Who was the last pitcher to face Babe Ruth?

Before anyone rushes off to Wilkepedia, I'm almost sure that it has it wrong.

Johnny Sain's Wilky page says that he was both the last pitcher to face Babe Ruth and the first to face Jackie Robinson. When I saw that I was skeptical from the start since I've always associated Sain with with old Boston/Milwaukee Braves, and that was the last team Ruth played for. In 1935, Ruth's last season, Sain would have been only 18. That was seven years before his rookie season. I guess if Sain had been pitching for a minor league team that played Boston during a game that Ruth played it could be possible, but I doubt if Ruth would have played his last game in an exhibition like that (I think he hit three HRs in his last official game) - he would have retired after that.

So when I search for results "Who was the last pitcher to face Babe Ruth", I get a lot of results for Jonny Sain. Apparently that was the answer to a famous crossword question some years ago.

To me, a really great trivia question these days is one you can't find the answer to on the internet, and this seems to qualify.

Does anyone know?

According to Baseball Reference, the last MLB game Babe Ruth played in was the first game of a May 30, 1935 double header against Philadelphia: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PHI/PHI193505301.shtml

According to the box score, he should have faced Jim Bivin in his first plate appearance before being replaced by Hal Lee.


Also of note, former Texas A&M baseball and football coach Charley Moran was the 3rd base umpire for that game.

I should point out that the question doesn't ask who was the last pitcher to face Babe Ruth in a MLB game, so there may be some exhibition/barnstorming games where he could have faced Sain.

Now the bit about Charlie Moran is a good example of great trivia, although it would only be meaningful to Aggies.

I think it's possible that Ruth could have played in exhibition games after his last MLB appearance. Just don't know.

This was from the following article, answers your questions. Also Babe Ruth did not hit 3 home runs in his final official game. He played a couple of more week after that event.

Quote:

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Service in the war benefited Sain in a variety of ways. For one thing, his arm got some rest. He threw whenever he could, though, and pitched on several teams against stiff competition that often included other major leaguers. He went 12-4 with the North Carolina Pre-Flight team, appropriately named the Cloudbusters, in 1943, but it was a war-relief game in Yankee Stadium on July 28 that stood out. The Cloudbusters were facing a team made up of reserves from the Yankees and Indians, whose regulars played a charity, regular-season doubleheader that same day. In the sixth inning, "Yank- Lands" third-base coach Babe Ruth left the box to pinch-hit. Seeing the game as a sort of audition in front of a number of big-league officials, Sain wanted to retire the 48-year-old Ruth, but catcher Al Sabo came out and told him not to throw Ruth any curves and risk embarrassing him. As Sain later said, "Taking away my curveball was like cutting off two of my fingers, but it was Babe Ruth in Yankee Stadium. Then, it became obvious that the home plate umpire wasn't going to call any strikes on him. So I threw five medium fastballs, almost batting practice pitches. Ruth took one, then hit a long foul ball and then walked on the last three pitches."3 It was the Babe's last at-bat in an organized game.

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http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/d83d0584

Hey thanks Rod! So it was true, although the fact had to be worded carefully which it was in the Wilky article.

I'm reading "October 1964" by David Halberstam and there's a chapter on Sain (Spahn, Sain and pray for rain). He was the Yankee's pitching coach that year, and he had a knack for earning incredible loyalty from his pitchers. Not a common thing for managers or coaches of that era. Interesting character.

While researching something else I read in the book, I stumbled across another interesting piece of trivia just today.

When and where was the first game between major league teams played at night under artificial lights (hint: it wasn't in Cincinnati). Anyone know?

Are we counting the Negro leagues? Other countries?

I vaguely remember several competing stories about Michigan, Iowa, and Kansas, that weren't official for whatever reason. No idea if that's because they were minor league teams or involved college teams for exhibitions.

The trivia fact I always remember was the 1880 department store game Edison put on after inventing the light bulb.

No, this game didn't involve the Negro League or foreign teams. It was a game played between two major league teams and wasn't played in Michigan, Iowa, etc. It was way closer to home for most of us than that. That's what makes the answer so interesting.

I'll post the answer tonight if no one comes up with it.

So, get this. The first MLB game played at night occurred on Feb. 21, 1931 in old Houston Buff Stadium, near what is now Cullen and Leeland. Four years before the first official game played under lights in Cincinnati.

Buff Stadium

The Houston Buffs were established back in 1888. I never had any idea about that.

Was Babe Ruth the pitcher or hitter?