Kevin Pagano was the first person to respond on Facebook and/or our blog page. Congratulations Kevin! We will be sending you a Red Sox 1918 Babe Ruth Jersey! Thank you to everyone who responded to this post. Keep the comments coming! You never know how we'll choose our next winner!
This was a record set by Babe Ruth in 1918. This record was broken by which player and in what year? Comment below on this post with your answer!
September 11, 1918 - prior to 2004 this marked the date of the last year that the Boston Red Sox had won the World Series. Whether you are a Red Sox fan or not, as long as you are a fan of the sport you know the weight that this date holds. For Red Sox fans it was a date that would weigh heavily on their hearts and spirit.
The Boston Red Sox defeated the Chicago Cubs in four games to two in the 1918 World Series. Due to World War I the series was held in September due to a "Work or Fight" order which would cause the early end to the season. This series remains the only World Series to be played entirely in September. Playing their 1915 and 1916 World Series home games at Braves Field, the Red Sox would return to Fenway Park for the 1918 World Series. Losing a number of players to the war left the Cubs pitching staff very thin compared to the strength of the Red Sox staff which included Babe Ruth and Carl Mays. Cubs pitcher Hippo Vaughn would have to face the two best arms the Red Sox had. He would prove to be no match for them losing two of the Cubs four losses.
During game one, in the bottom of the 7th before Chicago came up the game was halted as the band played "The Star Spangled Banner." Though some believed this to be the beginning of what is now a baseball tradition, the song was actually first played eighteen years earlier before a game in Boston. The Red Sox took game one, but another game was beginning to take over in game two. Cubs coach Otto knabe had ridden Ruth with foul language and so mercilessly that Ruth went to look for him after the game. In game two Knabe took to aiming his words at Boston coach Heine Wagner. Wagner was less patient then Ruth and at the end of the inning he went to the Cub's dugout in a fit of rage throwing punches at Knabe. The two fell to the ground and the Red Sox then poured into the Cubs dugout finally realizing what was happening. The rest of the game was played hard trying to inflict pain and cause harm whenever and where ever possible. Chicago would go on to win tying up the series.
Game three was played with cooler heads and was taken by Boston for the lead in the series. The two teams would head to Boston for game four of the series. This would be the first series game played at Fenway park since the 1914 Braves met the Athletics. The Cubs could not score although Ruth was struggling through every pitch as the result of a swollen finger he sustained while traveling back to Boston. Ruth was up to bat and with a full count hit a shot that would rally a crowd of twenty-five thousand and bring two men home to take the lead. In the ninth Ruth gave up a single and a walk to the first two hitters. With Ruth fading Joe Bush was brought into pitch and Ruth was sent to left field. Boston won.
Leading the Series 3-1, the Boston Red Sox were shut out by Hippo Vaughn. Game 5 was played with a grey cloud looming with players going on strike right before the game was to start. Boston ws said to have played as if they were unsure whether they were still on stirke or not. With only a little over fifteen thousand fans in attendance, almost ten thousand less then the previous five games, the Red Sox would pull out what would be the last world championship for the team for a little more then eight decades.
On July 6, 1933, Major League Baseball held it's first All Star Game. The game was part of the 1933 World's Fair and was held at the home of the White Sox, Comiskey Park. The hometown American League squad was managed by Athletics head Connie Mack. Some notables on his side included Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth and Al Simmons and Jimmy Dykes who represented the host team. On the National League side, Giants Skipper John McGraw was in charge. His All Stars included Chuck Klein, Carl Hubbell and Frankie Frisch amongst others.
Babe Ruth made history, as usual, by hitting the first ever All Star Game home run. The contest was won by the American League 4 - 3 with the Yankee Lefty Gomez getting the win and the Cardinals Bill Hallahan taking the loss.
Babe Ruth and Al Simmons prior to the first MLB All Star Game.
We've always been fans of the jersey that the Sox wore in 1933. It actually debuted in 1932 and featured the S-O-X diagonally down the left chest with a baseball bat intertwined with the logo. They wore this style for four years.
The 1933 White Sox catchers, Frank Grube and Charlie Berry
Here's our version of the 1933 beauty. Pick one up this week while it's $100 off!
"The teennage girl who struck out Babe Ruth." This was how one fan letter was addressed for Jackie Mitchell after the news of her striking out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig spread like wild fire.
Virne Beatrice "Jackie" Mitchell was born only weighing three and a half pounds. From the time she could walk she went to the baseball diamond with her father. She was living in Memphis Tennessee, at the time. She had a minor league ball player named Dazzy Vance, who would later play for the Brooklyn Dodgers, as her neighbor. Dazzy recognized the talent that Jackie had and even taught her his favorite pitch which he called the "drop pitch." Although she was only five or six years old she learned the pitch, impressing her teacher.
Jackie went on to play for a women's team in Chatanooga, Tennessee when she was sixteen. Then, she turned seventeen and attended a baseball school in Atlanta, Georgia. While there, Jackie attracted the attention of the Chatanooga Lookouts President, Joe Engel. He then offered her a contract to play for the Lookouts for the netire 1931 season. She signed her contract on March 28, 1931.
On April 2 the New York Yankees were making their way back to New York after just finishing up spring training. As they had in previous years, they made their stop in Chatanooga to play the Lookouts. It rained on April 1st delaying the game to the next day. When the rain finally stopped the Yankees and Lookouts were set to play at 2:30 PM. Jackie was not starting pitcher, but after a few hits by the Yanks, with Babe Ruth up next to bat, the manager pulled the pitcher and brought Jackie to the mound. Her first pitch was a little high but the next three were strikes with her third dropping right over the plate.
The crowd went wild, but Jackie had Lou Gehrig, the clean-up hitter for the Yanks, up next to bat. She sturck him out on three pitches! And the rest was history from there. Jackie finished her season with the Lookouts and went on to play for a traveling baseball team for the next five years. She ultimately settled back in Chatanooga for the rest of her life, passing away in 1987.
Jackie, what a story!