Babe Ruth's Called Shot by Ed Sherman

Author:Ed Sherman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lyons Press
Published: 2014-02-17T16:00:00+00:00

“Little Ray” Kelly and the Babe demonstrate their stances in 1922.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Kelly and his father attended Game Three as Ruth’s guests. Given his loyalty to Ruth, it comes as little surprise that he believed in the Called Shot. “He absolutely did it,” Kelly said. “I was right there. Never in doubt.”

“I’ve read many accounts that said he didn’t point to the center field bleachers,” said Kelly in a TV interview. “I was sitting in a box seat right alongside the Yankee dugout at ground level, and I saw him at one point raise his hand up. Not pointing at the pitcher, but his hand elevated.

“The first pitch Root threw was a called strike, and Ruth pointed a finger, as much to say, and I think he meant it, ‘That’s one strike.’ Then he pitched another called strike, and Babe went ‘two,’ indicating—I assume what he meant was—‘That’s the second strike!’ And then he yelled out to him, ‘It only takes one!’ That I heard vividly. The next pitch was a ball, and before the next pitch was when he pointed to the center field bleachers, and following that the pitch came in, and he hit one of the longest home runs that was ever hit in Wrigley Field.”

James Roosevelt

One of Franklin Roosevelt’s sons, James, attended the game with his father. In a 1982 interview with the New York Times, James recalled the reaction of his father, whom Ruth’s antics clearly captivated. “I remember a lot of hoots and howls by Cub fans when Ruth came to bat. And I remember, with great deliberation, he [Ruth] pointed to the longest part of the park. There was no question what the gesture meant. And when he hit the homer, I remember Dad saying: ‘Unbelievable!’”

John Carmichael

A longtime columnist for the Chicago Daily News, Carmichael later did a first-person piece with Ruth in which the slugger described his version of the Called Shot in vivid detail. “I thought he waved the back of his hand toward the fence, not in any particular direction, to indicate that the next pitch was going out.”

Arthur F. Peterson

In 1983 Peterson read a story in the Wall Street Journal and the Sporting News that questioned the veracity of the Called Shot—but not a single doubt lingered in Peterson’s mind. He had attended the game in 1932, and so he sent a letter to the Wall Street Journal, setting them to rights, and then a copy to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Howard Talbot Jr., the Hall’s director at the time, replied that the letter would make a “valued addition” to the Hall’s collection on the Called Shot.

Peterson’s letter said, in part: “Let me assure anyone who may be interested that there is, in fact, no cause for debate of it. I was there at that October 1, 1932, World Series game. A business associate of mine, Angus H. Taylor, and I had seats in the stands halfway between home plate and first base.

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