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Ruth’s 1st Homer of 1927

Babe Ruth Who Else?

Babe Ruth
Who Else?

April 15, 1927. It happened in the fourth game of the season for the New York Yankees. With two outs and nobody on base in the bottom of the first inning, Babe Ruth caught up with a pitch from the tall right-handed Howard Ehmke of the Philadelphia Athletics and drove it high, far, and fast into the right field bleachers for his first home run of the 1927 season. Of course, nobody knew for sure what was in store for the HR record this early in that fabled season, but it would not later land either as a shock or great surprise. Babe Ruth already had readjusted the expectations of the baseball world prior to even the greatest season of New York’s fabled Murderers’ Row.

Here’s how one Associated Press story covered the Yankees’ 6-3 win over Connie Mack’s Philadelphia Athletics on April 15, 1927:

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RUTH SMASHES OUT HOME RUN

Yesterday’s hero: Babe Ruth, who turned to his familiar home run role with a long drive into the right field bleachers in the first inning and started the New York Yankees off to their third straight victory over the Philadelphia Athletics. The score was 6 to 3.

There was nothing spectacular about Ruth’s home run, the bases were empty when it was made, and later developments proved it was not needed for the Yankees to win, but home runs are what the Bambino is paid for and in starting his 1927 string he brought satisfaction to the thousands who believe in his greatness.

The Yankees made one run (in) each of the first four innings and two in the seventh while Herb Pennock was holding the A’s to seven hits, several which were bunched in the seventh inning to give the Athletics their three runs.

Sidebar Article Note: Babe Ruth, the most noted victim of an appetite, consumed too many hot dogs during the opening game (of this season-opening series against the A’s) and had to retire with a stomach ache, but Ben Paschal walked up to the bat (in Ruth’s place) and smacked out a single, whereas the Babe hadn’t even smelled one.

~ Uncredited Writer, Wire Release Story, Elyria (Ohio) Chronicle Telegram, April 16, 1927, Page 10.

The uncredited writer of this game account and sidebar comment doesn’t exactly sound like a Ruth fan or the type of man who would like to risk a chance encounter with The Sultan of Swat in a New York bar or speakeasy under the onus of having to take clear responsibility for what he wrote about players in the national media.

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Baseball Almanac Box Scores:Philadelphia Athletics 3, New York Yankees 6
Philadelphia Athletics ab   r   h rbi
Collins 2b 4 0 0 0
Lamar lf 4 0 0 0
Cobb rf 4 0 1 0
Simmons cf 4 1 2 0
Hale 3b 2 0 0 0
Poole 1b 2 0 1 1
Perkins c 3 0 1 0
  French pr 0 1 0 0
  Foxx c 1 0 0 0
Boley ss 2 1 1 0
Ehmke p 2 0 0 0
  Dykes ph 1 0 1 2
  Pate p 0 0 0 0
  Walberg p 0 0 0 0
Totals 29 3 7 3
New York Yankees ab   r   h rbi
Combs cf 4 1 2 0
Koenig ss 5 0 2 1
Ruth rf 4 2 2 1
Gehrig 1b 1 1 0 0
Meusel lf 4 0 2 0
Lazzeri 2b 4 0 1 2
Gazella 3b 3 2 2 0
Collins c 3 0 1 1
Pennock p 4 0 0 1
Totals 32 6 12 6
Philadelphia 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 – 3 7 2
New York 1 1 1 1 0 0 2 0 x – 6 12 0
  Philadelphia Athletics IP H R ER BB SO
Ehmke  L(0-1) 6.0 9 4 4 3 1
  Pate 0.0 1 2 1 2 0
  Walberg 2.0 2 0 0 1 3
Totals
8.0
12
6
5
6
4
  New York Yankees IP H R ER BB SO
Pennock  W(1-0) 9.0 7 3 3 2 0
Totals
9.0
7
3
3
2
0

E–Perkins (1), Pate (1).  DP–New York 1. Koenig-Lazzeri-Gehrig.  2B–Philadelphia Simmons (3); Dykes (2), New York Koenig (1); Collins (2).  3B–New York Gazella 2 (2).  HR–New York Ruth (1,1st inning off Ehmke 0 on 2 out).  SH–Hale 2 (3); Poole (1); Gehrig 2 (3); Collins (1).  Team LOB–4.  Team–11.  SB–Combs (1).  CS–Koenig (1).  U–Bill McGowan, Billy Evans, George Hildebrand.  T–2:27.  A–16,000.
Baseball Almanac Box Score | Printer Friendly Box Scores

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2 Responses to “Ruth’s 1st Homer of 1927”

  1. Mike McCroskey's avatar Mike McCroskey Says:
    April 16, 2014 at 7:25 pm | Reply

    Aahh, the blessings of ADD! Bill, i enjoyed this column and got captivated, not by the Yankee, but by the Philadelhia box score. Thanks to your accompanying links I was able to research some of the players in the lineup.

