Babe
Ruth's last game in a Red Sox uniform
played in Sanford, ME at Goodall
Park
The Sanford Tribune
Friday, October 3, 1919
The
Red Sox and the Sanford Professionals met at Goodall Park Wednesday
afternoon in a game which will probably stand for a long time as the
real classic event of Sanford's baseball. The score was 4-3 in favor
of the Red Sox when the last little dust cloud stirred up by a player's
toe cleared away. The Red Sox attack was led by Babe Ruth, the champion
home run getter of the world to date. Babe connected for a full circuit
clout in the eighth inning. He was obliged to do it to win his fame.
It wasn't a case of just letting the big swat artist bat the ball
for four sacks to please the crowd of fans, who had been reading of
his tremendous wallops during the big league season. When Ruth caught
the old pill and sailed it over the right field fence, thirty feet
or more inside the foul line and with a clearance of full forty feet,
Sanford had his team in the hole 3-1, and it was the eighth inning.
There were two out, and Gilholey was on third, with Roth on first,
the result of a base on balls and a fielder's choice. Ruth had swung
hard at the first ball pitched, and missed. Then came a called strike.
There were few present who expected the blow that followed. Sanford's
pitcher tried to pass the batter, but Babe reached out for a ball
eight or ten inches wide of the plate, picked out the seam he wanted
to hit it on, and slammed the sphere out of the park, whereafter taking
his time in jogging around the bases in the wake of the two men who
preceded him across the plate, putting the score at 4 to 3 against
the locals, which count remained without change until the finish.
It was a hard game for Sanford to lose, and one of the best aside
from the big home run feature, ever witnessed here. One error only
was credited to each team, Ruth, playing at third, making one of them,
and the favorite "Pink" the other. It was a battle of pitchers,
Barclay, twirling for Sanford, allowed three bases on balls and struck
out four men. Golden for the Red Sox had that same record for the
game. Sanford connected safely five times, two of the hits contributed
by Jim McKeon. Red Sox players corralled eight hits. NcNeil, the redoubtable
catcher, landing three of them. Next to Ruth's homer the batting feature
was a long triple by Rowe in the fourth, which, with Ruth's error
and singles by McKeon and Kincaid, gave the Sanford team its three
runs. Sharp fielding featured the fray, two double plays being worked
by each team, Pinkerton starting Sanford's and Shean getting the double
killings off for the Sox. It was a grand good game to watch, and many
watched it-the biggest paid attendance of the season for the stores
and mills were closed for the occasion. There was something doing
all the time. No inning was featureless, the fourth and the eighth
sharing high honors. It was in the fourth that Sanford piled up the
three runs. It was in the fourth, also, that Ruth started a four-ply
drive for the same fence he afterwards sent one over, but started
it too low. At the crack of the bat, seemingly, there was a smash
in the mit of Sanford's first baseman, and McKeon, nearly tumbled
by the blow, had the ball safely caught. Then in Sanford's half of
the fourth inning McKeon, not to be outdone by Babe in this first
baseman-killing stunt, slammed a hard one at Stuffy McInnis, the catapulted
horsehide taking that worthy off his feet and humbling him in the
dust, with Big Jim safe on first. It was a great game. NOTES OF THE
GAME A song, written somewhere, sometime, by somebody was sold in
the grandstand and along the sidelines during the game. The chorus
was sung at intervals by a man with a megaphone, and a younger man
did the selling act. The song was all about Babe Ruth's batting prowess,
and had a real swing to it, to, just as Ruth's bat has a swing to
it, and Babe was portrayed in batting posture, on the cover. Many
copies were sold. When Ruth made his error, in the fourth inning,
a fan watching the game from the sun-bathed bank on the east side
of the park expressed himself this way, viz. -"G'wan you lout,
get in there and play baseball. What d'yer spose I paid a quarter
for you pictures for, anyway!" That was a pretty close decision,
when Hayden was called out at second in the third; and another fine
question, decided in the affirmative by McCann, was whether or not
a ball from Roth's bat was fair or foul, near first base, in the sixth.
