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Still the Greatest One-Two Punch Print E-mail

By Raymond J. Gonzalez

    When we think of a home run one-two punch, we must recognize that Eddie Mathews and Henry Aaron hit the most fourbaggers while they were teammates on the Braves from 1954 to 1966. Ed hit 415 in that period and Hank 442, for a total of 857.

    And yet, these two outstanding long ball hitters did not establish a special reputation as a great one-two punch, such as Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig from 1925 to 1934. The latter two did not play together so long- 10 seasons, to 13 for Mathews and Aaron-yet still provided on a game-by-game basis more damage to a pitcher's ego and ERA than any other duo.

    This is true partly because of the fact that both batted the same way-from the port side. On the other hand, Mathews batted left and Aaron right. This explanation can also be extended to the other great home run duos, such as Willie Mays, who hit 430 homers (right) and Willie McCovey, 370 (left) for the San Francisco Giants 1959-71, and Duke Snider, who hit 384 (left) and Gil Hodges 361 (right) for the Dodgers 1947-61. Theoretically, an opposing pitcher had some advantage over one of these hitters on the basis of right vs left, etc., and was not so susceptible to being clobbered by both batters, particularly with back-to-back homers.

    We have researched the full ten years of the Ruth-Gehrig association and can fully document their reputation as the games premier one-two punch. This is true even though they were 8 years apart in age, and Gehrig had a breaking in process and Ruth a fading out process that had to be factored into their decade together. Therefore, they didn't always bat third and fourth. Bob Meusel was between them sometime and so was Tony Lazzeri. Nevertheless they hit homers in the same inning 19 times, and in the same game 72 times.

    Actually, if we extend this review to World Series games, the totals would be increased to 21 and 74. In the final game of the 1928 Series with the Cardinals, Ruth hit three homers and Gehrig one, including back-to-back in the 7th off Willie Sherdel. In the third game of the 1932 Series with the Cubs, they each hit two. They were back to back in the 5th, when Ruth supposedly pointed out where he was going to belt one off Charlie Root and Lou apparently liked the spot himself. All four of those homers came off Root.

    Obviously, in the 74 games, Ruth and Gehrig did not limit themselves to one homer each. There total output was 88 for Lou and 86 for the Babe. Not all their victims were name pitchers, of course, but they did connect off such worthies as Lefty Grove, Ted Lyons, Red Faber, Wes Ferrell, Earl Whitehill, Mel Harder, Jack Quinn, and Red Ruffing.

    It would be too lengthy a list to run all the 74 entries where Ruth and Gehrig connected in the same game. However, the reader could get some flavor of their twin assaults by reviewing a list of the contests where they connected in the same inning as well as those games where they had multiple homers.


Date of Game

Opponent

Homers

Inning

Pitching Victim

 Sep.

10

1925

Phil. at Phil.

Ruth

4

Sam Gray

 

Gehrig

4

Sam Gray

 May

10

1926

Det. at N.Y.

Gehrig

5

Sam Gibson

 

Ruth

5

Sam Gibson

 Sep.

19

1926

Clev. at Clev.

Ruth

7

Emil Levsen

 

Gehrig

7

Emil Levsen

Sep.

25

1926 (2)

StL. at StL.

Gehrig

3

Milt Gaston

 

Ruth

6

Win Ballou

 

Ruth

9

Joe Giard

Apr.

23

1927

Phil. at Phil.

Ruth

1

Rube Walberg

 

Gehrig

1

Rube Walberg

May

1

1927

Phil. at N.Y.

Ruth

1

Jack Quinn

 

Gehrig

6

Jack Quinn

 

Ruth

8

Rube Walberg

May

23

1927

Wash, at Wash.

Ruth

1

Hollis Thurston

 

Gehrig

1

Hollis Thurston

June

7

1927

Chi. at N.Y.

Ruth

4

Tommy Thomas

 

Gehrig

4

Tommy Thomas

June

16

1927

StL. at N.Y.

