While searching for mentions of the Brooklyn Royal Giants in the New York Times during the 1920s (there were seven hits altogether), I ran across this item, from Oct. 12, 1927:
BOYS JAM TRENTON FIELD AND STOP GAME
WHEN RUTH HITS HIS THIRD HOMER OF DAYTRENTON, N.J., Oct. 11 (UP)—Babe Ruth’s third home run of the afternoon broke up an exhibition game here today between a selected Trenton team and the Brooklyn Royal Giants, which Trenton won, 9 to 4.
The Babe and Lou Gehrig of the world’s champion New York Yankees opened their exhibition barnstorming tour, playing with Trenton, before a crowd which packed the field here.
Twice before the eighth inning, as Ruth lifted the ball over the right field wall, hundreds of boys swarmed into the field to romp from third to home with the King of Swat, each time holding up the game for fifteen minutes before the field could be cleared.
However, after his third homer in the eighth with two on base, officials found it impossible to get the fans from the field and the game was called. Lou did not fare as well as the Babe, collecting only a double and a single out of four times at bat…
John Holway wrote about this game in the chapter on Cannonball Dick Redding, the Royal Giants’ playing manager, in Blackball Stars:
Trenton promoter George Glasco recalled that he took the Cannonball aside before the game. “Now look,” he said, “you know why all these people are here. You know what they came to see. They’re out here to see Ruth hit home runs, right?”
“Right.”
“Now, when the Babe comes to bat, no funny business.”
“Got ya,” Redding winked. “Right down the pike.”
Another game, between Ruth and Gehrig’s “Bustin’ Babes” and the Brooklyn Royal Giants, was played in Asbury Park, N.J., on October 13. This one was held up for an hour while Ruth waited at his hotel for a guaranteed fee to be delivered to him. When he finally arrived at the park, he found an overflow crowd of 7,000 and the entire police department of Asbury Park waiting for him. According to the Times, “Thousands of youngsters darted past the police lines and fought to shake hands with the Babe,” making it a “miserable” game for anybody who tried to take it seriously. “After each inning he half carried dozens of small boys who surrounded him on the trips from the bench to the outfield and vice versa. He could not get rid of them…”:
These lads often raced with the players to gain possession of the ball, and when the former won another souvenir was pocketed.
On one occasion the ball trickled past the catcher while Babe Ruth was on first. The Babe started to steal second and one of the boys determined that his idol would not be caught stealing. So he promptly pounced on the ball and darted away, with the catcher in hot pursuit. The boy scurried between two spectators and disappeared from view….
No ball lasted very long. Every foul meant a lost ball, and most of the outfield hits meant the same, so after two dozen were gone a messenger was dispatched for another dozen. Eleven of these found their way into yawning pockets, and then Gehrig was inconsiderate enough to knock the one remaining ball out of the park [causing the game to be called]. No one complained, because all the fans had a lot of fun.
Ruth hit one home run in the lake, Gehrig two, and the “Babes” won, 6 to 5.
Terrific find. I've been doing research on pro baseball in Trenton NJ for a book I'm writing about my baseball memories. This article was a huge help. My Dad was at this game. He was 10 years old at the time. Paul C. Kurisko
Posted by: Paul Kurisko | October 2, 2017 at 02:37 PM