May 30, 1935: A doubleheader is played at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia. The National League's Philadelphia Phillies beat the Boston Braves, 11-6 in the 1st game, and 9-3 in the 2nd game.
A full house of 18,000 comes out to the rickety ballyard at the corner of Broad Street and Lehigh Avenue in North Philadelphia, 7 blocks to the east of the home of the American League's Philadelphia Athletics, Shibe Park.
It wasn't much of a matchup. The Braves would finish 8th and last, winning only 38 games and losing 115, the most of any NL team between the 1899 Cleveland Spiders and the 1962 New York Mets. The Phillies were much better, but still finished 7th, at 64-89 -- and, by their standards, that was a good finish.
The Braves' season was so bad, that for the 1936 season, they decided to, as would be said today, rebrand: They changed their name to the Boston Bees, and the name of their ballpark from Braves Field to National League Park, a.k.a. the Bee Hive. The new names never caught on, and the old ones were restored in 1941.
But the opener of this doubleheader was the end of an era: It was the last major league game for Babe Ruth.
Ruth had started his career in Boston, with the 1914 Red Sox. He became a star with them, and was sold to the New York Yankees for the 1920 season, becoming the biggest star in the history of North American sports.
But he wanted to manage, and the Yankees wouldn't let him. After the 1934 season, Yankee owner Jacob Ruppert gave him his release, so that he could seek a managing job elsewhere. Judge Emil Fuchs, owner of the Braves, desperate for attendance in the Great Depression, told Ruth he would be "assistant manager" to Bill McKechnie for 1935, and would become manager for 1936, with the promise of a part-ownership of the team. The Sultan of Swat jumped at the chance, and returned to Boston.
The Babe was often very gullible, but he wasn't stupid. He soon saw that McKechnie wasn't listening to him in the slightest -- not that he needed to, having already won a World Series managing the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1925 -- and that the Braves had absolutely no intention of making him the manager the next season. (McKechnie remained their manager through 1937, and won another World Series managing the Cincinnati Reds in 1940.) The Great Bambino was nothing more than a drawing card to the Braves, and he figured it out.
To make matters worse, the 40-year-old Ruth hurt his elbow, making it difficult to swing. When he wasn't in pain, he could still hit. He hit a home run on Opening Day, April 16, giving the Braves a win over the New York Giants. He hit another on April 21. But then the injury got worse, and he went into a slump. By the time he hit his next home run, an entire month later, he was batting just .149.
On May 25, the Braves played the Pirates at Forbes Field. Ruth his 3 home runs, the last one off Guy Bush, over the right-field roof, the 1st ever hit there. It may have been the longest home run in the ballpark's history. It was the 714th home run of his career, and his 2,873rd hit.
Legend has it that, thinking it wasn't going to get any better than that, he retired right after that game. Maybe he should have. But he didn't. The next day, he pulled a muscle playing the field. He continued to try to play every day, but that homer over the Forbes Field roof wasn't just his last home run, it was his last hit.
On May 30, at Baker Bowl, Ruth started the game in left field, batting in his usual 3rd position. In the top of the 1st inning, batting against rookie Jim Bivin, he grounded to 1st baseman Dolph Camilli, who made the putout himself.
In the bottom of the 1st, Ruth was unable to get to a fly ball, and it dropped in for a hit. The next batter, Lou Chiozza, hit another fly to left. Not only couldn't the Babe catch it, but it rolled past him, all the way to the wall. While he wasn't always the fat man of the public imagination, by this point, his gut and his pulled muscle rendered him as slow as molasses. When he finally got to the ball, Chiozza was trying to stretch it into an inside-the-park home run. With the left arm that had won 94 games as a pitcher still strong, Ruth threw the ball to 3rd baseman Pinky Whitney, who threw to catcher Al Spohrer, and Chiozza was out. Ruth got credit for an assist.
It was his last statistic. Instead of going back to the dugout, he walked to center field, where both teams' clubhouses were located. The fans, realizing he was taking himself out of the game, gave him a standing ovation. Three days later, he announced his retirement.
Ruth was lucky that there was no constant replaying of his fielding, so he wasn't embarrassed the way Willie Mays was with the New York Mets, and Johnny Unitas with the San Diego Chargers, both in 1973. Or Joe Namath with the 1977 Los Angeles Rams. Or any number of boxers having one last fight too many, like Joe Louis against Rocky Marciano in 1951 or Muhammad Ali against Larry Holmes in 1980. No ESPN to show him as a Boston Brave, the way they showed Michael Jordan as a Washington Wizard, or Jerry Rice as a Denver Bronco, or Roger Clemens in his 2nd go-round with the Yankees.
The Babe never did get an offer to manage a major league team. The Brooklyn Dodgers hired him as their 1st base coach in 1938, but they really hired him to hit pregame batting practice, as they were in a rebuilding year, and were desperate for attendance. Ruth played in old-timers' games to raise money for war bonds at Yankee Stadium in 1942 and 1943, batting against Walter Johnson, and that was it. He died of cancer in 1948.
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May 30, 1935 was a Thursday, Memorial Day. Until 1968, Memorial Day was always May 30, not necessarily the last Monday in May. These other games were played in what would eventually be called Major League Baseball:
* The New York Yankees swept a doubleheader from the Washington Senators at Griffith Stadium in Washington. The Bronx Bombers won the opener, 4-0. Vito Tamulis (I know, it sounds like a disease) pitched a 6-hit shutout. The Yanks also won the nightcap, 9-3.
* The New York Giants swept a doubleheader from their arch-rivals, the Brooklyn Dodgers, at the Polo Grounds. The Jints won the 1st game 8-3, and the 2nd game 6-0, as Freddie Fitzsimmons pitched a 2-hit shutout. "Fat Freddie" seemed to relish beating the Dodgers, but in 1941, they picked him up, and he turned out to be a key figure in their successful Pennant drive, and became more popular in Brooklyn than he ever was in the rest of the city.
* A doubleheader was split at Fenway Park in Boston. The Boston Red Sox won the 1st game, 7-4. The Philadelphia Athletics exploded for 5 runs in the top of the 11th inning, and won the 2nd game ,13-8.
* A doubleheader was split at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. The Chicago Cubs won the 1st game, 6-4. The Pittsburgh Pirates won the 2nd game, 4-1.
* A doubleheader was split at Navin Field in Detroit. The St. Louis Browns won the 1st game, 10-7. The Detroit Tigers won the 2nd game, 2-0. Tommy Bridges pitched a 3-hit shutout.
* A doubleheader was split at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The Chicago White Sox won the 1st game, 8-4. The Cleveland Indians won the 2nd game, 4-0. Willis Hudlin pitched a 2-hit shutout.
* And the St. Louis Cardinals swept a doubleheader from the Cincinnati Reds at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. The Cards won the 1st game, 12-5, and the 2nd game, 4-2.
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