to center … also drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to deep center.

 

Berra’s homer was the one that tied the major league club record of 221.  It was preceded by Mantle’s 440 foot double.

 

Three innings later Skowron cracked the record for the Yanks with his No. 25 …that made it 222 for the Yanks.” - John Drebinger, New York Times - Saturday, September 16, 1961.

 

Yanks 11 (Ford 24-3), Tigers 1 (Mossi 14-7).

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    105      43        1         

1961    101      47        1

 

Game   149

Ruth     56

Maris   56

Mantle  53

Gehrig  45

_________________________________________________

 

Game   150

 

Saturday, September 24, 1927 - 3:30 PM Yankee Stadium

 

Ruth had two singles, one walk, two strike outs.

 

Yanks 6 (Pipgras), Tigers 0.

 

Friday, September 15, 1961 – Detroit Tiger Stadium; second game of a twilight-night doubleheader

 

TV: 7:30 PM WPIX, channel 11

 

Detroit, Sept. 15 – … the major attraction that drew a crowd of 46,267 to Tiger Stadium proved a washout.  Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle for the fourth successive game, failed to connect for homers …

 

Maris, still stalled at fifty-six, had a miserable time… He went hitless in three more tries … before getting a single the last time up.

 

Mantle did little a better… he walked twice and hit another long fly to center before connecting with a single.

 

Maris and Mantle have only five games to draw even or surpass Babe Ruth’s record of sixty before the 154-game limit set by Commissioner Ford Frick runs out on them.  Thirteen games remain on the full Yankee schedule for the season.

 

In the fifth … Cletis Boyer stroked a homer into the lower left-field stand.  That, of course, set the Yankee  record at 223.

 

In the eighth , with one down, Maris and Mantle singled solidly to right for their only hits of the game.  The first time up Maris had gone out on a drive to right.  His next two tries resulted in infield grounders to the second baseman.

 

Mantle, walking the first two times up, hit a long drive in the sixth but it went to center where Billy Bruton hauled it down.” - John Drebinger, New York Times - Saturday, September 16, 1961.

 

Detroit, Sept. – “How does the man who has poled fifty-six homers and is still short of Babe Ruth’s record of sixty feel, now that he is even with the 1927 Ruthian pace?

 

Maris didn’t say.  In fact, Maris wouldn’t say anything.

 

Immediately after the Yankees had split the two games with the Tigers, an interrogation squad swarmed  into the visiting club’s dressing room.  This has been a daily – or nightly – procedure throughout this trip.

 

Maris always had made himself available for questioning.  Often it had been difficult to get him to stop talking.  Here it was different.

 

While Mickey Mantle answered all questions and volunteered information, Maris, the other half of the celebrated M-squad, remained in the trainer’s room and sulked.

 

A club spokesman said Roger had told him that from now on he was going to stay in the trainer’s quarters until the questioners left.  According to the spokesman, Maris’ reason was that he was ‘being ripped by writers in every city’.

 

This was a decided switch the Maris who had talked and talked and talked earlier in the day.  Certainly, he was not the same Maris who had refused to count himself out of the chase for the home run record this afternoon.

 

Nor was he the same Maris who had insisted that Mantle, his team-mate, room-mate and co-conspirator in their double-pronged assault on Ruth’s mark, should not have done so last night at Chicago.

 

‘I may not do a thing here over the week-end, but I’m going to keep on thinking I may break the record until I have exhausted every chance,’ Maris said this afternoon.

 

‘Mickey is too good a hitter , too great a competitor to have conceded.  I don’t think he’s out of it at all.  No sir, I don’t count myself out and I can’t count out Mickey,’ Maris added.

 

It was no hardship to get Mantle to talk after the game.

 

‘I had a lot of good balls to hit tonight,’ Mickey said affably.  ‘I hit some of them good, too,but I didn’t get enough lift.  I want to know how the Tigers got Ronnie Kline out of the National League.  He looks like a good pitcher to me.’” - Louis Effrat, New York Times - Saturday, September 16, 1961.

 

Attendance: 46,267

 

Tigers 4 (Kline 7-8), Yanks 2 (Daley 11-17).

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    106      43        1

1961    101      48        1

 

1961 Yanks led Detroit by ten and a half games.  Magic number is four.

 

Game   150

Ruth     56

Maris   56

Mantle  53

Gehrig  45

 

For games 141 through 150 the home run totals have been distributed as follows with the players sorted by their totals through game 150.

 

Game   141      142      143      144      145      146      147      148      149      150

Ruth     52        52        53        53        53        53        54        55        56        56

Maris   55        55        56        56        56        56        56        56        56        56

Mantle  51        52        52        53        53        53        53        53        53        53

Gehrig  45        45        45        45        45        45        45        45        45        45

_________________________________________________

 

Game   151

 

Sunday, September 25, 1927 - 3:30 PM Yankee Stadium

 

"The Babe hit no homers … Ruth now has only four games in which to equal or surpass his 1921 mark of 59…  this is not altogether impossible… Ruth did nothing … yesterday, due chiefly to … the left-handed pitching of Earl Whitehill … The Babe came up five times.  He struck out, bounced to the box, singled to center, and walked twice.  Lou Gehrig was even less impressive.  He singled, grounded out, and then fanned three times in a row." - John Drebinger, New York Times - Monday, September 26, 1927.

