Eat Your Heart Out, Billy Martin
With the Yankees holding a five-run lead going into the bottom of the ninth, Ruth took his place in left field, a position he played in his career almost as much as right. The A’s made some noise but with two on and two outs,
"The game belonged to the Babe. So he decided to end it with a final Ruthian fillip. The Cards scored once in the last of the ninth and had two men on when Frank Frisch lofted a foul fly down the leftfield line. Ruth charged over and snagged the ball on a dead run before it could fall into the temporary seats. Then he held it proudly aloft for all to see as he hustled into the dugout."
It was by all accounts an amazing catch, even if one of those accounts is Ruth’s own. And his manager’s.
"Ruth thundered into the clubhouse with his gloved right hand still held aloft clasping that ball as he raced across the field…despite a shower of torn paper calculated to interfere. He was perspiring and panting, but he was never more joyous. “There’s the ball that say’s it’s all over,” he said, “there it is, right where I grabbed it out of the air. What a catch. Boy, wasn’t I glad to get my hand on that ball.” The joy of Ruth…was rivaled by that of Manager Huggins over the same play. Smiling and singing and drawing deep puffs on the smoke scarred pipe that is part of him, Huggins repeated over and over again, “Did you ever see such a finish to a ball game? What a catch, what a catch.” Tears formed in the eyes of the mite manager…; Huggins was tremendously happy."
That’s What Makes a Legend
There is no video of the catch, and so it lives only in Yankees lore. But it remains a feat Ruth himself valued over his three home-run day.
With that catch, the series was concluded with a sweep. And the Yankees had simultaneously become the first team to repeat as WS champions, something the ’27 team never had the chance to do.
Once in the visitor’s locker room, his cheering teammates went wild and celebrated as teams hot from the battle often do. And thinking back to the pre-game, the Babe then led them in song.
"The Yankees were celebrating in their dressing quarters…like men possessed, they were cuffing each other about, slapping bare backs as uniforms were doffed and the rush was on for the cooling showers. Suddenly out of the commotion came a leader’s voice, with, “East side, west side, all around the town” and in the wink of an eye, the disorganized celebration was transformed into a disorganized, inharmonious outburst of vocal effort in which even Manager Miller Huggins was heard to join. And the song didn’t break until it had run its complete course when the final note was supplied by the booming voice of Babe Ruth."
The singing was so loud it rang out into the stadium and right into the home locker room, one last taunt in victories revenge.