On Aug. 11, 1929, George Herman “Babe” Ruth smashed a second-inning home run off Willis Hudlin at Cleveland’s League Park. It was Ruth’s 30th home run of the season, itself an incredible total as only three other players would end up topping 30 homers that entire year, but even more incredible was that it was the 500th homer of Ruth’s career. Five hundred home runs was truly an astonishing number in 1929—at the time, no other player had even hit 300 in their career. It would take 11 years for there to be a second member of baseball’s 500 home run club.
Ruth hit No. 500 clear out of League Park and onto Lexington Ave. What happened to the ball remains a mystery. Contemporary reports said a man waiting for a bus collected the ball and traded it back to Ruth for $20 and an autograph, but that’s where the trail ends. What does remain from history is the ballpark’s old ticket house, still standing at the corner of Lexington and East 66th Street. A restoration was completed in 2014, and the ticket building now houses the Baseball Heritage Museum.
Inside, visitors might not find Ruth’s 500th home run ball, but they can see his 436th, also hit at League Park in 1928. There are also exhibits on the history of baseball in Cleveland, including a scale model of the park as it looked in its glory days. A scaled-down version of the park remains on the site, open for community use.
Groups can visit the museum Wednesday-Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Guided or private tours are available, with a requested donation per person. Admission to the museum is free on annual Larry Doby Weekend—honoring the baseball legend who broke the American League’s color barrier with Cleveland in July 1947.
For more, visit baseballheritagemuseum.org.
Main Image: League Park; Credit: Adobe/Douglas
