THE LOWDOWN ON RUTH
"Casey Stengel tells about a World Series game before which John McGraw, the old Giants manager, told his pitchers they would be fined $100 if they threw a ball above Babe Ruth's knees.
'They didn't,' Casey says, 'and he hit three home runs that day.'
Casey said that the American Leaguers who played against Ruth in closed parks were lucky. He played against him in a Baltimore fairgrounds in an exhibition game and spent the afternoon chasing the long ones over the open spaces.
'In a World Series game in the Polo Grounds,' Casey says, 'I played near Grant's monument and managed to catch one. When I came back McGraw congratulated me on playing Ruth right. He didn't know about that afternoon in Baltimore.' "
-Baseball Digest, September 1957
WE'LL NEVER BREAK RUTH'S RECORD
The Hitter Mickey Mantle Says Is Most Likely To Do It Tells Why He's Convinced No One, Not Even Mickey, Will Ever Hit 61
by Duke Snider as Told to Milton Richman, Reprinted from This Week Magazine
"There's a cool million dollars waiting for the fellow who breaks Babe Ruth's all-time home run record, but I'm convinced the money is going to go begging.
Ruth set his record of 60 homers in a season during 1927 and although some of the greatest sluggers in baseball have been shooting at that mark since, not one of them has been able to match it. Frankly, I don't believe anyone ever will because the odds have skyrocketed tremendously against breaking that record since the Babe's day.
Take it from me, there isn't a big leaguer around today who wouldn't give his eye teeth to break that record.
Any player who could would find himself up to his neck in fabulous offers. TV programs would want personal appearances at fancy fees, movie companies would be standing in lines for rights to his life story and magazines would pay him plenty for a series of articles on how he did it.
In addition to getting rich, though, the man who broke the Babe's record automatically would become an international hero. With his name inscribed in gold letters in all the record books, they'd start dusting off a special pedestal for him in the Hall of Fame at Cooperstown.
It sure makes a great picture. And don't think a great many big leaguers, myself included, haven't thought about it ever since Ruth turned the trick 30 years ago.
But I'm afraid that thinking about it is all we're ever going to be able to do. Why? Well, there are a number of reasons.
Take the case of Mickey Mantle of the Yankees. Here's a young fellow who's an exceptionally fine hitter. He set the baseball world on its ear last season when he clouted 17 homers in his first 35 games. Ruth didn't hit his 17th homer in 1927 until he had played in 47 games, so the newspapers immediately headlined the fact that Mantle was 12 games ahead of the Babe's record pace.
But here's a fact the fans didn't take into consideration: the longer a ball player has a chance at Ruth's record, the more time there is for pressure to mount. It's only normal that such a hitter starts to press a bit at the plate, swinging at bad pitches he ordinarily would let go by.
By the end of August, Mantle had a total of 47 homers and needed 14 in September to break the record. Everywhere he went, people would buttonhole him and ask, 'Do you think you'll do it?' Constant reminders like that don't help. They only serve to make a hitter more conscious of the strain.
The Babe hit 17 home runs in September, 1927, more homers than he hit in any other month that year. They call Ruth's 17 homers in September 'the pace that kills off all challengers' and that's exactly what it has done since 1927. Mantle hit only five homers last September and wound up with 52.
Here's another reason why September is tough going. At the end of the season, pitchers are going to bear down on a man ahead of Ruth's record twice as hard. Furthermore, September has a few more off-days in the current schedules than there were in the Babe's time. You can't hit home runs on days you don't play.
Then, again, Ruth never had to contend with the combination of day and night games we have now. How can a ball player, trying for a home run record or anything else, get his proper rest when he has to play a game tonight, then get up fresh and early for a game tomorrow? You tell me the answer to that one.
That's why I can't get overly excited when I pick up a paper during the season and read that 'So-and-so is umpteen games ahead of Ruth.' In the long one, the Babe catches up with them all.
Remember back in 1955 when Willie Mays of the Giants was really belting the ball out of the park. He was running 'on time' with Ruth's record 'timetable' when he connected for his thirty-fourth homer on August 1 that year, but in the end he finished short with 51.
If it were possible to beat the record- and let me say again I don't think it is- I guess Mantle and Mays, a couple of center field colleagues, would have the best chance of doing it.
Mickey and Willie are both extraordinary hitters but, unfortunately for them, their home ball parks are not conducive to hitting 61 homers- even for a switch hitter such as Mantle.
At Yankee Stadium, where Mantle has to play 77 games, it's hard to get so-called 'cheap' home runs. If Mickey played all year in a park like Cincinnati's Crosley Field or like Brooklyn's Ebbets Field (where I've played the last ten years), he'd have a better chance to break the record. The fences in these parks make more inviting targets. But you know Mickey's not likely to play any home games anywhere except Yankee Stadium!
Mays also may have a better crack at the record when he doesn't play his home games at the Polo Grounds. The right and left field fences there are less than 300 feet from home plate but a fellow can hit a ball 480 feet in straightaway center and still wind up with a loud out. A lot of Willie's hits out that way would be home runs in other ball parks.
There are other capable home run hitters in the big leagues nowadays but not one looks as if he can break Ruth's record.
Ted Kluszewski, the Cincinnati muscleman, has hit as many as 49 home runs in one year and for a time, there were those who saw him as the logical candidate for Ruth's title. But he's a low line-drive hitter and doesn't connect for the high ones often enough.
For consistency since entering the majors, no one rates ahead of Milwaukee's Eddie Mathews in the home run department. He has averaged 38 homers a year since breaking in with the Braves in 1952. That's a long way from the Babe's record, though. Mathews has terrific power, but the Milwaukee park presents a tough barrier for a left-handed hitter like him.
Over in the American League, Ted Williams of the Red Sox is a great overall hitter but he doesn't concentrate on homers. And that right field fence in Boston doesn't exactly beckon to a left-handed hitter like Williams, either.
During the past off-season, Mickey Mantle said he thought I was the ball player most likely to break Ruth's record. That was a nice gesture on his part but you have to face facts.
My speed seems to be between 40 and 45 homers a year. I'm too erratic to break any home run records. One week I might hit four or five and the next week none. And too many homerless weeks mean no new record.
It's interesting to note that 30 years ago on July 21, Ruth had hit exactly half his 60 home runs. Yet that isn't the midpoint of the season- only about 60 games were left to play after that day.
Thus any player hoping to top Ruth's record should either be well ahead of it by that date- with perhaps 40 homers already- or else should be prepared for a pretty uphill battle from there on in. One of Ruth's stiffest challengers, Jimmie Foxx of the Athletics, had 39 homers by July 21 of 1932. But he only hit 19 the rest of the way, to finish with 58. Note the figures for some other sluggers who were ahead or close to Ruth's July 21 total.
Hack Wilson, Cubs, 1930: July 21, 31; Finish 56
Mickey Mantle, Yankees, 1956: July 21, 31; Finish, 52
Hank Greenberg, Tigers, 1938: July 21, 28; Finish, 58
Willie Mays, Giants, 1955: July 21, 28; Finish, 51
Eddie Mathews, Braves, 1953: July 21, 28; Finish, 47
Johnny Mize, Giants, 1947: July 21, 27; Finish, 51
There are simply too many obstacles to overcome for anyone who has designs on the Babe's all-time record. A player would need a terrific start and an even more spectacular finish. He'd have to be oblivious to all that pressure, quirks in the modern schedule and the fences in the different parks.
One day, perhaps, some baseball superman may come along who has all the necessary qualifications. But I don't see anyone around now who fits that description.
And I don't advise you to hold your breath waiting."
-Baseball Digest, October 1957
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