A few weeks back I was fortunate to attend a wonderful event by The Carriage House Poetry Series in my town of Fanwood. The event featured readings by Edwin Romond the author of five collections of poetry. I had recently finished some research on Hank Aaron and a post that you may have read about the anniversary of his momentous achievement breaking Babe Ruth’s home run record. One of Ed’s poems was about that very event and he gave me permission to post his wonderful poem here.
BreakingIn memory of Hank Aaron (1934-2021)
1953 in Washington, DC Hank Aaron could see the Capitol Dome, glistening symbol of freedom, through windows of the cafe where he and his black teammates had just finished breakfast. After the waitress took their plates to the kitchen he heard glassware breaking, smashed so no one else would use them, so no one else would eat from plates that had touched the forks that had been in the mouths of black American men.
But Hank would answer hate with excellence playing baseball with graceful greatness through the 50’s, 60’s and, on one Atlanta night in ’74, did his own breaking, smashing #715, one more homer than Babe Ruth whose record stood unshattered for five decades. And in 2002 Aaron returned to Washington, DC this time to stand in the White House, just blocks from that cafe, to receive the “Presidential Medal of Freedom” from George W. Bush and as the East Room audience stood and cheered, Hank’s face broke into a grand slam smile before sitting down to dine on the First Family china.
This poem can be found in Ed Romond’s award-winning poetry collection “Man at the Railing” published by NQY Bookshttp://www.nyq.org
It was fifty years ago today that Hammerin’ Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run surpassing Babe Ruth’s long-standing record for lifetime home runs. On that cool early April afternoon in 1974 in Atlanta Stadium Aaron blasted a deep fly ball over the left-field wall against LA Dodger lefty Al Downing and became Major League Baseball’s all-time home run king.
I remember watching the momentous event with a small group of my college buddies. Yes, we cut classes to watch it. We had our priorities in order, although we were thankful that Hank came through that day saving us any further conflicts with our priorities.
Growing up a Yankee fan in the northeast in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s I didn’t get to see Aaron on a regular basis. But I’ll never forget attending a mid-60’s game at Shea Stadium, Mets against the Braves. We had great seats in the loge section courtesy of the corporate perks of my buddy’s father. I distinctly remember being in awe of Aaron. He had an almost regal presence as he slowly ambled up to the plate. He had an unusual habit of carrying his helmet to home plate and then slowly donning it over his cloth hat as he settled into the batter’s box. He would then take one or two practice swings flexing his powerful wrists. Aaron was known for his powerful wrists. (As kids and wannabe ball players we actually did Hank Aaron inspired exercises to strengthen our wrists.) Then with a flick of those wrists Aaron treated us with a long home run. One of his 755 lifetime home runs. Most of us at that time thought it would be Mickey Mantle or Willie Mays who would pass the legendary Babe. But looking back on it, if my college self could tell my teenage self, “Hey, Hammerin’ Hank just passed the Babe,” my teenage self would have said, “Wow! Hey, I knew he could do it!”
Hank Aaron’s 23-year Major League Baseball career spanned three decades playing for only two cities, Milwaukee, and Atlanta and only two teams the Braves for 21 years and his final two years in 1975-76 with the Milwaukee Brewers.
He is the all-time leader in RBI’s, extra base hits, and total bases. He is second in lifetime home runs to Barry Bonds and second in at bats to Pete Rose. During his Hall of Fame career, he led the National League in home runs four times, RBI’s four times and batting average twice.
In 1957 he won the National League MVP award while leading the Braves to a World Championship over the New York Yankees.
Hank Aaron passed away in 2021 at the age of 86.
Many regard Aaron as the best professional baseball player of all time.
(As the dreary days of winter drag on and Opening Day still seems so far away, I have found one antidote for these doldrums is to check out Gary Livacari’s excellent blog Baseball History Comes Alive. While doing so I came upon Gary’s fine retelling of this timeless baseball tale. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.)
“I’ll knock a homer for Wednesday’s game. Babe Ruth” –Inscription on baseball scrawled by Babe Ruth during the 1926 World Series and given to little Johnny Sylvester, recovering from a near-fatal illness.
One of baseball’s most enduring legends occurred during the 1926 World Series. Of course it had to involve none other than the great Bambino himself. We’re all aware the Babe had his share of personal shortcomings (and don’t we all!); but when there was a kid in need, no one was more likely to come through in a big way than the Babe.
The Babe’s Famous Promise
The ball signed by Babe Ruth with his promise to Johnny Sylvester to hit a home run for him.
