Read Online The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth by Leigh Montville - Free Book Online
Authors: Leigh Montville
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negotiations. The Red Sox also were in Washington for a July 4 doubleheader, a stroke of good timing.
At the Ebbett House Hotel in Washington, Dunn and Lannin hammered out the cash deal. The announced price was $25,000 for Babe Ruth, Ben Egan, and Ernie Shore, another young pitcher who had joined the Orioles in June after graduating from Guilford College. In later years, later stories, the price was dropped to $12,500 or $8,500 plus the cancellation of the loan.
“Ring up three sales on the cash register,” Dunn sadly told a friend. “I’m no longer a retailer.”
He hurried back to Baltimore to catch the end of the Orioles’ game with Montreal. He called Ruth, Egan, and Shore to his office when the game finished. He gave them the news that they were going to the big leagues, to the Red Sox. Egan and Shore were excited. Ruth was dumbfounded. Dunn asked him to stay in the office after the other two players left.
The owner explained his situation, that he had no choice. He told Ruth, whom he’d given a raise to $350 a month when the season started, that the figure now was $500 and that when he hit Boston that would jump to $625. He said the major leagues were the place to be, the place where the big money resided.
Ruth said he didn’t care about the money; he wanted to stay close to home. This was what he knew. This was where his friends were. He still was playing baseball at St. Mary’s sometimes on the same days he played for the Orioles. His team was in first place at both St. Mary’s and in the International League. Boston? He had never been to Boston. He didn’t know anything about Boston. With the Red Sox on the road, his departure delayed, Ruth still kept playing left field for the Orioles every day until it was time to go to Boston. Dunn wished him good luck.
On July 10, he was on an overnight train with Shore and Egan to his new home. Bill Wickes, the secretary for the Orioles, traveled with them. His job was to make sure that no agent from the Federal League offered them a contract on the trip.
In rapid succession, according to legend, Ruth stepped off the Federal Express at Back Bay station in Boston at 10:00 A . M . on July 11, 1914, said good-bye to the bodyguard, went across Dartmouth Street with Ernie Shore, ordered a breakfast of ham and eggs at Landers Coffee Shop from the 16-year-old waitress he soon would marry, stopped off at the Red Sox offices on Devonshire Street, went to Fenway Park, was fitted for a uniform, was told he was going to start that afternoon against the Cleveland Naps, then pitched seven innings to record his first major league win, 4–3. Presumably, he then ate another good meal, unpacked his suitcase at the Brunswick Hotel, and slept very well that night.
The ham-and-eggs meeting with his future bride might be shaky—other accounts suggest it took place on another day or perhaps in another situation—but the rest is true. He had an eventful arrival in the capital of Massachusetts.
A picture in the
Boston Globe
taken before the game, under the caption “New Red Sox Players from Baltimore,” shows him staring at the camera with the solemn disposition of a Supreme Court justice considering an important case. Egan, who would never play a game for the Red Sox and was soon dealt to the Naps, is laughing. Shore, 6-foot-4, lanky, has a small smile. Ruth indeed looks like a young man who has just been told he is going to start his first major league game.
Behind the plate for the game was 31-year-old player-manager Bill Carrigan. A Holy Cross graduate from Lewiston, Maine, quiet and firm, he was the perfect candidate to catch the new arrival. His friend Fred Parent had advised him from Baltimore to catch Ruth, who needed more guidance, and to have Forrest Cady, another catcher, work with Shore, who was a more finished product. Parent predicted immediate success for Shore and long-term success for Ruth.
“If I remember, Babe was crude in spots,” Carrigan said years
At the Ebbett House Hotel in Washington, Dunn and Lannin hammered out the cash deal. The announced price was $25,000 for Babe Ruth, Ben Egan, and Ernie Shore, another young pitcher who had joined the Orioles in June after graduating from Guilford College. In later years, later stories, the price was dropped to $12,500 or $8,500 plus the cancellation of the loan.
“Ring up three sales on the cash register,” Dunn sadly told a friend. “I’m no longer a retailer.”
He hurried back to Baltimore to catch the end of the Orioles’ game with Montreal. He called Ruth, Egan, and Shore to his office when the game finished. He gave them the news that they were going to the big leagues, to the Red Sox. Egan and Shore were excited. Ruth was dumbfounded. Dunn asked him to stay in the office after the other two players left.
The owner explained his situation, that he had no choice. He told Ruth, whom he’d given a raise to $350 a month when the season started, that the figure now was $500 and that when he hit Boston that would jump to $625. He said the major leagues were the place to be, the place where the big money resided.
Ruth said he didn’t care about the money; he wanted to stay close to home. This was what he knew. This was where his friends were. He still was playing baseball at St. Mary’s sometimes on the same days he played for the Orioles. His team was in first place at both St. Mary’s and in the International League. Boston? He had never been to Boston. He didn’t know anything about Boston. With the Red Sox on the road, his departure delayed, Ruth still kept playing left field for the Orioles every day until it was time to go to Boston. Dunn wished him good luck.
On July 10, he was on an overnight train with Shore and Egan to his new home. Bill Wickes, the secretary for the Orioles, traveled with them. His job was to make sure that no agent from the Federal League offered them a contract on the trip.
In rapid succession, according to legend, Ruth stepped off the Federal Express at Back Bay station in Boston at 10:00 A . M . on July 11, 1914, said good-bye to the bodyguard, went across Dartmouth Street with Ernie Shore, ordered a breakfast of ham and eggs at Landers Coffee Shop from the 16-year-old waitress he soon would marry, stopped off at the Red Sox offices on Devonshire Street, went to Fenway Park, was fitted for a uniform, was told he was going to start that afternoon against the Cleveland Naps, then pitched seven innings to record his first major league win, 4–3. Presumably, he then ate another good meal, unpacked his suitcase at the Brunswick Hotel, and slept very well that night.
The ham-and-eggs meeting with his future bride might be shaky—other accounts suggest it took place on another day or perhaps in another situation—but the rest is true. He had an eventful arrival in the capital of Massachusetts.
A picture in the
Boston Globe
taken before the game, under the caption “New Red Sox Players from Baltimore,” shows him staring at the camera with the solemn disposition of a Supreme Court justice considering an important case. Egan, who would never play a game for the Red Sox and was soon dealt to the Naps, is laughing. Shore, 6-foot-4, lanky, has a small smile. Ruth indeed looks like a young man who has just been told he is going to start his first major league game.
Behind the plate for the game was 31-year-old player-manager Bill Carrigan. A Holy Cross graduate from Lewiston, Maine, quiet and firm, he was the perfect candidate to catch the new arrival. His friend Fred Parent had advised him from Baltimore to catch Ruth, who needed more guidance, and to have Forrest Cady, another catcher, work with Shore, who was a more finished product. Parent predicted immediate success for Shore and long-term success for Ruth.
“If I remember, Babe was crude in spots,” Carrigan said years
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