Babe Ruth’s Great Experiment
By: John Thorn
Tags: Dick Redding, Babe Ruth, Integration, Baseball, Cuba

Babe Ruth’s Great Experiment

This brief tale is part of a work in progress by my friend Randall Brown, whose great work on the history of African Americans in baseball appeared in this space some years past (https://bit.ly/2QSXeO0). His discovery in 2004 of an interview with elderly Knickerbocker pioneer William Rufus Wheaton remains one of the great finds in the annals of the game (https://bit.ly/3jDYPDu).

Babe Ruth, 1920; photograph by Van Buren

In 1920, his first season as a Yankee, Babe Ruth hit an unheard-of total of 54 home runs. The team finished third, three games behind Cleveland, freeing the slugger to embark on a barnstorming tour. The exhibition games would bring in some serious money. It was also an opportunity to try his skills against some of the best Black players of the day.

Cannonball Dick Redding

On October 4, “Babe Ruth’s All Stars” met the Bacharach Giants at Shibe Park, home of the Athletics. Several fellow Yankees were on hand, including submariner Carl Mays and rookie Lefty O’Doul, who played right field. On the mound for the Atlantic City squad was their ace, Dick Redding.

The man known as “Cannonball” performed masterfully, pitching a shutout into the seventh, when the Babe pleased the crowd by clouting a solo homer. Meanwhile, the Giants hit Mays hard, tallying eight runs before Ruth relieved him. The final score was 9 to 4.

Next up were two games with the Hilldales, “colored champions of the East,”, led by their star catcher, Louis Santop, famous for his long-distance blasts. An estimated 2500 fans came to the Phillies ballpark to see the show. “The home run kings of their respective spheres were here to match their skill with the ash,” reported the Philadelphia Tribune, “and both were given a great hand when they appeared at the plate for their first time up.”

There were no home runs hit that afternoon, but Santop had three-hit game, including a double. Ruth, on the other hand was hitless, baffled by Hilldale hurler Lefty Flournoy, who struck out the famous Yankee twice, each time on three pitches. When Ruth came up for the last time, Flournoy prudently walked him, helping secure a complete-game shutout.

The Hilldale Daisies

It was a different story the following day. Lefty Stark allowed one hit in the first two innings, before yielding four runs in the third. With two men on, Ruth knocked a fastball out of the park. After O’Doul followed with a hit, a relief pitcher stopped the rally, but the four-run inning led to a 5–3 win and a split in the series. Santop was not in the line-up.

One week later, Ruth appeared in Buffalo for a game with Home Run Johnson’s Pittsburgh Stars. Grant Johnson, now somewhat older than 40, had played with or against the best Black players of his era. As a rookie in 1894, playing for a mostly white nine in his hometown of Findlay, Ohio, he had earned his nickname while learning the fine points of the game from his teammate, veteran Bud Fowler. For the next 25 years, infielder Johnson appeared with a remarkable number of famous clubs. As a player-manager, he had mentored Redding, Santop, and John Henry Lloyd. Playing winter ball in Cuba in 1911, he and Lloyd had out-batted Ty Cobb.

The Findlay club of 1894; in the middle row Grant Johnson (left) and Bud Fowler (right)

On this occasion, the Babe was accompanied by Mays, Yankee catcher Truck Hannah, and Jeff Tesreau, former star pitcher for John McGraw’s Giants. After retiring, Tesreau had organized a semi-pro team in Harlem which profited from friendly rivalries with the Bacharach Giants and other Black clubs. The four big leaguers were joined by members of one of the Buffalo’s top semi-pro clubs, the Polish Nationals.

Joe Wood and Jeff Tesreau (right) at 1912 World Series

An overflow audience jammed the ballpark to see the show, and they were not disappointed. “Babe kept the crowd in an uproar all afternoon,” reported the Buffalo Courier, “playing ball to the best of his ability at all times, taking turns at no less than four positions on the diamond, namely pitcher, catcher, first base, and right.” And, much to the delight of the fans, Ruth belted two home runs. Meanwhile, Mays, Tesreau, and Ruth combined to pitch a four-hit shutout, one of them a single by Home Run Johnson.

A return match was promptly arranged. On Sunday the 23rd, the Stars and the “Ruthized” Polish Nationals faced off again. Embarrassed by the poor performance of his hurlers, Grant Johnson brought in a ringer. On the eve of the game, he advised the press that “he intended pitching John Emory of Montreal, and Jack will be on the firing line working every minute, putting everything he’s got on the ball, not pitching just what Ruth wants.”

Babe Ruth’s passport application for Cuba trip, with wife Helen, in October 1920

This time the exhibition was a real ballgame. Mixing fastballs with sweeping curves, Silent John kept Ruth off balance. The Babe reached base on a single and a walk but failed to hit a home run. With the score tied at one in the third, the Stars reached Tesreau for three runs. Johnson singled and scored in the inning. The Nationals kept it close, thanks to a strong relief effort by Carl Mays, who also enjoyed a 4 for 4 afternoon at the bat. After his team plated two in the top of the eighth to tie the game, Babe Ruth took the mound and pitched two scoreless innings. A timely hit in the ninth by Fred Lau, star of the Nationals, provided the margin of victory in the 5–4 contest.