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Babe Ruth League - Baseball career

Red Sox years of Babe Ruth:

Ruth appeared in five games for the Red Sox in 1914, pitching in four of them. He picked up the victory in his Major League debut on July 11; ironically, Duffy Lewis scored the winning run after pinch-hitting for Ruth. The Red Sox had many star players in 1914, so Ruth was soon optioned to the minor league Providence Grays of Providence, Rhode Island for most of the remaining season. Behind Ruth and Carl Mays, the Grays won the International League pennant.

Shortly after the season, in which he'd finished with a 2-1 record, Ruth proposed to Helen Woodford, a waitress he met in Boston. They were married in Ellicott City, Maryland, on October 17, 1914.

During spring training in 1915, Ruth secured a spot in the Red Sox starting rotation. He joined a pitching staff that included Rube Foster, Dutch Leonard, and Smokey Joe Wood. Ruth won 18 games, lost eight, and helped himself by hitting .315. He also hit his first four home runs. The Red Sox won 101 games that year on their way to a victory in the World Series. Ruth was not a factor; he did not pitch in the series, and he grounded out in his only at-bat.
Ruth pitching for the Red Sox in 1914, at Comiskey Park in Chicago
In 1916, after a slightly shaky spring, he went 23-12, with a 1.75 ERA and 9 shutouts. On June 27, he struck out 10 Philadelphia A's, a career high. On July 11, he started both games of a doubleheader, but the feat was not what it seemed; he only pitched a third of an inning in the opener because the scheduled starter Rube Foster was having trouble getting loose. Ruth then pitched a complete game victory in the nightcap. Ruth had unusual success against Washington Senators star pitcher Walter Johnson, beating him four times in 1916 alone, by scores of 5-1, 1-0, 1-0 in 13 innings, and 2-1. Johnson finally outlasted Ruth for an extra-inning 4-3 victory on September 12; in the years to come, Ruth would hit 10 home runs off Johnson, including the only two Johnson would allow in 1918-1919. Ruth had nine shutouts in 1916, an AL record for left-handers that was unmatched until Ron Guidry tied it in 1978.
Ruth batting in 1918
Despite a weak offense and hurt by the sale of Tris Speaker to the Indians, the Red Sox still made it to the World Series. They defeated the Brooklyn Robins four games to one. This time Ruth made a major contribution, pitching a 14-inning complete-game victory in Game Two.

Ruth went 24-13 with a 2.01 ERA and 6 shutouts in 1917, and hit .325, but the Sox finished second, nine games behind the Chicago White Sox. Ruth's most memorable game of the season was one he had very little part in playing. On June 23 against the Washington Senators, after walking the leadoff hitter, Ruth erupted in anger, was ejected, and threw a punch at the umpire (he'd be suspended for 10 games). Ernie Shore came into the game as an impromptu replacement, and pitched a perfect game the rest of the way. Ruth's outburst was an example of self-discipline problems that plagued Ruth throughout his career, and is regarded as the primary reason (other than financial) that Frazee was willing to sell him to the Yankees two years later.
Ruth in 1920, the year he joined the Yankees.
Less than three weeks later, June 11 was an example of why Ruth was so valuable to Boston. The left-hander was pitching a no-hitter in a 0-0 game against the Detroit Tigers, before a single deflected off his glove in the 8th inning. Boston finally pushed across a run in the 9th, and Ruth held onto his 1-0 victory by striking out Ty Cobb. In 1942, Ruth called this game his greatest thrill on the field.

In 1918, Ruth pitched in 20 games, posting a 13-7 record with a 2.22 ERA. He was mostly used as an outfielder, and hit a league-leading 11 home runs. His statistics were curtailed slightly when he walked off the team in July following an argument with Boston's manager.

Ruth threw a 1-0 shutout in the opener of 1918 World Series, then won Game Four in what would be his final World Series appearance as a pitcher. In three games, Ruth was 3-0 with an 0.87 ERA, allowing 19 hits in 31 innings. Ruth extended his World Series consecutive scoreless inning streak to 29? innings, But since left-handers Hippo Vaughn and Lefty Tyler pitched nearly all the innings for the Cubs, Ruth, who batted left-handed, registered only five at-bats in the Series.

