This Day In Sports History: Babe Ruth Calls Own Death

June 29th, 1932: It was game three of an away series with the Chicago Cubs when George Herman “Babe” Ruth — a day after “calling his own shot” — called his own death. Ruth stepped up to the plate in the first inning and, after a night of hard drinking and a day of hard eating, pointed to his chest and called a coronary event.

Ruth took strike one before stepping out of the batter’s box and slamming a hotdog and a beer to wild applause. He then lit up a cigar, held it in his teeth, and stepped in to swing at strike two.

After skying a slider down the first-base line foul, the Babe called timeout, stiffened his torso and rubbed at his chest and left arm. He took out a rag from his back pocket and mimed wiping sweat from his forehead before falling to his knees, gasping for breath.

“What’s this?” said Cubs’ Hall of Fame announcer Hal Totten. “The Bambino attempting a slapstick death routine to rival the likes of contemporary Charlie Chaplin?”

The home run leader proceeded to lie down next to home plate, fold his arms over his bat, and, using his fingertips, close his own eyes. The crowd cheered.

“He appears to be indicating he’ll die of a heart attack,” said Totten. “No surprise there.” A moment later Ruth stood up, dusted himself off, took a few bites from the stadium nachos, and hit a 500 ft home run blast sending the Chicago crowd into a frenzy.

That game Ruth would fulfill his prophecy of dying when the Cubs’ Charlie Root shot him in the heart, the bottom of the third inning.