Babe Ruth Pitching

Everybody knows Babe Ruth hit 714 home runs. Almost nobody remembers that before any of it, he was the best left-handed pitcher in baseball.

From 1915 through 1917 he won 18, 23, and 24 games for the Boston Red Sox. He led the American League in 1916 with a 1.75 ERA and nine shutouts. In Game 2 of that World Series he pitched all 14 innings, gave up one run in the first, and won it 2 to 1.

Then Boston decided they would rather have his bat, cut his innings in half, and sold him to New York.

Peter Lemieux tells the story of the pitcher hiding inside the slugger, the strangest no-hitter in the record book, and the 86 years Boston spent paying for the decision.

0:00 The Player You Think You Know

1:34 Nobody Remembers He Was a Pitcher

2:16 The Strangest No-Hitter in the Record Book

4:28 The Numbers Nobody Quotes

5:16 14 Innings, One Run, One World Series Game

6:50 Boston Wanted His Bat, Not His Arm

9:15 Sold to New York for a Broadway Play

10:55 86 Years and the Curse of the Bambino

More Babe Ruth and more Red Sox on Rounding Third

- Beyond the Home Runs: The Untold Stories of Babe Ruth https://youtu.be/PClozv1HACE

- Unrecognized No Hitters https://youtu.be/HXEa2z6oeLM

- Shoeless Joe Jackson's Surprising Life After Scandal https://youtu.be/cBBsVtKDOro

- Who Was Smokey Joe and Why Did Baseball Forget Him? https://youtu.be/a90bf0vqTTo

Sources: Society for American Baseball Research, National Baseball Hall of Fame, Library of Congress.

Rounding Third is baseball history storytelling from Peter Lemieux on the BadderSports network. Subscribe, send this to someone who loves the game, and tell us in the comments which story you want next.

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