Emergence of Babe Ruth as a hitter:

Despite his exceptional pitching numbers, Ruth's hitting prowess had become undeniable, and his playing record reflected it. Between 1915-1917, Ruth had been used in just 44 games in which he had not pitched. After the 1917 season in which he hit .325, albeit with limited at bats, teammate Harry Hooper suggested that Ruth might be more valuable in the lineup as an everyday player.

In 1918, he began playing in the outfield more and pitching less, making 75 hitting-only appearances. His contemporaries thought this was ridiculous; former teammate Tris Speaker speculated the move would shorten Ruth's career, but Ruth himself wanted to hit more and pitch less. In 1918, Ruth batted .300 and led the A.L. in home runs with 11 despite having only 317 at bats, well below the total for an everyday player.
Babe Ruth in 1921, arguably his finest season.
During the 1919 season, Ruth threw a pitch in only 17 of his 130 games. He also set his first single-season home run record that year with 29, including a game-winning walkoff homer on a September "Babe Ruth Day" promotion. It was Babe Ruth's last season with the Red Sox.

Babe Ruth sold to New York:

On December 26, 1919, Frazee sold Ruth to the New York Yankees. Popular legend has it that Frazee sold Ruth and several other of his best players to finance a Broadway play, No, No, Nanette (which actually didn't debut until 1925). The truth is somewhat more nuanced.

After the 1919 season, Ruth demanded a raise to $20,000-double his previous salary. However, Frazee refused, and Ruth responded by letting it be known he wouldn't play until he got his raise. He'd actually jumped the team several times, including the last game of the 1919 season.

Frazee finally lost patience with Ruth, and decided to trade him. However, he was effectively limited to two trading partners--the Chicago White Sox and the then-moribund Yankees. The other five clubs rejected his deals out of hand under pressure from American League president Ban Johnson, who never liked Frazee and was actively trying to "Yank" the Red Sox out from under him. The White Sox offered Shoeless Joe Jackson and $60,000, but Yankees owners Jacob Ruppert and Tillinghast L'Hommedieu Huston offered an all-cash deal--$100,000.

Frazee, Ruppert and Huston quickly agreed to a deal. In exchange for Ruth, the Red Sox would get $125,000 in cash and three $25,000 notes payable every year at 6 percent interest. Ruppert and Huston also loaned Frazee $300,000, with the mortgage on Fenway Park as collateral. The deal was contingent on Ruth signing a new contract, which was quickly agreed to, and Ruth officially became property of the Yankees on December 26. The deal was announced ten days later.
The Sultan of Swat in 1923
In the January 6, 1920 edition of the Boston Globe, Frazee described the transaction:

    “I should have preferred to take players in exchange for Ruth, but no club could have given me the equivalent in men without wrecking itself, and so the deal had to be made on a cash basis. No other club could afford to give me the amount the Yankees have paid for him, and I don’t mind saying I think they are taking a gamble. With this money the Boston club can now go into the market and buy other players and have a stronger and better team in all respects than we would have had if Ruth had remained with us.”

However, the January 6, 1920 New York Times was more prescient:

    “The short right field wall at the Polo Grounds should prove an easy target for Ruth next season and, playing seventy-seven games at home, it would not be surprising if Ruth surpassed his home run record of twenty-nine circuit clouts next Summer.”

It also turns out that there was a solid basis for the No, No, Nanette story. As Leigh Montville discovered during research for his book, The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth (Random House, 2006, p.161-164), No, No, Nanette had originated as a non-musical stage play called My Lady Friends, which opened on Broadway in December of 1919. His research indicated that that play had, indeed, been financed as a direct result of the Ruth sale to the Yankees.

The Yankee Years of Babe Ruth 1920-1925:

After moving to the Yankees, Ruth's transition from a pitcher to a power-hitting outfielder was complete. In his fifteen year Yankee career, consisting of over 2,000 games, Ruth re-wrote the record books in terms of his hitting achievements -- but made only 5 widely-scattered token appearances on the mound, almost incidentally compiling a perfect 5-0 record as a Yankee pitcher.
A well-dressed Ruth in 1930.
In 1920, his first year with the Yankees, Ruth hit 54 home runs and batted .376. His .847 slugging average was a Major League record until 2001, when it was broken by Barry Bonds. Aside from the Yankees, only the Philadelphia Phillies managed to hit more home runs as a team than Ruth did as an individual, slugging 64 in hitter-friendly Baker Bowl.

