Boston's Fenway Park. 1915.
93rd Game of a 154 game season.
Ninth inning.
Rookie left-hander George Ruth casually slings his warm-up tosses plateward. Behind him his infielders toss a ball around. And in the on-deck area, Yankees third baseman Red Rolfe limbers up with two bats as he prepares to lead off the top of the ninth. And in the stands, 23,556 Fenway faithful stand and cheer. Boston has a comfortable 6-0. Wins have been hard to come by for the Red Sox lately. The 1915 World Champs had gone toe-to toe with their 1936 New York counterparts for the first half of the season. The two teams split the first 68 contests. New York's powerful line-up seemed unable to overpower the superb pitching staff. Boston seemed to be able to come up with timely hits over and over, play great defense, and of course, send a strong hurler to the mound day in and day out. Five men with at least 15 wins in the actual 1915 campaign, with lefty Dutch Leonard, 15-7, sporting the lowest winning percentage.
But suddenly, as the second half of this mythical season arrives, the 1936 Yankees seem to find an extra gear. They win an astounding 17 out of 22. Gehrig, Dickey and rookie Joe DiMaggio are not knocking out home runs left-and-right (Gehrig leads with seven after 90 games). But New York seems to adapt to the 'small ball' or 'dead ball' game very well. Their pitching solidifies. And the Red Sox find themselves fighting to get back in contention.
Which brings the two teams, and us, to game 93. New York has extended their hot streak to 19 of 24. Boston has sent rookie Ruth to the mound to try and halt the Yankee train. And here, now, for eight terrific innings, the Babe from Baltimore has done it. He has completely shut down the line-up that terrorized the American League to the tune of 1000-plus runs. And Ruth had even helped out at the plate, lining a Lefty Gomez fastball 444 feet to right center for a solo homer in the fifth. Now, three outs are all that separates he and his mates from cheer and beer for a well earned victory.
Ruth finishes his warmup tosses. Forrest Cady fires the ball down to second. Red Rolfe settles into the left-hand batters box. Ruth snags the ball from third baseman Larry Gardner and walks up to toe the rubber. Umpire Bill Klem gives the 'play ball' signal. And 23,000 Red Sox rooters remain standing and cheering.
Ruth nods at the signal from catcher Cady, winds and fires. Rolfe swings at the first pitch fastball and lifts a high fly ball. It floats down the right-field line before barely clearing the wall just fair of the pole... home run.
The fans gasp and groan loudly. Then, they begin to cheer. As Rolfe circles the bases the cheer gets louder and louder. On the mound, Ruth shrugs and calls for another ball from umpire Klem. Then he notices Boston Manager Bill Carrigan coming to the mound.
"You taking me out, Skip? I ain't tired."
"Babe! Don't you know what's going on?"
"Yeah! We're about to win. And it's about damn time!"
"Babe! They're cheering you!"
Just then umpire Klem comes to the mound with a fresh baseball.
"Nice job, Babe!" The umpire Klem grins.
"Thanks! I won't call you 'Catfish' just for that."
"Babe!" Interjects Carrigan. "You really don't know what's going on, do you? Tip your damn cap!" The Bambino looks quizzically at Carrigan. he indeed doffs his cap to the Boston fans who are on their feet, still cheering. "Babe, that home run you just surrendered to Rolfe was the Yanks' first hit of the game. You pitched a no-hitter for eight innings!" The Babe grinned.
"You're not upset?" queried umpire Klem.
"Nah! These fans ain't had much to cheer about for a long, long time." The Babe waved his cap again. Then he retired the side to secure the victory.
After the game Ruth comes out of the Red Sox clubhouse. He's surprised to see the losing pitcher, Lefty Gomez.
"Kid; that was the best I've seen in a long time. That was a clinic you gave out there today." The youngster stammered a bit.
"T-Thanks, Mr. Gomez."
"Lefty! You call me 'Mr. Gomez', it makes me sound like your grandpa!" Ruth grinned.
"That was a long time coming. I'm sick and tired of losing."
"Listen Babe... this Yankee team... do you know how damn good they are?"
"I'm gettin' the idea."
"They score a thousand runs a year. Without my help. They keep me on the mound to keep me away from the batters' box. Sometimes after I retire the side, they sneak off the field and hope I stay out there!" The Babe laughed.
"They keep you on the mound because you're a great pitcher. Something I'm trying to be."
"Something you already are."
"Thanks, Lefty. Maybe someday they'll call me 'Lefty' too."
"I think they've got another nickname in mind for you." Lefty then stuck out his hand. "Just keep pitching them, son. Let's do it again in four days." And the two left-handers shook hands.
