Babe Ruth hit his first professional home run in Fayetteville

Even casual baseball fans know that George Herman “Babe” Ruth was a star baseball player for the New York Yankees, the first great home run hitter, and a legendary character.

He was a star pitcher for the Boston Red Sox before that and part of a trade that was said started an 86-year curse that prevented the Red Sox from winning a World Series.

However, before that, Ruth was a Baltimore Oriole who hit his first professional home run in North Carolina.

In March 1914, the Orioles were taking spring training in Fayetteville. During an intra-squad game between the Sparrows and Buzzards at the Cape Fear Fairgrounds, history was made. Playing shortstop for the Buzzards, Ruth launched what was believed to be a 350-foot blast, remarkable in the Dead Ball Era.

Ruth had been signed out of a reform school in Baltimore by the team’s owner, Jack Dunn and was paid a salary of $100 a month.

It was in Fayetteville that Ruth got his nickname. Ruth said that Dunn practically led him by the hand from the dressing room to the field and players heckled him, with one player saying “Look at Dunnie and his new babe.” There is another story that Ruth was caught playing with the elevator by another player in the Lafayette Hotel who referred to him as “a babe in the woods.”

Sources:

Batten, Sammy. “Birth of the Bambino: Babe Ruth hit first pro home run in Fayetteville.” Fayetteville Observer.

Jones, H.G. Scoundrels, Rogues and Heroes of the Old North State.