On a Friday afternoon in October 1927, Frank “Lefty” O’Doul of the San Francisco Seals and two others boarded a ferry for Oakland, where they planned to rendezvous with the two greatest sluggers of the day-Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. The Yankee stars were preparing to play three games in the Bay Area as part of their Bustin’ Babes and Larrupin’ Lous barnstorming tour.

You won’t find this scene in the movie, The Babe, Universal’s motion picture about the life and legend of Babe Ruth. Instead, it remains relegated to archives and distant memories of the Bambino’s off-season appearance.

Ruth’s business manager, Christy Walsh, organized the 21-game showcase that stretched from Providence to San Diego. The former sports cartoonist-turned-agent set up a series of exhibition games, headlined by Ruth and Gehrig and supported mostly by local amateurs or minor leaguers.

The tour started just two days after the Yankees had swept the Pittsburgh Pirates in the World Series and capitalized on their notoriety. Next to Charles Lindbergh, Gehrig and Ruth were the most popular guys in America.

The 24-year-old Gehrig, still called “Columbia” Lou because of his playing days at the New York university, had never ventured beyond the Rockies. By contrast, Ruth had barnstormed before on the West Coast. He performed in San Francisco in November 1919 when he was still with the Red Sox for a series of games with Buck Weaver of the Chicago White Sox and later in 1925 with Yankee standout, Bob Meusel.

Riding the train from Sacramento to Oakland, the “Thumpin’ Twins” were grilled by San Francisco Examiner writer Abe Kemp, who wanted to know their home run hitting secret.

“A lot of it is in the eye,” Ruth said.

“And the swing.” offered Gehrig.

“You must have good eyes, then,” Kemp said.

“Sure,” admitted Ruth, “but a lot of times, I never see the ball. That’s right: look at me funny, but I tell you, lots of times when I sense the ball is coming in a certain place, I just close my eyes and swing.”

{This YT video has incredible film footage of Ruth's swing}

Imagine: the Home Run King confessing to a secret that any longshoreman, street sweeper or policeman could easily understand. Close my eyes and swing. It sounded so simple.

That fall, everything must have seemed simple to Babe Ruth. Once again he’d conquered baseball’s summit, this time pushing the pinnacle to 60 home runs. Throughout the season he ran neck and neck with Yankee teammate, “Columbia” Lou Gehrig, who hit 47.

Walsh cleverly capitalized on the home run race by offering a “Copper Cup” trophy to the one with the most home runs at the tour’s end. It was a small reward, but it kept things interesting during the journey across the continent.

The first games were scheduled on the East Coast in Providence, Trenton, Brooklyn and Asbury Park. During this leg of the tour the Yankee stars played on the same side and won each game, although the results were inconsequential. What counted was the amount and distance of their titanic blasts. Or how many times they took the mound and struck each other out.

Babe and Lou wore special black and white uniforms created for the tour. Ruth’s included black pants and top with “Bustin’ Babes” printed in white lettering, white socks and hat with a black “BB” on front. Lou’s uniform was an exact opposite, except for the lettering.

In the Midwest, Lou and Babe split up and captained opposing teams. They were backed by the top amateurs in Lima, Ohio, Kansas City, Missouri, Omaha, Nebraska, Des Moines and Sioux City, Iowa and Denver, Colorado.

The games promoted a circus-like atmosphere and were constantly interrupted by boisterous fans, which overflowed into the cordoned areas of the outfield. Many times the fans stole the baseballs before the outfielders got to them. One game ended early when they ran out after using nine dozen balls.

In Omaha, Ruth was presented with an unusual gift: the 171st consecutive egg laid by Lady Norfolk-the “Babe Ruth” of hen layers-who had shattered a poultry record. Two days later, in Sioux City, a local meat packing company gave a ham with his name spelled out in cloves. The newspaper photo caption read, “So Now Babe Ruth Can Have Ham and Eggs.”

