“Babe Ruth Day” Photo Gallery
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“Babe Ruth Day” at Yankee Stadium

and

The Twenty-Five Year Reunion of the 1923 World Series Champion Yankees!

I admit it…I’m a sucker for Old-Timers photos! And here’s a real good one:

It was taken 75 years ago yesterday, June 13, 1948, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the opening of Yankee Stadium, which, of course, later became known as “the House That Ruth Built.” In addition, it was also “Babe Ruth Day,” with a special reunion of the 1923 Yankees, the first Yankee team to win the World Series. An ailing Babe Ruth is in the center of the top row. As part of the day’s festivities, the players participated in a two-inning “Old-Timers” game. Wouldn’t that have been fun to watch! See how many of the Yankees you can pick out before looking at the player identifications below.

(In the featured photo, we see the iconic photo of the Babe taken by Nat Fein on June 13, 1948)

The First Game at Yankee Stadium

The Bronx Bombers opened Yankee Stadium on April 18, 1923, with a 4-1 victory over the Red Sox. Fittingly, Babe Ruth christened the new stadium with a home run. After a 7-2 victory over the Philadelphia Athletics on May 5 to regain first place, the Yankees never looked back, going 98-54 (.645) and finishing 16 games ahead of the Tigers. In the World Series, they beat their cross-town rivals, John McGraw’s New York Giants, four games to two, for the first of their 27 World Series championships.

The Bambino had quite a year in 1923. His .393 batting average set a Yankee record, although it wasn’t good enough for the batting title. He finished second to Harry Heilmann’s .403.  On the way to winning the American League MVP award, Babe led the league in all the following categories, some of which are “off-the-charts”: Home runs (41), RBIs (130), Runs (151), On-base percentage (.545), Slugging average (.764), Total Bases (399), Walks (170), OPS (1.309), and OPS+ (239[!]).  He even threw in 17 stolen bases.

Here are a few excerpts from newspaper accounts about the historic day, June 13, 1948:

“June 13, 1948, was a special day in Yankees’ history, as the club celebrated the 25th anniversary of Yankee Stadium. Among the highlights was a reunion of the 1923 Yankees team – the first team to play in Yankee Stadium, and the first Yankee team to win the World Series. Most importantly, the June 13, 1948 occasion featured “Babe Ruth Day” with a special ceremony during which the Yankees formally retired a dying Babe Ruth’s uniform #3 and sent it to Cooperstown. During the ceremony, an emotional crowd of 49,641 fans sang ‘Auld Lang Syne’ to the Babe.”

“The historic day marked the great Bambino’s final appearance in a Yankees uniform and at Yankee Stadium. He passed away just two months later on August 16th. Nat Fein’s famous Pulitizer Prize-winning photo, titled “The Babe Bows Out,” was taken on this day.”

An earlier “Babe Ruth Day” was held on April 27, 1947. That was the occasion in which a raspy-voiced Babe Ruth in civilian attire addressed the silenced crowd. Some scenes from that day are also included in the photo gallery.

Player Identifications: 

Top Row, L-R: Hinkey Haines, Waite Hoyt, George Pipgras, “Bullet” Joe Bush, Oscar Roettger, Babe Ruth, “Jumpin'”Joe Dugan, Bob Meusel, Wally Pipp, Elmer Smith. Front Row, L-R: “Sad” Sam Jones, Wally Schang, Carl Mays, Whitey Witt, Fred Hofman, Mike McNally

Hall of Famers in the photo: Waite Hoyt and Babe Ruth. Lou Gehrig was a rookie on the 1923 Yankees, appearing in 13 games. Besides Babe and Waite Hoyt, other Hall-of-Famers on the roster included Gehrig and Herb Pennock, plus manager Miller Huggins.

Gary Livacari 

Photo Credits: All from Google search, including the Neil Fein photo; and from Getty Images / Mark Rucker / The LIFE Picture Collection (see link below)

Information: Excerpts edited from Article on Babe Ruth Day