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Memory Lane Inc. Premier Collectibes Auction - March 30th, 2006 |
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THE BALL A One-of-a-Kind! BABE RUTH’S LAST HOME RUN AT YANKEE STADIUM! An Historic event in Baseball and the “One” Ruth Ball that survived it! |
COME HOME TO YANKEE STADIUM
AN INCREDIBLE BASEBALL EVENT!
“Seven years after he was through, Ruth came back to the Yankee Stadium in 1942 to bat against Walter Johnson. Ed Barrow, then president of the Yankees, brought the pair together as an added attraction to a Sunday double header for the purpose of raising funds for a war time relief agency... Ruth was to bat against Johnson between games, with Benny Bengough catching and Billy Evans umpiring. When the quartet took their places, the players of both teams lined the dugout steps, as interested and as tense as any fan in the stands.”
Tom Meany, Babe Ruth: The Big Moments of The Big Fellow, 1947
...and tickets for the exhibition soon were the hottest ticket in town! The event drew over 69,136 people – most all of them to see the great Babe Ruth who was coming home to Yankee Stadium. The game generated a record in $85,000 for the Relief Fund and put the entire 16 game benefit contribution for the war effort for Major League Baseball at over $500,000 in 1942!
Back for one last fling. Walter Johnson, Benny Bengough, Billy Evans and Ruth before the Babe staged his home run exhibition for the Army-Navy Relief Fund at Yankee Stadium, August 23, 1942.
AP Photo
COMING BACK TO THE HOUSE RUTH BUILT MEANT A LOT TO THE BABE!
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“Babe hadn’t swung a baseball bat in four years. But he was more than happy to try. The cause was good, of course… But more than that, he would at long last have another chance to walk on the turf of Yankee Stadium, “the House that Ruth Built,” and perform for Yankee fans. He was like a child the night before the game. Was his uniform back from the cleaners? Had it been pressed just right? How about the cap? Did it look OK on his head? Were the spikes shined? And even more important than looking like Babe Ruth – could he still hit like Babe Ruth? Johnson was a great pitcher and Babe hadn’t played for four years. But Johnson hadn’t pitched for more than four. Was Johnson so old that his control was gone? How could a man be expected to knock a ball out of the park if the pitcher didn’t give him anything good to hit? The Babe was worried and fretted far, far more than he ever worried on the eve of a deciding World Series game. Tomorrow he was going back to his Stadium, before his fans. Would he rise to the occasion as he always had? From Claire Ruth’s book: The Babe and I by Mrs. Babe Ruth with Bill Slocum, Prentice Hall Inc. 1958 |