Over and, alas, out for the Babe

A couple of significant moments for Babe Ruth come on this day, starting 96 years ago as he becomes the first player to hit a baseball over the right-field roof at Chicago’s Comiskey Park in the New York Yankees’ 8-1 victory over the White Sox.

Ruth’s prodigious blast in 1927 against right-hander Tommy Thomas leads off the fifth inning and gives the Yankees a 5-1 lead.

Nothing new, though, for Thomas, who gives up 11 homers to Ruth in the first eight seasons of his 12-year pitching career in the majors.

The other significant moment in Ruth’s life comes, well, at the end of it as he passes away 75 years ago today of throat cancer. He is only 53 years old.