Do you think Babe Ruth really called his shot?
doubledragon
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in Sports Talk
I've always heard there was controversy surrounding this story, what do you think?
Babe Ruth's called shot is the home run hit by Babe Ruth of the New York Yankees against the Chicago Cubs in the fifth inning of Game 3 of the 1932 World Series, held on October 1, 1932, at Wrigley Field in Chicago. During the at-bat, Ruth made a pointing gesture which the existing film confirms, but whether he was promising a home run, or gesturing at fans or the Cubs in their dugout, remains in dispute.
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He actually spotted a hot dog vendor in the stands and is gesturing to him to have 4 or 5 ready for him when he gets back to the dugout.
I remember reading some years ago that the widow of the pitcher said "Hogwash, if he was proclaiming the next pitch was to be a home run Ruth would get the next pitch between his eyes."
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Ralph
No, I don't think he called his shot. Even Ruth himself never said he called it.
Here's the video:
…and here’s the Iron Horse…
…who was there, on the field and saw it with his own eyes. Famous for his Boy Scout persona, I doubt he’d offer a prevarication on a national radio program.
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Seems like Ruth is waving at somebody. May have been from being taunted. Which wasn't uncommon back then.
In any event, it doesn't look at all like Ruth was "pointing" to the outfield.
It certainly is one of the most "romantic" stories of baseballs past. If I had a sports time machine, that game would be one i would want to see.
honestly, I dont think he called it. I think people saw the gesture he made and after he hit the home run it became the story. It really looks more like he was jawing back at another player on the field who was giving him the business.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
Great account. Gehrig, the pitcher, catcher, and the umpire are the best witnesses. I wonder if the most impartial person there, the umpire, ever gave an account.
Not that I doubt Gehrig's sincerity. As of now I would say with Gehrig's word and the visual evidence I would tend to believe he did call it. Considering Babe's bravado, definitely not out of the realm.
I had only heard in the last year or two. The other one I really like is where they’ve adjusted the speed to look “correct” on some old BP footage of Babe and Lou…
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@doubledragon
Your thoughts on the audio and visual evidence?
You initiated this cool thread…
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Babe did not have a very pretty swing. he looked really off-balance and lunged pretty heavily towards the ball.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
I wonder how many times Ruth waved his arms like that, and didn't hit a home run? But of course when he didn't hit a home run, the arm waving was forgotten about seconds later.
When I first saw the posted Gehrig video, I thought it was a repost of the Ruth HR video. I just listened to it now, and I'm not questioning Gehrig's honesty. However I am saying that in my opinion, Gehrig was just going along with the legend simply for the fun of it. No harm in doing that, doesn't hurt anybody, and Gehrig likely believed that the "legend" of the story was interesting and good for the game.
Sort of like a grandfather tells a story to his grandchildren and embellishes the facts. I would think that no grandfather who ever lived hasn't done that. 😊
....
Or like an Eagles fan embellishing the facts about his team. 🤷
first of all, i can't get enough of these old school clips. they are fantastic.
second, unless my eyes deceive me, i don't at all think he was calling his shot. it appears to me as if he's motioning toward the third-base dugout, perhaps getting into it with someone or someones who were jawing at him.
wouldn't be the first time embellishment was employed to create a fanciful and fictitious story.
edit: after watching this, i'm 1,000% certain. listen to what Billy Herman said what the catcher said about it. Ruth was doing exactly what i thought he was doing.
edit times 2: watch his trip around the bases after his tater. he was motioning toward the Chicago dugout/fans the entire time.
officially debunked.
you'll never be able to outrun a bad diet
You're right, no football fan has ever not done that. 🤣
I'm sure there's still at least some Patriots fans out there who believe that the Patriots are going to win the Super Bowl this season. Which is theoretically possible, because they haven't been mathematically eliminated yet. 😉
Checkmate.
I don't think some realize how prevalent taunting was back then. Even in 1947 when Jackie Robinson came into the league, the opposing players and fans would yell any racial slur their bigoted minds could conjure up. Basically nothing was over the line.
It wasn't just race, they'd insult your religion, wife, mother, etc. Perhaps only the player's children were off limits.
I wouldn't be surprised if during that famous at bat, Ruth yelled a few nasties back at them. 😆
..
No, there is not any Patriots fan who believes that they will win the upcoming Super Bowl. There just isn't. That ship has sailed.
Oh I'd be sure there's at least one Patriots fan in a Boston memory care home who believes the Patriots will get there this season. 😆
I'm sure that Belichick believes it as well. Just somehow, some way get the team into the playoffs, and then take it from there. 😉
George Herman Ruth is a fascinating study, he doesn't fit the typical mold of an athlete, yet many people consider him to be the greatest thing that ever happen to sports. If I saw him on the street in a suit and tie and didn't know who he was, I would never suspect that he would be able to hit the way he did, 60 in a season, 714 total career, highest slugging percentage in history, elevated the game of baseball to another realm. He's a mythical beast, and it's really irrelevant if he called his shot or not, but the story does add to his legend. As far as whether I believe he did or not, I really don't know, and perhaps I like it that way.