 

"The Babe roamed into the right filed corner yesterday and chucked out Johnny Bassler trying to stretch a single.  The Babe throws out a lot of 'em trying stretch singles." - W.B. Hanna, New York Herald-Tribune - Monday, September 26, 1927.

 

Attendance: 25,000

 

Tigers 6 (Whitehill), Yanks 1(Hoyt).

 

Saturday, September 16, 1961 - Detroit Tiger Stadium

 

Detroit, Sept. 16 – “Roger Maris, stalled for a full week, finally regained his rhythmic stroke today and connected for his fifty-seventh homer of the year.

 

The blow, which could spark a belated rush, put the Yankee slugger within three of Babe Ruth’s 1927 mark of sixty.  Maris has four games remaining if he is to catch up with that record within the 154-game limit set by Commissioner Ford Frick.  There are, however, twelve games remaining on the Yankee schedule.

 

Maris is now two games ahead of Ruth’s record-setting pace.  His homer today came in the Yanks’ 150^th decision.  Ruth’s fifty-seventh homer came in the 152d…

 

Faced by their arch tormentor, Frank Lary, Detroit’s crack right-hander … It was Lary’s twenty-first mound triumph of the year and was achieved in his twenty-first complete game.  It also marked his fourth victory over the Bombers this year against two defeats.  His career won-lost record against the Yankees now stands at 27-10…

 

One of the few sluggers who didn’t hit a home run today was Mickey Mantle.  He remains stalled at fifty-three for the season.  He did, however, distinguish himself with a sensational running catch that prevented the Tigers from piling up a few more runs in the sixth inning…

 

The game was only a few minutes old when the fans got their first thrill.  After Bobby Richardson had opened with a single and advanced to second on Tony Kubek’s sacrifice, Maris drew a walk.

 

Mantle followed with a low, powerful drive toward right that for a moment threatened to go into the lower stand.  The ball did not have quite enough carry, however, and the agile Kaline, who has been doing some brilliant fielding in this series, hauled it in with a leaping catch…

 

In the third, however, Maris hit his long-awaited fifty-seventh homer and with one rhythmic swing the Yanks had drawn even…  Roger sent the ball crashing off the front facing of the roof atop the upper deck in right center.  That tied the score, but not for long…

 

In the fifth … (with Kubek on third) Lary really poured it on.  He retired Maris on a pop fly back of short and fanned Mantle for the second time.” - John Drebinger, New York Times - Sunday, September 17, 1961

 

Detroit, Sept. 16 – “Roger Maris was not jumping for joy in the Yankees’ dressing room … It was, in fact, difficult to tell whether the home-run leader of the majors had gone hitless …

 

Not even the disclosure that, with today’s homer, Maris had surpassed the highest National League total (fifty-six by Hack Wilson of the Chicago Cubs in 1930) succeeded in drawing a smile from the not-so-jolly Roger.

 

There was one obvious change, however.  At least Maris was talking again… It was a change from late last night and early today when he was irate over abusive fans here.

 

The 27-year-old Maris, apparently tired and speaking barely above a whisper, said that today’s homer was hit of a fast ball, the first one Lary threw to him in the strike zone.

 

He said that the feeling that accompanied the tremendous drive, which traveled 370 feet or more feet toward right, slammed hard against the slanted roof eighty-two feet above the ground and bounced back into the playing area in right center, was no different from the feeling he had had fifty-six times previously this year.

 

Yes, he was thankful that Al Kaline, the Tiger right fielder, had retrieved the ball and thrown it into the visiting team’s dugout, a little something to be added to Maris’ mementos.  ‘It was nice for Al …’” - Louis Effrat, New York Times - Sunday, September 17, 1961.

 

“‘Roger needed a homer today,’ Mantle said.  ‘He got it and I think it will give him a big lift.  I also think he has a helluva shot at the record.  If he can get another one here tomorrow, he’ll go into Baltimore needing only two to tie, three to beat Ruth’s sixty within the 154-game limit set by Commissioner Ford Frick.  I think he’ll be in position to do it inside the first three games in Baltimore.’ …

 

 Only three men in the history of major league baseball have belted more homers than Maris.  Jimmie Foxx of the Philadelphia Athletics in 1932 and Hank Greenberg of the 1938 Tigers each hit fifty-eight.  Ruth smashed fifty-nine in 1921 and six years later accounted for the mark that still exists.

 

Is Maris excited?  Inwardly, perhaps.  On the surface, he appears bored or rather tries to appear bored.  Wanna bet?” - New York Times - Sunday, September 17, 1961.

 

Attendance: 35,820

 

Tigers 10 (Lary), Yanks (Terry)

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    106      44        1

1961    101      49        1

 

Game   151

Maris   57

Ruth     56

Mantle  53

Gehrig  45

 

"Babe Ruth's 1927 showing is the most remarkable feat of a remarkable career.  If he is swinging against soft pitching, how about the others?  For that matter, the National League has had more home runs than the American, but no one in the National League is more than half way p to Ruth.

 

The only way to account for his latest showing after 14 years of service is his love for the game.  The Babe could never buy as much fun with a million dollars as he gets out of baseball.  He will be a lost soul when his career is over, for nothing else will ever take baseball's place in his walloping existence." - Grantland Rice, New York Herald-Tribune - Tuesday, September 27, 1927.