In Denver, Ruth literally stole the show. In the first inning, he swiped home plate with ease. The theft probably surprised the 5,000 fans, but in fact Ruth was a smart, daring base runner. According to G.H. Fleming, author of Murderer’s Row, he stole home 10 times in his major league career, a feat often overlooked. Later on, Babe hit two home runs; one was gauged to be the longest ever poked at Denver’s Merchant Park.

Departing from Denver for the West Coast, Ruth had widened his lead over the “Dutchman” by 13-4 in the Copper Cup race.

*******
The Bay Area’s buzzed with anticipation over the three games slated for the October 22-23 weekend, starting with an afternoon contest at Recreation Park in San Francisco. Sunday was billed as a double header, with the morning game in Oakland and an afternoon game in San Francisco.

From Oakland, “Lefty” O’Doul and friends accompanied the Yanks and their manager on the ferry to San Francisco. O’Doul was a likely choice to greet the Bambino. He pitched for the Yankees and was Ruth’s teammate in 1920 and 1922. By 1927, Lefty was one of San Francisco’s most celebrated ballplayers, maybe even more than Yankee infielders and fellow natives Tony Lazzeri and Mark Koenig.

A huge gathering of local politicians and members of the San Francisco councils of the Knights of Columbus met the celebrated guests at the Ferry Building. Although the Knights didn’t sponsor the game-the San Francisco Examiner claimed the honor-they staged a huge promotional appearance that afternoon. One thousand youths lined up in front of their headquarters building on Golden Gate Avenue to meet the New York heroes. The boys got autographed baseballs and girls received signed handkerchiefs.

The Knights enjoyed an inside advantage since Ruth was a member of a Boston council. Throughout the tour, Knights’ Councils either sponsored the games or showered presents on Ruth.

A crowd of 10,000 watched the first San Francisco game held on Saturday, October 22. Recreation Park was stocked with players from the San Francisco Seals, Missions and Oakland Oaks.

A main attraction of the Bustin’ Babes tour was the batting exhibition that preceded each game. Not only did it provide an exciting demonstration of power, but also it ensured fans would see a Ruthian home run, even if it didn’t come in the game.

At “Rec” Park the duo never were more impressive. The field, located at 15th and Valencia Streets, offered an ideal slugging environment. Directly behind the short, but high fences were houses; and far beyond centerfield stood a church.

According to native San Franciscan Dolph Camilli, who watched the batting exhibition that afternoon, the pitchers grooved the ball so the “Home Run Twins” could connect. Although he doesn’t recall seeing an organized game, Camilli will always remember the long, arching drives that flew off their bats during practice. “They (Lou and Babe) had guys laying the ball in there real nice for them. They were teeing off of them, hitting ‘em over those houses,” Camilli said. The longest blows rained on the church, one block away.

Camilli, who played 10 seasons in the big leagues, including five with the Brooklyn Dodgers, heard that the balls used during the batting demonstrations were “livelier” than those used during the games. Bill Conlin, a columnist for the Sacramento Bee, agreed. “It was rumored that the balls were juiced up for these hitting exhibitions,” said Conlin. “They used ‘jackrabbit’ baseballs that were livelier and jumped off the bat.”

During the game Ruth didn’t perform up to his standard. Whether he was held back by the higher caliber Pacific Coast League competition or aching injuries isn’t known, but Lou Gehrig, and Smead Jolley of the Seals, outclassed the 32-year-old Bambino. He was suffering from weak, blistered hands from too much hitting.

Jolley, who died last summer*, impressed that day with two home runs, prompting Ruth to say after the game, “That mug can hit.” In 1927, Jolley led the PCL with a .397 batting average and won the Triple Crown the following year, hitting .404 with 45 home runs and 188 RBIs.

In the seventh inning Gehrig showed his power by blasting a changeup that sailed far over the centerfield fence, narrowly missing a cigarette billboard mounted on top of the clubhouse. When asked about his home run following the game, Gehrig said:

“Gee, that felt good.”

“I suppose you’re going to rub it in now,” cracked Ruth,” but go ahead and have your fun. I’ll get ahold of one tomorrow and when I do-”

“They’ll forget that I ever hit one,” finished Gehrig.

