The Babe’s Brave new world

Among the first of many If-This-Can-Happen-Then-Anything-Can-Happen moments in sports, the New York Yankees 90 years ago today formally release the icon that is Babe Ruth.

At one time, this would be an unthinkable thought.

The Yankees do this, though, so the once-mighty outfielder now with rapidly diminishing skills may sign on the same day with the lowly Boston Braves for $20,000, a cut of the team’s profits and the hope that Ruth might one day replace Bill McKechnie as the team’s manager.

Bill McKechnie with Babe Ruth

The latter – the thought of eventually becoming a manager – is what intrigues Ruth the most.

Alas for Ruth, he quickly learns that his thinking is not going to become the Braves’ reality as McKechnie – a future Hall of Famer as a manager – is not going anywhere anytime soon.

Ruth, then 40 years old, plays in only 28 games for the Braves in 1935 and totals just 13 hits in 72 at-bats before retiring at the end of May.

He does walk 20 times in his 92 plate appearances with the Braves for a perfectly fine-for-mere-mortals .359 on-base percentage.

Hitting, though, not walking, always appeals more to Ruth.

Among Ruth’s 13 hits for the Braves are seven singles and six home runs with the final three homers coming in a Saturday afternoon game on May 25, 1935 at Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field against Pirates pitchers Red Lucas and Guy Bush.

The last of those three homers comes off Bush – the 714th of his career and last of his 2,873 hits – and clears Forbes Field’s right-field roof, capping a game in which Ruth drives in six runs during an 11-7 loss to the Pirates.

Babe Ruth reaches the plate after hitting his final home run on May 25, 1935

Ruth plays his final game five days later against the Phillies on May 30, 1935 at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia.

Before walking off the field at Baker Bowl after just one inning of his last game, the Hall of Fame-bound Ruth puts together a 22-year career in which hits .342 in 2,503 games with 2,174 runs scored and 2,214 runs batted in.

His career slugging percentage of .690 and combination of on-base and slugging percentage of 1.164 remain records today.

Of course, there are those aforementioned 714 home runs that remain a record until Hank Aaron in 1974 hits his 715th on the way to 755 in his own Hall of Fame career.

Ruth, of course, knows when the time comes to leave the game.

“All ballplayers,” Ruth says, “should quit when it starts to feel as if all the baselines run uphill.”