_________________________________________________

 

Game   152

 

Tuesday, September 27, 1927 - 3:30 PM Yankee Stadium

 

"Sticking grimly to his task, which calls for a homer a game if the record is to fall, Babe Ruth collided violently with a well-pitched ball game yesterday and arched it high up in the right field bleachers.  It was an imposing wallop, coming in the sixth inning with the bases full and lefty Grove pitching.

 

When the Babe connected, there came a tremendous roar from the 15,000 throats.  Clearing the bases made it an ever greater spectacle, for, strange to relate, the greatest manufacturer of home runs has not often done this sort of thing. (grand slam homer)

 

There was another homer yesterday, in the fourth inning, by Lou Gehrig, who suddenly recalled that he too is supposed to be a swatter of considerable proportions.  This was his first since September 6, in Fenway Park. (game 132)

 

Incidentally, The Yanks broke another record yesterday.  By scoring 7 runs they ran their quota for the year to 952, breaking the record of 948 runs, made by the Yanks in 1921." - John Drebinger, New York Times - Wednesday, September 28, 1927.

 

Attendance: 15,000

 

Yanks 7 (Pennock), Athletics 4 (Grove).

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    107      44        1         

 

Game   152

Maris   58

Ruth     57

Mantle  53

Gehrig  46

_________________________________________________

 

Game   153

 

Thursday, September 29, 1927 - 3:30 PM Yankee Stadium

 

"Arriving at the conclusion that he ought not to keep a palpitating world in suspense any longer, George Herman Ruth crashed out 2 home runs yesterday and with these powerful thrusts drew abreast of his own major league seasonal record of 59.  The Babe has two more games in which to shatter the mark.

 

These two blows helped annihilate the Senators, but no one gave much thought to the Senators.  They were there merely for scenic effect.

 

Geared to what seemed his highest pitch, Babe lost no time closing in on the record, which he relentlessly has pursued through the past month.  The fifty-eighth came in the first inning off Horace Lisenbee, with two out and no one on base.  Horace had two strikes on the Babe and quite craftily was trying to curve over a third one when Ruth struck that one in the right field bleachers.  It was a low, winging drive that went up only a few rows.

 

Then the fifty-ninth!  That, countrymen, was a wallop.  It came in the fifth with Paul Hopkins pitching and was an almost exact duplicate of the fifty-seventh, delivered with the base full!

 

The ball landed half way up the right field bleacher, and though there were only 7,500 eyewitnesses, the roar they sent up could hardly have been drowned out had the spacious stands been packed to capacity.  The crowd fairly rent the air with shrieks and whistles as the bulky monarch jogged majestically around the bases, doffed his cap, and shook hands with Lou Gehrig, who was waiting to take his turn at bat.

 

Nor were the all the thrills the babe provided his onlookers.  Actually, he came perilously close to hitting four circuit smashes…

 

With Lisenbee still on the mound, Ruth hit a terrific liner to right center … (which) would easily have cleared into the bleachers had it been pulled a trifle more to right.  It struck the barrier at the extreme left wing of the bleacher and went for a triple.  (Right center in 1927 was 433; in 1961 it was 407.)

 

On his final turn at bat in the seventh he sent right fielder Red Barnes with his back to the wire screening in front of the same bleacher to pull down a soaring fly.  A foot or two more of distance, and a new record would already be established." - John Drebinger, New York Times - Fridaay, September 30, 1927.

 

Attendance: 7,500

 

Yanks 15 (Shocker), Senators 4 (Lisenbee).

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    108      44        1

 

Game   153

Ruth     59

Maris   58

Mantle  53

Gehrig  46

_________________________________________________

 

Game   154

 

Friday, September 30, 1927 - 3:30 PM Yankee Stadium

 

"Well, The Babe went and did it!  Ten thousand fans shouted themselves hoarse when a terrific clout from George Ruth's bat sailed into the right field bleachers for the big fellow's sixtieth home run.

 

It is doubtful if anyone in that crowd ever will live to see another player hit his sixtieth home run in a 154-game season.

 

The home run was made off Tom Zachary, the veteran lefthander, and let no one get the idea that Tom was giving Ruth any of the better of it.

 

Ruth had been pecking away at Zachary throughout the game.  Tom walked him on four straight balls in the first, and the crowd hooted and hissed.  The big fellow singled in the fourth and sixth and scored both of New York's early runs.  With the score tied 2-2, Koenig tripled with one out in the eighth. Zachary threw one ball and one strike to Ruth, and then the Babe swung, and another baseball sped to that favorite home run zone, the right field bleachers.

 

The demonstration which followed was the greatest seen in New York in years.  Everybody was on his feet, cheering and yelling.  It sounded like one of those Al Smith demonstrations at the last Democratic convention, but this was all spontaneous.

 

When Ruth went out to his position in the eighth it started all over again.  This time the right field bleacherites welcomed their own and started a new demonstration which was a demonstration" - Fred Lieb, New York Post - Saturday, October 01, 1927.

 

"As the mighty Babe galloped around the base paths, the stands became one tumultuous ovation.  Nothing like it has been seen since the Stadium was built.  It exceeded the outburst that greeted Bob Meusel's hit that made the Yanks the world champions in 1923.  It rivalled anything that Broadway has ever given a visiting celebrity.  No star of the grat White Way was ever acclaimed so fervently.  Even the veteran newspapermen, whose calloused souls have been accustomed to such demonstrations, stopped their typewriters, rose to their feet, and applauded.

