Long before the exploits of Joe Carter and Boomer Wells, another larger-than-life personality made baseball history on the shores of Toronto Island.
On September 5, 1914, a young “Southside phenom” named Babe Ruth tossed a complete game one-hitter, leading his Providence Grays to a 9-0 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs of the International League. Despite his pitching performance, it was 19-year-old George Herman’s hitting that is remembered today-for the Babe swatted the first professional home run of his storied career right here in Toronto.
Last Tuesday, September 19, baseball fans took the ferry to Hanlan’s Point along with Blue Jays VP Paul Godfrey, city councillor Pam McConnell, and representatives from the New York Yankees to unveil two Heritage Toronto plaques honouring Ruth’s achievement. Godfrey, whose Blue Jays were a main sponsor of the event, noted that recognizing Ruth’s feat was “important not only for the history of Toronto, but for the history of baseball.”
Tom Stevens, the Babe’s grandson, was on hand to thank the city for recognizing his grandfather’s achievements. Stevens also paid tribute to the Blue Jays’ back-to-back World Series wins, saying to applause, “I know if the Babe were here, he’d join me in saying, ‘Toronto, you’ve done baseball proud.'”
Stevens revealed that Ruth’s connection with Canada goes beyond the fabled home run. When the young Ruth attended St. Mary’s Industrial School in Baltimore, he modeled his classic uppercut swing after the school’s Cape Breton-born prefect, Brother Matthias, who was the first person to put a bat in the Babe’s hands.
The plaques will be on permanent display on the site of the old 18,000-seat ballpark, which was home to the Maple Leafs until 1925, when the club moved to the mainland to accommodate larger crowds. The stadium was later torn down to make way for the island airport, but during the team’s heyday one ticket paid for the ferry and the game, while families could visit the amusement park on the island as well.
The three-run homer, hit off a Maple Leafs pitcher named Ellis Johnson, was The Bambino’s only one in the minor leagues. Not long after that game Ruth was called up to the Boston parent club, where he hit his first of 714 career round-trippers.
In an age where home run balls fetch quite a bit on the auction block, the ball that Ruth hit out would of course be worth hundreds of thousands today, if not more. But we’ll never know, since by most accounts the shot cleared the short perch in right field and ended up in Lake Ontario, where it still rests with many other mementos from Maple Leaf Park.
After the ceremony, attendees swapped baseball stories and downed hot dogs and sodas-just how the Babe would have liked it.