In 1926, little Yankee fan Johnny Sylvester was just 11 years old, recuperating from a horseback riding accident that resulted in a serious injury. He was hospitalized near his home in Essex Falls, New Jersey. The prognosis wasn’t good. The Yankees got wind of Johnny’s condition, and so during a rain delay in Game Three of the World Series in St. Louis, a few ball players signed a baseball just for Johnny. Babe Ruth inscribed more than just his signature, though. He penned his famous promise:
“I’ll knock a homer for you in Wednesday’s game” Babe Ruth
Babe visits the ailing Johnny Sylvester in the hospital.
In the classic photo above, we see the Babe and little Johnny together. Johnny still has a bandage on his forehead from his horseback riding injury. Thanks again to Don Stokes for another super colorization which really helps bring the story to life.
The Bambino Delivers…
On Wednesday, October 6, 1926 – Game Four of the series, a 10-5 Yankee victory – the Babe delivered on his promise…and then some! Amazingly, he didn’t hit just one homer, he hit three. On the day after Game Seven, Oct. 11, Ruth personally visited Johnny Sylvester in the hospital in Essex Falls.
…And Johnny Miraculously Recovers!
And sure enough, something miraculous happened: Against all odds, Johnny’s health gradually started to improve. According to Andrew Lilley, Johnny’s great-nephew, the visit from the Babe changed everything:
“Babe Ruth’s home runs and his visit helped Johnny find the will to survive.”
On Dec. 16, 1926, Ruth penned another letter to the boy (shown at right, in Babe’s distinctive, florid handwriting), inquiring about his recovery and inviting him to Yankee Stadium during the 1927 season “to help win another pennant.”
Johnny didn’t just survive…he thrived. He went on to graduate from Yale University in 1937, and later became a successful business owner and much-beloved family man. He even served in the Navy during World War II, rising to the rank of lieutenant. All because the Babe saved his life…or so the story goes!
Life Turns Full Circle!
In 1947, Johnny Sylvester visits an ailing Babe Ruth.
Fast forward to 1947. The situation had now completely reversed. Now it was Babe Ruth who was ailing and it was Johnny Sylvester’s turn to repay the man who had come to his bedside when he was gravely ill. As Andrew Lilley described the scene:
“The story had come full circle at this point. Here was the kid all grown up going back to the Babe and showing the same generosity to his hero, just as the Babe showed him all those years ago.”
Reading about this reunion 75 years later, it’s still hard not to shed a tear…
Ruth wasn’t the only sports celebrity to reach out to the ailing boy. “Big Bill” Tilden, one of the greatest tennis players of all time, sent him an autographed tennis racquet. Hall-of-Fame halfback Red Grange sent a letter and an autographed football. Baseball Hall-of-Famer Rogers Hornsby, in a rare show of compassion, was another famous athlete who sent little Johnny a letter. Of course, none of these other displays of concern did as much for little Johnny’s recovery as the Babe’s fulfilled promise and later visit.
Forty Years Later, Johnny Sylvester Is Found!
Johnny Sylvester at the time of his graduation from Yale in 1939
In 1986 – the 40th Anniversary of the Johnny Sylvester story – the Babe Ruth Museum tried to investigate the story for authenticity. The museum eventually tracked down the real Johnny Sylvester, finding him as a retired banker living in Connecticut. When asked for some proof that these events actually happened, Mr. Sylvester produced the baseball with Babe’s handwriting and signature. The ball said, “I’ll knock a homer for Wednesday’s game. Babe Ruth.” The ball is now on display in the Babe Ruth Museum in Baltimore along with the other artifacts in “The Little Johnny Sylvester Collection.” It’s been on loan to the Babe Ruth Museum for 36 years.
The Babe Ruth Museum located Johnny Sylvester in 1986.
But Is the Story True?
Is this heartwarming story completely true, or has it been embellished? Was the whole thing a hoax? Maybe we’re falling for a sappy publicity stunt dreamt up by Babe Ruth’s ubiquitous agent and “image-maker,” Christy Walsh. It certainly has that ring to it.
If so, it was highly successful. The publicity was priceless for Babe Ruth’s image. Years later when asked about the incident, Ruth is purported to have blurted out, “Who the hell is Johnny Sylvester?”
True or not, it remains one of the most timeless anecdotes in all of baseball lore and is one of the wonderful stories contributing to the endearing legacy of the great Bambino, Babe Ruth. Sadly,Johnny Sylvester passed away on January 6, 1990 at age 74 while residing in Garden City, New York.
Gary Livacari
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This year marks the 25th anniversary of what could be regarded as the best baseball team of all time, the 1998 New York Yankees. In his new book The Inside Story of the Greatest Baseball Team Ever The 1998Yankees author Jack Curry makes a convincing case. If you are a baseball fan and you haven’t read Curry’s book you should. If you are a Yankee fan you must.