Then… one year later.
1916 Boston Red Sox VS
1937 New York Yankees
Yankee Stadium, Bronx NY.
Boston's Babe shuts down the Yankees! Again!
Babe Ruth, now a second year southpaw, again locks horns with Lefty Gomez and the Yankees. More than 53,000 are in attendance. Ruth’s record is 7-7, with an ERA of 3.72. Lefty Gomez has a sterling 12-3 record with a 1.64 ERA… and a line-up behind him that scored more than 1000 runs in 1937.
Yankee Stadium-
Bottom of the 9th:
With the Red Sox leading 1-0, Babe Ruth takes the mound to begin the bottom of the ninth, three outs from victory, and three outs from immortality. He has allowed three base runners in 8 innings:
-A walk to Lou Gehrig in the 5th.
-A walk to Tommy Henrich in the 8th.
-A walk to Tony Lazzeri in the 8th.
And that’s it.
Now in the ninth, Ruth stands on the hill. 53,345 paid attendees stand in the Yankee Stadium stands, cheering. It is hard to tell what they are rooting for. After all, the Yans are down by only one tally.
But when Frank Crosetti leads off with a walk, a good many faithful groan. It is the obvious that at least some want to see some history.
With the Boston infield at double play depth,
R.Rolfe squares and lays down a sacrifice bunt to the right side of the mound. Ruth fields it and throws it to Jack Barry covering first. Crosetti reaches second with one out.
There are more cheers, but it is still not clear why. After all, Rolfe’s successful sacrifice puts Crosetti in scoring position, with two powerful run producers due to get their hacks.
But George Selkirk swings at the first pitch and hits a routine three-hopper to Barry, who throws him out for the second out. The fans explode. Crosetti advances to third with the tying run, but it is apparent that many here are cheering the fact that the Bambino needs one more out to achieve the unthinkable. And the mighty Lou Gehrig stands in his way.
With Frank Crosetti edging off third in foul territory, Ruth pitches from the stretch. After looking over his shoulder at Crosetti, he nods to his catcher and fires a tailing fastball. Gehrig watches it go by. “Stee-riiiike ONE!”
Ruth takes the return throw from catcher Pinch Thomas. He then peers in for the next sign. He nods, checks the runner. He then fires another fastball. This one is a tad higher and a little tighter to Gehrig.
Gehrig swings mightily. The ball flies high in the air, straight up. “I-GOT-IT! I-GOT-IT! I-GOT-IT!” First baseman Dick Hoblitzel comes charging to the right side of the mound, frantically waving his arms as he looks skyward. Then finally he reaches up, and snares the falling ball.
PANDEMONIUM!
Gehrig has popped up for the 27th and final out. Hoblitzel squeezes the ball, and then squeezes his pitcher, hugging him tightly as the rest of the Boston infield quickly joins the fray, jumping, hollering and whooping it up.
And the fans in the Yankee Stadium stands are also jumping, cheering wildly for the arch-rival team’s left-hander. Last year, as a rookie, Ruth had carried a no-no into the 9th in Boston against the 1936 Bombers. As it is today, Ruth’s mound opponent was Lefty Gomez. Gomez was a worthy adversary, then, and he is today, yielding but one run and 7 hits himself. Now, today he yields the stage, his stage, to a fellow left-handed ace.
Amidst the throng of jumping, yelling teammates on the Stadium infield, Ruth manages to glance into the Yankee dugout, where most of the players still are. He spots Gomez, who nods quietly and slightly, touching the bill of his cap. On the mound, the Babe also touches his bill and nods.
When the Bambino finally begins to depart the mound and Yankee Stadium infield, the New York partisan denizens cheer loudly once more. And the Babe responds, tipping his cap in all directions and waving to the roaring throng.
TEAMS......................... 123 456 789 - R H E
1916 Boston Red Sox.... 001 000 000 - 1 7 0
1937 N Y Yankees.........000 000 000 - 0 0 0
A year earlier in this imaginary drama, the rookie Ruth had squared off against Lefty Gomez and the 1936 Yankees, and had come within three outs of no-hitting them in the 93rd game of the season. Now he's a second year left-hander who would win 23 in the actual 1916 season. He would fire 9 shutouts, an AL record for lefties which still stands. He would win the longest game in World Series history 2-1, going the 14 inning distance. And here, he would use the no-hitter as a springboard, turning a 7-7 record into a 22-9 mark with a 3.11 ERA… against the finest aggregate of hitters ever to take the field.
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