On a chilly Saturday afternoon at Forbes Field, Babe Ruth delivered the final masterpiece of his legendary career. He hit his 714th home run, a mark that would stand as baseball’s career record for nearly four decades.
Three swings, one final hurrah
The 40-year-old Ruth entered the day hitting just .153 for the bottom-dwelling Boston Braves. Pirate manager Pie Traynor sent Red Lucas to the mound, but trouble arrived before the crowd of 10,000 had settled. Ruth lofted career homer No. 712 into the right-field stands in the first inning for a quick 2-0 lead.
In the third, he faced Guy Bush — the same pitcher who had hit him with a ball during the 1932 World Series. Ruth answered with another drive to right, No. 713, pushing the Braves’ advantage to 4-0.
A roof-clearing shot into history
By the seventh inning, Pittsburgh had rallied to lead 7-5. Bush remained on the mound. On a 3-1 count with the bases empty, Ruth swung and sent the ball soaring over Forbes Field’s right-field roof — the first time in the ballpark’s 26-year history a ball had cleared it completely.
The Pittsburgh crowd, now firmly on his side, roared. A 12-year-old newspaper seller named Paul Warhola later recalled the moment simply: “The way he smacked it, you knew it was gone. The crowd just roared.”
Ruth, despite going four-for-four with three home runs and six runs batted in, could not save the Braves. Pittsburgh won the game 11-7. Afterwards, passing rookie pitcher Mace Brown on the bench, Ruth grinned and said, “Boy, that last one felt good!”
He played five more games without a hit before retiring in early June. The 714 home runs remained untouched until Hank Aaron surpassed the total in 1974. On that May afternoon in Pittsburgh, an aging giant gave the game one last glimpse of the swing that had remade baseball.