In 1921, Ruth improved to arguably the best year of his career, hitting 59 home runs, batting .378 and slugging .846 while leading the Yankees to their first league championship. On July 18, 1921, Babe Ruth hit career home run #139, breaking Roger Connor's record of 138 in just the eighth year of his career. (This was not recognized at the time, as Connor's correct career total was not accurately documented until the 1970s. Even if the record had been celebrated, it would have been on an earlier date, as Connor's total was at one time thought to be only 131.)

Ruth quickly became synonymous with the home run, because he led the transformation of baseball strategy from the "inside game" to the "power game", and because of the style and manner in which he hit them. His ability to drive a significant number of his home runs in the 450–500 foot range and beyond resulted in the lasting adjective "Ruthian," to describe any long home run hit by any player. Probably his deepest hit in official game play (and perhaps the longest home run by any player), occurred on July 18, at Detroit's Navin Field, in which he hit one to straightaway center, over the wall of the then-single-deck bleachers, and to the intersection, some 575 feet from home plate.
Babe Ruth with former U.S. President Herbert Hoover at Stanford - USC Armistice Day football game during the Great Depression (November 11, 1933)
As impressive as Ruth's 1921 numbers were, they could have been more so under modern conditions. Bill Jenkinson's 2006 book, The Year Babe Ruth Hit 104 Home Runs, attempts to examine each of Ruth's 714 career home runs, plus several hundred long inside-the-park drives and "fair-foul" balls. Until 1931 in the AL, balls that hit the foul pole were considered ground-rule doubles, and balls that went over the wall in fair territory but hooked foul were ruled foul. Many fields, including Ruth's home Polo Grounds, had exceptionally deep center fields--in the Polo Grounds' case, nearly five hundred feet. The author concluded that Ruth would have been credited with 104 home runs in 1921, if modern rules and field dimensions were in place.

The Yankees had high expectations when they met the New York Giants in the 1921 World Series, and the Yankees won the first two games with Ruth in the lineup. However, Ruth badly scraped his elbow during Game 2 sliding into third base (he had walked and stolen both second and third). After the game, he was told by the team physician not to play the rest of the series. Although he did play in Games 3, 4 and 5, and pinch-hit in Game 8 of the best-of-9 Series, his productivity was diminished, and the Yankees lost the series. Ruth hit .316, drove in five runs and hit his first World Series home run. (Although the Yankees won the fifth game, Ruth wrenched his knee and did not return to the Series until the eighth [last] game.)

Ruth's appearance in the 1921 World Series also led to a problem and triggered another disciplinary action. After the series, Ruth played in a barnstorming tour. A rule at the time prohibited World Series participants from playing in exhibition games during the off-season. The purpose of the rule was to prevent Series participants from "restaging" the Series and undermining its value. Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis suspended Ruth for the first six weeks of the 1922 season. Landis had made his point about adhering to the letter of the rules, but he also recognized that the rule was no longer needed, and rescinded it.

Ruth's off-the-field life often interfered with his performance, and sometimes he just proved to be a thorn in the side of his manager, Miller Huggins. A policeman pulled Ruth over one night for driving up a one-way street, and Babe protested, "Well, I was only going one way!" But Huggins saw nothing funny about it--Ruth was supposed to be in the hotel room at the time, not out carousing. When he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame years later, he was present for the posthumous induction of Huggins. Ruth admitted, Huggins "was the only one who could handle me."

Despite his suspension, Ruth started his 1922 season on May 20 as the Yankees' new on-field captain. But five days later, he was ejected from a game for throwing dirt on an umpire, and then climbed into the stands to confront a heckler; Ruth was subsequently stripped of the captaincy. In his shortened season, Ruth appeared in 110 games, hit 35 home runs and drove in 99 runs. Despite Ruth's partial absence, the Yankees still made it to the 1922 World Series. Ruth had just two hits in seventeen at-bats, and the Yankees lost to the Giants for the second straight year.