 

The players chorused their approval.  They jumped to their feet as the ball descended among the bleacherites, and they stamped their feet and slapped each other on the back.

 

The final thrill came as the Babe started for the dugout after catching Walter Johnson's (pinch hitting for Zachary ) fly in the ninth.  Fans scaled the bleacher screen and ran after the Babe; they came from the boxes and the grandstand.  And as the Babe was wending his way to the dugout, those persons, among them millionaires and newsboys, slapped him on the back.  And the Babe liked it." - Charles Segar, New York Daily News - Saturday, October 01, 1927.

 

"In the clubhouse Ruth was running around like the big kid that he is.

 

'No, I didn't think I could do it from the start of the season,'  he answered over the din.  'The first time I believed I had a chance to make it was in Boston early this month, when I socked three in those two games and went ahead of Lou.  (Three in a doubleheader and two more in the next game.  After game 131 Ruth and Gehrig were tied at 44; after game 134 Ruth led 49 to 45)  We had the pennant pretty well cinched and I could afford to do a little hitting for myself.  It was then that I got busy.

 

'The record didn't mean anything to me until I really had a good chance to make it.  You remember how I tried to bat right handed against Joe Pate in Philadelphia on May 31 when we knocked the A's cockeyed?  Well, I've kicked myself for that ever since, because I had two that day and then started kidding, but we had the game won, and that's all I was concerned about.  Then in Chicago the last time I spent a lot of time trying to bat to left field to cross them up.  I did, and we won.

 

'Will I ever break this again?  I don't know and don't care, but if I don't I know who will.  Wait till that bozo over there (pointing to Gehrig) gets waded into them again and they may forget that a guy named Ruth ever lived.'

 

If the world forgets that a guy named Ruth lived, it will be due to universal amnesia." - Arthur Mann, New York Evening World - Saturday, October 01, 1927.

 

"They could no more have stopped Babe Ruth from hitting the home run that gave him a new record than you could halt a locmotive by sticking your foot out.  Once he had 59, Number 60 was as sure as the rising sun.  A more determined athlete than George Herman Ruth never lived.  Ruth is like that.  He is one of the few utterly dependable news stories in sports.  When the crisis arises he never fails to supply the yarn.  A child of destiny is George Herman.  He moves in his orbit like a planet.

 

Succumb to the power and romance of this man.  Drop your cynicism and feel the athletic marvel that this big, uncouth fellow has accomplished.

 

Never mind the high fly business and the grooved ball stuff.  The last two home runs that Ruth hit, the one that tied and the one that broke the record, won ball games.  Do you think any pitcher would be sap enough to lay one down the gutter with a game depending on it, even one that didn't count?  They all count in the pitcher's records.

 

That high fly stuff doesn't go either.  When Ruth conks one it stays conked.  Of all the home runs I have seen him hit, only one could be called a high fly, and it was so doggone high that no outfielder in the world could have snagged it.  It went so blinkin' high that it looked like one of those things they drop off the Flatiron Building for a publicity stunt.  The rest of them went sailing up into the bleachers on a line.

 

I get a tremendous kick out of that egg.  I like to have illusions about him.  I like to believe that everything about him is on the level.  I don't trust many things in sports, but Ruth I do, and I still get that silly feeling in my throat when he conks one.  I'm ticked silly over his breaking the record." - Paul Gallico, New York Daily News - Saturday, October 01, 1927.

 

"The ball which became Homer 60 was caught by Joe Forner of 1937 First Avenue, Manhattan.  He is 40 years old and has been following baseball for 35.  As soon as the game was over, he rushed to the dressing room to let the Babe know who had the ball." - New York Times - Saturday, October 01, 1927.

 

Attendance: 10,000

 

Yanks 4 (Pennock), Senators 2 (Zackery). Pipgras started.  Time of game - 1:35.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    109      44        1

 

Game   154

Ruth     60

Maris   58

Mantle  53

Gehrig  46

_________________________________________________

 

Game   155

 

Saturday, October 01, 1927 - 3:30 PM Yankee Stadium

 

"In the presence of 20,000 fans, hopeful of seeing Babe Ruth add another clout to his home run record, the Yankees closed their American League season by winning, but the Babe hit no home run.

 

Urged by the crowd, the Babe tried hard to oblige, but it was just not in the cards.  A left-hander, Robert Burke, passed him the first time, held him to a soaring pop fly to right field in the third and an infield out in the fifth, and in the eighth, with another left-hander, E. Garland Braxton, on the mound, Ruth's last official act of the season was a strike-out.

 

The crowd did see Lou Gehrig end the campaign with a parting shot into the right field bleachers, and they saw the league champions wind up the season with a total of 110 victories, a new (league) record." - John Drebinger, New York Times - Sunday, October 02, 1927.

 

The 1927 Yankees broke the record set by the 1912 Boston Red Sox who won 105 and lost 47.  In 1954 the Cleveland Indians set a new American League record with 111 wins.  The major league record is 116 by the 1906 Chicago Cubs; the Cubs lost 36 for a winning percentage of .763.  The 1909 Pittsburgh Pirates won 110 and lost 42.

 

"Supposedly 'over the hill', slipping down the steps of Time, stumbling toward the discard, six years past his peak, Babe Ruth stepped out and hung up a new record at which all the sport world may stand and wonder.  What Big Bill Tilden couldn't do on the tennis court, Babe Ruth has done on the diamond.  What Dempsey couldn't do with his fists, Ruth has done with his bat.  He came back.

