Even if you're NOT a baseball fan you probably remember hearing about Babe Ruth's infamous "called shot", when he supposedly stepped out of the batters box, pointed to a spot in the stands and then stepped back in and hit a home run to that spot.
Today is the anniversary of the day the Cubs honored their pitcher who gave up that home run. This is a blurb from the Sun-Times sports page today...
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Aug. 10, 1941 | The Cubs honor popular pitcher Charlie Root -- best known as the guy who gave up Babe Ruth's ''called shot'' in the 1932 World Series -- with Charlie Root Day at Wrigley Field after he announced his retirement. He's given a check, a station wagon paid for by the fans and a pig for his farm. Then he's beaten 3-1 by the Cincinnati Reds.
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Can you imagine that? To say nothing of the pig, a station wagon paid for by the FANS? Ok, ok. You can argue that it's ALL paid for by the fans. But the fact that in 1941 the fans donated extra money to buy a player a car (a boring old station wagon no less) is pretty cool.
Of course, back in those days ballplayers didn't make much money and lived in the neighborhood they played in.
I wish I could have been around in those times. Being a baseball fan would have meant so much more when you were literally cheering for your neighborhood guys to win the big game.
While I'm not a huge fan of baseball, I think the games would have been way more exciting all those years ago because they were neighborhood guys playing....and not for big bucks either, but simply for the love of the game.
