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It’s been close to 90 years since Babe Ruth played his final MLB game, and the fact that he’s still remembered as one of the greatest baseball players of all time is a testament to the massive mark he left on the sport over the course of his legendary career.
The man known as “The Great Bambino” is best known for the impressive slugging ability that saw him hit a then-record 60 home runs with the New York Yankees in 1927, seven years after he supposedly cursed the Red Sox for trading him to the Bronx Bombers.
Prior to that point, he’d also made quite a name for himself with his abilities as a pitcher, as he boasted an impressive 86-49 record on the mound during his time in Boston with an equally stellar 2.19 ERA.
While he never managed to throw a perfect game, he was technically involved in a no-hitter that transpired when the Red Sox faced off against the Washington Senators on June 23, 1917—although the bulk of the credit deserves to go to the teammate that stepped up in a big way after Ruth fell victim to his somewhat infamous temper.
The time the Red Sox combined for a no-hitter after Babe Ruth punched an umpire
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As of this writing, the MLB has seen a grand total of 20 “combined no-hitters” made possible by two or more pitchers that prevented their opponents from recording a hit over the course of a contest (including a few that fall into the unenviable group of teams who still managed to lose the game).
That includes the aforementioned showdown between the Red Sox and the Senators at Fenway Park.
Ruth trotted out to the mound in the top of the first inning, but he didn’t stay there for long.
After Washington’s leadoff batter Ray Morgan got on base by forcing a walk, The Great Bambino expressed his displeasure with home plate umpire Brick Owens’ strike zone, which sparked an exchange of words that led to the man in blue threatening to eject him if he kept mouthing off.
According to The Boston Globe, Ruth subsequently threatened to punch Owens in the nose if he gave him the boot and attempted to do exactly that when the ump officially tossed him, as he charged at the plate and managed to land a shot on his right ear before being hauled off the field by Boston manager and several police officers.
After suddenly finding themselves without a pitcher, the Red Sox turned to Ernie Shore to fill the void created in Ruth’s absence and, well, it’s safe to say he rose to the moment.
Boston recorded its first out of the game after Morgan was caught stealing second, and from that point on, Shore was literally perfect. While he only managed to record two strikeouts, he sent every single one of the 26 batters he faced straight back to the dugout to help Boston coast to a 4-0 victory.
The MLB classified Shore’s performance as a perfect game at the time before statisticians retroactively designated it as a combined no-hitter due to the role Ruth technically played before he was sent to the showers for punching an umpire in the head.
It doesn’t get much stranger than that.