As a long time Yankee fan, I didn’t need much convincing, though I had to do some research on the 1961 Yankees, the team I grew up watching, to make sure Curry’s argument held up. And it does. It also holds up against all the other great teams in baseball history. By all means get Curry’s informative and enjoyable book to see his complete argument. For my blog here I will focus in on what I believe are the most important facets support the conclusion that the 1998 New York Yankees are the best team ever.
First, to set some parameters: I am not talking about the best collection of players, nor am I measuring the team over a course of several seasons. I am not talking about a dynasty team (though the 1998 Yankees were part of a dynasty team that won four World Championships and five AL Pennants over the course of 6 years; 1996-2001). I’m talking about a team having the greatest single season ever. And for this I believe there is no doubt.
The two most important categories to consider are wins, of course, and winning the World Series. A lesser category would be winning percentage.
Let’s start with winning percentage as the fairest way to differentiate a really good team from a great team. Afterall, winning percentage accurately accounts for the significance of the different lengths of seasons from baseball’s different eras. Specifically, the change from 154 games to 162 games which occurred in 1961. Using .700 as the dividing line we find nine teams in modern baseball history (since the beginning of the World Series in 1903) that had a regular season winning percentage over .700.
Here is the list:
1906 Chicago Cubs .763 W 116 L 36
1909 Pittsburgh Pirates .724 110-42
1954 Cleveland Indians .721 111-43
2001 Seattle Mariners .716 116-46
1927 NY Yankees .714 110-44
1998 NY Yankees .704 114-48
1931 Philadelphia Athletics .704 107-45
1907 Chicago Cubs .704 107-45
1939 NY Yankees .702 106-45
Of these nine teams four can be eliminated because despite their fantastic regular season they failed to win the World Series. In my book you can’t be considered the best team ever if you couldn’t even win the championship. So, despite having the most regular season wins at 116 both the 1906 Cubs and the 2001 Mariners are both eliminated because they failed to win the World Series. The Cubs lost to their crosstown rivals the White Sox and the Mariners failed to even make it to the World Series, losing in the playoffs to the Yankees. The 1954 Indians and the 1931 Athletics also failed to win the World Series so that leaves us with five teams remaining.
Honus Wagner
This is a tough call, but I’m going to eliminate the 1909 Honus Wagner led Pittsburgh Pirates because they had a difficult time in the World Series needing seven games to beat Ty Cobb’s Detroit Tigers. The remaining four teams all went undefeated in the World Series although the 1907 Cubs took five games to defeat the Tigers with one game ending in a tie.
To differentiate the four remaining teams, I will use a rough metric from the Baseball Almanac where the teams’ yearly stats are compiled showing the leaders in ten offensive categories such as batting average and runs and eight pitching categories such as ERA and strikeouts. The best team here is the 1927 Yankees who led in 12 categories, the 1939 Yankees 10 categories, the 1998 Yankees eight categories, and the 1907 Cubs only five categories. Using this metric, I will give the 1907 Cubs with the lowest score the boot leaving the three Yankee teams as the finalists. I know, I’m a Yankee fan, but what can I say, the stats don’t lie.
The Baseball Almanac’s metric has however a significant flaw. It can’t account for a major difference between the two eras; before and after the leagues expanded. The 1998 Yankees competed against twice as many teams as the 1927 and 1939 Yankees, thus it was much more difficult to lead in a category. But we can use that metric to compare the 1927 Yanks and the 1939 Yanks, and we can give Babe Ruth’s Yanks the nod over Joe DiMaggio’s lower scoring Yanks, thus eliminating the 1939 Yanks and leaving just the 1998 Yankees and the 1927 Yankees in the competition.
Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth
So, comparing two teams from two different eras can be difficult but it also can be fun. I know growing up and watching the 1961 Yankees every day; as the season went on there were discussions as to whether the 1961 Yankees with the M&M Boys, Mantle and Maris, could compare with Ruth and Lou Gehrig and the Murders Row of 1927. At that time the 1927 Yankees were considered the best team of all-time, at least in my neck of the woods and without any advanced metrics. The ’27 Yankees certainly had all the power and glitz with two of the all-time greats in their lineup, Ruth, and Gehrig. The ’98 Yankees didn’t lack in star power with two emerging Hall of Famers, Derek Jeter, and Mariano Rivera on their roster. They also had the AL batting champ Bernie Williams and a solid pitching staff with borderline Hall of Famer David Cone, plus Andy Pettitte and David Wells. As a result, I must contend that it all comes down to wins. The 1998 Yankees, winning 114 regular season games and 11 post season games for a total of 125 wins, had more wins than any other team ever, and 11 more than the 1927 Yankees. Now you could argue that if the 1927 Yankees played 23 more games, they probably could have won at least 12 of them. The problem is, that would be mere speculation and there is no way to know, and we will never know. There is no other way around it, the 1998 New York Yankees, winner of 125 games, are simply the best.
Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter
A couple of footnotes.
One reason the 1998 New York Yankees do not get the credit they deserve is that the year 1998 in baseball is primarily remembered for the incredible home run competition between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. As the Yankees dominated the American League with record setting precision, McGwire and Sosa were captivating the entire nation with their quest to break Roger Maris’s single-season home run record. Prior to any suspicions of PED’s they were America’s sports heroes as McGwire blew by Ruth and Maris with 70 home runs and Sosa doing the same with 66.
Curry’s book also mentions a comparison of the greatest teams done by the website FiveThirtyEight using a complex set of metrics. FiveThirtyEight lists the 1939 Yankees as number one, kudos to Joe D, but the ’39 Yanks had the lowest winning percentage of our nine .700 teams, and it somehow rates the 1906 Cubs number two despite losing the World Series. For those reasons I believe their metrics are flawed. They even dropped our 1998 Yankees to fifth, behind the ‘27 Yankees and the ’09 Pirates which I certainly find unjustifiable.
References:
The Inside Story of the Greatest Baseball Team Ever The 1998 Yankees by Jack Curry
It was a century ago that Babe Ruth was in the middle of what can be considered his best season ever and one of the best in Major League Baseball history.
We all know the basics of the Babe Ruth story—the son of a saloon keeper, the rowdy youngster sent off to private school. The young man who could hit a baseball a mile and pitch darts with unmatched velocity. There were his early years with the Boston Red Sox where he pitched them to three World Series Championships and then began his conversion from outstanding pitcher to phenomenal hitter. And then the astonishing, fateful trade from the Sox to the New York Yankees in December 1919.
Ruth changed the sport with his sensational 54 home runs in 1920 as he became a full-time outfielder and the game’s first superstar slugger. He was even better in 1921 when he hit 59 home runs and led the Yankees to their first ever American League pennant. With his unmatched power and fun-loving personality Ruth was now the most popular and dominant player in baseball. The country had just come out of the dark days of a world war and baseball was recovering from the “black sox scandal” of 1919. The bombastic Babe was just the tonic the country yearned for, and baseball needed so desperately.
Ruth hit an unfathomable total of 113 home runs over those first two years with the Yanks and single-handedly changed baseball from a game of station-to-station strategy to one of crowd pleasing, majestic moon shots. But his career had a setback in 1922 when he missed the first month due to a suspension and more games due to an altercation with a fan. He missed a total of forty-two games, and his production was way lower than was expected of him. Although the Yankees once again won the pennant, the New York Giants for the second straight time, beat the Yanks in the World Series. The Babe was a huge disappointment for his growing fan base as he batted a miserable .118 against the Giants.
Determined to make amends for his lackluster 1922 season Ruth went on a tear in 1923. One hundred years ago this month Ruth was hitting .381. He ended July batting .390 with 24 home runs. In August he hit .500, going 40-for-80 and moved his average over .400 as he battled Harry Heilmann for the batting title. One notable change for Ruth was the opposition’s strategy to walk him constantly. Lou Gehrig was not yet a fixture in the Yankee lineup and Ruth lacked his protection, so it was common to give the Bambino a base on balls. One afternoon in June against Cleveland, the Babe doubled in his first at bat and was walked intentionally his next four times up. He walked an incredible 170 times that year—a record that stood for the rest of the 20th century and was only broken during the steroid era. Ruth eventually came in second in the batting race, though his .393 still stands as one of the highest ever for a power hitter eclipsed only by Ted Williams in 1941. Ruth completely dominated the AL in stats in 1923. He won the home run title with 41, was first in runs (151), total bases (399), RBIs (131), walks (170), on-base percentage (.545), and slugging percentage (.764). His on base plus slugging percentage was a scintillating 1.309. He was fourth in hits (205) and third in doubles (45). But his most incredible stat was one that we don’t hear much about. He reached base an astonishing 379 times. Think about it. In 152 games the big guy averaged being on base almost 2 ½ times per game! And that is a record that no amount of PED’s could overcome and still stands today.
Ruth continued his torrid hitting in the World Series as the Yankees once again faced the Giants. The Bambino blasted three home runs and batted .368 leading the Yankees to their first World Series Championship beating their cross-town rivals four games to two. This was also the year Yankee Stadium opened having been built because the Yanks, who were also playing in the Polo Grounds, were no longer welcome. Along with helping to bring the first championship to the new stadium Ruth christened the sparkling new venue with its first home run which he hit on opening day in April.
