Five Facts: Babe Ruth

Here are five facts about Babe Ruth.
Other five facts: Ellsbury and Betances, Tanaka, Rivera.



Babe Ruth hit his first pro home run during a game in which he played shortstop in 1914
Unfortunately, baseball-reference does not have that record.

Only made two All-Star teams... because the first game wasn't until 1933
The starting lineup for the very first ASG was the following (bold fonts for the Hall of Famer.)

National League
1, Pepper Martin 3B
2. Frankie Frisch 2B
3. Chuck Klein RF
4. Chick Hafey LF
5. Bill Terry 1B
6. Wally Berger CF
7. Dick Bartell SS
8. Jimmy Wilson C
9. Bill Hallahan P

American League
1. Ben Chapman LF
2. Charlie Gehringer 2B
3. Babe Ruth RF
4. Lou Gehrig 1B
5. Al Simmons CF
6. Jimmy Dykes 3B
7. Joe Cronin SS
8. Rick Ferrell C
9. Lefty Gomez P

Hit the first home run in All-Star Game history in 1933.
It was off Hallahan. The second home run was by Frisch off General Crowder. The American League won 4 to 2, thanks to Ruth's home run. Ruth went 2 for 4 with 2 RBI's with a home run in 1933, 0 for 2 with 2 BB's in 1944. AL won both games.

Was once a pitcher... a side-arming power pitcher.
In 1916, Ruth started 40 games (41 games on Fangraphs), pitched 323.2 innings, and went 23 - 12 with 1.75 ERA. In '17, he started 38 games (completed 35 games!), pitched 326.2 innings, and went 24 - 13 with 2.01 ERA. He collected 20.6 WAR (14.3 on Fangraphs) from 10 years of pitching, although it seems like he did not pitch too well for the Yankees.

Originally supposed to be a shirt maker.
I'm glad he played baseball instead.