Babe in Red Stockings An In-Depth Chronicle of Babe Ruth With the Boston Red Sox, 1914-1919

The extent of the legendary Babe Ruth's accomplishments on the field with the Boston Red Sox has never been fully appreciated. In those glory years of 1915 through 1918, Ruth topped his circuit many times. In 1916 he led the league in ERA, shutouts, games started, and fewest hits per nine innings. In 1917 he led in complete games, finishing second in the American League in wins. By the 1918 season, his league leads were coming in other categories such as home runs and slugging percentage. Yet, he remained a formidable enough force on the mound as his performance (a six-hit shutout in the 1918 World Series would indicate). This would turn out to be Ruth's last World Series performance with the Boston Red Sox. It would also be the last time a Red Sox starting left-handed pitcher would win a World Series game for 24,876 days, until Bruce Hurst shut out the New York Mets 1-0 in Game 1 of the 1986 World Series. All in all, relatively few seem to realize the magnitude of his pitching prowess in his three years as a full-time pitcher, as he was much in the same class as Grover Cleveland Alexander and Walter Johnson. As a left-hander, he took a back seat to no one. Herein lies the story of "The Babe In Red Stockings: An In-Depth Chronicle of Babe Ruth," a highly recommended addition to any baseball history collection.Keene, Kerry is the author of 'Babe in Red Stockings An In-Depth Chronicle of Babe Ruth With the Boston Red Sox, 1914-1919' with ISBN 9781571671127 and ISBN 1571671129.