    Not remembering that Ty Cobb played for anyone other than Detroit, I clicked on Cobb, batting third ahead of future HOF’er Al Simmons and found out that it was indeed the Georgia Peach, finishing out his 24 year career with 2 seasons for the A’s. The “over-the-hill,” 40 year old Cobb “onlymanaged” a .357 batting average for the ’27 season with 100+ RBI. He hit .323 the next year before retiring.

    I then checked the lead-off hitter, who was none other than 40 year old, future HOF’er Eddie Collins.

    I then saw that a guy named Foxx went in as a late inning replacement for the catcher Perkins. Turns out it was a 19 year old youngster named Jimmy Foxx, already begining the 3rd year of his HOF career. Primarily a first baseman, this was one of only 109 appearances at catcher of his 2188 game career. Looking like quite a line up the A’s fielded that game.

    My favorite read, though, was Dykes. He appeared as a pinch hitter, doubling for the starting pitcher Ehmke. Jimmy Dykes was an All Star infielder several times in his career, in fact he started at 3rd base in the first All Star game ever in 1933. He was, also, a player manager, primarily with the White Sox in the 30′ and early 40’s.
    He was the first man to spend over 20 years as both a player and a manager. I think he is still the only manager to be traded for another manager. This happened about 1961 when Trader Frank Lane of Cleveland, swapped his manager, Joe Gordon, straight up to Detroit for Dykes. Dykes was the first manager to win over 1,000 games without ever making the playoffs. Gene Mauch may have tied him. However, sabermetric calculations now show that his teams performed at a much higher level than their talent would project. So he was a good manager. He was, also, the first manager for the Baltimore Orioles after your beloved Browns left St Louis.

    With the White Sox he had a first baseman named Zeke Bonura who was know neither for his fielding nor his intellect. The man could not remember signs. There was a story where one time Dykes wanted Bonura to bunt and he missed the signed. So Dykes just started hollering, “Bunt, bunt you Meathead, B-U-N-T, bunt!” But he still got no bunt from Benura. Later when Zeke was traded to the Senators in 1938, Dykes didn’t even bother to change his signs because he figured Bonura couldn’t remember them anyway.

    Later, in a game against the Senators. Bonura makes it to 3rd base. Dykes is in the dugout and swatting at a mosquito. Bonura somehow remembers that a swat is Dykes’ sign for a steal; so on the next pitch he breaks for home. As a first baseman, I am guessing that he was not a speedster, he had only 19 stolen bases for his career, but he somehow dislodges the ball from the catcher and is safe, scoring a run against Dykes! In an after the game interview Bonura is said to have confessed, “I remembered the sign for a steal, I just forgot that Dykes wasn’t my manager anymore!”

    One last interesting story about Dykes, especially given one of our SABR meeting topics this past Monday: In 1939, the White Sox played an exhibition in Pasadena, California against a team called the Pasadena Sox. They had a 19 year old, black shortstop who made several dazzling plays and impressed with the bat, also.
    Dykes was quoted at the time as saying “If that kid where white, I would sign him right now.”

    Later, in 1942, he did give this phenom, along with another black youngster named Nate Moreland, an opportunity to try out for the White Sox. At the conclusion of the tryout, neither player got an offer, and there was speculation if the tryouts were really legitimate or not, as there had been no real talk at this time amongst the major leagues about intergration. So maybe, it was just a publicity stunt to deflect racial criticisms. At any rate, nothing changed. Would this have changed baseball history had an offer been made? The young phenom’s name? Jackie Robinson!

    Curiously enough, when asked to comment on another prominent black ballplayer in 1961, Dykes was quoted as saying, “Without Ernie Banks, the Cubs would finish in Albuquerque.”

    Thanks again, Bill. Really enjoyed today’s column.

    Mike

    • Bill McCurdy's avatar Bill McCurdy Says:
      April 16, 2014 at 9:58 pm | Reply

      Thanks back at you, Mr. McCroskey. You’ve just written a “comment” that is deserving of its own column space. Look for an article by Mike McCroskey in tomorrow’s Pecan Park Eagle.

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