Babe Ruth: Legends in Sports Read Online Free PDF Page B

York sportswriters also used nicknames when describing
     him, such as the “Colossus of Clout,” the “Mauling Monarch,” the “Prince of Pounders,” and the “Sultan of Swat.” They wrote
     about him every day throughout the season. Every home run he hit was news, and so was every strikeout.
    However, despite Ruth’s prodigious hitting, 1920 simply wasn’t the Yankees’ year. In August, Yankeespitcher Carl Mays accidentally hit Cleveland Indians shortstop Ray Chapman in the head with a pitch. Chapman died, and after
     the tragedy the Indians bounced back to take the pennant.
    Ruth finished the season with a batting average of .376 with a record fifty-four home runs, a total that was higher than that
     hit by all but two teams in baseball. There seemed to be no limit to what he could accomplish. Fans wondered if he would one
     day hit sixty or even seventy home runs in a season.
    His performance changed the game forever. After seeing what Ruth could accomplish, other players changed their approach at
     the plate. Instead of just trying to make contact, more hitters began to swing from their heels like Babe Ruth. Before Ruth,
     most batters hit home runs by accident. Now they tried to imitate Ruth. In a few years the home run would become more common.
    Ruth soon cashed in on his fame. He starred in a movie called
Headin’ Home,
endorsed all sorts of products, and had a sports column written under his name by sportswriter Christy Walsh. He also went
     on a long “barnstorming” trip, playing a series of exhibition games after the season and hitting homeruns against local teams before thousands of fans. Although organized baseball considered such tours illegal, Ruth didn’t
     care. He was the most famous man in America, and he was making more money off the field than on it.
    Of course, having lots of cash made it even more difficult for Ruth to stay out of trouble. Even though a new law known as
     Prohibition, which banned the sale of alcohol, went into effect, that didn’t slow down Ruth, who spent much of his time in
     what were known as “speakeasies,” illegal taverns that served alcohol. Life in the off season was one big party, and he turned
     up for spring training covered in a thick layer of fat.
    Ruth managed to get in shape in the spring and rapidly resumed his record hitting in 1921. Pitchers were afraid of him and
     rarely gave him a pitch to hit. When they did, he knocked it out of the park.
    Ruth and the Yankees took the American League by storm. At the end of the season Ruth had increased his home run record to
     an incredible fifty-nine, and the Yankees won the pennant and the right to play the New York Giants in the World Series.
    The Giants, led by feisty manager John McGraw,were a terrific team. Unlike the Yankees, who waited for Ruth to hit home runs, the Giants still played baseball the old-fashioned
     way, scratching and clawing for runs with bunts, base hits, and stolen bases. McGraw, considered the best manager in baseball,
     promised everyone that his pitchers would shut down Ruth and the Yankees — a promise he made good on.
    In a sense, the Yankees lost the series in the second game. After winning game one, the Yankees also took game two. But in
     the middle of the game, Ruth, who had already walked three times, slid roughly into third base. As he twisted away from the
     tag, he scraped his elbow.
    Ruth shrugged off the injury, but in game three, a 13–5 Giant win, he scraped it again. By game four the elbow was infected
     and badly swollen. By the next game, he could barely see the bat, and struck out three times, collecting his only hit on a
     bunt. By then it was obvious he couldn’t continue to play because of the pain. For the rest of the series he made only one
     appearance, as a pinch hitter.
    Without Ruth, the Yankees were an average team.The Giants stormed back to win the best-of-nine series five games to three. Despite his record 59 regular season home runs,
     1921 ended