On this day, 109 years ago, Babe Ruth hit his first major league home run. Ruth was pitching for the Boston Red Sox and batting 9th.

The Sox were visiting the Yankees, who then played their home games at the Polo Grounds in Manhattan. The future "Bronx Bombers" were a tenant of the National League's New York Giants.

The Polo Grounds (either the 4th or 5th iteration of it, depending on how one considers construction and its phases) was literally founded as a place to play polo. Yes, the sport with horses.

Of all the arcane facts I've gathered over the years, finding out that Sylvester Stallone was—at a couple points in his life—a star polo player is perhaps my best polo-related trivia. Now you know that.

I digress… The fact that the Polo Grounds was built for polo originally, made the baseball dimensions some of the oddest we've seen in big league history.

Left field: 279'

Left-center: 450'

Center field: 483'

Right-center: 449'

Right field: 258'

(This chart doesn't do the oddness of the Polo Grounds much justice, however.)

Ruth and Willie Mays (who turns 93 today, as a matter of fact) are currently ranked 3rd and 6th on the all-time home run list, respectively, and each man played a decent portion of their careers in the Polo Grounds, both as part of the home team or as a visitor. While it was short down the lines, there were acres of field for the ball to drop if you didn't pull a whistler straight down either foul line.

Makes the outfield at Coors Field look downright dainty in comparison. Amazing to wonder how many more dingers Ruth and Mays would have ended up with had they played more games in a "cookie-cutter" type park. Hard telling, not knowing.

The original Yankee Stadium (The House that Ruth Built), though, was kind to Ruth's numbers. Candlestick Park, where Mays toiled for years in the San Francisco outfield, was definitely not kind to the Say Hey Kid's totals, yet it is Mays and Ruth that people generally talk about when they talk about the best ever. There are some exceptions, but that's for another time...

Anyway, today is the anniversary of Ruth's first bomb. The 20-year old Ruth was a pitcher back then, so to be hitting 9th was just part of the deal—as it was until last season, when Manfred officially ripped the soul out of baseball, instituting the DH across the major leagues.

Ruth's first round tripper was a solo shot off Jack Warhop in the third inning. Notably, the rookie also hurled a complete game, but took the loss after 12 1/3 innings when the Yanks scored the winning run in the bottom of the 13th, taking the contest 4-3.

Ruth's line: 12.1 IP, 10 H, 2 ER, 3 SO. At the plate, 3 for 5 with 1 BB, 1 RBI, 1 HR. At the end of the day, his batting average was at .417.

Not a bad day for the rookie, who finished the 1915 campaign with an 18-8 record to go along with a 2.44 ERA.

The Sultan of Swat only swatted 3 more home runs the rest of that season, however, and only 5 more combined in the next two seasons. In the 1918 season, he played part-time as a "two-way player" and ended the season as the AL leader in home runs with a mere 11.

As a pitcher, in 1916, Ruth went 23-12 with a 1.75 ERA and 24-13 with a 2.01 in 1917. Over the course of the next two seasons, his last as a pitcher of any note, he went 22-12 with an ERA below 2.70.

Ruth transitioned to a more full-time role and played the outfield in 1919, his last in Boston. Again, he led the league in home runs, this time with 29. For 12 of 14 years starting in 1918, Ruth led the American League in home runs.

Ken Williams, of the St. Louis Browns and out of Grants Pass, Oregon, beat out Ruth for the title in 1922, while Ruth and Williams tied for second place honors in the 1925 season behind Ruth's Yankee teammate, Bob Muesel.

From very early on in his career Ruth, of course, was the all-time leader in taters until Hank Aaron broke his record on April 8, 1974.

Unbelievable career. Legend. All the superlatives I can come up with probably apply to Ruth.

But he was essentially a forgotten orphan boy who lived at a reform school for over a decade until he was 19, looked down upon by society … only until he became the best there ever was.

Ruth was talented, for sure, but it was his grit and determination that really set him apart. Nobody would have thought bad of him had he quit playing ball at Baltimore's St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys in order to do something more "respectable" with his life, like becoming a saloon-keeper or dockworker.

Fortunately, he had a great mentor and coach in Brother Matthias, who taught the Bambino baseball and life.

Ruth biographer, Robert W. Creamer, wrote:

Ruth revered Brother Matthias ... which is remarkable, considering that Matthias was in charge of making boys behave and that Ruth was one of the great natural misbehavers of all time. ... Ruth caught Brother Matthias' attention early, and the calm, considerable attention the big man gave the young hellraiser from the waterfront struck a spark of response in the boy's soul ... [that] blunted a few of the more savage teeth in the gross man whom I have heard at least a half-dozen of his baseball contemporaries describe with admiring awe and wonder as "an animal."

Listen, I'm never going to be Ruth on the field. I actually never considered it. Plus I'm almost as old as he was when he died.

The Babe was one of a kind in so many ways, chief among them his utter dominance of his field of endeavor—baseball.

But since I got into coaching, first in baseball, I always admired the story of what Brother Matthias did for young George Herman Ruth. Taught him, but held him accountable. I loved coaches like Br. Matthias and would have literally run through walls for a couple of those guys.

However, there were a few that did their best to kill my dreams, rather than elevate them. It's too bad, but at this point we have to learn from the bad experiences and pay it forward with what the great ones did for us.

That's what keeps me going as a coach, whether I'm hitting fungoes to infielders or helping people launch their podcasts. Or anywhere in between. Possibilities are endless.

As always,

Brian

P.S.— Today is also the anniversary of Roger Bannister breaking the 4-minute mile mark. 70 years ago today, May 6, 1954. There's a whole story there about grit and determination…