Today in 1917, another milestone in the one-of-a-kind baseball career of Babe Ruth.
He’s best known as the home run king of his era, but before that, Ruth was a very accomplished pitcher.
He even has a combined no-hitter to his name, even if he didn’t exactly do the lion’s share of the work.
Ruth was starting the game for the Boston Red Sox.
It was game one of a doubleheader against the Washington Senators.
The first batter he faced was Ray Morgan, and the umpire called ball four.
Morgan took his base, but the Babe didn’t like the call, and he told the umpire so.
The umpire, Brick Owens, told Ruth that the call was ball four no matter what he said, and if he was going to keep on arguing about it, he would throw the pitcher out of the game.
Ruth told Owens that if he tried to eject him from the ballgame, “I’ll punch your face.”
Both men made good on their threats.
Owens threw Ruth out, Ruth threw a punch.
The future baseball legend would end up getting suspended for 10 games by the head of the American League.
But in the meantime, the Red Sox needed a new pitcher.
They chose Ernie Shore, who had been Ruth’s roommate on the road.
The story goes that they split after Ruth used Shore’s toothbrush by mistake, and when Shore complained, the Babe said, “That’s all right, Ernie, I’m not particular.”
Shore wouldn’t become the star Ruth would – nobody would, really – but on this day, Shore was as good as any pitcher could be.
First, the Red Sox got out the baserunner Ruth had walked when he tried to steal second.
Then Shore retired the next 26 batters in a row: no hits, no runs, no nothing.
In the record books that counts as a combined no-hitter for Ruth and Shore, because they both took the mound and neither gave up any hits.
But this no-hitter was an unusual combination, seeing as how one pitcher threw a walk and a punch, and then other got all the outs.
In Lake City, Minnesota, it’s day two of Water Ski Days.
There’s food, a parade, rides, races and a celebration of water skiing, which was invented in Lake City in 1922.
Babe Ruth made history with help from Ernie Shore (Baseball Hall of Fame)
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Photo by Underwood & Underwood, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution via Creative Commons
