May 6 is the anniversary of baseball legend Babe Ruth's first Major League homerun. The 20-year old Ruth, a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, hit his first "dinger" against New York Yankees pitcher Jack Warhop at the Polo Grounds in 1915. Despite Ruth's first "round tripper" and a .833 slugging percentage for the game, the Red Sox lost 4 to 3 in 13 innings.
During a Major League Baseball that spanned from July 11, 1914, to May 30, 1935, Babe Ruth hit the "long ball" 714 times. The 60 "taters" he hit during the 1927 season would not be beaten until Roger Maris hit his 61st "four-bagger" on October 1, 1961. Even today, only two playersBarry Bonds and Hank Aaronhave more career "moon shots."
Babe Ruth hit his first Major League homerun on May 6, 1915, while playing as a pitcher
for the Boston Red Sox. In this photo, taken between 1915 and 1917, Ruth (far left) sits in
front of the dugout with teammates (from left to right), Ernest G. "Ernie" Shore, George
"Rube" Foster, and Dellos "Del" Gainer.
Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress
On May 28, 1955, the population clock reached 165 million. At that time, California was witnessing remarkable growthits population grew from 10,586,223 in 1950 to 15,717,204 in 1960. By the 1970 Census, it surpassed New York as the nation's most populous counting 19,971,069. California's growth encouraged the owners of the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants to move their teams to the state in 1958. Today, California is home to five major league teams (in Anaheim, Los Angeles, Oakland, San Diego, and San Francisco) and more than a dozen minor league affiliates.
In 2015, the Rawlings factory in Costa Rica produced approximately 2.4 million official major league baseballs annually. Major League Baseball Rule 3.01c requires that the white cowhide baseball be rubbed with mud before each game. This mud has come from a single secret location near Palmyra, NJ, for more than 40 years.
Today, most sports equipment is produced outside the United States. Notable exceptions include the official ball used by the National Football League, manufactured at Wilson's Ada, OH, factory since 1955, and the "Louisville Slugger" baseball bat produced in Louisville, KY, since the 1890s.
Although Rawlings baseballs are currently manufactured in Costa Rica, the ball used for Vice President George Bush's first pitch at the Houston Astros game on August 28, 1988, was produced in Haiti. Rawlings moved production of baseballs from Licking, MO, to Puerto Rico in 1964, and to Haiti in 1969. Rawlings' Costa Rica facility has produced all major league baseballs since 1990.
Photo courtesy of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum
Major league baseball attendance was approximately 4,558,000 when Babe Ruth began his professional baseball career in 1914, and had risen to 10,129,000 by the time of his death in 1948. According to the 2012 Statistical Abstract of the United States, major league baseball attendance had grown to 74,499,000 in 2010.
Even after retiring from baseball in 1935, Babe Ruth drew crowds of admirers. During the July 7, 1937, Major League Baseball All-Star Game at Griffith Stadium in Washington, DC, Ruth obliged autograph-seekers eager to bring home a memento of their having met the legendary "Sultan of Swat."
Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.