Ruth also had the record for eating the most hot dogs. Not sure if he still holds the record or not? 🌭
😉
The Babe also did quite well with the ladies.
Although he may not have been in the same category as Wilt Chamberlain. 😆
The most interesting thing about that clip for me is Ruth and Gehrig using the same bat.
LOL
Did you also sit on the Warren Commission, by any chance?
Watching a grainy video that has no audio and declaring anything official seems a bit over the top, no?
Could he have been gesturing toward the dugout while saying “I’m putting this next one over the fence for all your big mouths?”
Similar to “making little Wayne’s head bleed for Superfan99 over there…”
I mean, it’s still smack talk and calling your shot even if you didn’t point the bat, right?
Also that video is hardly described as well shot, clear or continuous in so far as I can tell.
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here I'll type this again for you, Too Short, since you obviously missed it the first time
try listening to what Billy Herman had to say. he got the 411 from the catcher. you know, the guy who was a couple of feet away when it all went down? that not good enough for you, Slick Rick? LOL
what he said, what my eyes saw, and what common sense tells me just so happened to unite, and thats more than sufficient for me. but if you want to play the pretend game, that's your prerogative, Kool Moe Dee
hell, forget what the catcher said for a moment. let's focus on what Babe said himself......."I looked out in center field and pointed..."
is that where he pointed, Rob Base, or is the video too grainy for you to tell whether or not he's PREVARICATING?😆
you'll never be able to outrun a bad diet
You’re saying try listening to and trusting a second hand account (that I apparently have to take your word for since you’ve referenced it several times as if it’s here somewhere already, and is formally known as hearsay) from the catcher on the team that just got shown up?
Or should I listen to a recording of Lou Gehrig, in person, who was also there and gives his account a few days later.
PS - Love the music references but don’t understand why? Help!
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@1951WheatiesPremium
did you, by chance, also happen to watch the video that stevek provided? please tell me what you see happening in that video, sir. at no time do I see him pointing toward the center field stands as if to say, "that's where I'm about to deposit the next pitch." you know, the fairy-tale story that's been told for decades? you know, the exact words that exited his mouth in the video I provided? do you see that happening?
know what my two eyes see instead? they see him motioning toward the Cubs dugout, just as the catcher said he did, extending his arm and what appears to be two fingers, just as the catcher said he did. and he did it more than once, to hammer home a point. then he cranks one. that coincides with the story Herman told in that video.
so all of a sudden we have credibility issues coming from the horse's mouth. that may not matter to you, but it does me. so if you want to channel your inner Mario Cristobal and eshew common sense amid all of the inconsistencies (lies?) and factual and circumstantial evidence provided in this very thread, then dial up a flea flicker if you want.......I'm gonna kneel and take the dubya.
you'll never be able to outrun a bad diet
It’s a short video, let’s break it down.
0-4 seconds clip one, angle one, pitch one
5-8 seconds - clip two, new angle, pitch 2
Seconds 9-12 - clip 3, new angle, the same single same hand motions are cropped three different times at three different rates of speed.
Second 15 - clip 4, new angle, pitch thrown, Homer hit
Second 17 - crowd in front of camera
Second 18 crowd recedes, Ruth rounds first
Seconds 19-21 clip 5, CF chases ball…
There’s a lot of missed action there, bud. It’s not real time.
Enjoy genuflecting!
PS - Is this posted? I still don’t know what you mean?!?
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Missed this one!
I see what you are saying about the catcher quote in THIS video now.
In that same video, Ruth said he told them he would put one past the flag pole…
…again, Babe Ruth can still have called his shot without standing there stoically and dramatically pointing the bat like John Goodman in The Babe. No one is saying that happened.
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“I looked out at centerfield and I pointed and said I’m going to hit one past the flag pole…”
…is not the same thing as saying…
“I looked out to centerfield, pointed out to centerfield with my bat and said I’m going to hit one to centerfield…”
…and the latter is combining his account with Hollywood and retold accounts with his original and some @stevek aforementioned embellishments.
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There’s no audio in the @stevek - henceforth known as Steve K. Zapruder - clips that I was able to hear and the clip that shows him pointing does not capture the before or after moments - just the pointing.
Again, I don’t think he was standing there pointing his bat to where he hits it but I absolutely think he could have been telling them he was going to put one out - smack talk that he backed up.
