On this Day in baseball history, two milestones occurred involving a couple of Hall of Famers.

  • On this Day in 1915, Babe Ruth hit his 1st career Home Run at Polo Grounds against the Yankees.
  • On this Day in 1982, Gaylord Perry earned his 300th career Win.

Babe Ruth’s First Career Home Run:

It was the top of the third inning, the score was 0-0, the bases were empty, and Yankees right-hander Jack Warhop was on the mound. George Herman Babe Ruth, who was also pitching that Game, came to the plate for his 18th career At-Bat, and he hit the first of what would be 714 career Home Runs. In that Game, not only did he pitch 12 1/3 Innings, but he also recorded two more Hits while earning the Loss. Ruth would win 18 games that year, and he and Red Sox would win the World Series.

Gaylord Perry Wins 300th Game:

Gaylord Perry took the mound for the Seattle Mariners on this date in his 21st season at 43. At the time, the Mariners were the only team interested in Gaylord Perry’s services. While he was past his prime, it was a good match; the Mariners needed an experienced veteran for their rotation and their young team, and Perry still wanted to hang on in the Majors. However, Gaylord Perry was on a month-to-month contract with Seattle. He took the mound that Day against the Yankees in search of his 300th career win, and he went the entire nine innings as the Mariners would win the Game 7-3 at the Kingdome. While Perry had put together a darn good to a great career, winning 300 games as a pitcher was a ticket into the Baseball Hall of Fame. That year, he threw 216.2 Innings for a struggling team and would pitch one more year, ending his career at 314 Wins.

References:

  1. Kelly, Matt. Babe Ruth clubs his first major league homer: via BaseballHall https://baseballhall.org/discover-more/stories/inside-pitch/babe-ruth-clubs-first-major-league-homer#:~:text=It%20was%20on%20May%206,most%20famous%20slugger%20in%20history.
  2. Stone, Larry. Earning win No. 300 with M’s made Seattle ‘very special’ for Gaylord Perry via Seattle Times: Published December 1st, 2022: https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/mariners/earning-win-no-300-with-ms-made-seattle-very-special-for-gaylord-perry/