Gehrig led his team to a 10 to 7 victory over the Bustin’ Babes with the homer and double. Ruth couldn’t muster a homer, but managed two hits. He pitched the final two innings and was racked for four runs in the ninth. The Yankee stars retired to the Whitcomb Hotel for their evening stay in San Francisco.

The next morning the Examiner’s sports page devoted equal space to the baseball game and Cal Berkeley football team’s 21-0 shutout over the Olympic Club of San Francisco. Also that weekend Army defeated St. Ignatius College (University of San Francisco) by 12-7 at Kezar Stadium.

 

Photo taken when the tour arrived in Santa Barbara. That's Babe in navy blue, surrounded by Gehrig (to his right) and the other Larrupin' Lous.

*******
On Sunday morning at the Oakland Oaks park in Emeryville the Babes-Lous drew 13,000. Gehrig again outshone his Yankee rival by knocking in four runs with a homer, triple and a double, leading his team to a 6-3 win. Ruth, meanwhile, popped up repeatedly. To appease the fans at one point he jumped into the stands and led the band.

Back across the Bay a few hours later, another 13,000 attended the afternoon game, raising the Bay Area’s three game attendance total to 36,000.

Ruth made up for his earlier flops by launching two home runs at Recreation Park, leading the Babes to a 15 to 4 victory. A young boy standing on a rooftop in back of the right field fence reached out and grabbed one of the Sultan’s towering homers for a regal prize.

Walter “The Great” Mails pitched the first seven innings for Ruth’s team; Babe finished the contest. Gehrig pitched the final three innings for the Larrupin’ Lous.

Before the afternoon game, Lou Gehrig presented Lefty O’Doul with a check for $1,000 for winning the PCL’s Most Valuable Player award. O’Doul was preparing to rejoin the major leagues and report the following spring (1928) to the New York Giants. He went on to play six more years and finished with a .349 career batting average.

The barnstorming troupe shifted to the Central Valley for the next three games, including stops in Stockton, Marysville and Sacramento. Ruth still held a wide margin in the home run contest, although Gehrig had closed the gap to 15-7.

On Wednesday October 26, O’Doul rejoined the tour at Sodality Park in San Jose. During the game he amazed the 3,000 fans when he made a one-handed, shoestring grab that robbed Gehrig of a sure home run.

In that game, Ruth crushed a pitch in the ninth inning with two men on base. According to the San Jose Mercury Herald the blast cleared the centerfield wall by 50 yards and came to rest against a house a few feet west of the city limits sign. Hundreds of kids swarmed onto the field, congratulating Babe as he crossed the plate in leading his team to a 13-3 win.

After the contest Stanford football coach “Pop” Warner posed for photographs with Ruth and Gehrig, then entertained them later that evening at his home for dinner. From San Jose, they journeyed to Southern California for the final four games of the tour where they played at Santa Barbara and San Diego, squeezed in a game in Fresno on Saturday, then finished with the largest crowd of the entire tour when they performed at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles. The final scheduled game in Long Beach on October 31 was rained out.

According to Christy Walsh’s calculations, the tour covered 8,000 miles over nine states. It played to 220,000 spectators with gross ticket sales around $200,000. Babe’s teams won 10 of the 16 games in head to head competition, while 13 of the contests never reached the final out. They had signed over 5,000 baseballs, many of them stolen at the games.

Babe won the Copper Cup trophy by hitting 22 home runs to Gehrig's 14. But Lou outbatted the Bambino by a small margin, while both hit over .600 for the tour!

They were also paid handsomely for the grueling one-month tour, which grossed approximately $220,000. Ruth reportedly made $70,000, or the equivalent of his Yankee salary. Gehrig supposedly made more than his annual salary of $8,000. And according to Babe, Walsh earned $40,000.

There would be other barnstorming trips, including a similar tour the following fall. But the Bustin’ Babes and Larrupin’ Lous tour of 1927 was special. It showcased a young Lou Gehrig for the first time on the West Coast and provided a perfect platform for the greatest home run slugger of the day-Babe Ruth.

end