*Babe Ruth Thread*

[Ubiquitous]

Except we have no way of knowing the "corked" bat mentioned in the stories is the Crawford bat. All we know is that a player saw the bat on tour, saw the plug at the top and said Ruth's bat was corked.

Does anybody know the whereabouts of Ruth's Crawford bat? Does anybody have a picture of the crawford bat?

[SHOELESSJOE3]

Except we have no way of knowing the "corked" bat mentioned in the stories is the Crawford bat. All we know is that a player saw the bat on tour, saw the plug at the top and said Ruth's bat was corked.

Does anybody know the whereabouts of Ruth's Crawford bat? Does anybody have a picture of the crawford bat?

That was the opinion of one man, Dave Henderson, some other players agreed with him, but what did they agree to, different shade. Looking at one of Babe's bats that he had given to a cousin. According to Henderson it "seemed" that a patch did not match the color of the bat. Not sure what was meant by a patch. Who can say what happened to this bat given to a cousin in the 1920s and then brought back in 1987, it could have been banged around and it appears those who saw it were not even sure of the different color.

Dave looks it over and then exclaims, "Thats a plug." Need more proof then that. Anything could be but not much to go on here.

Some where I did have a picture of the Crawford bat, poor quality, if I can find it I will post it.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

Another incident an unscheduled, on the spot check of one of Babe's bats. After hitting two long home runs against th Indians in 1927. Cleveland catcher Luke Sewell asks home plate umpire Hildebrand to check Babe's bat.
The ump examines both ends and the middle, scrapes it, checks the grain, taps it on home plate, he finds nothing. Sewell than takes the bat and gives it what the newspapers call a "sniff test'', smelling the bat. Later he tells reporters he was smelling for an adhesive, thinking it may have been laminated. Ruth takes back the bat and strikes out.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Except we have no way of knowing the "corked" bat mentioned in the stories is the Crawford bat. All we know is that a player saw the bat on tour, saw the plug at the top and said Ruth's bat was corked.

Does anybody know the whereabouts of Ruth's Crawford bat? Does anybody have a picture of the crawford bat?

There is no way of knowing if the bat Henderson saw was the Crawford bat. The Crawford bat was made up multiple pieces of wood and was glued together pretty much. We also have no way of knowing if the bat Henderson saw was ever used by Ruth at any point in time. Players back then were famous for experimenting...putting nails into the barrel, etc.... we do know of a prank that Ruth played on Gehrig, purposely corking a bat...Gehrig caught onto the act before he went to the plate luckily, but they all got a good chuckle out of it. Who knows the story on that bat. I can say this. Everything Ruth did was analyzed and scrutinized beyond belief. If he burped or farted it was taken note of. His bats were, as you could guess, a huge topic of conversation and observation back then. The Crawford bat incident and the prank incident are the only two that I've ever come across, as well as every historian including Bill Jenkinson. I suppose though, that Ruth bashers could assume the worst and make huge assumptions based on some random bat in a museum attributed to Ruth.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

There is no way of knowing if the bat Henderson saw was the Crawford bat. The Crawford bat was made up multiple pieces of wood and was glued together pretty much. We also have no way of knowing if the bat Henderson saw was ever used by Ruth at any point in time. Players back then were famous for experimenting...putting nails into the barrel, etc.... we do know of a prank that Ruth played on Gehrig, purposely corking a bat...Gehrig caught onto the act before he went to the plate luckily, but they all got a good chuckle out of it. Who knows the story on that bat. I can say this. Everything Ruth did was analyzed and scrutinized beyond belief. If he burped or farted it was taken note of. His bats were, as you could guess, a huge topic of conversation and observation back then. The Crawford bat incident and the prank incident are the only two that I've ever come across, as well as every historian including Bill Jenkinson. I suppose though, that Ruth bashers could assume the worst and make huge assumptions based on some random bat in a museum attributed to Ruth.

Add to that, the whole story started by Dave Henderson because a patch at the top of the bat did not seem to match the rest of the bat, so he says "thats a plug."

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Most of us have seen this picture. Appears to be Shoeless showing Ruth one of his bats. Tonight, I happened to glance up at the framed one in my weightroom, and something caught my eye. Check out the end of the bat. Looks like a hole. The gesture Shoeless is making with his right hand, seems to be like he's using his thumb and pointer to make a length. Maybe he's suggesting how deep to drill. Who knows. Players back then experimented with bats all the time, mostly in BP and what-not. Anyone else notice this?

[DisabledMess]

I think Babe Ruth is the best ever.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

No argument here. What leads you to that conclusion? Have you read through this thread? Anything catch your eye or raise any questions?

[derek80]

man, so much to read and learn about the greatest player...thank you BF and all the members here

[Sultan_1895-1948]

-----------------------------------Barry Who?

----------------------------------By Leigh Montville

A dispatch from beyond reveals that Babe Ruth isn't losing any sleep over seeing his home run mark eclipsed by the joyless Giant

[George H Ruth]

I apologize if this has already been posted, if so then by all means delete my message, but if not then I think you guys will find it interesting.

[Bill Burgess]

Although we have these shots of Babe Ruth, have you ever seen such great clarity? I haven't. Enjoy!
Image4.jpg

[DisabledMess]

This is the best thread of all time because Babe Ruth is my favorite player of all time. I love this thread.

[Honus Wagner Rules]

Great. Another Ruth fanatic. We can't enough of those can we.

[four tool]

Great. Another Ruth fanatic. We can't enough of those can we.

NO WE CAN"T!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!