The umpiring, it may be said, gave general satisfaction throughout.
When "Hypie" slammed out that three-bagger in the fourth
inning, he went around second base like a flash, and Shean, on getting
the throw from Bailey, thought he had him at a mile; but, after "Hypie"
had slid to safety, Shean just stood and looked at him and wondered
how he got there so quickly. Some speed artist, "Hypie!"
"Mike" Hayden got one awful wallop on the knee from a foul
tip off Ruth's bat, and it laid him out for a few minutes, but he
resumed play amid loud cheers from the fans. Umpire McCann stopped
a couple of foul tips during the game, and it was hard to distinguish
whether he said "foul" or "ouch" each time. As
many have called up the Tribune in regards to the men at bat during
the Red Sox 8th inning, and to show that Ruth did not bat out of order,
we will give the plays as they were made, and how the two men got
on bases: Golden, first man up in this inning, singled to the left
of second base and was thrown out, Kincaid to Parent, when he tried
to turn the hit into a two-bagger. Gilholey reached first on a free
pass, and took second on an error by Pinkerton of Shean's ground hit
to right of second base. Roth reached first when Pinkerton intercepted
his hit to the right of second and put Shean out by touching him as
he ran for second, then trying to double Roth on a throw to McKeon.
Ruth then came up, being the fifth batter to come to the plate, and
did what the crown wanted him to do, pasted it over the fence. McInnis
went out, Rowe to McKeon, for the third out. In the seventh inning,
Ruth led off and was passed. McInnis short one down to "Pink"
who tossed to Parent, and then Parent shot it over to McKeon for a
snappy double play. Malone and McNeal then singled and Bailey went
out on a ground hit to Jim McKeon at first, leaving Malone and McNeal
stranded on second and third. Before the game started, Ruth gave an
exhibition of "fungo" batting that delighted the crowd.
Ruth bought all the league balls he could find in Sanford before the
game, in order to have enough left after hitting them over the fence
during the warming up batting practice.
The
Red Sox and the Sanford Professionals met at Goodall Park Wednesday
afternoon in a game which will probably stand for a long time as the
real classic event of Sanford's baseball. The score was 4-3 in favor
of the Red Sox when the last little dust cloud stirred up by a player's
toe cleared away. The Red Sox attack was led by Babe Ruth, the champion
home run getter of the world to date. Babe connected for a full circuit
clout in the eighth inning. He was obliged to do it to win his fame.
It wasn't a case of just letting the big swat artist bat the ball
for four sacks to please the crowd of fans, who had been reading of
his tremendous wallops during the big league season. When Ruth caught
the old pill and sailed it over the right field fence, thirty feet
or more inside the foul line and with a clearance of full forty feet,
Sanford had his team in the hole 3-1, and it was the eighth inning.
There were two out, and Gilholey was on third, with Roth on first,
the result of a base on balls and a fielder's choice. Ruth had swung
hard at the first ball pitched, and missed. Then came a called strike.
There were few present who expected the blow that followed. Sanford's
pitcher tried to pass the batter, but Babe reached out for a ball
eight or ten inches wide of the plate, picked out the seam he wanted
to hit it on, and slammed the sphere out of the park, whereafter taking
his time in jogging around the bases in the wake of the two men who
preceded him across the plate, putting the score at 4 to 3 against
the locals, which count remained without change until the finish.