 

Put it in the book in letters of gold.  It will be a long time before any one betters that home-run mark, and a still longer time before any aging athlete makes such a gallant and glorious charge over the comeback trail." - John Kieran, New York Times - Sunday, October 02, 1927.

 

Attendance: 20,000

 

Yanks 4 (Moore), Senators 3.

 

Yanks  Wins    Losses  Ties

1927    110      44        1

 

Game   155

Ruth     60

Maris   59

Mantle  53

Gehrig  47

 

For games 151 through 155 the home run totals have been distributed as follows with the players sorted by their totals through game 155.

 

Game   151      152      153      154      155

Ruth     56        57        59        60        60

Maris   57        58        58        58        59

Mantle  53        53        53        53        53

Gehrig  45        46        46        46        47

 

"A visit to the Yankee dressing room before the final game of the season revealed many interesting things… Babe Ruth does not wear long woolen winter undies … Fascinated, your investigator watched George Herman Ruth divest himself of his street attire … With interest he noted the intricate ceremony of putting on a pair of baseball pants.  Picture George Herman Ruth garbed as follows: His baseball shirt is on, so are his sliding pads.  He has donned the white sox and long woolen hose.  Only his pants are absent…  he proceeded to roll pant end and stocking together as deftly as any lady …

 

I remarked to Ruth that he rather sneaked up on his record.  It had all been so sudden.

 

'Yeah,' said Ruth, 'I did.  I'll say I sneaked up on it.  Say, kid, I never thought I could do it.  You'll say you're gonna do a thing because everybody expects you to, but I just didn't think it could be done.'

 

O, is Herman proud of that beautiful string of sixty!

 

'And.' I said, 'they weren't grooving them for you, either.'

 

Here the Babe said something Ruthian that I cannot print, and he went on to say that if anything the pitchers worked harder on him.  "What about that one I hit off Grove with the bases full?' he asked.  'That feller would rather lose $100 than have me do that to him.'

 

A small boy at this juncture claimed Ruth's attention with worshipping eyes, so he lost interest in me." - Paul Gallico, New York Daily News - Monday, October 03, 1927.

_________________________________________________

 

Game 163

 

For games 155 through 163 the home run totals have been distributed as follows with the players sorted by their totals through game 155.

 

Game   155      156      157      158      159      160      161      162      163

Ruth     60                                                                                           

Maris   59        59        59        59        60        60        60        60        61

Mantle  53        53        54        54        54        54        54        54        54

Gehrig  47                                                                                           

_________________________________________________

 

 

 

Game 154?

 

 

 

Maris: "As far as Mr. Frick is concerned I only have one game left to break the record.  As far as I'm concerned I still have nine games left."

 

Prior to game 155 (154) Houk says Maris said to him: "Ralph, I don't feel good.  I'm not playing."  "and kind of crying" … I said, "Hey, Roger, you gotta play… you start the game, and after an inning or two I'll take you out if you want.  We can say you're sick." … we clinched the pennant

 

After game Maris: "The commissioner makes the rules.  If he says all I'm entitled to is an asterisk, that's all right with me.  I'm happy with what I got."

 

Frick: "There will be no asterisk in the record book - just a double listing.  As for that asterisk, or star, I don't know how that popped up because I never said it.  I certainly never meant to belittle Maris.  I feel he should end up with more than 60… I'm certain we'll go back to the 154-game schedule."  He expected four more teams to be added soon, possibly with realignment into three eight team leagues or two 12 team leagues.  The eight team leagues would simply go back to the old formula: 7 * 22 = 154.  Games in a 12 team league would be: 11 * 14 = 154.

 

However, those four new teams were not added until 1969 and by then Frick was gone and  the owners liked the extra revenue from the extra games.  They therefore decided to split the 12 team leagues into two 6 team divisions and add even more games in the form of a five game playoff.  In 1977 the American League added two more teams to reach 14.  In 1985 that playoff was expanded to seven games.  In 1994 a preliminary five game playoff round was added along with a third division.  In 1993 the National League added two more teams to reach 14. In 1998 the National League added two more teams to reach 16.  What a mess.  The old 154 game balanced schedule never had much chance of returning with that type of leadership.  The stigma of the phantom asterisk would gradually fade over the years.  Baseball had bigger problems.

 

Milwaukee Journal headline: "60 Too Late" - AP story: "Roger Maris blasted his 60^th homer of the season Tuesday night, but it came four official games too late to officially tie Babe Ruth's 34-year-old record in 154 games."

 

Claire Ruth in the New York Journal American: "That was one record I didn't want to see broken.  I have the highest regard for Roger Maris.  He is a fine hitter.  But the Babe loved that record and he wanted to be known as the king of home runs forever."

 

Maris left the park the next day.  Houk to the press: Roger's exhaustion isn't physical, it's mental… It's all new to him, he hasn't been trained for it

 

Game 159: After hitting #60 Maris said: "This is easily the greatest thrill of my life."

 

Game 163: Ford: "Except for Stafford, about the whole pitching staff was in the bullpen.  We all wanted a crack at catching the ball and getting the $5,000."  Maris had told them: "If you catch the ball, don't throw it to me.  Hang on to it.  It's worth five grand."

