Baltimore Orioles: The Day Connie Mack Turned Down Babe Ruth

In 1914, the Baltimore Orioles did the unthinkable and tried to pawn off the most famous player ever to swing a bat and throw a pitch.

At the time, the Baltimore Orioles were a part of the International League, and the team’s owner was in a cash crunch due to competition from the Federal League Baltimore Terrapins.

To make a bit of money, the Orioles owner Jack Dunn, made a deal with his friend Connie Mack. The $10,000 deal included Babe Ruth along with Ernie Shore and Ben Egan. Mack told Dunn that he couldn’t afford to spend that much money and turned down Ruth.

Unfortunate, Dunn could only see what was in front of him. The Terrapins only played for one season, and shut down. If only …

Instead, Ruth stayed with the Orioles for two more days. Mack, who was with the Cincinnati Red, took George Twombly and Claud Derrick. Twombly was an outfielder who played with the Reds for three seasons and batted .222/.284/.260, before being traded to the Boston Braves, then Washington Senators. Derrick played in three games with the Reds before he was sent to Cubs to finish the season. He never played ball after 1914.

Two days later on July 9, 1914, Dunn found a landing spot for Ruth. Joe Lannin, the new owner of the Boston Red Sox, made a deal for $25,000 to buy Shore, Egan, and Ruth. At age 19, Ruth got a cup of coffee that included all of five games. He played on July 11 and 16, then again on October 2, 5, and 7. He had two hits, a double on October 2 and a single on the 7th. He also scored a run on October 2.

For comparison purposes, that $10,000 would have been worth $256K in today’s money. The $25,000 price is equal to over $640K in 2020.

But in 1915, the Red Sox gave him a bit more time to showcase what he could do. Keep in mind, at this time, the team used him as a pitcher. His 1914 ERA after 23 innings of work was 3.91. He knocked it down to 2.44 in 1915, and in 1916, he earned his first pitching title with the lowest ERA in the League of 1.75 in 40 starts. He gave up zero home runs that season and had an ERA+ of 158.

He helped bring the Red Sox their 1915, 1916, and 1918 World Series victories. But not in the way you expect, he only had one hit – a two RBI triple against the Cubs. And, he did not get on base at all in ’15 and ’16. It was his pitching that helped the most.

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In Game 2 of the 1916 World Series, Ruth pitched a 14-inning complete game against the Brooklyn Robins. His final line in 14 INNINGS was six hits, one earned run, one home run, three walks, and four strike outs. His ERA in that game was 0.64.

His other contribution was in the 1918 when he pitched in Game 1 and Game 4. In Game 1, Ruth pitched a complete game shutout, giving up six hits, walking one, and striking out four. In Game 4, he started the game and went eight innings before Bullet Joe Bush finished the ninth. Ruth gave up seven hits and two runs. His ERA for that game was 1.06, and he earned the win in that game, too.

He stayed with the Red Sox for one more season, and near the close of the 1919 year, the Red Sox made the sale that went down infamy. They sent Ruth to the Yankees for $100,000 ($1.5 million in 2020 dollars). He pitched a in three games total for the Bronx Bombers, before becoming the big hitting outfielder who changed the game forever.

And, it all happened because Connie Mack made what is one of the worst decisions any baseball executive could have made prior to December 26, 1919 when the Red Sox owner Harry Frazee topped it. Ironically, both stupid decisions involved Babe Ruth.