The Washington times., 1925-03-09

Babe had been De8Glng me pToteE
regularly and SO the winner OF
this game was 20 receive . silver
loving cup presented by the iOIst
Regiment. a rec0rd.Dreaklng
crowd attended, and, as 1t turned
out, <lle cup Is one OF my
pr0udest possessions.
In the eighth inning, with three
men on bases. i caught hold OF an
inshoot and by the time ] pulled
up at third base three washington
runners had crossed the plate.
You Big Swede, said Babe
that's what he always calls mo
.show do you hit EN- so far?' II
was long drive and missed win
ming $50 by very few inches, as a
Bull Durham sign was less than
foot to the left Of my drive.
You'll learn, Babe" said to
him as he left the box. When he
came TO bat in the ninth inning
the score was s to in our, favor,
so let him have a ball that was
fast and straight. There wasn't
anything on It but speed and the
big boy was looking for just a
chance. He hauled off and swung
from his shoe strings, as the play.
ers say, and the ball Travelled like
1t was fired from cannon. Up. to
that time it was the hardest ball
I'd ever seen Babe Ruth hit and 1t
came so near to tearing the hand
off Ray Morgan, our second base
man, that he didn't speak to me. for
a. week.
Just as Babe hit the ball / turned
around and saw Morgan beating It
toward the outfield. yelled:
.Wheresre you going'?"
you don't think I'm goin' to
stand there and let that big stiff
hit sem at me. do your
That's where you're foolish I
told him. "If you stand still you
got some chance Of lodging the
ball but IL you start moving you're
liable to run right into it-and
it'd Kin you, sure!
i had seen Ruth around for quite.
while before ever pitched to
him. He worked IN number of
games but not on days that ] hap
pened to pitch One afternoon he
was sent up as pinch hitter and
I3got my first good look at the boy
who was just starting to attract
national attention. Three fast balls
across the center OF the plate and
Babe was through. All used was
speed but I had watched him bat
ting and figured that with his style
OF swinging / could throw 'em past
him. Afterwards he said, Gosh,
I'd like to get hold Of one OF
those Well, 1t wasn't long after
that until he got hold of plenty, to
the sorrow of many pitchers, In
GLIDING myself.
1t is surprising how many fans
barely remember Babe Ruth as
pitcher. In fact. thousands Of
readers may be surprised to read,
even In this story, that he was
ever anything but q smuggling bat
ter. But the record books show
some OF his achievements in the box
and found out, al recently as last
October, that Babe can still pitch
effectively. Among other pitching
feats, Ruth holds the world series
record Of twenty.nine scoreless in
nings.
But no one can play the out
field and take his turn In the
pitchers box with real success.
That's what they tried to make
Ruth do at Boston and It didn't
work. His batting improved, but
his pitching got bad. Before ne
took to banging out home runs,
Babe was a mighty good sOuthpaW:
He was unusually smart. He had
3 good fast ball, but not much
Of q curve.
never thought he had the ap'
pearance and natural style Tor
pitching, but he won ball games
and that's what. counts. He per-
mitted q low number Of earned runs
per game. In 1915, he was the
most effective pitcher in the Amerl
can League, with an earned run
average OF LIS. in 324 pitched III
nings. The previous season, ne WAS
the leagues leading pitcher, WIN
an average Of .75O for thirIy.tWo
games pitched. n
But in the last few games
saw him pitch for the Red Sox, IN
1918, Ruth didn't look very good.
After he joined the Yankees, ne
tried his hand in several games
but his stuff was gone. 1t taxes
continual training OF certain
muscles to keep pitching arm III
shape and Ruth had long since
neglected those important muscles.
l think the last time he ever
pitched in the American League was
in 1921 against Detroit. He only
worked few innings, but he got
world Of satisfaction by striking
out his old rival Ty Cobb.
Copyright. 1895, by the Christy
: Walsh syndicate)