At the Polo Grounds, Philadelphia Phillies slugger Cy Williams hits his 18th home run of the season, and his 15th of May, to set a new major league record for the month. The homer comes off New York Giants pitcher Rosy Ryan.
Rogers Hornsby ties the National League single-season home run record with his 27th, matching the 38-year-old mark set by Ed Williamson of the Chicago White Stockings in 1884. Hornsby’s 8th-inning solo shot off the Giants’ Bill Ryan carries into the Polo Grounds’ left field bleachers and pulls the Cards to within 2 runs of their New York hosts. But hospitality goes only so far; New York answers right back with two and closes out St. Louis, 8 – 4.
The Cards’ Rogers Hornsby hits his 20th home run, tying Ken Williams of the American League for the major league home run leadership; the Cards whip the Reds, 12 – 4.
The New York Giants hit four inside-the-park home runs at Braves Field. George Kelly hits a pair and Ross Youngs and Dave Bancroft both hit one apiece as the Giants defeat the Boston Braves, 12 – 3.
At Navin Field in Detroit, Babe Ruth becomes the all-time home run leader when he hits his 139th career blast as a major leaguer. The Yankee slugger’s 36th homer of the season, a mammoth shot that travels over 500 feet, puts him ahead of Roger Connor, who connected for 138 round-trippers during his 18 years in the National League.
On July 12, 1921, Babe Ruth of the New York Yankees hits his 137th career home run, moving past fellow Hall of Famer Roger Connor on the all-time list. Connor hit 136 home runs during his career-all during the 19th century.
With a blast that clears the roof of the Polo Grounds, Red Sox outfielder Babe Ruth ties the game in the top of the ninth in an eventual 2-1 loss to the Yankees that takes 13 innings to complete. The Bambino’s round-tripper, his 28th of the season, breaks the 19th century home run record established in 1894 by Ned Williamson of the NL’s Chicago White Stockings.
1919 – Babe Ruth hits home run No. 26 off Jack Quinn in New York, breaking Buck Freeman’s 1899 home run mark of 25.
July 29 At Navin Field, Dutch Leonard decides to pitch around Bob Roth with two outs in the ninth inning to face Babe Ruth. Although the Boston slugger, who has already reached the Detroit southpaw with two doubles, responds by tying an American League record with his ninth homer of the month and sixteenth of…
March 17, 1918: A young Babe Ruth, still primarily a pitcher, slugs a pair of home runs during a spring training game at Whittington Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The second long ball is thought to be the first 500-plus foot blast in baseball history. The Herculean shot—hit off Brooklyn Robins hurler Norman Plitt—soared far…
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