Ruth in a Boston Braves uniform in 1935, his last year as a player.
In 1923, the Yankees moved from the Polo Grounds, where they had sublet from the Giants, to their new Yankee Stadium, which was quickly dubbed "The House That Ruth Built". Characteristically, he hit the stadium's first home run on the way to a Yankees victory. Ruth finished the 1923 season with a career-high .393 batting average and major-league leading 41 home runs. For the third straight year the Yankees faced the Giants in the 1923 World Series. Ruth batted .368, walked eight times, scored eight runs, hit three home runs and slugged 1.000 during the series. The Yankees won their first World Series title by 4 games to 2, and the groundwork for the Yankees dynasty had been established.

Ruth narrowly missed winning the Triple Crown in 1924. He hit .378 to lead the American League in batting, led the Major Leagues with 46 home runs, and batted in 121 runs to finish second to Goose Goslin's 129. Ruth's on-base percentage was .513, the fourth of 5 years in which his OBP exceeded .500. However, the Yankees finished second, 2 games behind the Washington Senators, who went on to win their first and only World Series while based in D.C.

During spring training in 1925, Ruth fell ill, and returned to New York for what was reported as stomach surgery. The press dubbed Ruth's ailment as "the bellyache heard round the world," and wrote about an alleged hot dog binge, but some recent writers have suggested that Ruth was suffering from untreated gonorrhea. However, the exact nature of his ailment has never been confirmed. Playing just 98 games, Ruth finished the season with a .290 average and 25 home runs. The team finished next to last in the American League with a 69-85 mark. It would be 40 years before a Yankees team would again experience such a poor season.

Babe Ruth during 1926-1930:

Babe Ruth performed at a much higher level during 1926 season, batting .372 with 47 home runs and 146 RBIs. The Yankees won the AL title and advanced to the 1926 World Series. The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Yankees in seven games. However, Ruth had his moments. In Game 4, he hit three home runs, Despite his batting heroics, he is also remembered for a costly baserunning blunder. Ruth had a reputation as a good but overaggressive baserunner (he had 123 stolen bases, including 10 steals of home, but only a 51% career percentage). With two outs in the bottom of the 9th inning of the deciding 7th game, with the Yankees trailing 3-2, Ruth tried to steal second base. But he was thrown out, and the Cardinals were champions. It is the only time that the final out of a World Series was a "caught stealing."

Ruth was the leader of the famous 1927 Yankees, also known as Murderer's Row because of the strength of its hitting lineup and its effect on opposing pitchers. The team won a then AL-record 110 games (The 2001 Seattle Mariners now hold the record with 116 wins, though they played eight more games), took the AL pennant by 19 games, and swept the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1927 World Series.

With the race long since decided, the nation's attention turned to Ruth's pursuit of his own home run mark of 59. Early in the season, Ruth expressed doubts about his chances: "I don't suppose I'll ever break that 1921 record. To do that, you've got to start early, and the pitchers have got to pitch to you. I don't start early, and the pitchers haven't really pitched to me in four seasons. I get more bad balls to hit than any other six men...and fewer good ones." Ruth was also being challenged for his slugger's crown by teammate Lou Gehrig, who nudged ahead of Ruth's total in midseason, prompting the New York World-Telegram to anoint Gehrig the favorite. But Ruth caught Gehrig (who would finish with 47), and then had a remarkable last leg of the season, hitting 17 home runs in September. His 60th came on September 30, in the Yankees' next-to-last game. Ruth was exultant, shouting after the game, "Sixty, count 'em, sixty! Let's see some son-of-a-bitch match that!" In later years, he would give Gehrig some credit: "Pitchers began pitching to me because if they passed me they still had Lou to contend with." In addition to his career-high 60 home runs, Ruth batted .356, drove in 164 runs and slugged .772.
The 1927 New York Yankees, one of the greatest baseball teams of all-time. (Ruth is on top row, fifth from the left.)
The 1927 New York Yankees, one of the greatest baseball teams of all-time. (Ruth is on top row, fifth from the left.)

The following season started off very well for the Yankees, who led the AL by 13 games in July. But the Yankees were soon plagued by some key injuries, erratic pitching and inconsistent play. The Philadelphia Athletics, rebuilding after some lean years, erased the Yankees' big lead and they even took over first place briefly in early September. The Yankees however took over first place for good when they beat the A's 3 out of 4 games in a pivotal series later that month.

