Hey! So those who know me, know I'm a Mets fan. I was born in Flushing, New York, lived in a house not even 5 miles away from Shea Stadium... it was destiny. However, that loyalty never made me blind to what the rest of the teams in the League were doing, or have done in the past. Baseball history is very important to me, so I work very diligently to know as many notable names and moments from the days of old as I possibly can. Recently, a colleague asked me (knowing I'm a Mets fan) which New York Yankee was the one I enjoyed reading about the most. I gave it a little thought, and gave him two responses. My initial answer was Reggie Jackson, whose prodigious numbers and lively personality make him an interesting read. But upon second thought I changed tune, and switched my answer to Babe Ruth. And it's definitely the true answer for me, without any doubt.

Ruth had an abbreviated, yet extraordinary life. Brought up in a Baltimore, Maryland orphanage, Babe would go on to experience many highs, and even a few lows over the course of his  22-season career. One thing you've got to admire about the Babe, his ability to draw the crowd. In 15 seasons as a New York Yankee, the club led the American League in attendance in all but 2 of those seasons. In 1920, Ruth's first season in pinstripes, the Yankees saw home attendance (then at the Polo Grounds) double. He also single-handedly (more or less) made the 1934 Major League Baseball good will tour of Japan (and other locales as well) the success that it was, with people going absolutely insane at his mere presence (read more about that tour in Banzai Babe Ruth: Baseball, Espionage, & Assassination During the 1934 Tour of Japan). He was outstanding between the lines, he was impressive, he was funny, he was entertaining, he was the Babe! And the Babe also had a flair for the dramatic. Especially when it came to World Series play. I guess that happens when you play in 10 of them (and win 7). So without further ado, allow me to present to you 5 of Babe Ruth's most notable World Series moments.

1. Ruth tosses 14 innings of 1 run ball (October 9, 1916)
All right, so the 1916 World Series was actually Ruth's second career World Series. His first was the year before. However despite pitching to an 18-8 mark with a 2.44 ERA during the 1915 regular season (as a 20-year old no less!), Ruth's lone cameo in that season's Fall Classic was a sole pinch-hitting appearance where he grounded out to first. So fast forward one year later, Ruth again only appeared in one game during the World Series, and what did he do? Deliver, that's what. 1916's Series pit Ruth's Red Sox against Wilbert Robinson's Brooklyn Robins (for those of you that don't know, the Robins name was actually derived from their manager's surname!). In Game 2, Ruth started and pitched 14 innings, surrendering only one run in the first on an inside-the-park home run off the bat of Hi Myers. After that Ruth shut the Robins down, keeping the score knotted at 1. Ruth, might I add, drove in the tying run for Boston, what wasn't he able to do?!  So with the score the same in the bottom of the 14th inning, Red Sox pinch hitter Del Gainer laced a walk-off single into leftfield, giving Boston the 2-1 win, and capping off the longest World Series game (in terms of innings) in baseball history, later tied by the Astros and White Sox in 2005. Babe Ruth earned the W, as well as the record for the longest postseason complete game victory—a record that we may never see broken!

2. Ruth's 29 2/3 Scoreless Inning Streak (1916-1918)
We all know how much attention Ruth's hitting's received over time, but that shouldn't let us lose sight of the fact that he was quite the pitcher too early on in his career. Ruth won 94 games with a 2.28 career ERA over his 163 career games as a pitcher (147 of them being starts). However, once military conscription in the United States sapped the Red Sox of a number of their offensive stars, manager Ed Barrow made the call to allow Ruth to play other positions on days he wasn't pitching in order to keep his valued bat in the lineup. The rest was of course history. Ruth would in time give up pitching, and became the greatest hitting sensation the game has ever seen. But like I said, let's not fail to remember the Babe's accomplishments on the mound either. Like his epic World Series scoreless streak for instance. What started on October 9, 1916 with 13 consecutive scoreless frames, continued on into the 1918 World Series, in which the Red Sox took on the Chicago Cubs. In Game 1, Ruth pitched a complete game 1-0 shutout, upping his scoreless streak to 22. Then in Game 4, a game that saw Ruth smack a key 2-run triple, Ruth tossed zero after zero right up until the top of the 8th, where the Cubs scored 2 runs on RBIs by Charlie Hollocher and Les Mann. Thus, Ruth's scoreless inning streak in World Series play was halted at 29 2/3 frames. Nevertheless, Ruth and the Red Sox would pick up the win in Game 4, and went on to win the 1918 World Series in 6 games, their last title until the "Curse-of-the-Bambino"-busting club of 2004. As for Ruth's record, it stood for over 40 years, until another Yankee great Whitey Ford eventually broke it in 1961, with 33 2/3 scoreless World Series innings of his own, a record that still stands today.