Akin to the guy who gets his tower buzz, gets up barking and angry and punches the next one over the fence…
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I remember back in second grade, the best teacher I ever had, K-12 and college, illustrated to us how rumors work. I can't recall what it was, but she wrote something on a piece of paper, whispered it to one student, then that student whispered it to another student, and it went thru the entire class that way, student to student, of about 30 students. Well you see it coming, when the last student finally got the message, turns out it bore virtually no resemblance to the original message.
This same phenomena has been going on since the advent of human history. Something happens and over time, it get distorted, sometimes totally distorted from the facts.
This Babe thing is no different, and it's easy to figure out when being objective to the videos and pics posted here. If Ruth had actually called the shot, the next day in the newspapers and on radio, especially a World Series game, it would have been headline news everywhere. No legend needed because it would have been fact.
But over time, this Babe story got twisted and turned, exactly like a second grade whispered rumor. 🙂
Well I guess @1951WheatiesPremium needs to be told it again. But I'll try this time in a different way to see if the horse will drink when it's led to water.
Babe Ruth's career at bat to home run ratio was 11.76. We're not talking about Bill Mazeroski here with his famous HR that he may have hit with his eyes half closed. We're talking about the GOAT who likely expected to hit a home run every time he stepped to the plate. How many times did Ruth step to the plate, got taunted, said he was gonna hit a home run, but didn't do it? I'd be sure it was quite a good number of times. Well this time Ruth happened to do it, on film there was some waving of his arms going on, and over time it became a legend which obviously is based on a myth. An enjoyable myth at that, no harm done, and if anyone believes this myth, well that's their prerogative. 🙂
Yes. One was known as the "big dipper". So maybe Ruth as the "little dipper"?
this thread serves as a prime example of why I don't allow homerism to infiltrate my bloodstream. when that happens, you can't see clearly, you can't think clearly, and you start saying things that no one of sound mind would believe. i don't even think Mario Cristobal would come to the conclusion that Babe was calling his shot after reading this thread, and he's one of the dumbest guys in the solar system.
but Wheaties is viewing this through spectacles that have pinstripes on them, so I will give him grace.
you'll never be able to outrun a bad diet
I'd hate to imagine what this guy thinks of Mario Cristobal:
College football bettor loses $45,450 payday thanks to Miami’s Mario Cristobal
Miami head football coach Mario Cristobal’s bonehead decision cost his team a perfect 5-0 record and this college football bettor $45.450 on a 12-leg +549 parlay.
The bets consisted of 12 massive favorites, with the smallest lines coming in at -172 and -255 and the biggest favorites being Clemson -1700, Mississippi State -1600, and Miami -1450.
This parlay would go on to lose late in the day on Saturday on a putrid mistake by Miami, who decided to run the ball with 38 seconds left in a game where Georgia Tech was out of timeouts.
Um, might want to re-think that.
CHICAGO SUNDAY TRIBUNE, October 2, 1932 on page 3:
"Babe Calls His Shots" "He missed a second home run in the third inning...but the masterpiece was only deferred. He hit it in the fifth, a ball that sailed incredibly to the extreme depth of center field...Guy Bush, the Cubs' pitcher, was up on the top step of the dugout, jawing back at him as he took his turn at bat this time...yelled raspingly at the great man to upset him. The Babe laughed derisively and gestured at him, 'Wait, mugg; I'm going to hit one out of the yard.' Root threw a strike past him and he held up a finger to Bush, whose ears flapped excitedly as he renewed his insults. Another strike passed him & Bush crawled almost out o the hole to extend his remarks. The Babe held up two fingers this time. Root wasted two galls and the Babe put up two fingers on his other hand. Then, with a warning gesture of his and to Bush, he sent him the signal for the customers to see. 'Now, it said, 'this is the one. Look!' And that one went riding in the longest home run ever hit in the park.
He licked the Chicago ball club but he left the people laughing when he said good-by; and it was a privilege to be present because it is not likely that the scene will ever be repeated in all its elements...Nor will you ever see an artist call his shot before hitting one of the longest drives ever made on the grounds, in a world series game, laughing and mocking the enemy with two strikes gone."
@1951WheatiesPremium
That’s awesome.
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@stevek and @galaxy27
You do realize that you two guys are actually the ones refuting first hand, timely eyewitness accounts and now printed news articles.
With what exactly?
Oh, that’s right - you just know.
Looks like my homerism has just encountered your schmuckisms!!!
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here's a couple of direct quotes from your boy Babe himself on the matter......i'm sure they won't give you pause either, mr. naivete
you'll never be able to outrun a bad diet
Come on dopes! Triple down now
Hahahahaha
“I did it”
Look there’s another quote! Now that’s definitive proof!!!
😂
LOL - enjoy believing your opinion is fact. I’ll enjoy believing my opinion is an opinion.
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Ruth is like Santa Claus let people dream. Ruth is baseball and always will be.
