{PDF EPUB} Babe Ruth's Own Book of Baseball by Babe Ruth the Day Babe Ruth Came to Crowley
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Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Babe Ruth's Own Book of Baseball by Babe Ruth The Day Babe Ruth Came to Crowley. Wherever Babe Ruth barnstormed, throngs turned out for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to watch the great Bambino in person. Wherever Babe Ruth barnstormed, whether in the United States or across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in Europe and Asia, throngs turned out for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to watch the great Bambino in person. Anticipation was always high, and the magnetic Ruth never disappointed. Even if Ruth didn't connect on one of his titanic home runs, his mere presence thrilled the crowd. Ruth did more for baseball than any player in the game's history. Not only was Ruth baseball's most productive player, but he would have been one of the all-time greatest left-handed pitchers had he not switched from moundsman to a slugging right fielder. In 1921, Ruth and his New York Yankees' teammates made a swing through Louisiana, and stopped in Crowley, Louisiana, an event which baseball historian Gaylon White described in his new book, "The Best Little Baseball Town in the World." Crowley's baseball-crazy fans came out to root for their colorful minor league franchise, the Millers. A baseball scribe calculated that the Millers' 1952 throng of 119,333 represented nearly 10 times Crowley's population, the rough equivalent of the New York Yankees drawing 80 million fans. True to their reputation as rabid fans, when Ruth and his Bronx Bombers came to Crowley on St. Patrick's Day exactly a century ago, nearly half the city squeezed into a hastily built baseball field inside a racetrack. By 1921, Ruth had hit 54 homers the previous season, was on his way to 59 that year, and eventually 60 in 1927, all records at the time. But the Shreveport Times reported that on March 17, Ruth's "remarkable" day "was without strikeouts, bases on balls and homeruns," categories that he normally led the league in. But Millers' fans didn't need Ruth's presence to field an interesting if not bizarre cast of unusual characters on the diamond. The brightest Millers' star was heavy-hitting Conklyn Meriwether, remembered not so much for his baseball talents, but for inexplicably killing his mother-and-father-in- law with an axe years after he retired. Although Meriwether never played in the major leagues – he won a roster spot on the 1946 St. Louis Cardinals' roster in 1946, but never got into a game – the six-foot, 210-pounder racked up impressive credentials during his 15 minor league seasons, four of them with the New York Yankees farm system. Meriwether hit .307 in his career with formidable power, blasting 280 home runs for an average of nearly 20 a season. A World War II veteran, Meriwether was declared insane by a Florida judge, and committed to an institution, thus avoiding a certain death sentence. Millers' manager Johnny George, the popular skipper who won two league titles out of the three years he piloted the team, was in fact a con man. George died at age 36 in a Birmingham jail awaiting his trial on embezzlement charges. The word buzzed among disappointed Crowley citizens: the manager was a crook. "The Best Little Baseball Town in the World" reads more like fiction than fact. But the book tells the important story of minor league baseball in the 1950s. The Millers were part of the Evangeline League, known variously by the nicknames "Tabasco," Hot Sauce" and "Pepper Pot" because of the countless wild events that passionate fans came to expect. Fans berated umpires and fellow players in Cajun French. The Crowley Millers' history has taken on special importance today because MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has overhauled minor league baseball, and callously removed franchises from small town American communities like Crowley. Not only are middle-America's baseball fans deprived of their summer enjoyment, but Manfred's actions also take away important jobs from blue-collar workers who need employment or to supplement their earning with part-time jobs. White's book takes readers back to a more joyous baseball era, and entertains them every word of the way. Babe Ruth’s Half Season with the Baltimore Orioles in 1914. Babe Ruth began his professional baseball career in 1914 as a member of the Baltimore Orioles, a minor-league team in the International League. Long-time Baltimore Sun sportswriter Jesse Linthicum witnessed firsthand Ruth’s 19 weeks with the Orioles. “I saw Babe