 

After

 

The Yankees won the World Series in both 1927 and 1961, vindicating their bitter defeats of the previous years.  They would win again in 1928 and 1962.  Ruth hit three in game four alone in 1928 as he had done in game four in 1926; both times it was against the St. Louis Cardinals.

 

In the 1927 World Series Ruth homered in game three and game four, both at Yankee Stadium.  If those four games were added to the Yankee's regular season total of 155 then Ruth's 1927 available games would be 159 to Maris's 1961 total of 163.  Ruth 's home run total would be 62 to Maris's 61.  Just a thought.  Maris did hit the game winning homer in game four in the 1961 World Series which went five games.

 

Here is Babe Ruth's reacton prior to the start of the 1927 World Series in Pittsburgh, upon first seeing future Hall of Fame Pirates, brothers Lloyd and Paul Waner: "'They're just kids,' he said in amazement.  'If I was that little I'd be afraid of getting hurt.'" - New York Times - Tuesday, October 04, 1927.

 

"It is no reflection on the courage of the Pirates to say that one factor of their World Series defeat was a decided inferiority complex.  They weren't afraid of the Yanks; they simply were abashed by them.  In the utterances of two Pirates just before the Series opened could be read their attitude.

 

'Gee!' said Lloyd Waner to Paul, as he gazed upon Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig for the first time.  'They're big guys!

 

'Holy smoke!' said Emile Yde as he saw Ruth hammer a ball over the center field fence (462 feet) at Forbes Field (Pittsburgh) during batting practice.  'Does he do that very often?'

 

… there was the moment when players of both teams streamed through the narrow passage leading to the dressing rooms at the Stadium after the third game.  Ruth was almost the last Yank to appear, and he stalked through a mass of Pittsburgh players.

 

'Well!' he shouted to a group of newspaper men.  'One more game will wind it up.'

 

 Unbelievable as it sounds, there wasn't a murmur from the Pirates.  One cannot imagine the Babe pulling a crack like that in front of the Giants, for instance, and getting away with it…  The Pirates heard him in silence, and by their silence gave assent." - Frank Graham, New York Sun - Monday, October 10, 1927.

 

Mickey in batting practice prior to the 1961 Ruth said.

 

The modern Most Valuable Player (MVP) award did not start until 1931.  Ruth would probably have won it in 1927 but a very good case can be made for Gehrig.  Here are the American League leaders in the four major batting categories.  Dominating in these categories usually means an MVP award.

 

Last                  First     Team    HR

Ruth                 Babe    NY      60

Gehrig              Lou      NY      47

Lazzeri             Tony    NY      18

Williams           Ken      StL       17

Simmons          Al         Phi       15

 

Last                  First     Team    BA

Heilmann          Harry   Det       .398

Simmons          Al         Phi       .392

Gehrig              Lou      NY      .373

Fothergill          Bob      Det       .359

Cobb               Ty        Phi       .357

Combs             Earle    NY      .356

Ruth                 Babe    NY      .356

 

Last                  First     Team    RBI

Gehrig              Lou      NY      175

Ruth                 Babe    NY      164

Goslin               Goose  Was     120

Heilmann          Harry   Det       120

Fothergill          Bob      Det       114

 

Last                  First     Team    Runs

Ruth                 Babe    NY      158

Gehrig              Lou      NY      149

Combs             Earle    NY      137

Gehringer         Charlie Det       110

Heilmann          Harry   Det       106

Cobb               Ty        Phi       104

 

I use a simple point system: 5 for first, 4 for second, 3 for third, 2 for fourth and 1 for fifth.  I considered assigning more points for first but decided that this more conservative approach would be easier to understand and accept.  The maximum is 20 points.  Here are the top batters of 1927 using this method.

 

1927    Gehrig  Ruth     Heilmann          Simmons

HR       4          5          0                      1

BA       3          0          5                      4

RBI      5          4          4                      0

Runs     4          5          1                      0

Total    16        14        10                    5

 

Here again is the simple formula which shows the number of runs that a player was involved in producing: Runs + RBI - HR.  Home runs are subtracted so that the same run is not counted twice because a player gets credit for both a Run and RBI when a homer is hit.  Two hundred runs represents a monster season.  Here are the top ten American League players in 1927.

 

Last                  First     Team    Runs     RBI      HR       Pro

Gehrig              Lou      NY      149      175      47        277

Ruth                 Babe    NY      158      164      60        262

Heilmann          Harry   Det       106      120      14        212

Goslin               Goose  Was     96        120      13        203

Fothergill          Bob      Det       93        114      9          198

Combs             Earle    NY      137      64        6          195

Cobb               Ty        Phi       104      93        5          192

Manush                        Heinie   Det       102      90        6          186

Simmons          Al         Phi       86        108      15        179

Sisler                George StL       87        97        5          179

 

Here are the big four category leaders in 1961.

 

Last                  First     Team    HR

Maris               Roger   NY      61

Mantle              Mickey NY      54

Gentile              Jim       Bal       46

Killebrew         HarmonMin      46

Colavito           Rocky  Det       45

Cash                Norm   Det       41

 

Last                  First     Team    BA

Cash                Norm   Det       .361

Howard            Elston   NY      .348

Kaline              Al         Det       .324

Piersall             Jim       Cle       .322

Mantle              Mickey NY      .317

 

Last                  First     Team    RBI

Maris               Roger   NY      142

Gentile              Jim       Bal       141

Colavito           Rocky  Det       140

Cash                Norm   Det       132

Mantle              Mickey NY      128

Killebrew         HarmonMin      122

 

Last                  First     Team    Runs

Maris               Roger   NY      132

Mantle              Mickey NY      132

Colavito           Rocky  Det       129

Cash                Norm   Det       119

Kaline              Al         Det       116

 

I use a simple point system: 5 for first, 4 for second, 3 for third, 2 for fourth and 1 for fifth.  I considered assigning more points for first but decided that this more conservative approach would be easier to understand and accept.  The maximum is 20 points.  Here are the top batters of 1961 using this method.

