1935-1936
BABE DAHLGREN   1B

Babe Dahlgren was playing ball all the time and by 14, was on the San Francisco Boys’ Club all-star team that won the semipro Class-B title and was named captain.

Babe signed with the Tucson Missions, in the Class-D Arizona-Texas League in 1931 and was hitting .347, when he got the call to play for the Mission Reds, in the Pacific Coast League where he played from 1932 through 1934.

In September 1934, Red Sox GM Eddie Collins purchased his contract, while he was having a banner year, finishing with 20 homers and a .302 batting average with 136 RBIs.

Babe had earned raves for his fielding during the springtime and the hope was that his work at bat would be adequate and started the season on Opening Day in 1935. He hit nine homers by the end of the year, to go with his 63 RBIs (third on the team) and .263 batting average.

He played most of the next two years in the minor leagues because even though he was a fine first baseman, Tom Yawkey had bought Jimmie Foxx’s contract and there was no way anyone was going to play first base in place of the future Hall of Famer.

Babe played in 1936 with the Syracuse Chiefs and was called back up to Boston in September, got into 16 games, and hit .281. Foxx had driven in 143 runs, third in the league, and impressively, when Babe was called up, agreed to move to left field so Babe could get some work at first base.

Early in 1937, Eddie Collins said they just didn’t think Babe's hitting was adequate. The Yankees, on the other hand, were confronted with a holdout by Lou Gehrig and decided to buy Babe’s contract as insurance.

For the last twenty-five years of his life, Babe continued working with young prospects and eager-eyed players. He had compiled hundreds of rolls of film dating back to the early ‘40s when he used his first 8mm movie camera to capture the likes of Joe DiMaggio and other stars from the past. Tragically these historical and priceless films were lost to a fire that destroyed his home in 1980.

Babe Dahlgren developed advanced dementia and ultimately died of natural causes on September 4, 1996, at age 84, in Arcadia, California.