Faking Legends 101: Convincing The World You Called Your Shot
By now you must be at least vaguely familiar with the legend of Babe Ruth calling his shot in Game 3 of the 1932 World Series (if you’re not familiar with the legend, it’s weird that you’re reading this blog, no?). The film stills shown above supposedly capture Ruth calling his shot and then taunting the Cubs’ dugout as he rounds the bases. Most believe Ruth never actually called his shot. It goes to show, tell a tale long enough, the truth no longer matters.
That’s the thing about legends, people want them to be true so badly that they often have to be disproven rather than proven. This is particularly strange because legends often make careers greater than they normally would be or already were. Former L.A. Dodger Kirk Gibson feels like a Hall of Famer instead of the solid, but not extraordinary player he was. And the reason for this lies solely in his only at-bat in the ’88 World Series (6:50 mark).
Then there are the true greats who catapult to god-like levels when stories of their greatness bloat, like Ruth in the ’32 Series or Kirby Puckett in the ’91 Series.
Recently, the Pioneer Press published the following story told by former Twins hitting coach Terry Crowley about the Twins’ Hall of Famer:
Just before Puckett went to bat against Charlie Leibrandt, he told Crowley he was about to end the game with a home run.
“Puckett told me, ‘Crow, if they leave Leibrandt in there, this game is over,’ ” Crowley said. “That’s the God’s honest truth. That’s fact, and that happened. If you listen (to the tape), he gives me a hug and says,
‘Crow, I told you.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, you did.’”
I’m calling b.s. on this story. I’m calling b.s. on it because so much time has passed. Where was Crowley 18 years ago with this tale? And even if he doesn’t think he’s fibbing, why should we believe his memory (does anyone have access to the video segment of the moment to which Crowley is referring?) hasn’t made a great moment even greater over time. “Oh yeah, Kirby hit that home run, but he called it first. Oh, and he drew a charcoal sketch of him hitting the homer, sealed it in an envelope and mailed it to me a week before it happened. Oh and also, he was temporarily blinded from the Consumption as he stepped into the batter’s box and he was wearing his cleats on the wrong feet too.” I’m also calling b.s. on this story because I have a feeling players call their shot all the time. Players are constantly yammering. If I say I’m going to hit a homer every time I go to the plate and I have 12 homers in my career, was I clairvoyant or just playing the odds?
Heck, look at Ichiro at he left here. Every time he steps to the plate he calls his shot (either that or he’s predicting a pop-up to the catcher). So should I be wowed that he’s “predicted a homer” 84 times in his career or non-wowed (“non-wowed” is a term) that the other 6,478 times he stepped into the batter’s box, his prediction did not come true?
If Crowley wants to help out Puckett’s legend by shopping around this story, fine. But it gives me the idea that all a ballplayer needs in order to become legendary are two teammates willing to act as if that player called his shot when (if) he hits one at a meaningful time in a meaningful game. No one will expect it to happen, but as soon as it does, the two teammates will spread the word to the rest of the team, the media and anyone else who will listen. One person corroborating such a story 18 years too late is suspect. Two players doing it before that player rounds the bases? That’s air tight.
Matt Stairs smacked that all-important pinch-hit homer in the eighth inning of last year’s NLCS Game 4 against the Dodgers. His biggest mistake was not having a pact with Jimmy Rollins and Jayson Werth (probably because Howard and Werth refuse to talk to Stairs, but I digress) to draw out the legend. Knowing how easily legends grow, we’d be talking about when, not if, Stairs would be going to the Hall.
Ruth film captures courtesy of Flickr via Matt Miller Kandle
Photo courtesy of Yahoo! Sports via Getty Images
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