 

1961    Maris   Mantle  Cash    Colavito           Gentile

HR       5          4          0          1                      3

BA       0          1          5          0                      0

RBI      5          1          2          3                      4

Runs     5          4          1          3                      0

Total    15        10        8          7                      7

 

Here again is the simple formula which shows the number of runs that a player was involved in producing: Runs + RBI - HR.  Home runs are subtracted so that the same run is not counted twice because a player gets credit for both a Run and RBI when a homer is hit.  Two hundred runs represents a monster season.  Here are the top ten American League players in 1961.

 

Last                  First     Team    Runs     RBI      HR       Pro

Colavito           Rocky  Det       129      140      45        224

Maris               Roger   NY      132      142      61        213

Cash                Norm   Det       119      132      41        210

Mantle              Mickey NY      132      128      54        206

Gentile              Jim       Bal       96        141      46        191

Kaline              Al         Det       116      82        19        179

Killebrew         HarmonMin      94        122      46        170

Minoso             Minnie  Chi       91        82        14        159

Allison              Bob      Min      83        105      29        159

Francona          Tito      Cle       87        85        16        156

 

Here is the 1961 MVP voting.

 

Last      First     Team    Pos      Tot

Maris   Roger   NY      OF       202

Mantle  Mickey NY      OF       198

Gentile  Jim       Bal       1B        157

Cash    Norm   Det       1B        151

Ford     Whitey NY      P          102

 

From 1961 through 1968 MVP points were awarded as follows.  14 points for a first place vote.  Then 2nd - 9, 3rd - 8, 4th - 7, 5th - 6, 6th - 5, 7th - 4, 8th - 3, 9th - 2, 10th - 1.  There were two writers, not three as in the preceding 23 years, associated with the ten teams, not eight.  Therefore, the maximum number of points that a player could get was 280 (14*2*10), not 336 (14*3*8).

 

For the second year in a row, Maris edged out Mantle.

 

Maris - 31 on road, Skowron 21.  Only Berra and Blanchard hit more HRs at home in 1961.

 

Maris - 49 v righthanders, 12 v lefthanders

 

Mantle - 42 v righthanders, 12 v lefthanders

 

Homers per AL team increased 12% from 136 to 153 in 1961.

 

Homers per NL team increased 15% from 130 to 150 in 1961.

 

Maris had 133 homers from 1960 through 1962, more than Aaron, Greenberg, Jackson, Williams, Ott, McCovey, Wilson, Schmidt.

 

Creamer: "His teammates admired DiMaggio; they loved Mantle."

 

Houk: "Roger was unpopular because the fans wanted Mantle to break the record, and I guess the press did too, though it really wasn't until Maris came along that Mickey became a hero."

 

1927 World Series ticket prices: $6, $5, $3, $1; same as in 1926.  Game times 1:30 except Sunday - 2:00.

 

World Series winners shares:

 

Ruth     $70,000.00      $5,592.17       8%

Gehrig  $7,500.00        $5,592.17       75%

Mantle  $75,000.00      $7,389.13       10%

Maris   $38,000.00      $7,389.13       19%

 

On Wednesday, January 04, 1928 Gehrig signed a three year contract for $25,000 per season.  He then bought a house in New Rochelle and moved there with his parents.

 

After Ruth's three year contract expired, he signed a new two year deal increasing his salary to $80,000 for 1930 and 1931.  This was during the depression.

 

Gehrig's number was the first retired, as his uniform and locker were retired by the Yankees right around New Year's Day, 1940.

 

Huggins died of erysipelas on Wednesday, September 25, 1929

 

 

Monuments:

 

Huggins: Monday, May 30, 1932, 978 days after his death.

 

Gehrig: Friday, July 04, 1941, 32 days after his death.

 

Ruth: Tuesday, April 19, 1949, 246 days after his death.

 

Mantle: Sunday, August 25, 1996, 378 days after his death.

 

 

 

1927            Yankees voted best by writers for baseball centennial.

 

Attendance:

            Home               road

1927    1,264,015        982,081           new record for road (?) and total

 

“It was the ill-starred Gehrig who was victimized by a real heart-breaker in 1931,the year he should have swept past Babe Ruth for the first time as the undisputed homer king of the American League.  Instead, they tied at forty-six apiece.  It wasn’t nature that caused the deadlock.  It was the cruelty of perverse fate.

 

With Lyn Lary, the Yankee shortstop, on base the Iron Horse crashed a line drive into the bleachers.  The ball was hit so hard that it bounced back into the glove of a Washington outfielder.  But it still was a legitimate home run and so ruled.  However, Lary must have been sleepwalking.  He saw the outfielder with the ball, rounded third base – and unaccountably headed for the (third base) dugout.

