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THE BABE RUNS WILD ... July 24, 1919 ... Babe Ruth won today's game at Fenway Park with a home run in the eighth-inning and brought 5000 fans to their feet yelling and cheering in a way that would have made a band of Indians, doing a war dance, look like pantomime. They cheered their hero all around the bases, many of them in their ecstasy, turning to hug anybody within reach, and then continued their wild celebration as the hero of the day jogged along the base paths and crossed the plate with the go-ahead run. It was one of the most tumultuous demonstrations seen at Fenway Park in a long time. The score was 3 to 2 in favor of the Yankees at the time, when the Red Sox came to bat in the eighth-inning, and Yankee pitcher Bob Shawkey had been pitching great ball all throughout the game. Bill Lamar batted in place of Ossie Vitt and fouled out to Frank Baker. Braggo Roth singled to right, and the Babe followed him with his heroics. Twice before, Shawkey had passed Ruth purposely with men on base, deciding not to take a chance on him, and this did not please the crowd at all. In the fourth inning Babe came to bat with nobody on and Shawkey pitched to him, only to see him knock out a base hit. This time, however, conditions were entirely different. If he was passed intentionally, it would have put the tying run on second and the winning run on first with only one out. There was a conference on the mound between Roger Peckinpaugh, Shawkey, and catcher Truck Hannah. It was decided not to pass Ruth and Shawkey soon had him down with two strikes, as the Babe when after two outside pitches. Shawkey must have thought that he could shoot a fast one past him for the third strike, but instead the Babe promptly sent it sailing into the right-field bleachers for a two run homer and the Red Sox led, 4 to 3. The Yankees were first the score in the first inning as Peckinpaugh led off with a hit and Wally Pipp beat out a slow roller for an infield hit. Both the runners were advanced on Baker's out at first and then Peckinpaugh was squeezed home on a sacrifice bunt by Duffy Lewis. In the fourth inning, Lewis smashed a grounder at Vitt, that he made a marvelous stop of with one hand, but then threw wild to first allowing Duffy to get to second. He then stole third when catcher Wally Schang threw down to try and catch him off second, and scored on Ping Bodie's swinging bunt down the first base line. Del Gainor made a quick play at the plate, but Duffy slid in under the tag. New York gathered their third and last run in the fifth inning when Peckinpaugh singled down the left-field line and Pipp was passed. Baker popped one up behind second base which Red Shannon lost in the sun, and the ball dropped for a base hit to load the bases. Peckinpaugh then scored on a sacrifice fly to left by Lewis, giving the Yankees a 3 to 0 lead. The Sox, up to this time, only had two hits off Shawkey, a double by Everett Scott in the second and a single by Braggo Roth in the fourth. But in their half of the sixth the Red Sox scored two runs. Harry Hooper led off with a single to left and went to second on Vitt's grounder. Roth lofted a fly ball out to Chick Fewster in center and Hooper tagged up and went to third. The Babe was passed intentionally, and then Peckinpaugh booted Gainor's grounder, allowing Hooper to score. Wally Schang doubled to right and Ruth scored the second run, making it 3 to 2. That was a score when the Babe came up to bat in the eighth-inning. Herb Pennock again pitched a good game for the Red Sox, and although he appeared to be a little unsteady at times, he never allowed more than one hit in inning, except in the first and fifth. It was the first time that Roth had been in a Red Sox uniform at Fenway Park, and the new outfielder looked pretty good, both in the field and at bat. |
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