He would 713 more of them, all while becoming the celebrity of celebrities for his unprecedented power and gregarious nature but there had to a first Babe Ruth home run and it happened 111 years ago this week.
From the Polo Grounds to Forbes Field, a parade of pitchers unwittingly became footnotes in the Sultan of Swat’s legend. Ruth’s milestone home runs weren’t just statistical landmarks—they were seismic moments that redefined baseball, drawing record crowds, sparking debates, and turning ordinary pitchers into permanent entries in the record books and answers to trivia questions.
For baseball card collectors, it doesn’t get much better than owning an original Ruth card but if you want a project that’s a little off the grid, you could try to collect cards of the pitchers who surrendered The Babe’s most famous blasts.
It’s not really all that challenging or expensive, either.
First Home Run: Jack Warhop
It all began modestly on May 6, 1915, at the Polo Grounds. Ruth, still primarily a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox and batting ninth, faced New York Yankees right-hander Jack Warhop. Warhop threw a “rise ball” (or, as Damon Runyan colorfully called it, one of Warhop’s “underhanded subterfuges”). Ruth crushed it into the right-field stands for his first major-league home run. The 20-year-old rookie had arrived as a power threat.
Want a really good trivia question? Who gave up Ruth’s second career homer?
The answer is….Jack Warhop. Three weeks later.
Warhop was out of the big leagues later that year but went to the minors and appeared on a Zeenuts card 13 years after giving up Ruth’s homer. He continued to play semi-pro ball for many years later and eventually became a butler for a family on Long Island.
You can find his first card in the T206 set where he’s shown holding a bat.
1st Home Run as a Yankee: Herb Pennock
Five years later, after the seismic sale to the Yankees, Ruth christened his Bronx tenure on May 1, 1920. In the second month of the season, with the Yankees hosting the Red Sox at the Polo Grounds (the Yankees’ temporary home), Ruth stepped in against his former teammate Herb Pennock. The lefty served up a “colossal clout” that cleared the roof in right field, Ruth’s first home run in pinstripes. The Yankees won 6-0, and the Ruthian era in New York had officially begun.
Pennock played a long time but some of his earliest issues were in the caramel sets of the early 1920s, with an image that probably dates pretty close to the time in which he gave up the homer.
Breaking the Career Home Run Record: Bert Cole
By July 18, 1921, Ruth was already rewriting history. In the third game of a series against the Detroit Tigers, he belted his 139th career homer off Bert Cole—a 560-foot blast, according to contemporary accounts—that passed Roger Connor’s long-standing all-time record of 138. (He had tied it three days earlier.) Few fans realized the significance at the time; the record wasn’t widely celebrated until later. But Ruth had officially become the game’s home-run king.
Three years later, Cole and Ruth were central figures in a massive Yankees-Tigers brawl that ended in a 9-0 forfeit decided in favor of the Yankees.
You can find Cole in some early 1920s candy sets.
First to 60: Tom Zachary
The 1927 season produced perhaps the most iconic single-season milestone. On the next-to-last day, September 30, at Yankee Stadium, Ruth stepped in against Washington Senators left-hander Tom Zachary with the score tied and one out in the eighth. Zachary threw a curve; Ruth launched it into the right-field bleachers for his 60th homer of the year, shattering his own record. He famously shouted, “Sixty! Count ’em!” The 60-home-run mark stood for 34 years and remains one of baseball’s most hallowed benchmarks.
He later became a tobacco farmer and was at Yankee Stadium during Ruth’s final appearance at Yankee Stadium in 1948.
Zachary has a York Caramels card issued during Ruth’s 60 homer season (see above).
500th: Willis Hudlin
Two years later, on August 11, 1929, Ruth reached another personal Everest: his 500th career homer. Facing Cleveland Indians pitcher Willis Hudlin at League Park, Ruth took the first pitch he saw—a high fastball—and drove it over the right-field wall onto Lexington Avenue. He became the first player in history to reach the half-thousand mark. A fan retrieved the ball and traded it back to Ruth for an autographed replacement and $20.
Hudlin first appeared in the 1929 Kashin Publications set, but was part of the well-known sets of the 1930s: Goudey, Batter-Up and Diamond Stars.
1932 World Series Called Shot: Charley Root
The most mythic moment came in the 1932 World Series. In Game 3 at Wrigley Field on October 1, with the Yankees leading the Chicago Cubs and the score tied 4-4 in the fifth, Ruth faced Charlie Root. After taking two strikes amid bench-jockeying from the Cubs, Ruth gestured toward the center-field bleachers—debated to this day as either a called shot or a wave to the crowd—then crushed Root’s next pitch exactly there for a three-run homer.
It was vintage Ruth theater, helping the Yankees sweep the Series. Root always maintained Ruth was simply pointing at him or the count, but the legend endures.
Root was a solid pitcher who appeared in numerous sets during his career. The year after Ruth’s homer, you could find him in the 1933 Goudey set (an aesthetically pleasing card if there ever was one), but there’s no mention of his connection to the Called Shot.
The First All-Star Game Homer: Bill Hallahan
The following summer, Ruth added another “first” to his résumé. In the inaugural All-Star Game on July 6, 1933, at Comiskey Park, the 38-year-old AL star stepped in against St. Louis Cardinals pitcher “Wild Bill” Hallahan in the third inning. With Charlie Gehringer on base, Ruth launched a two-run homer—the very first home run in All-Star Game history—putting the AL ahead 3-0 en route to a 4-2 victory.
It was Hallahan’s only All-Star appearance but he won three World Series titles with the Cardinals in 1926, 1931 and 1934, pitching to an ERA of .36 in 1931.
The year of the All-Star moment found him smiling in Goudey’s comprehensive set and he’s in the Tattoo Orbit issue, too.
Final Blast as a Yankee: Syd Cohen
Ruth’s final Yankee home run came on September 29, 1934, in the second game of a doubleheader at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Facing Senators pitcher Syd Cohen, the 39-year-old slugger hit what would be his last blast in pinstripes (career No. 708).
The Yankees lost, and the modest crowd of about 2,000 had no idea they were witnessing the end of an era in New York. Ruth played one more game in the Bronx the next day but was walked and removed.
Cohen’s career was fairly short but he wound up managing in the minor leagues for many years. The only known card issued during his pro career was in the 1928 Zeenuts set when he was a member of the PCL’s San Francisco Seals but he’s in the 2003 Jewish Major Leaguers set.
714th and Final: Guy Bush
One final flourish remained. Released by the Yankees after 1934, Ruth signed with the Boston Braves for 1935. On May 25 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, the 40-year-old put on a show against the Pirates, hitting three home runs in one game. The last of them—his 714th and final—came off Guy Bush in the seventh inning. It sailed completely out of the park over the right-field upper deck, the first fair ball ever to clear Forbes Field’s roof. Bush had already given up Ruth’s 713th earlier in the game.
Ruth drove in six runs that day, but the Braves still lost 11-7.
Ruth retired five days later.
You can find both Bush and Babe in the 1935 Goudey set, with the pitcher sharing a card with brothers Paul and Lloyd Waner and former Ruth road trip roommate Waite Hoyt.
