The Selling of the Babe by Glenn Stout Page B

some hard luck, but he also had lost some games that he used to win, and due to rosters decimated by the war he wasn’t exactly facing top-notch competition.
    For now, after hitting three home runs in three games, observers were just trying to place the feat in perspective. Only one other major league player had ever done so before. Oddly enough, it was a pitcher, the Yankees’ Ray Caldwell, who on June 10, 11, and 12 in 1915 hit home runs in three straight games—as a pinch hitter. In fact, Caldwell was considered such a good hitter that in 1918 he’d play 41 games in the New York outfield and hit .291.
    For the time being, Barrow left Ruth in the lineup. He continued to hit, although with less power than during his streak, and played an adequate first base. The Red Sox, however, continued to stumble, dropping their sixth in a row on May 9 as Ruth took the mound for the first time since April 29, squaring off against Johnson.
    It a sense, it was Ruth’s most amazing game of the season. Hoblitzell returned to the lineup to play first, but Barrow installed Ruth in the fourth position in the batting order, a rarity for the pitcher. He came through, too, tripling in his first at bat and then following up with a single and two doubles.
    But Walter Johnson was just as good, if not better, and the two teams went into extra innings tied. Ruth nearly won it with his fifth hit of the day, another double to right field, but the one-man team took that to heart and he was thrown out trying to steal third. Ruth then gave up the winning run as the Red Sox lost 5–4 and tumbled out of first place.
    Now people were starting to talk. On the one hand, since joining the starting lineup, Ruth was hitting .563. For the last week, he had been the best hitter in the league and the talk of all baseball. On the other hand, there was that nasty little six-game losing streak, over which time the Red Sox pitching staff, save for Ruth, had virtually collapsed.
    No one quite knew what to think. Some thought that putting Ruth into the lineup every day threw the club off kilter, making some players jealous and causing others to look over their shoulders, while increasing the burden on Boston’s already faltering pitching staff. In the Globe , Mel Webb offered that “putting a pitcher in as an everyday man, no matter how much he likes it or how he may hit, is not the sign of strength for a club that aspires to be a real contender.” Well, the Yankees were doing it with Caldwell, too, and how could you take a guy out of the lineup who was now batting .500? Still, it was confounding— The Sporting News compared it to “college or school baseball” where the pitcher is often the best player in the team, yet admitted, “Ruth is the large rumble in the Red Sox family.”
    The Red Sox returned to Boston, and now Barrow had another idea. Hoblitzell was back, and back at first base, but Barrow still wanted Ruth’s bat in the lineup. As a lefty, there was only one place to put him. Harry Hooper was a fixture in right, hitting .361, and since arriving from Philadelphia, Amos Strunk had been a revelation in center and was batting .319. The only place that remained was left field.
    So far, at least at the plate, George Whiteman had demonstrated why he’d spent a decade in the minor leagues. Although a fine fielder, even against the subpar pitching of 1918 he was struggling. With right-hander Dave Davenport scheduled to pitch for St. Louis, Barrow stuck Ruth in left field and hoped for the best. Backed by Duffy’s Cliff and the left field wall, even if Ruth screwed up there was little damage he could cause in the field. Besides, one big hit could make the difference in a game.
    Unfortunately, none did. Ruth went hitless, but Boston won 4–1, as Ruth had an uneventful day in left, fielding only three soft singles. Ruth seemed a bit lost afterward, complaining, “It’s lonesome out there,”