George Herman Ruth, a national hero for his long-ball exploits, was a villain to the Chicago populace. Not only did he represent the power and the glory of the mighty Yankees, Ruth also had spoken unkindly toward the Cubs’ organization. He wasn’t alone in the latter regard.
Remembering the contributions of shortstop Mark Koenig to the Yanks’ great teams of 1926, ’27 and ’28, members of the ’32 New York club lambasted the Cubs for giving Koenig, a critical late-season acquisition by the Chicago club, only a half-share of their Series pot. Koenig had batted .353 in 33 games after being obtained from the Pacific Coast League.
Besides the Koenig angle, there was the Joe McCarthy factor. McCarthy had been bounced as Cubs manager after the 1930 season — the Cubs finished second — after guiding Chicago to the National League pennant the year before. Now, McCarthy was back at Wrigley Field as manager of the hated Yankees. Emotions were running high.
The Yankees had won the first two games of the Series in New York, and this game was tied 4-4 with one out in the fifth as Ruth positioned himself in the batter’s box and awaited the first delivery from Cubs pitcher Charlie Root. The Bambino, who had smashed a three-run homer off Root in the first inning, took a called strike. Then Root missed with two pitches. Another called strike followed, and Ruth acknowledged it — just as he had strike one — with a raised hand.
By now, Cubs players and fans alike were taunting the big guy; they had fresh ammunition, too, since the Babe had missed on a shoestring catch in the previous inning. The noise level was increasing dramatically.
Ruth then seemingly gestured toward center field — as if to indicate that’s where he planned to deposit Root’s next pitch. Or was he merely pointing at Root? Or addressing the Cubs’ bench with an exaggerated sweeping motion? Or showing one and all that he still had one strike left?
Whatever the message, Ruth delivered on Root’s next offering. He swung viciously, and the ball arced toward center field and went over the wall near the base of the flagpole. The blast put the Yankees ahead 5-4.
“What do you think of the nerve of that big monkey calling his shot and getting away with it?” teammate Lou Gehrig asked the next day. While the Yankees’ first baseman, the on-deck hitter at the time, obviously thought the Babe had called his shot, Root, for one, wasn’t buying it.
“If he had (pointed to an anticipated home-run landing spot), I would have knocked him down with the next pitch,” Root said.
Ruth was content to go along with the called-shot scenario, although he never really expounded upon the matter.
Gehrig matched Ruth’s two-homer day by following with a drive into the right field bleachers. Lou’s earlier home run had come in the third inning. The back-to-back shots in the fifth stood up as the margin of victory as the Yankees, after trading runs with the Cubs in the ninth, won 7-5.
Trying to close out the Cubs in Game 4, the Yankees fell behind 4-1 in the first inning as Chicago’s Frank Demaree smacked a three-run homer. New York stormed back, however, as Tony Lazzeri unloaded a pair of two-run homers and Earle Combs hit a bases-empty shot. A game that was a 5-5 tie after six innings wound up a 13-6 Yankees win.
The Yanks had made it three sweeps in their last three World Series appearances.
A team that despite its contender status had undergone a stunning switch in managers in early August — from Rogers Hornsby, who couldn’t get along with the front office, to first baseman Charley Grimm — the Cubs never gave any real indication they could compete with the Yankees. Oh, Chicago did jump to a 2-0 first-inning lead in the Series opener. And the National Leaguers maintained that edge until the fourth, when Gehrig capped a three-run outburst with a two-run homer. New York scored five more times in the sixth and Red Ruffing, in his first Series appearance, weathered his way to a 12-6 victory.
Lefty Gomez, a 24-game winner in his second full season in the majors, pitched shutout ball in the last six innings of Game 2, and New York rolled to a 5-2 victory. Catcher Bill Dickey and outfielder Ben Chapman, also Series newcomers, each knocked in two runs for the Yankees, and Gehrig contributed three hits and one RBI.
While Ruth’s name forever will be synonymous with the ’32 World Series, it was Gehrig who dazzled. Gehrig assaulted Cubs pitching for nine hits in 17 at-bats (.529 average), slugged three homers, scored nine runs and collected eight RBIs. Dickey batted .438 for the Yankees, Combs hit .375 and Joe Sewell and Ruth each finished at .333. For Ruth, the “called shot” was his last homer in World Series play.
New York, a club that finished 13 games ahead of runner-up Philadelphia in the ’32 American League pennant race, simply manhandled Grimm’s club, totaling 37 runs and 45 hits in the four games. Of the eight Cubs pitchers employed in the Series, five had ERAs of 9.00 or higher against the Yankees.
Outfielder Riggs Stephenson led the Cubs with a .444 average. Billy Jurges, who wound up supplanting Koenig at shortstop after Game 1, was next at .364.
When this chippiest of all World Series ended, McCarthy had his revenge against the Cubs, the club that had dismissed him. Ruth had his “called shot” story ready for retelling on baseball book shelves, be it in the fiction or non-fiction section. And Koenig had his half-share.
