90 Years: Babe Ruth's 60th
On September 30, 1927, Babe Ruth hit his 60th home run of the 1927 season and with it set a record that would stand for 34 years.
Through the entire history of Major League baseball, there has never been a more dominant hitting team than the fabled 1927 New York Yankees. The 1927 season featured a fearsome Yankees lineup of power hitters known as "Murderer's Row" that included Babe Ruth, who batted third; Lou Gehrig, hitting fourth; Tony Lazzeri, who batted fifth and Bob Meusel, who batted sixth.
" If I am to break my 1921 record, I believe I will do it this year.
I'm getting a bit older now. I figure I have about five or six years, and then
I will have to step aside and retire. "
- Babe Ruth,
June 1927 column in The World
Ruth led the American League in home runs throughout the year, but did not appear to be within reach of his record 59 home runs, set in 1921, until he hit 16 in the month of September, tying his record on September 29. On September 30, in the last game of the season, Ruth came to the plate against lefty Tom Zachary of the Washington Senators in that momentous eighth inning as the score was deadlocked. With the count at 2-1, Ruth launched a Zachary pitch high into the right-field bleachers with an astounding crack that was audible in all parts of the stand. He then took a slow stroll around the bases, touching each bag firmly and carefully, and embedding his spikes in the rubber disk to record number 60. The crowd was going wild. Hats were tossed into the air, papers were torn up and tossed liberally and the spirit of celebration permeated the stadium.
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'90 Years' blog entries will feature historical happenings and news that surrounded the Long family at the beginning of our Cadillac dealership in 1927
