 |
|
BABE RUTH |
THE LAST ONE FOR 86 YEARS
Ruth is big with the stick, but the Sox lose
May 4, 1918 ...
With the possible exception of Miller Huggins and his athletes, every one of the 15,000 fans who saw the Yankees defeat the Red Sox this afternoon at the Polo Grounds by a score of 5-4, the second beating in succession for the former champions, was surprised.
It was decidedly the unexpected, for it was thought Babe Ruth would prove too great an obstacle to overcome, while there were preliminary misgivings as the effectiveness of the Yankees hurler, Alan Russell.
The Yanks took the lead in the first four innings and never were overtaken. While the Sox developed a batting rally in the ninth, they were able to coax only one run across. Had all of Ruth's mates played with the same vigor in all
departments, especially batting, that he did, the Sox would have triumphed. Babe's hitting was really the feature of the game. He scored three of the four runs credited to the Sox. He walloped a homer into the upper tier of the grandstand in the
seventh inning when Everett Scott was roosting on first.
In the ninth inning, with Sam Agnew on second, Ruth smashed a double to right, scoring the blonde catcher. The big pitcher was also busy retrieving grounders and his total of assists taken in the complete connection with the putouts,
that Dick Hoblitzell completed, shows what an active time the hurler put in.
Harry Hooper was also handy with the action with his triple in the sixth, followed by Dave Shean's single, accounting for the others runs scored by the Sox. The Sox hit Russell freely enough, but failed with the exception of a few
instances in getting their thumbs close together. The Yanks seem to have the faculty of driving in runs when they got men on base. |