Ruth hit his first home run, pitch his first game and obtain the nickname of Babe,” he wrote in 1948.1. Linthicum was at St. Mary’s Industrial School in February 1914 when 19-year-old Ruth was summoned to the school’s reception room to meet Jack Dunn, the owner and manager of the Orioles. A number of Ruth’s school teammates and small kids from St. Mary’s who idolized him accompanied him to the office. Dunn, who had never seen Ruth play, had heard plenty about the school superstar — a highly-rated pitcher and hitter, capable of playing every position. He was a left-handed thrower and a switch hitter who hit .537 in 1913. Dunn, who sought big ballplayers, liked the fact that Ruth was over six feet tall, muscular, and weighed a lean 183 pounds. After Ruth accepted Dunn’s contract offer without the slightest hesitation, the St. Mary’s ballplayers responded like a well-rehearsed chorus. “There goes our ball club,” they moaned.2. When Ruth and the Orioles arrived in Fayetteville, North Carolina, for spring training, Ruth made an immediate impression in the team’s first inter- squad game. “The youngster landed on a fastball and circled the bases before Billy Morrisette had retrieved the hit in deep right field,” a sportswriter reported.3 Linthicum called him “a prestigious clout that sent the locals down to main street talking to themselves.” As Linthicum trailed Ruth and Dunn while heading back to the hotel following the game, the writer heard Dunn say, “This Baby will never get away from me,” and according to Linthicum, “Then and there Ruth acquired the nickname of ‘Babe.’”4. Ruth began spring training as a left-handed throwing shortstop who handled all fielding chances “with ease and grace,” an observer noted.5 The observer was also impressed when he saw Ruth fan four batters in three innings in his first pitching appearance. Ruth was noted to have terrific speed, but still needed some work: “Ruth lacks one quality of a successful pitcher: He has never had experience with fast company.”6 But when he made his first pitching start of the spring exhibition season, he looked as though he was learning when he defeated the Phillies. The next day the Orioles trailed the Phillies, 6-0, in the sixth-inning when Ruth was called in from the bullpen to put out the fire. He quickly ended the inning by whiffing Eddie Matteson and Dode Paskert and held the Phillies scoreless while his teammates chipped away at the lead and won, 7- 6. Six days later, Ruth again proved his abilities when he defeated the Philadelphia Athletics, 6-2. “Ruth, who went the full 9 innings, pitched beautifully,” wrote Jesse Linthicum. “Not at any stage of the contest did he show any signs of nervousness. The Athletics paid him a big compliment by saying he is one of the best youngsters they have seen in a long time.”7. Three days later the A’s got another crack at Ruth, and they were ready. “The Athletics started in on Ruth as though determined to drive the juvenile off the rubber,” opined a Philadelphia sportswriter.8 The first four Philadelphia batters reached base and the A’s went on to win, 12-5. Frank Baker led the A’s hitting attack by going 4-for-5. “Baker hit the ball on the nose each time and the hits shot out to the outfield like bullets,” wrote Linthicum.9. Before one of Baker’s at-bats, Orioles catcher Ben Egan told Ruth about his signal to waste a pitch. When Baker came to the plate, Egan flashed the signal to Ruth, but instead of wasting one, Ruth threw the pitch over the heart of the plate, and Baker sent the ball for a long ride. Egan then went to the mound and asked Ruth why he didn’t obey his signal. “I threw it waste high,” Ruth answered.10. Just three months after making his professional debut with the Baltimore Orioles, Babe Ruth was sold to the Boston Red Sox and reached the major leagues on July 11, 1914. (LIBRARY OF CONGRESS) Not discouraged by the powerful Athletics’ rough treatment, Ruth “tossed like a million dollars” in a win over the Dodgers the following week. “In the first 5 innings, he had the visitors breaking their backs in an effort to reach his benders,” penned a Baltimore sportswriter, “and when he got himself into a hole, he showed he had the necessary backbone to pull himself together.”11 In addition to striking out six, Ruth socked a two-run triple and hit two out of the park during batting practice. “The more I see Ruth the hitter, the more I like him,” Dunn said.12 “When batting, Ruth takes a long lunge at the ball and meets it on the nose,” noted Linthicum. “He holds his bat down at the end and puts all his weight behind the swing.”13. On April 22, Ruth blanked Buffalo in his first International League start, 6-0.