What makes this Ruth’s best season ever was his outstanding performance in the field. He was the American League’s best right fielder. The Babe is not often thought of as a great fielder, but he was a sound outfielder for most of his career and in 1923 he was at the top of his game leading all AL right fielders with a .973 fielding percentage. He also threw out 20 baserunners and had 378 putouts.
Babe Ruth would go on to have many stellar seasons and a Hall-of-Fame career but in 1923, one hundred years ago, he had his best season ever.
References: New York Yankee Seasons of Glory by William Hageman and Warren Wilbert and Baseball-reference.com
One hundred years ago this day the new home of the New York Yankees opened on 161st in the Bronx. The Yankeess who had previously played in the Polo Grounds, sharing the facility with the National League New York Giants, were asked to leave following the 1922 season. It was for the better since the two teams were becoming intense rivals having squared off in the 1921 and 1922 World Series. Both were won by the Giants. The new ballpark which cost $2.5 million would be called Yankee Stadium and soon earn the nickname “The House That Ruth Built”.
Yankee Stadium
April 18, 1923 was the season opener for New York against the Boston Red Sox, the Babe’s former team. According to the Chicago Tribune reporting on the event, “governors, generals, politicians, and baseball officials gathered solemnly today to dedicate the biggest stadium in baseball. But it was a player who did the real dedicating. In the third inning, with two teammates on base, Babe Ruth smashed a savage home run into the rightfield bleachers, and that was the real baptism of the new Yankee Stadium.” The Yankees went on to easily defeat Boston 4-1.
The Babe
The Stadium would remain on that location for 86 years hosting 39 American League Pennants for the Yankees and 26 Yankee World Championships until it was demolished for the New Yankee Stadium which opened in 2009. Ruth would go on to hit 258 more Yankee Stadium home runs, only Mickey Mantle who played for 18 years in New York hit more.
On a personal note: I attended Yankee Stadium many, many times; as a kid with my father and brothers, as a teenager with my buddies and as an adult with my family. Some of the trips are loosely portrayed in my novel Mickey Mantle’s Last Home Run. In those scenes in my book, I routinely referred to Yankee Stadium as The Stadium, “stadium” always capitalized. This gave my editor fits. In my neck of the woods here in northern New Jersey going to a Yankee game could commonly be expressed by saying going to The Stadium. We all knew that meant Yankee Stadium. Sure, Shea Stadium was around but The Stadium could only mean Yankee Stadium. As happened far too often, my editor won out, explaining that if I wanted to appeal to a larger audience, clarity would be best, and Yankee Stadium would be Yankee Stadium not The Stadium in my book. For the most part I accepted my editor’s suggestions and my book benefited from it, but to me, to this day, Yankee Stadium will always be “The Stadium”.
References: The Yankee Encyclopedia by Mark Gallagher and Walter LeConte
New York Yankees Season of Glory by William Hageman and Warren Wilbert
Last night Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees became only the sixth major leaguer to hit or surpass 60 home runs in a single season.
Only Babe Ruth, Roger Maris, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds have accomplished that incredible feat.
Babe Ruth had 60 home runs in 1927 with the Yankees.
Roger Maris 61 in 1961 with the Yankees.
Mark McGwire 70 in 1998 and 65 in 1999 with the St. Louis Cardinals.
Sammy Sosa 66 in 1998, 63 in 1999 and 64 in 2001 with the Chicago Cubs.
Barry Bonds has the Major League record with 73 which he hit in 2001 with the San Francisco Giants.
Judge now holds the American League single season record for most home runs by a right-handed batter. Jimmy Foxx hit 58 for the Philadelphia Athletics and Hank Greenberg had 58 in 1938 for the Detroit Tigers.
Although the 60-home run mark has been a milestone for nearly a century those who have achieved it have done so with a certain amount of controversy.
Ruth achieved his feat during an era when some of the greatest baseball players were not allowed to play in the major leagues due to racial segregation.
Maris reached 60 home runs only after the majors extended the season from 154 games to 162. Thus, giving him more games than Ruth.
McGwire, Sosa and Bonds all reached the 60-home run mark during the steroid era. McGwire has admitted that he used steroids to improve his power numbers. Though there is much evidence to the contrary Sosa and Bonds have not admitted steroid use.
To this point Judge’s pursuit of the single season home run record has been met with tremendous excitement and no controversy. We’ll see how far he goes. I for one will be rooting for him.
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