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You might have heard. Babe Ruth played in Sleepy Eye. For thirty years, I've tugged and pulled at that game in every possible way.
My fascination with that day in my hometown's history began when I was doing research for the Brown County Historical Society 30 years ago for an exhibit: "Baseball and Brown County, A Glove Affair."
Growing up here, we always knew about Babe's visit. The picture of Babe and Yankee teammate Bob Meusel in front of the grandstand appeared in the paper every so often. They looked cold.
That fall was the 75th anniversary of the Oct. 16, 1922, game. I rallied some friends for a celebration at the ballpark, the very same ballpark where Ruth played.
Every Oct. 16 since then, some combination of us has met there. We grill hot dogs and have a beverage. Some of us play catch. We stand in the batter's box where Ruth stood. In 2022, the centennial, we had a bigger celebration with several hundred fans at the ballpark.
I've researched that game every way I could. I thought I'd seen everything there was to see. This summer, I was at the Brown County Museum looking for something else in their baseball file.
In there was a page removed from the New York Sunday Mirror of June 1, 1041. It had this headline: "Sleepy Eye, Minn., Homer Longest Ruth Ever Saw." Below was "By BABE RUTH, Home Run Champion of All Time, AS TOLD TO BILLY EVANS."
This was new to me. Here was Ruth twenty years later remembering us. Babe made an impression on Sleepy Eye, and Sleepy Eye made an impression on the Babe. The New York Mirror was a popular tabloid of the time. Babe's story landed in the home of a million subscribers.
The article was "By Babe Ruth, as told to Billy Evans." Billy Evans was an interesting character. He had been a major league umpire when Ruth played. Evans had a reputation as a "fair and square" umpire. He once got in a fistfight with Ty Cobb. He later served in the front office of several teams.
Evans also wrote a syndicated sports column called "Billy Evans Says." He would have been known to readers in 1941.
Ruth begins the article with, "The sports public, it seems like the athletes who pack a punch."
Ruth continued, "Nature was kind enough to supply me with a set of muscles that enabled me to swing a baseball bat in a trifle more threatening manner than any other batsman on that period."
Ruth told Evans that the longest home run he ever hit was in a spring training game in Tampa Bay.
"As to the longest ball I ever saw hit, it remains fresh in my memory, as well as the setting for the game. It is quite a hitch from Tampa, Florida, to Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, but these two towns will never be forgotten by me."
Ruth turned to his barnstorming memories. "Over a big-league career of more than 20 years, it was a bush league town that furnished the funniest episode I have ever seen on ballfield. It is rather fitting that this humorous event should have the town of Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, as the setting for the affair. The name starts the comedy in the right direction."
Ruth talked about touring "hick towns and getting a fat guarantee for playing an exhibition game."
So, we're a bush league town and a hick town with a funny name. Hey, Sleepy Eye folks are used to a little ribbing about our town's name.
In describing the day, Ruth makes references to it "hailing." It was a cold day with snow flurries in the air. There may have been ice pellets.
The public-school band played at their reception. Ruth said, "It was hailing so hard that every time the tuba player blew on his instrument, the hail came out in such quantities, it seemed he was popping corn."
Ruth and Meusel had taken an overnight train from Omaha to Mankato, where they were driven to Sleepy Eye. "It didn't look as if there was a chance to play the game, so Meusel and I hied to the village hotel."
That was the Berg Hotel on Main Street. "The heating plant in the hotel didn't seem to be working well, so Meusel and I went to bed in an effort to stay warm."
Around noon, Ruth said that the local promoter knocked on their door. That was probably Ed Berkner, a prominent businessman.
"Our visitor wanted to know if we intended to play. "Play? In this kind of weather? You won't have fifty people.' "
"He said they there won't be less than 2,500 on hand. I said, 'If you folks are game enough to watch in this weather, Bob and I will play' A few hours later we went to the ballpark, and it was packed to capacity."
Ruth reported that about the fifth inning, Meusel said his hands were so cold he couldn't hold a bat. Meusel was from San Jose, California. This was the coldest he'd ever been.
Ruth, "I was the announcer that day as well as a player, so I called to the grandstand, asking if there was anyone who would take Meusel's time at bat. A big husky gut yelled out that he would be glad to play. I said, "Get in there and hit one.'"
Ruth described what happened next. "He hit a line drive over the left fielder's head that I am sure is still traveling. He stood at the plate watching in silent admiration. 'Run,' I yelled, 'run.'"
The lad said, "'Not when we hit them that far. We concede that it is homerun around here. But I'll buy a new ball.' Whereupon he went over and gave the promoter a dollar fifty."
Ruth ended his article. "That home run brought such a shower of hail from the skies that the game was ended. No one thought to bring along ice skates or skies."
Join us at the ballpark this Oct. 16 at around 5 p.m. We'll celebrate the 104th anniversary of that day. Hopefully, it won't hail.
-- Randy Krzmarzick farms on the home place west of Sleepy Eye, where he lives with his wife, Pam.