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THE BABE RUNS WILD ... September 1, 1919 ... Babe Ruth hit his 24th home run at Fenway Park before nearly 30,000 fans. It was the seventh inning of the second game in the doubleheader with the Washington Nationals and the score was tied at 1 to 1. Both the pitchers, Allan Russell for the Red Sox and Jim Shaw had been pitching great ball. Shaw had passed Babe Ruth when he was up earlier in the game and now with the count 2-2, he tried to throw a fast one past the Red Sox slugger. The ball never got by him because Ruth met it squarely and sent it into the right-field bleachers. The ball was hit on a line no more than 15 feet above the fence and topped the barrier only by a few feet, maybe 20 feet inside the right-field foul line. It was then that pandemonium broke out as the crowd yelled and cheered for ten minutes. When one enthusiastic fan skimmed his straw hat from the grandstand into the playing field, a moment later the air was full of straw hats. The cheering was kept up by the time play was resumed and at the close of the inning, Ruth was cheered all away from the bench to his position in left field. A youngster vaulted over the fence from the third base bleachers and ran out to the Babe and shook hands with them. All the while there was cheering around the ballpark in the grandstands and bleachers. It certainly was a great day for the Babe as he pitched in the first game and won his own game with a triple. He got his base hits when they were the most needed and were decisive in the final results. Although the seating capacity of the grandstand and bleachers was not equal to the amount of people that were in the crowd, the fans found themselves cramming into every inch of standing room and some were even watching the game while lying on their stomachs and looking through the netting under the stands. The weather conditions were disagreeable and rain threatened all afternoon. There was a slight drizzle at game time and it continued early into the second game. The Red Sox won both games. The first was by a score of 2 to 1 and the second was by a score of 4 to 1, making it a perfect day in spite of the weather. Between the games Harry Hooper was presented a loving cup by members of the Hooper Athletic Club in Boston. The Holy Cross pitcher, Ed Gill, worked the last two innings of the first game after starter Harry Harper gave way for a pinch-hitter. It was Ruth against Harper in the first game, and while the Babe was hit more frequently than the Washington southpaw, he was spot on when he had to be. George Twombly, of Medford, started in left field for Washington. In the first game, the Red Sox got on the board in the third inning with two runs. Harper started by passing Braggo Roth and then tightened up when Babe Ruth came to the plate. Ruth smashed out a triple that scored Roth and he scored a moment later on Wally Schang's base hit to center. These two runs as it turned out, were enough to win, for Washington do not get a hit off Ruth until the fourth inning. They got another in the fifth, but Ruth bore down whenever they threatened to score, except in the seventh. Howie Shanks came in to bat for Harper in the seventh inning and singled to right, moving Patsy Gharrity, who was on first, over to third base. He scored when Joe Judge forced Shanks at second base. Foster then singled to left and Judge held up at second. Sam Rice dropped one in the short center and Judge was trapped at the plate on a fine throw from Roth to Wally Schang. In the ninth-inning Val Picinich pinch-hit for Gill and led off with a double. Mike Menosky was sent in to pinch run for him and the play apparently was for Judge to sacrifice him along. But Ruth threw one so wide of the plate that Judge could not get his bat on the ball. Menosky had started off the third and was thrown out by Schang down to Ossie Vitt. Judge ultimately doubled to center, but the next two men grounded out to end the game. The second game was a pitcher's duel between Allen Russell and Jim Shaw. Only three hits were made off Russell and he struck out eight, issuing only one pass. Shaw pitched well until the fifth inning and a poor throw by Gharrity to second was responsible for the Red Sox run that scored. With one down Stuffy McInnis beat out an infield hit and immediately started for second. He was safe, as the throw was wide of the mark, and he went to third as the ball went into the outfield. He then scored on Schang's double to right. Washington tied the score in the seventh, as Clyde Milan opened up the inning with a single, but then was forced at second by Sam Rice, who scored on Menosky's base hit. Then came the fireworks and the Red Sox half of the seventh inning. Roth was passed and the Babe sent him home with his 24th home run of the season. McInnis followed with a double and went to third on Schang's out at first. Del Gainor came into pinch run and scored the third run of the inning on Red Shannon's single to right, making the score 4 to 1, where it stood as Allen Russell retired the Nats in the eighth and ninth to give the Sox a sweep of the afternoon. |
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