Babe Ruth, a giant of American pop culture a century after he ruled the baseball diamond, astounded the sports world when he swatted his 60th home run for the New York Yankees on this day in history, Sept. 30, 1927.
His achievement still stuns sports fans today.
“Babe Ruth’s 60 home runs hit in 1927 remains a monumental benchmark in the sport’s history,” the National Baseball Hall of Fame writes, noting that the ball the Sultan of Swat hit with the record swing resides in Cooperstown today.
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“While Roger Maris, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds have all exceeded the iconic single-season record, Ruth — the charismatic, larger-than-life figure from the Golden Age of Sport — is still remembered as the first to attain the hallowed milestone,” the Hall of Fame notes.
Yankees star Aaron Judge joined the exclusive club of 60-plus sluggers last year when he hit his 61st home run of the season.
Babe Ruth, at the plate for the New York Yankees, swings at a pitch during a 1927 World Series game against the Pittsburgh Pirates in October 1927 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. (B Bennett/Getty Images)
However, Ruth’s milestone remains greater than ever today in the eyes of many sports observers and enthusiasts — even as other players have topped his 60-home-run standard.
In the Bambino’s landmark season, no other American League team combined hit more than 56 home runs.
Ruth swatted 26 home runs in August and September alone.
The entire Cleveland Indians roster that year hit 26 round-trippers all season.
His batting achievements in the 1920s were so stunning, so beyond the known standards of the day, that they inspired a new sports adjective, “Ruthian.”
The word, still used in sports today, describes a statistical accomplishment of such astounding scope that it dwarfs those around it.
In Ruth’s 60-home-run season, no American League team hit more than 56 home runs.
Ruth also hit 60 home runs in a 154-game season. The American League expanded the schedule 162 games in 1961 — the year that Maris, also a Yankees slugger, hit his then-record 61 home runs.
As a result of the expanded schedule, Maris’s record was notoriously marked with an asterisk by baseball authorities for decades.
“Babe Comes Home” lobby card. The 1927 silent movie starred Babe Ruth, as baseball player Babe Dugan, at the height of his national fame. (LMPC via Getty Images)
Bonds, McGwire and Sosa, meanwhile, all curiously produced their 60-plus home run seasons in rapid-fire succession from 1998 to 2001.
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The record seasons coincided with what is known as baseball’s ignominious Steroid Era.
Home-run heroics by Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa coincided with baseball’s ignominious Steroid Era.
Ruth was fueled by a famously hard-living lifestyle, even during Prohibition.
He starred in a 1927 silent movie, “Babe Comes Home,” about a semi-fictional baseball player, Babe Dugan, inspired to hit a towering home run when his love interest hands him a plug of chewing tobacco before he steps to the plate.
Ruth hit an incredible 17 home runs in September alone to erase his own seemingly unreachable home run total of 59 home runs set six years earlier.
Babe Ruth takes a mighty swing during pre-game batting practice in Yankee Stadium. He hit 60 home runs in 1927, a record that stood for 34 years and still stands as a monumental achievement today. (Mark Rucker/Transcendental Graphics/Getty Images)
The 1927 Yankees, dubbed Murderers’ Row for their hard-hitting lineup, went 110-44 and swept the Pittsburgh Pirates in the World Series.
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They are widely praised as among the best teams in baseball history.
Ruth was joined in the line-up by Lou Gehrig, who hit 47 home runs that season. His total would have been the most in baseball history at the time if not overshadowed by Ruth’s 1921 and 1927 seasons.
Ruth’s batting achievements in the 1920s were so stunning they inspired a new sports adjective, “Ruthian.”
Gehrig also led the major leagues in doubles (52), runs battled in (173), a record at the time, and total bases (447).
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However, it’s Ruth’s Ruthian home run total that is still hallowed today.
“Ruth took a slow stroll around the bases as the crowd celebrated by tearing paper into confetti and throwing hats into the air,” writes History.com of his landmark 60th home run.
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“Upon assuming his position in right-field for the ninth inning, those seated in the bleachers waved hankies at the famed slugger; Ruth responded with multiple military salutes.”
