Century's Game

Aged 39. fatter than he used to be and nearing the end of the most amazing career in baseball history. Babe Ruth now can be sure of performing his homerun specialty only on great occasions. Such an occasion presented itself last week in Chicago where all-star teams representing the National and American Leagues played what was advertised as "The Game of the Century." Ruth came to bat in the third inning. Pitcher Hallahan of the St. Louis Cardinals, wild in the second inning when the American League scored its first run. had already given Detroit's Gehringer a base on balls. Now, pitching to Ruth, he made the mistake of trying to whip a strike across the plate. There was that sharp familiar crack and the ball sailed up over first base into the pavilion beyond right field.

That effectively ended the game. Hallahan was taken out and Pitchers Lon Warneke of the Chicago Cubs and Carl Hubbell of the New York Giants held the American League to one more run. In the sixth inning Babe Ruth was so slow in retrieving a long hit to right field that it turned into a triple and gave the National League two runs. The game ended 4 to 2. in favor of the American League.

Conceived as an added attraction for Chicago's Century of Progress, last week's game was promoted by the Chicago Tribune, which got 500,000 baseball addicts to send in their selections for the teams. The proceeds ($42,000) went to a charity for superannuated baseballers. Forty-nine thousand people saw it, speculators getting as much as $15 per ticket. The teams (starting lineup):

National League American League

Martin, 3B Chapman, LF Frisch, 2B Gehringer, 2B Klein, RF Ruth, RF Hafey, LF Gehrig, 1B Terry, 1B Simmons, CF Berger, CF Dykes, 3B Kartell, SS Cronin, SS Wilson. C R. Ferell, C Hallahan, P Gomez, P

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.