NFL: Buffalo Bills & Green Bay Packers
I'll tell you what, forget the called shot, this one impresses me a heck of a lot more. In 1926 during the World Series, a kid named Johnny Sylvester was in the hospital after being thrown off a horse and kicked in the head, Babe Ruth sent him a letter and autographed baseball with the inscription, "I'll knock a homer for you in Wednesday's game", promising the kid a homerun, if that isn't pressure then I don't know what is. He hit three in the game. The ball actually sold at auction a while back for over a quarter million, and this story is well documented. The TV show Seinfeld even did a take off on it when Kramer promised a sick kid that Paul O'Neill would hit 2 homeruns in a game for him. You can see the ball with the inscription on the side in the photo below, as well as Johnny Sylvester with his swollen eye, holding two baseballs, one of them the Ruth ball.
Well, I'll try again a third time, and remember three strikes and you're out. 😉
That Ruth "verbally called" the home run is not any debate and it doesn't matter. Because as already clearly mentioned, he likely if not definitely did that numerous times. The question is did he point to the outfield as John Goodman did in the movie, and you mentioned that. You even stated "No one is saying that happened."
I'm not sure if you have Dyslexia or something, but the thread began with, "Do you think Babe Ruth really called his shot? Babe Ruth's called shot is the home run hit by Babe Ruth of the New York Yankees against the Chicago Cubs in the fifth inning of Game 3 of the 1932 World Series, held on October 1, 1932, at Wrigley Field in Chicago. During the at-bat, Ruth made a pointing gesture which the existing film confirms, but whether he was promising a home run, or gesturing at fans or the Cubs in their dugout, remains in dispute."
It's the "pointing gesture" that is the question and the myth. The evidence seems to be crystal clear that Ruth did not point to the outfield when bragging that he would hit a home run. And in your posted newspaper report, I see no mention of Babe "pointing" to the outfield stands.
"No one is saying that happened." - Incorrect, lots of people buy the myth that Ruth pointed at the outfield stands before hitting that home run. That's what the myth is all about.
Babe had a great heart, no question about it. Not like too many of today's professional athletes who act like they are a supreme gift to the world, and can't be bothered mingling with the peon fans who watch them play.
@stevek - I am getting tired of your insults and a) I’m better than that and b) If I sent some back, I’m nervous you’d cry and run off the boards for a year again.
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Don't get testy because you got a little toasted on your claim with the "No newspaper" accounts
The original question is if he called his shot or not. Calling it verbally, or pointing and calling, doesn't detract from calling the shot and hitting a home run....still a legendary feat....and its too bad Ryan Howard couldn't do something like that instead of turning into Dave Kingman.
As for the newspaper, and your singular(and weak obsession with a John Goodman esque pointing), it says "Then, with a warning gesture of his and to Bush, he sent him the signal for the customers to see."
What was the signal he sent then??
What was there to "see" then for the customers??
Please enlighten me since you talk as if you were umping that game.
According to the newspaper and Lou Gehrig, Ruth called his shot. It doesn't say he pointed like John Goodman, but it did say "with a warning gesture of his," so perhaps dyslexia or something is within you?
In the end, he called his shot. If he called his shot multiple times, so be it. He called it in the world series, and...
"Nor will you ever see an artist call his shot before hitting one of the longest drives ever made on the grounds, in a world series game, laughing and mocking the enemy with two strikes gone."
I would say the newspaper eyewitness account was right. It has never been seen since in the World Series...so yes, a legendary feat even if he didn't point like John Goodman(which nobody ever said anyway).
Jelly or butter on your toast?
Please go easy on @stevek
I’m not sure he even knows you and I are different people yet.
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@1951WheatiesPremium
I'm sorry to shatter your miserable little bedtime story that you've been told for 60 years to help you fall asleep. yes, it's factual that the original version is spurious. you've provided nothing to corroborate him pointing to center field and calling his shot prior to launching one outside of "believe Lou Gehrig."
meanwhile, that theory has been blown full of holes with posts of videos and eyewitness accounts throughout this thread, many of which you had trouble keeping up with today. so yes, it has been debunked, which is exactly what i stated initially before you felt the need to pop off like a moron.
what happened with him and the Cubs' bench is sheer speculation. I tend to think if he yapped out loud that he was about to park one, the last thing he would have seen with two strikes is a pitch in his wheelhouse. it's more likely he would have been confronted with some sweet sounding chin music. but that's just me, attempting to view this objectively while incorporating a shred of common sense along the way.......something you're clearly incapable of because you're too busy trying to pull off your best dimeman impersonation. 😂
you'll never be able to outrun a bad diet
Pot calling the kettle black. 🤣
All in good fun. That's the way I see it. 😉
@1948_Swell_Robinson
Be ready to hear how the newspaper made up the story next. It’s coming.
I swear, by the end of the thread it will be fact that he really hit a single and only two men know the real truth!
Case closed.
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