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Hollywood has twice portrayed the life of Babe Ruth in major motion pictures. The first, “The Babe Ruth Story,” done in 1948, starred William Bendix as the Bambino. Generally regarded as a terrible film with Bendix horribly miscast in the lead role, the film sugar coated Ruth’s life beyond recognition. Hollywood’s second effort at telling the Babe’s life was filmed in 1992. Called, “The Babe,” it starred John Goodman as the Sultan of the Swat and received more favorable reviews, with Leonard Maltin calling it “agreeably sentimental.” Maltin also notes, however, that “facts are tampered with and often ignored” in both films. That is certainly true in how they overlook reality in depicting Ruth’s last game as a Major Leaguer.
A Last Hurrah
In 1935, Babe Ruth was forty years old, in poor physical shape, and playing out the string with the Boston Braves. On May 25, 1935, with the team on a road trip and playing at Forbes File in Pittsburgh, Ruth hammered three home runs and a single, driving in six runs. The last, off pitcher Guy Bush, was the 714th of Ruth’s career and the first ball ever to be hit completely over Forbes Field’s right-field roof (added to the ballpark in 1925). Thanks to Hollywood, many people believe that was Ruth’s final Major League game—circling the bases in triumph one last time before going into the dugout, entering the clubhouse, and calling it a career. The scene, undoubtedly, provides a storybook conclusion to a fabled tale. Wouldst that it was true; but regrettably, it is not. Maybe Ruth should have called it a career at that point, but perhaps sensing that the old magic was back, he hung around for one more game.
Final Stop
After leaving Pittsburgh, the Braves next stop on their road trip was Philadelphia. There, they would play the Philadelphia Phillies at Baker Bowl. Like Babe Ruth, Baker Bowl’s days of glory had receded to the past. The ballpark, widely ridiculed for its deteriorating condition, was near the end of its life as the home of a Major League baseball team. The Phillies would finally abandon it mid-way through the 1938 season, moving down Lehigh Avenue to become tenants of the Philadelphia Athletics at Shibe Park. But, there was one more moment of drama to be played out at the old place, mixing both acclamation and pathos. Babe Ruth would provide it on May 30, 1935.
The Braves were scheduled to play the Phillies in a Memorial Day doubleheader. Ruth was inserted in the line-up, batting third and playing leftfield. Coming up to bat in the first inning, Ruth faced Phillies’ pitcher Jim Bivin. 1935 was Bivin’s only year in the Major Leagues, and he played the entire season with the Phillies. He compiled an unenviable 2-9 record for a woeful team that would finish the season in seventh place with a 56-93 record. Bivin, nevertheless, would have the singular distinction of being the last pitcher ever to face Babe Ruth in a Major League game.
At the plate, Ruth grounded out softly to Phillies first baseman Dolph Camilli as the Braves went down without scoring any runs in the inning. Ruth took his customary place in the outfield for the bottom half of the inning. Phillies’ second baseman Lou Chiozza hit a soft fly to leftfield. Ruth came in trying to make the catch, but the ball dropped in front of him and rolled past to the wall. A run scored, but Chiozza, trying for an inside-the-park home run, was thrown out at the plate when Braves shortstop Bill Urbanski retrieved the ball and got it back to Braves catcher Al Spohrer in time for the tag out. The Phillies wound up scoring three runs in the inning and would go on to win the game 11-6.
Rich Westcott, in his book, “Philadelphia’s Old Ballparks,” describes what happened after the first inning ended:
“As the inning ended, Ruth tucked his glove in his pocket, turned, and ran to the clubhouse in centerfield. The fans, sensing that the end of a glorious career might have arrived, rose and gave Ruth a standing ovation.”
On June 2, 1935, Ruth was given his unconditional release by the Boston Braves, and he announced his retirement from baseball.
Although it is not recorded in any contemporary histories of the game, one might wonder if Babe Ruth paused just briefly to take one last look around Baker Bowl before entering the clubhouse. You see, it was at this same ballpark 20 years before that Ruth had made his first appearance in a World Series game. Playing then for the Boston Red Sox, he appeared as a pinch hitter in the first game of the 1915 Series. In a similarity touched with irony, Ruth grounded out to the Phillies first baseman, just as he would do 20 years later in his last Major League at-bat in the same ballpark.
The Occasion Commemorated
So, despite Hollywood’s attempts to portray Ruth’s last Major League game in triumphal terms at Forbes Field, it was actually shrouded in pathos at Baker Bowl that the Babe’s fabled career came to an end. The Pennsylvania state historical marker erected for Baker Bowl, which was sponsored by the A’s Society and stands at Broad Street and Huntingdon Avenue, correctly notes that the ballpark was the site of “Babe Ruth’s last Major League game.”
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