‘Jeopardy!’ contestant guesses that Babe Ruth broke baseball’s color barrier

Every so often, a video will go viral in baseball circles because a Jeopardy! contestant gave a horribly wrong answer to a question pertaining to the sport. For instance, in 2017, a contestant guessed that Hack Wilson hit 191 home runs in 1930. The clip got a Deadspin post and everyone had a laugh about it.

I have generally not a fan of shaming these contestants for their wildly wrong answers. Not everyone grew up being immersed in baseball lore, so I’m hesitant to poke fun at someone for this, even if, for example, the idea of a player hitting 191 home runs in one season is funny to think about.

With that being said, a contestant on Wednesday’s episode of Jeopardy! gave such a wrong answer to an easy baseball question that I actually feel comfortable having a laugh at her expense. In the category “Unique College Courses,” host Alex Trebek read the $1,000 clue: “One of the topics covered in a Major League Baseball course at Arizona State is this player who broke the color barrier in 1947.”

The contestant Xiaoke, wearing a USC sweatshirt, buzzed in and answered, “Who is Babe Ruth?” The wrong answer caused her to drop to negative $400. Her competitor, Marshall, could be seen shaking his head in disappointment. The other contestant, Nathaniel, correctly answered, “Who is Jackie Robinson?”

Somewhere, Jules Tygiel is very, very disappointed.

Crazy similarities between Red Sox exits of Mookie Betts, Babe Ruth

It’s been a long time since the Boston Red Sox traded a player as talented as Mookie Betts in the prime of his career.

Betts is arguably the second-best player in Major League Baseball. In just six seasons, he’s won a World Series, an American League MVP award, four Gold Glove awards, three Silver Slugger awards and an AL batting title. But with free agency looming for the 27-year-old centerfielder, the Red Sox traded him to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night as part of a three-team deal that also included the Minnesota Twins.

The Red Sox have traded away some really good players in their 119-year history, but few have been more accomplished than Betts at the time of their departure. A comparable situation would be when the Red Sox traded center fielder Fred Lynn to the California Angels in 1981.

Another similar scenario was the sale of Babe Ruth to the rival New York Yankees. In fact, some of the similarities between Betts and Ruth toward the end of their careers in Boston are pretty interesting, as BostonSportsInf pointed out on Twitter.

On the bright side, some folk in the Boston area will be very happy come 2104…..

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 1-10-2020

Babe Ruth, quoted in the Pittsburgh Press, January 10, 1920:

[Red Sox owner Harry] Frazee is through in Boston and he knows it…Frazee cares nothing for the Boston baseball public and his actions show it.

I have always given the best I had. Frazee tries to alibi by saying that as a star I would be an obstacle to the club winning pennants. I have been with the Redsox six years, and in that time we won three pennants…I have always played for the interests of the [ballclub and Frazee] knows it. Take the Ruth day in Boston for instance, the Knights of Columbus, of which order I am a member turned out in a body to honor me and what did he do? He raised the price of the grandstand seats and held them up. After the game he called me into the office and gave me a nickel cigar for drawing 32,000 people into the park. I even paid for my wife to get in. He talks about shooting square. I guess he did by raising the prices on that day. He is lucky to have anybody in the park at all next year if he owns the ball club.
...
I am refused the privilege of playing in my favorite city all because the man who owns the club is money mad.

Somebody call the cops. Babe Ruth has just murdered Harry Frazee with words.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 1-6-2020

Pittsburgh Gazette-Times, January 6, 1920:

BABE RUTH IS BOUGHT BY YANKEES FOR $125,000

Babe Ruth of the Boston Red Sox, baseball’s super-slugger, was purchased by the Yankees [yesterday] for the largest cash sum ever paid for a player. The New York club paid Harry Frazee of Boston $125,000 for the sensational batsman who last season caused such a furor in the national game by batting out 29 home runs in 140 games, a new record in long distance clouting.

Miller Huggins, manager of the New York Americans, [yesterday] announced he had signed Babe Ruth, champion home run hitter, to play with the Yankees next season…He refused to state what salary Ruth was to receive.

President Harry H. Frazee of the Boston Americans said [yesterday] that he had sold Babe Ruth to the New York Americans because he thought it was an “injustice” to keep him with the Red Sox, who “were fast becoming a one-man team.”

Mr. Frazee said that he would use the money obtained from the New York club for the purchase of other players and would try to develop the Red Sox into a winning team.

As you probably know, Frazee did no such thing. The rest of the Sox transactions before the end of the 1920 season: Traded Bill Lamar and (reportedly a small amount of) cash for Tim Hendryx, claimed Jigger Statz on waivers, purchased waiverbait outfielder Gene Bailey from the Braves, claimed Elmer Myers on waivers.

This was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad trade.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 1-2-2020

A hot take on Babe Ruth’s holdout in the Memphis News Scimitar, January 2, 1920:

Last season the Red Sox owners not only slipped the star a $5,000 bonus for his brilliant work, but they staged a Ruth day in connection with the Knights of Columbus. Several thousand dollars went to Ruth, bringing his earnings for the year to something like $18,000—or more.
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Remember this: baseball can do without Ruth, but Ruth can never do without baseball.

Maybe, but Ruth is still the biggest star in the history of baseball - perhaps the biggest star in the history of North American professional sports. If baseball has ever needed anyone, it was Babe Ruth.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 12-30-2019

New York Tribune, December 30, 1919:

Boston Gets Outfielder and Pitcher Ready in Case Babe Ruth Deserts Club

The Red Sox gave Bobby Roth, an outfielder, and Maurice Shannon, second baseman [to Washington], and received in exchange Harry Harper, a pitcher; Eddie Foster, second baseman, and Mike Menosky, an outfielder.
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Harry Frazee is evidently taking precautionary measures not to be left flat in case Babe Ruth carries out his threat to quit the Red Sox unless the club meets his demands of $20,000 for the season of 1920.
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The Yankees made an effort to gain title to [Ruth], but were turned down when Miller Huggins proposed a deal to [Ed] Barrow.

I don’t really understand why the Ruth trade was still secret at this point, but it had already been a done deal for four days.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 12-26-2019

Washington Evening Star, December 26, 1919:

A long-distance telephone conversation with Owner H.H. Frazee of the Red Sox early today brought forth a strong denial that Babe Ruth had been traded to the New York Yankees or that there was a deal on with the New York club for him.
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[Frazee:] “For Ruth, I would expect at least five star players. I think Babe is worth that many, because he is a great drawing card as well as the champion home-run hitter of the game. However, it now looks as though Babe would remain in Boston, because there are no clubs in the American League that could give me the men I want for him.”

Unless…Let me hit you with this idea, Harry. What if - hear me out on this - what if you trade him for a bunch of money and no star players?

Babe Ruth’s 500th Home Run Bat Sells for More Than $1M at Laguna Niguel Auction

Babe Ruth has hit another one out of the ballpark.

The bat used by the legendary baseball player to hit his 500th home run was auctioned on Saturday for more than $1 million.

SCP Auctions didn’t identify the buyer. The auction was held in Laguna Niguel, California.

Ruth hit his 500th homer on Aug. 11, 1929, in a game against the Cleveland Indians. According to SCP Auctions, the ball cleared the right field wall at League Park and rolled down Lexington Avenue.

The Best Post-Season Games Ever Pitched

Don Larsen doesn’t top the list.
Don Larsen doesn’t top the list?!??
Don Larsen doesn’t top the list.