Ruth's play in 1928 mirrored his team's performance. He got off to a hot start and on August 1, he had 42 home runs. This put him ahead of his 60 home run pace from the previous season. But Ruth was hobbled by a bad ankle the latter part of the season, and he hit just 12 home runs in the last two months of the regular season. His batting average also fell to .323, well below his career average. Nevertheless, he ended the season with 54 home runs and had his typical impressive slugging average, runs scored, walk and RBI totals. His 54 home runs was also the fourth (and last) time he passed 50 home runs in a season.

The Yankees had a 1928 World Series rematch with the St. Louis Cardinals, who had upset them in the 1926 series. The Cardinals had the same core players as the 1926 team, except for Rogers Hornsby, who was traded for Frankie Frisch after the 1926 season. Despite the Yankees struggles in the latter part of the season, they had no problems with the Cardinals. Ruth batted an amazing .625 (the second highest average in World Series history), including another 3-home run game (in game 4), Gehrig batted .545, and the Yankees demolished the Cardinals in four games with no game being close. The Yankees' thus became the first Major League team to sweep their opponents in consecutive World Series.

Babe Ruth's Decline and end with Yankees:

In 1929, the Yankees failed to make the World Series for the first time in three years, and it would be another three years before they returned. Although the Yankees had slipped, Ruth led or tied for the league lead in home runs each year during 1929–1931. At one point during the 1930 season, as a stunt, Ruth was called upon to pitch for the first time since 1921, and he pitched a complete-game victory. (He had often pitched in exhibitions in the intervening years).

Also in 1929, the Yankees became the first team to use uniform numbers regularly (the Cleveland Indians used them briefly in 1916). Since Ruth normally batted third in the order (ahead of Gehrig), he was assigned number 3 (to Gehrig's 4). The Yankees retired Ruth's number on June 13, 1948; however, it was kept in circulation prior to that.

In 1930, which was not a pennant year for the Yankees, Ruth was asked by a reporter what he thought of his yearly salary of $80,000 being more than President Hoover's $75,000. His response: "I know, but I had a better year than Hoover." Ruth had supported Al Smith in the 1928 Presidential election. That quote has also been rendered as, "How many home runs did he hit last year?" Three years later, Ruth would make a public appearance with the ex-President at a Stanford – USC football game.

In the 1932 season, the Yankees went 107-47 and won the pennant under manager Joe McCarthy. Ruth did his part by hitting .341, with 41 home runs and 137 RBIs. Ruth did miss 21 games on the schedule that year; this included the last few weeks of the season.

The Yankees faced the Chicago Cubs in the 1932 World Series. The Yankees dispatched the Cubs in 4 games and batted .313 as a team. During Game 3 of the series, after having already homered earlier in the game, Ruth hit what has now become known as Babe Ruth's Called Shot. During the at-bat, Ruth supposedly gestured to the deepest part of the park in center-field, predicting a home run. The ball he hit traveled past the flagpole to the right of the scoreboard and ended up in temporary bleachers just outside Wrigley Field's outer wall. The center field corner was 440 feet away, and at age 37, Ruth had hit a straightaway center home run that was perhaps a 490 foot blow. It was Ruth's last Series homer (and his last Series hit), and it became one of the legendary moments of baseball history.

Ruth remained productive in 1933, as he batted .301, with 34 home runs, 103 RBIs, and a league leading 114 walks. But these statistics, impressive for virtually every other player, for him showed he was clearly nearing the end of his career. Elected to play in the first All-Star game, he hit the first home run in the game's history on July 6, 1933, at Comiskey Park in Chicago. His two-run home run helped the AL to a 4-2 victory over the NL, and Ruth also made a fine defensive catch in the game. Film footage of his All-Star game home run revealed the 38-year-old Ruth had become noticeably overweight.

Late in the 1933 season, he was called upon to pitch in one game and pitched a complete game victory, his final appearance as a pitcher. For the most part, his Yankee pitching appearances (five in fifteen years) were widely-advertised attempts to boost attendance. Despite unremarkable pitching numbers, Ruth had a 5-0 record in those five games, raising his career totals to 94-46, an exceptionally high winning percentage.
Babe Ruth with former U.S. President Herbert Hoover at Stanford - USC Armistice Day football game during the Great Depression (November 11, 1933)
Babe Ruth with former U.S. President Herbert Hoover at Stanford - USC Armistice Day football game during the Great Depression (November 11, 1933)

In 1934, Babe Ruth recorded a .288 average, 22 home runs, and made the All-Star team for the second consecutive year. During the game, Ruth was the first of five consecutive strikeout victims (all 5 being future Hall of Fame players) of Giants pitcher Carl Hubbell, perhaps the most famous pitching feat in All-Star game history. In what turned out to be his last game at Yankee Stadium, only about 2,000 fans attended. By this time, Ruth had reached a personal milestone of 700 home runs and was about ready to retire.