 

Gehrig was running with head bowed – home run hitters usually don’t have to study the scenery – and he also rounded third base, unaware of Lary’s summary departure.  So Larrupin’ Lou was called out on the technical violation of passing the base runner ahead of him.  He was credited with a triple.  The homer died stillborn.“ – Arthur Daley, New York Times - Wednesday, September 13, 1961.

 

 

 

Yankee owner Jacob Ruppert was a man who added class and dignity to the

game. As an innovator, he is credited with putting numbers on the backs

of his players and introducing the then revolutionary concept of having

his players in clean uniforms everyday. But while that's nice, it's not

what qualifies him for the Hall of Fame.

 

What does, is what he brought to the game, and specifically, the men he

brought to the Yankees. Not only Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Bill Dickey, Joe

DiMaggio and the other HOF players, but also HOF managers Miller Huggins

and Joe McCarthy and HOF execs Ed Barrow and George Weiss. Would

Huggins, McCarthy, Barrow and Weiss be in the Hall of Fame, had not

Ruppert brought them to New York?

 

Under Ruppert's leadership (1915-1939), the Yankee name became

synonymous not only with championship baseball, but with building the

finest most efficient organization in the game. And when forced to

vacate the Polo Grounds, he built Yankee Stadium, which 75 years later

remains America's greatest sports venue.

 

__________________________________________________________________

 

Movies

 

The first talking picture was released in October, 1927.  It was "The Jazz Singer" starring Al Jolsen.

 

In 1937 Gehrig starred in a "B" western movie called "Rawhide".  In 1974 Ed Hermann portrayed Gehrig in a TV movie called "Eleanor and Lou: a Love Story".  And of course in 1941 Gary Cooper portrayed Gehrig in the famous movie, "Pride of the Yankees" in which Babe Ruth and Yankee Hall of Fame catcher Bill Dickey played themselves.

 

"Home Run On the Keys", a Vitaphone Pictures production from 1937,

but could be from the 40's (I couldn't make out the date exactly). It was

directed by Roy Mac, written by Cyrus D. Wood, and stars Babe Ruth and Zez

Comfrey (a composer of the day). My friend recorded it from the TNT cable

channel, date of broadcast unknown.

 

The story starts with a scene in a hunting lodge setting, with Babe and

several friends in flannel shirts trying to look rustic sitting around a

fireplace swapping stories. As the film progresses, one of the men (Comfrey,

the composer) starts playing the piano, and Babe suggests they compose a

song about a home run. Later, in a radio studio, Babe appears in a  tuxedo

and in his best aw-shucks style conducts the radio studio orchestra, which

plays his song. Overall, Babe does a faily passable job of acting.

 

But early in the film, one of the stories that Babe relates while gazing

into the fire at the lodge caught my attention. One of the other actors asks

Babe, "What was your greatest thrill in baseball?" Babe replies, "It was the

1932 World Series against Chicago, where I hit my longest, most dramatic

home run." As film clips appear in the background over the fire, he proceeds

to tell the story:

 

"The first pitch was a called strike, I didn't like it!, the boys in the

dugout started to yell at me something terrible. The second pitch was a

called strike, and I didn't like that one either! Now the dugout boys were

on me but good. Well, I stepped out of the box, and I looked over at the

bench. I looked out at center field and I pointed. I said I was gonna hit

the next pitched ball right past the flagpole. Well, the good Lord and good

luck must have been with me, because I did exactly what I said I was going

to do. And I'll tell you one thing, that was the best home run I ever hit in

my life." The other actor says, "Must have been a dandy!" Babe replies, "It

was a pip as far as I was concerned."

 

While the story is being told, there appear in the fireplace various film

clips of Babe running the bases, and some obviously staged ones of him

arguing the two called strikes, and then pointing.

 

____________________________________________

 

There is no asterisk. The major-league record book (at least, the one published by The Sporting News) states: "American League and National League records based on a 154-game schedule, but if item was surpassed since adoption of 162-game schedule by America League in 1961 and National League in 1962, records for both lengths of schedules are listed." Therefore, the home runs record reads like this:

 

     Most home runs, season

 

     A.L. (162-game season) -- 61 -- Roger Maris, New York, 161 games, 1961.

     A.L. (154-game season) -- 60 -- Babe Ruth, New York, 151 games, 1927.

 

Similarly, the total base and strikeout records show a distinction between 154-game and 162-game seasons.

_________________________________________________________________________________

 

Epilogue

 

Henry Louis Gehrig died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis on Monday June 2, 1941 in New York City.  He was 39.

 

George Herman Ruth died of throat cancer on Monday August 16, 1948 in New York City.  He was 53.

 

Roger Eugene Maris died of cancer on Saturday December 14, 1985 in Houston Texas.  He was buried in Fargo, North Dakota.  He was 51.  Mantle was a pallbearer; it was the first funeral that Mickey attended since his father's in 1952.

 

Mickey Charles Mantle died of liver cancer on Sunday August 13, 1995 in Dallas Texas.  He was 63.

 

In 1941, when Louis Gehrig died, Franklin Roosevelt was president and Harry Truman was a Senator.  There were only 48 states.  In 1948, when Babe Ruth died, Harry Truman was president and Ronald Reagan was an actor. There were still only 48 states.  In 1985, when Roger Maris died, Ronald Reagan was president and Bill Clinton was governor of Arkansas.  By then there were 50 states.  In 1995, when Mickey Mantle died, Bill Clinton was president.

 

 

***   The End   ***