Barons of the Ballpark
Joe Sewell Letter on Babe Ruth
Baseball Hall of Famer Joe Sewell played the final three years of his career with the New York Yankees. Sewell, who played for the 1932 Yankees in the World Series against the Chicago Cubs, wrote a letter to a man named “John” saying that he saw legendary slugger Babe Ruth point to the stands in the famous “Called Shot.” He wrote to Joe, “Don’t let anybody tell you he did not point, as he did point to center field as I was in the game and saw it all.”
Dear John,
“Yes” I was playing in the game in the World Series when Babe Ruth pointed to the fence, and hit a home run in the 1932 Series against the Chicago Cubs in Chicago. Babe Ruth was cussing Burley Grimes, Bob Smith and Jeff Bush on the Cubs bench and they were cussing Babe.
Babe never said a word to Charlie Root the Cubs pitcher as far as I could tell, but after two strikes Babe got out of the batters box with his bat in his left hand with two fingers on his right hand he pointed to center field, and I have a mental picture now of the ball going out of the park, through a small tree loaded with small boys who came to see the game. As the ball went through the tree the boys disappeared. As they were all after the ball, as Babe rounded 3rd base on his way home, the fans threw bats, coats, umbrellas, oranges, lemons, eggs and lettuce on the field the umpires had to call the game for several minutes for the ground keepers to clear the field before we could start our game..
Don’t let anybody tell you he did not point, as he did point to center field as I was in the game and saw it all.
Joe Sewell
