The Babe Recovers

Came across the photo above, showing Babe Ruth, laying unconscious on the field in Griffith Stadium, home of the Washington Senators, on July 5, 1924, and decided to find out more about the game and, in particular, how Ruth responded.  Not infrequently, we see players suffering injuries like this and having their performance fall off for a while.  On other occasions, the adrenaline kicks in and they do well for a couple of games and then fall off.  Sometimes it seems to have no impact.

The Yankees were playing the Senators, who were atop the American League standings, in a double header that day.  In the first inning, Ruth smacked a double off Senator starter Walter Johnson and singled off the Big Train in the 3rd.  In the fourth inning, with the Senators having a runner on 3rd and two outs, Joe Judge smoked a Herb Pennock pitch down the right field line.  Ruth sprinted for the ball, and just as it fell foul into the stands, the right fielder ran full tilt into the low concrete pavilion parapet wall.  Babe fell to the ground, unconscious, and the Yankee trainer ran out to him.  The photo is taken after the trainer reached the fallen player.

About the photo:

There are three people tending to Ruth, one of whom is the Yankee trainer.  Who are the other two?

To the right, on the steps, is a basket of what appears to be soda pop.  Could one of those attending to Ruth be a soda vendor?

The crowd overlooking the scene is integrated.  It would not surprise me if in 1924 seating at the stadium in DC was still segregated.  Was it? 

Ruth was reportedly unconscious for five minutes and when revived insisted on staying in the game, over the wishes of Manager Miller Huggins (Ruth defying Huggins' wishes was a consistent theme of their relationship in its first few years).

In the 6th, the Bambino came to the plate again against Johnson and hit another double, this one off the center field wall.  In his final at bat, Johnson walked Babe.

Ruth then played the second game of the double header going 0-3.

Were there longer-term impacts?  

Three days later, Huggins rested Ruth for a game with the New York Times reporting, "Ruth, who is too badly crippled to play, is worried over the condition of his side".

But despite being "crippled" and "worried", from July 6 to August 8, Babe Ruth embarked on one of the longest hot streaks of his career.  After the double header of July 5 he was hitting .351.  Thirty seven games later, Ruth's batting average was .408.

Over those thirty seven games, the Babe hit .507 with 17 home runs, scoring and driving in 46 runs, a slugging percentage of 1.022 and OPS of .595.

I think he did just fine.

 

Thanks to Chad Osbourne of the Society of American Baseball Research for his account of the details of the game and to Baseball-Reference which enabled me to investigate Ruth's daily game log after his injury.