The day the Yankees go island hopping
Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth
In squeezing in yet another money-making exhibition game between regularly scheduled American League games, the New York Yankees make a side trip 96 years ago today to play on Harrisburg’s City Island, known then as Island Park.
The Yankees, with four future Hall of Famers in their starting lineup, and the hometown, minor league Harrisburg Senators, with none, finish in a 6-6 tie before a Tuesday afternoon crowd of 4,200.
For the game, the Yankees’ Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig play the other’s position with Ruth at first base and Gehrig in right field.
One of the Yankees’ runs comes on Ruth’s homer off former major leaguer Johnny Tillman into the second row of trees deep beyond the right-field fence.
The same trees are still there today on City Island. They’re just a tad taller now than they are for the Yankees’ visit there in 1928.
For their efforts, the Yankees reportedly get 60 percent of the gate receipts, giving them a cut of $2,676.
By the time the 90-minute exhibition ends – ah, the good old days of quick games – the Yankees and Senators each have six runs, leaving home plate umpire Leo Houck to declare a tie.
Especially enjoying Houck’s decision is Ruth, who as the game ends is chased off the field by an estimated 1,000 fans looking for a handshake, an autograph or a piece of Ruth’s uniform.
That the Babe is still inside that uniform is of little concern to the onrushing mob.
As the crowd loses its collective mind, Ruth loses only his cap.
The Babe, whose girth belies his speed, finally jumps into a waiting car and is whisked away to a nearby Elks club.
Ruth and the rest of the Yankees later catch the 7 p.m. train for Philadelphia, where the next day the Yankees beat Lefty Grove and the Athletics 7-4 at Shibe Park.
A day after that, the Yankees again beat the A’s 10-4 in a game featuring two Ruth homers – his 29th and 30th – en route to a major league-leading 54 for the season.
“I can’t tell you how I hit ’em like I do,” Ruth tells the Harrisburg Telegraph during his visit to the ’Burg.
“You have good days and bad days. Sometimes when I’m in a slump, I feel as if I couldn’t touch a football and other times when things are going good, I think I could hit a pea.”