After the 1934 season, Ruth went on a baseball barnstorming tour in the Far East. Players such as Jimmie Foxx, Lefty Gomez, Earl Averill, Charlie Gehringer, and Lou Gehrig were among 14 players who played a series of 22 games, with many of the games played in Japan. Ruth was quite popular in Japan, as baseball had been popular in Japan for decades. Riding in a motorcade, Ruth was greeted by thousands of cheering Japanese people. The tour was considered a great success for further increasing the popularity of baseball in Japan, and in 1936 Japan organized its first professional baseball league

Babe Ruth Sold to the Braves:

By this time, Ruth knew he didn't have many years left as a player, and made no secret that he wanted to manage the Yankees. However, Ruppert wouldn't even consider dumping McCarthy. Ruth and McCarthy had never gotten along, and Ruth's managerial ambitions only made relations between the two chillier. Just before the 1934 season, Ruppert offered to make Ruth manager of the Yankees' top minor-league team, the Newark Bears. However, Ruth's wife, Claire Merritt Hodgson, and his business manager both advised him to turn it down. After the 1934 season, Ruppert talked to nearly every other major-league owner, but no one was interested in making Ruth manager.

Ruppert finally found a taker in Boston Braves owner Emil Fuchs. Even though the Braves had fielded fairly competitive teams in the last three seasons, Fuchs was sinking in debt and couldn't afford the rent on Braves Field. Fuchs thought Ruth was just what the Braves needed, both on and off the field.

After a series of phone calls, letters and meetings, the Yankees traded Ruth to the Braves on February 26, 1935. It was announced that in addition to remaining as a player, Ruth would become team vice president and would be consulted on all club transactions. He was also made assistant manager to Braves skipper Bill McKechnie. In a long letter to Ruth a few days before the press conference, Fuchs promised Ruth a share in the Braves' profits, with the possibility of becoming co-owner of the team. Fuchs also raised the possibility of Ruth becoming the Braves' manager, perhaps as early as 1936.

Amid much media hoopla, Ruth played his first home game in Boston in over 16 years. Before an opening-day crowd of over 25,000, Ruth accounted for all of the Braves' runs in a 4-2 defeat of the New York Giants. The Braves had long played second fiddle to the Red Sox in Boston, but Ruth's arrival spiked interest in the Braves to levels not seen since their stunning win in the 1914 World Series.

But this couldn't last. That win proved to be the only time the Braves were over .500 that year. By May 20, they were 7-17, and their season was effectively over. While Ruth could still hit, he could do little else, and soon stopped hitting as well. His conditioning had deteriorated so much that he could do little more than trot around the bases. His fielding was dreadful; at one point, three of the Braves' pitchers threatened not to take the mound if Ruth was in the lineup. Ruth was also miffed that McKechnie ignored most of his managerial advice. He soon discovered that he was vice president and assistant manager in name only, and Fuchs' promise of a share of team profits was also hot air. In fact, Fuchs expected Ruth to invest some of his money in the team.

On May 25, at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, Ruth went 4-for-4, drove in 6 runs and hit 3 home runs in an 11-7 loss to the Pirates. These were the last three home runs of his career. His last home run cleared the roof at the old Forbes Field—he became the first player to accomplish that feat. Five days later, in Philadelphia, Ruth played in his last Major League game. He struck out in the first inning and, while playing the field in the same inning, hurt his knee and left the game.

Two days after that, Ruth summoned reporters to the locker room after a game against the Giants and announced he was retiring. He'd wanted to retire as early as May 12, but Fuchs persuaded him to stay on because the Braves hadn't played in every National League park yet. That season, he hit just .181 with six home runs in 72 at-bats. The Braves season went as bad as Ruth's short season. They finished 38-115, the third-worst record in Major League history, just a few percentage points fewer than the infamous 1962 New York Mets. Fuchs finally caved in under mounting debt and lost control of the Braves with just over two months left in the season.