Ruth

1

Tom Zachary

 

Gehrig

1

Tom Zachary

Sep.

2

1927

Phil. at Phil.

Ruth

1

Rube Walberg

 

Gehrig

1

Rube Walberg

 

Gehrig

2

Rube Walberg

Sep.

6

1927 (1)

Bos. at Bos.

Gehrig

5

Tony Welzer

 

Ruth

6

Tony Welzer

 

Ruth

7

Tony Welzer

May

29

1928

Wash. at N.Y.

Gehrig

3

Milt Gaston

 

Ruth

4

Lloyd Brown

 

Gehrig

4

Lloyd Brown

 

Ruth

7

Lloyd Brown

June

7

1928

Clev. at Clev.

Ruth

9

Joe Shaute

 

Gehrig

9

Joe Shaute

June

12

1928

Chi. at Chi.

Gehrig

1

Grady Adkins

 

Ruth

5

Grady Adkins

 

Gehrig

6

George Cox

May

4

1929

Chi. at Chi.

Gehrig

2

Red Faber

 

Ruth

7

Harold McKain

 

Gehrig

7

Harold McKain

 

Gehrig

9

Dan Dugan

May

19

1929

Bos. at N.Y.

Ruth

3

Jack Russell

 

Gehrig

3

Jack Russell

May

2

1930 (2)

Phil. at Phil.

Gehrig

1

Bill Shores

 

Ruth

2

Jack Quinn

 

Gehrig

4

Eddie Rommel

 

Gehrig

7

Glenn Liebhardt

June

15

1930

Clev. at Clev.

Gehrig

3

Milt Shoffner

 

Gehrig

5

Belvedere Bean

 

Ruth

6

Belvedere Bean

June

25

1930 (2)

StL. at N.Y.

Ruth

3

Geo. Blaeholder

 

Ruth

5

Herm Holshauser

 

Gehrig

6

Herm Holshauser

July

20

1930

Clev. at Clev.

Ruth

4

Milt Shoffner

 

Gehrig

4

Milt Shoffner

 

Gehrig

S

Milt Shoffner

July

22

1931 (2)

Det. at N.Y.

Ruth

1

Tommy Bridges

 

Ruth

6

Charles Sullivan

 

Gehrig

6

Charles Sullivan

Aug.

21

1931

StL. at StL.

Ruth

3

Geo. Blaeholder

 

Gehrig

3

Geo. Blaeholder

Sep.

7

1931 (2)

Phil. at Phil.

Ruth

6

Waite Hoyt

 

Gehrig

6

Waite Hoyt

 

Ruth

9

Waite Hoyt

Apr.

12

1932

Phil. at Phil.

Ruth

I

George Earnshaw

 

Gehrig

3

George Earnshaw

 

Ruth

4

George Earnshaw

May

21

1932 (1)

Wash, at N.Y.

Ruth

5

Lloyd Brown

 

Ruth

6

Frank Ragland

 

Gehrig

6

Frank Ragland

June

3

1932

Phil. at Phil.

Gehrig

1

George Earnshaw

 

Gehrig

4

George Earnshaw

 

Ruth

5

George Earnshaw

 

Gehrig

5

George Earnshaw

 

Gehrig

7

Roy Mahaffey

May

28

1934

StL. at StL.

Oehrig

6

Paul Andrews

 

Ruth

7

Jack Knott

 

Gehrig

7

Jack Knott

 

World

Series

Oct.

9

1928

StL. at StL.

Ruth

4

Willie Sherdel

 

Ruth

7

Willie Sherdel

 

Gehrig

7

Willie Sherdel

 

Ruth

8

Grover Alexander

Oct.

1

1932

Chi. at Chi.

Ruth

1

Charlie Root

 

Gehrig

3

Charlie Root

 

Ruth

S

Charlie Root

 

Gehrig

S

Charlie Root