It was a hard game for Sanford to lose, and one of the best aside
from the big home run feature, ever witnessed here. One error only
was credited to each team, Ruth, playing at third, making one of them,
and the favorite "Pink" the other. It was a battle of pitchers,
Barclay, twirling for Sanford, allowed three bases on balls and struck
out four men. Golden for the Red Sox had that same record for the
game. Sanford connected safely five times, two of the hits contributed
by Jim McKeon. Red Sox players corralled eight hits. NcNeil, the redoubtable
catcher, landing three of them. Next to Ruth's homer the batting feature
was a long triple by Rowe in the fourth, which, with Ruth's error
and singles by McKeon and Kincaid, gave the Sanford team its three
runs. Sharp fielding featured the fray, two double plays being worked
by each team, Pinkerton starting Sanford's and Shean getting the double
killings off for the Sox. It was a grand good game to watch, and many
watched it-the biggest paid attendance of the season for the stores
and mills were closed for the occasion. There was something doing
all the time. No inning was featureless, the fourth and the eighth
sharing high honors. It was in the fourth that Sanford piled up the
three runs. It was in the fourth, also, that Ruth started a four-ply
drive for the same fence he afterwards sent one over, but started
it too low. At the crack of the bat, seemingly, there was a smash
in the mit of Sanford's first baseman, and McKeon, nearly tumbled
by the blow, had the ball safely caught. Then in Sanford's half of
the fourth inning McKeon, not to be outdone by Babe in this first
baseman-killing stunt, slammed a hard one at Stuffy McInnis, the catapulted
horsehide taking that worthy off his feet and humbling him in the
dust, with Big Jim safe on first. It was a great game. NOTES OF THE
GAME A song, written somewhere, sometime, by somebody was sold in
the grandstand and along the sidelines during the game. The chorus
was sung at intervals by a man with a megaphone, and a younger man
did the selling act. The song was all about Babe Ruth's batting prowess,
and had a real swing to it, to, just as Ruth's bat has a swing to
it, and Babe was portrayed in batting posture, on the cover. Many
copies were sold. When Ruth made his error, in the fourth inning,
a fan watching the game from the sun-bathed bank on the east side
of the park expressed himself this way, viz. -"G'wan you lout,
get in there and play baseball. What d'yer spose I paid a quarter
for you pictures for, anyway!" That was a pretty close decision,
when Hayden was called out at second in the third; and another fine
question, decided in the affirmative by McCann, was whether or not
a ball from Roth's bat was fair or foul, near first base, in the sixth.
The umpiring, it may be said, gave general satisfaction throughout.
When "Hypie" slammed out that three-bagger in the fourth
inning, he went around second base like a flash, and Shean, on getting
the throw from Bailey, thought he had him at a mile; but, after "Hypie"
had slid to safety, Shean just stood and looked at him and wondered
how he got there so quickly. Some speed artist, "Hypie!"
"Mike" Hayden got one awful wallop on the knee from a foul
tip off Ruth's bat, and it laid him out for a few minutes, but he
resumed play amid loud cheers from the fans. Umpire McCann stopped
a couple of foul tips during the game, and it was hard to distinguish
whether he said "foul" or "ouch" each time. As
many have called up the Tribune in regards to the men at bat during
the Red Sox 8th inning, and to show that Ruth did not bat out of order,
we will give the plays as they were made, and how the two men got
on bases: Golden, first man up in this inning, singled to the left
of second base and was thrown out, Kincaid to Parent, when he tried
to turn the hit into a two-bagger. Gilholey reached first on a free
pass, and took second on an error by Pinkerton of Shean's ground hit
to right of second base. Roth reached first when Pinkerton intercepted
his hit to the right of second and put Shean out by touching him as
he ran for second, then trying to double Roth on a throw to McKeon.
Ruth then came up, being the fifth batter to come to the plate, and
did what the crown wanted him to do, pasted it over the fence. McInnis
went out, Rowe to McKeon, for the third out. In the seventh inning,
Ruth led off and was passed. McInnis short one down to "Pink"
who tossed to Parent, and then Parent shot it over to McKeon for a
snappy double play. Malone and McNeal then singled and Bailey went
out on a ground hit to Jim McKeon at first, leaving Malone and McNeal
stranded on second and third. Before the game started, Ruth gave an
exhibition of "fungo" batting that delighted the crowd.
Ruth bought all the league balls he could find in Sanford before the
game, in order to have enough left after hitting them over the fence
during the warming up batting practice.