3. Ruth's First Three-Homer World Series Game (October 6, 1926)
Here we are now, nearly ten years to the date of Babe Ruth's incredible 14 inning masterpiece against the Robins. What could Ruth do for an encore? How about become the first player in baseball history to hit three home runs in a single World Series game? Now for those who don't know, there is a bit of a side story to this particular feat of Ruth's. However, there is a ton of confusion and multiple versions of this tale, so bear with me. The short version: an 11-year old Yankee fan named Johnny Sylvester suffered serious injuries on account of a horseback-riding mishap. To lift his spirits, Johnny's father telegraphed the Yankees during the 1926 Fall Classic and asked for a signed Babe Ruth baseball. Johnny ended up receiving gifts from both 1926 World Series participants, the Yankees and the St. Louis Cardinals. Included amongst them was not only a Ruth autograph, but a note from the Babe himself, promising Johnny that he'd knock a home run for him. Lo and behold, Ruth crushed three long balls, only making the story that much more unbelievable. Now as stated, there are so many different variations to the legend of Johnny Sylvester, that it has been largely questioned as to whether or not the whole equestrian incident was a hoax from the get-go. Nonetheless, Ruth promised to come through, and come through he did. Ruth is one of only four players to hit three home runs in a World Series game, and is the only one of that quartet to do it twice, his repeat coming on October 9, 1928.

4. Ruth Is Caught Stealing For The Final Out Of The 1926 World Series (October 10, 1926)
Hey it may not be something Ruth wants to be reminded of, but it was a classic baseball moment, and we should not let it fall between the cracks. Despite the unforgettable Johnny Sylvester/3 Homer Game, the 1926 Fall Classic on the whole is probably not one the Yankees want to remember. They blew both 1-0 and 3-2 Series leads, and it all came down to Game 7 at Yankee Stadium, winner taking all. The deciding game was a close affair all throughout, with Jesse Haines and Grover Cleveland Alexander of St. Louis and Waite Hoyte and Herb Pennock of the Yankees keeping their teams in the game all afternoon long. The scene: bottom of the 9th, Cardinals lead 3-2 with 2 outs, Babe Ruth at the dish against Alexander. Ruth ended up drawing a walk, his fourth on the day. Up next was Bob Meusel, a good hitter who'd experienced success against Alexander in the past. Meusel swung and missed for strike 1, but at the same time, Ruth took off for second in an attempt to get into scoring position! While it surely shocked everybody in the ballpark, Cardinal catcher Bob O'Farrell (a defensive God behind the plate) played it cool and threw down to second baseman Rogers Hornsby. The tandem nailed the Babe by a wide margin to retire the Yankees in the 9th, locking up the Cardinals first World Series title in the process. To date, this is the only World Series that has ended on a caught stealing.

5. Ruth Calls His Shot (October 1, 1932)
Ah, last but certainly not least. Babe Ruth's "called shot" in the 1932 World Series against the Chicago Cubs is a lot of things. It's arguably Ruth's signature moment. It's arguably the most famous home run in World Series history. It's arguably the most memorable act baseball lore has to offer. But, it is also arguable that the moment never even really happened. Allow me to explain. The 1932 World Series was the tenth and final one of Babe Ruth's storied career. Even before the Series was underway, plenty of trash talk took place between both clubs. There was no love to be lost. Ruth's Yankees arrived at Wrigley Field with a 2-0 Series lead after taking the first two games at Yankee Stadium. Once Game 3 was underway, the Yankees seemed to receive a hard time of things from every direction, with Ruth receiving the worst of the Chicago jeering. The Cubs themselves engaged in plenty of bench jockeying, and the Wrigley Field crowd was especially raucous, going as far as to spit on Babe's wife Claire. Bottom line, it was an immensely hostile environment for the visiting Yankees, and Ruth had had enough of it. So in the top of the 5th, with the score tied at 4, Ruth (who already had one home run on the day) stepped to the plate against Charlie Root. He fell behind in the count, 0-2. It was then that Ruth made a pointing gesture. Root's next delivery was clubbed over the centerfield wall for his 15th and final career World Series homer, giving the Yankees a lead they would never relinquish, en route to a 4-game Series sweep. Now, here's the issue. It's never been fully confirmed or denied that Ruth's gesture was directed towards centerfield. Some accounts say he was pointing at Root, some say he was pointing at the Cubs bench, and some say he was pointing to the Wrigley-faithful, as if to let the unruly crowd know his at-bat wasn't over just yet. While grainy photos and distant newsreel footage have definitely confirmed that Ruth made a pointing gesture, it's more or less impossible to know what it was exactly he was pointing at. Some parties claim he absolutely gestured to the centerfield wall, other parties have claimed he certainly did not. We'll never know. Nonetheless, the story took on a life of its own, and became one of the most timeless tales the glorious sport has to offer. Who better than the Babe?!

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