Unless there's some form of combat involved, I'm not the biggest fan of sports. The concept is a little difficult for me to process. For starters, I can't get behind the idea of rooting for a team. Plus, why do I have to root for my home team? What if my home team sucks? If I truly enjoy watching the sport for its own sake, shouldn't I focus on the best team as they reflect the highest level of mastery?
There are too many questions for me when it comes to sports. However, I love celebrating greatness in sports. I may not love basketball, but I'm fascinated by Michael Jordan and the dedication it took for him to become dominant. I like watching and studying the players that transcend their sport and become cultural figures. Consequently, I love Babe Ruth.
By the time Babe Ruth stopped playing baseball, neither of my parents were born, but that didn't stop the legend of the great bambino reaching my era with as much relevance as contemporary players. Although his record has been shattered several times over, Ruth's penchant for hitting homers is still legendary. On this day, in 1915, Babe Ruth hit his first major league home run and started his march towards immortality.
It was on May 6, 1915 that Babe Ruth hit his first of 714 major league home runs. Tabbed by the Red Sox to win the game with his arm, not his bat, the rookie hurler flashed the kind of prodigious power at the plate that would make him the most famous slugger in history.
"In the third inning, Ruth knocked the slant out of one of Jack Warhop's underhanded subterfuges," wrote Damon Runyan in the next day's New York American, "and put the baseball in the right field stands for a home run."
Ruth's slam cut through the chilly spring air and landed in the second tier of the Polo Grounds' right-field grandstands. It was a left-handed swing that the young Ruth would later employ, ironically, to christen the original Yankee Stadium and repeat many times over in the Bronx.
Ruth collected two more hits that day, and also pitched 12 1/3 innings in an eventual loss to the Bronx Bombers. While his best hitting days were yet to come, the 20-year old first became a pitching star, winning 18 games in 1915 for a Red Sox club that claimed the World Series title.
https://baseballhall.org/discover-more/stories/inside-pitch/babe-ruth-clubs-first-major-league-homer
