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Show 'pedkiuc Released by Western Newspaper Union. WHO is the most colorful of the legions of baseball players who have graced the big league scene? While there may be a few other nominations, Babe Ruth still gets the nod from an overwhelming majority ma-jority of baseball addicts. The Bambino Bam-bino never will be forgotten. His natural place was In the spotlight. Twenty-eight years ago Babe reported re-ported to the Boston Red Sox as a left-handed pitcher. He wasn't too happy in the role, which prevented his playing play-ing every day. He liked to perform in the outfield. But the Sox won the American Ameri-can league pennant In 1913 with Ruth's pitching assistance. They repeated in 1916. and in the se- ries of that year. Babe Ruth Babe started his astonishing as-tonishing pitching record of hurling 29 consecutive series Innings without allowing a run. This shutout pitching performance was at the expense of the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1916 and the Chicago Cubs two years later. Starting against the Dodgers, he gave them one run the first inning, then blanked them for the following 13. In 1918 he shut out the Cubs for the regulation nine innings of the first game. He came back in the fourth game for seven more scoreless score-less innings. He was relieved in the ninth frame, having pitched wild ball. But he finished the game in left field. Ruth has a 20-year lifetime batting bat-ting average of .346. He hit more than 800 home runs, Including those poked out In exhibition games. He accounted for 60 home runs In 1927, batting In 164 runs and hitting .356. But the Babe is just as proud of his pitching record. He claims the best five-year or lifetime pitching average in the game. And he includes in-cludes Mathewson, Cy Young, Alexander, Alex-ander, Ed Walsh, Walter Johnson and all the rest Although he was allowed to pitch only five years, his average was around .700. In 1919, his bat accounted for 29 homers, then a major league record. The manager of the Red Sox was Ed Barrow. He and Owner Harry Frazee sold Ruth to the Yankees i for a record price of $100,000 and $35,000 worth of ball players. Then Barrow followed Ruth to the Yankees, Yan-kees, becoming business manager under Col. Jacob Ruppert. With the 'Yanks, Babe switched to the outfield and electrified the sports world with his sensational hitting. In 1921 he poled out 59 home runs. He was rewarded with a $52,000 salary sal-ary for 1922. But the next season his hitting fell off. Baseball writers termed his the "busted phenomenon." Then, In 1923 he came back with a .393 average and 41 home runs. Ruth's worst season came in 1925. En route home from spring training, train-ing, the Babe collapsed and spent weeks in a hospital from the combined com-bined effects of indigestion and influenza. influ-enza. When he returned to active duty he staged a rip-roaring row with Manager Miller Huggins. The Babe was fined $5,000 for "misconduct "miscon-duct off the playing field" the stiff-est stiff-est fine ever charged against a player. play-er. Again he was considered through. He had hit only .290 and had totaled only 25 home runs. Once more Ruth silenced bis critics. crit-ics. In 1926 he paced one of the greatest teams in baseball history into the first of three straight pennants. pen-nants. He batted .372 and hit 47 home runs. The next year he was responsible for the greatest slugging record of all time 60 borne runs. According to Hugh S. Fullerton, one of the greatest of all baseball writers. Babe was a "careless, reckless, reck-less, innocent-minded overgrown boy and always tried to please where small boys were concerned. He once umpired a game between two 'kid' teams and had to be rescued res-cued by police when more than 10,-000 10,-000 youngsters crowded around to shake his hand." Although he cost the Yankees $135,000, the Babe repaid the club many times over. His lure at the gate was responsible for Yankee stadium sta-dium "the house that Ruth built." Today the Babe probably would give half of his possessions to be back in the big leagues. But the memory of his past deeds should prove sufficient solace. SPORT SHORTS L Only 702 of the 5,000 golf clubs in the country are members of the U. S. Golf association. C Don Buffmire of Grand Rapids, Minn., sophomore on Northwestern university's track team, will captain cap-tain the 1943 squad. C Ray Lamanno. recruit catcher for Cincinnati, drove in seven runs in one inning in 1933. Playing with Muskogee in the Western association, associa-tion, he hit two homers in the same Inning, once with three men on, the other with two on. |