On This Day in Baseball: Ruth Goes Yard for the First Time
During Babe Ruth's 22 year career in Major League Baseball, he hit 714 long balls, and on this day way back in 1915 was the day where he connected with his first.
The 20-year old Ruth, who was also the starting pitcher for the Red Sox on this day, hit the home run off of New York Yankees Jack Warhop at the iconic Polo Grounds.
However, despite the first career dinger, Ruth was actually the loser of this game on the bump during a 13 inning affair.
Apparently, it was a hot button topic back in the early 1900s when it came to Babe Ruth of should he be a position player or a pitcher?
In fact, the Babe didn't appear at a position other than pitcher until he was 23 in 1918 when he played first base. Again, it was against the Yankees and again he hit a home run but the Sox lost again this time 10-3.
Along with his 714 career home runs he hit .342, scored 2,174 runs, drove in 2,214 runs, and had an OBP of .474.
As a pitcher, he wasn't too shabby as well compiling a career record of 94-46 with a sparkling 2.28 ERA, completed 107 games with 17 shutouts. He wasn't much a strikeout pitcher as he threw 1,221.1 innings and struck out just 488 batters.
Here are some highlights of the Bambino from 1920 via MyFootage.com on YouTube:
For all my sports posts and to hear my inner sports thoughts, make sure to keep up with me on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook
More From 103.3 The GOAT
