Babe Ruth’s Mythical Called Shot

Image credits: Bapple2286

This is the story of Babe Ruth’s supposed declaration that he was going to hit “the next pitch” for a home run in the fourth inning of Game 3 of the 1932 World Series against the Cubs.

The story really begins in May of 1925 when the New York Yankees bought shortstop Mark Koenig from St. Paul for $50,000 and three players. Koenig reported to the Yankees at the end of the St. Paul season.

Following a disastrous seventh-place finish that year, they added second baseman Tony Lazzeri from Salt Lake City for a similar price, and returned to pennant-winning form in 1926.

A fastball hitter – “Nobody could throw one by me” – with no power, he hit around .300. Batting second ahead of Ruth and Gehrig, he scored just under 100 runs a year. He was popular among his teammates, a regular member of the group invited to Mom Gehrig’s for home-cooked German feasts, and a frequent companion to Babe Ruth on the Babe’s nocturnal escapades. 

“I went out partying with Ruth plenty of times,” he recalled, “but I don’t think he knew my name. He called everybody Kid.  My locker was next to his for years. But he always said, “Hey, Kid,” to me and everybody else. Nobody minded.”

What really happened in the 1932 World Series? Image credits: The NY.Post

Koenig remained with the Yankees until he was traded to Detroit in 1930. By 1932 he was back in the minor leagues with the San Francisco Missions.

The Cubs, meanwhile, were in the midst of an eventual every-three-year pennant pattern that had begun in 1929. Led -- not happily -- by manager Rogers Hornsby, they were in second place, 4 games back of Pittsburgh, on the night of July 6, when shortstop Billy Jurges was shot in his hotel room by a lovelorn showgirl he had been dating.

Her love may have been true, but her aim was not.  Two shots from a small-caliber pistol injured a finger and his right shoulder.

While Jurges was out of action, the Cubs moved third baseman Woody English to shortstop, and Hornsby and rookie Stan Hack played third. But it wasn’t satisfactory. The Cubs were still in second place, 5 games out, when Hornsby was fired, replaced by Charlie Grimm on August 2.

Jurges was back in action by the end of July, but the Cubs wanted a backup shortstop. On August 5 they bought Koenig from the Missions. In 33 games he hit .353 for them. The Cubs won the pennant by 4 games.

Cubs Captain Woody English

When we played the Yankees in the 1932 World Series, and Ruth is supposed to have called his home run, which is not true, there was bitterness there. The reason was that Mark Koenig, a former Yankee, came to the Cubs late in the season.

When we voted on the split of the World Series shares, only the regulars entitled to a full share were in the meeting – no coaches or manager. I was the captain and I held the meeting. It had to be unanimous on every vote for part shares and the trainer and batboy and others.

Two players held out for half a share for Koenig.  They said he didn’t get here until late in the season and didn’t play in very many games. The rest thought he should get a full share. 

So this came out in the papers before the World Series. That’s what started the friction between the two clubs. When Babe Ruth was at bat and had the two strikes on him, our guys were all over him from the dugout.

The Yankees had said our guys were cheap and miserly and boy that really burned us up. We didn’t really think we could beat ‘em anyway, but we wanted to give them a hard time. We were in the third base dugout and he batted left handed so he was looking right at the guys in our dugout who were calling him all kinds of names when he held two fingers up showing that’s only two strikes and he said, “That’s only two.” I was playing third base. Hartnett was catching and Charlie Root pitching. And the next ball he hit over the center field fence.

The press box was way up maybe 200 feet behind home plate. It made a good story, but we all said that wasn’t right, he didn’t call that shot, although he hit it hard enough.  We liked Babe Ruth; he was a grand man. But we didn’t like him in ’32.

Mark Koenig

The way the Cubs treated me, I was glad the Yankees beat us. I just wasn’t accepted by that bunch of players. I had no friends on the team.

Every player could buy sets of tickets for the Series. I bought six sets and gave them to friends. They were the worst seats in the park, way out and all of them behind posts.

After we clinched the pennant I was sitting on the train behind Burleigh Grimes and Pat Malone, two veteran pitchers. They were discussing how to cut up the Series money.

Mark Koenig: “I don’t think Ruth called his shot. It’d be ridiculous for anybody with two strikes on him to do something like that, even Ruth.” Image credits: CDN Images 1

I heard them say I should get a full share, but in the meeting to vote the shares they never said a word. Charlie Grimm, the manager, wasn’t there. Rogers Hornsby, their manager until August, they voted nothing. With the Yankees, Huggins always ran the meetings, fought for what was fair.

So I got a half share. A little over $2,000.

I don’t think Ruth called his shot. It’d be ridiculous for anybody with two strikes on him to do something like that, even Ruth. He made a gesture, like he was showing it was only strike two.

Charlie Root, the pitcher, emphatically denied it all his life. He said, “If that guy had pointed to the bleachers like that, I’d have knocked him down with the next pitch.  But he didn’t.” If anybody would have known, Root would be the one. I don’t believe Ruth did it. But it makes a good story and it’s lasted all these years.

Yankees Shortstop Frank Crosetti

The Cubs only voted Mark a half share. This got a big play in the papers, so when the Series started, a lot of jockeying was going on between the two clubs. The Babe called the Cubs players a bunch of cheap skates, etc., etc., but a lot of other old-time Yankees were on the Cub players as well.

Now when Babe came to bat the Cub bench was really on him. Root’s first pitch was a strike, the Cub bench on him all the more. The second pitch was a strike, now the Cub bench really on the Babe. The Babe raised his right hand and pointed his index finger at the Cub bench. By doing this he meant that he had one more strike left. He did not point to center field. Of course the next pitch he hit for a home run. 

The Babe was like a big kid when he got back to the dugout. He said if anyone asks him what his greatest thrill was, hitting that home run was it. We were all happy for him, because he was such a grand person who did a lot for baseball.  

Charlie Root

The man with the best view of Ruth at the plate was the pitcher on the mound. Charlie Root was a hard-throwing, hard-boiled pitcher of the ‘20s and ‘30s who wouldn’t hesitate to throw chin music at a hitter. He was already fuming over a three-run home run that Ruth had hit in the first inning.

Charlie Root - the man with the best view of Ruth at the plate. Image credits: Bleed Cubbie Blue

The count was 2 and 2 when Ruth supposedly pointed to center field. After the game Root made no mention of the incident, but years later he denied that Ruth had done anything like calling his home run, “If he had done anything like that, I’d have stuck one in his ear.” Nobody who knew him doubted it.  Instead he threw what he described as a change-up low and outside and Ruth golfed it over the center field wall.

Root didn’t even deck the next batter, which an angry pitcher might well have done in those days. Instead, Lou Gehrig followed with what was probably the most-ignored home run in World Series history.