In the 1932 World Series, Babe Ruth made a mysterious pointing gesture—then crushed a legendary home run. Did he really call it?
On October 1, 1932, during Game 3 of the World Series at Wrigley Field, Babe Ruth hit one of baseball's most iconic home runs against the Chicago Cubs. With the score tied 4–4 in the fifth inning, Ruth made a dramatic pointing gesture before launching a towering blast to deep center field.
The Yankees and Cubs had been feuding all series long. The animosity partly stemmed from the Cubs voting to give former Yankee Mark Koenig only half his World Series bonus—a decision Ruth's teammates saw as a cheap insult that fueled relentless trash talk between the dugouts.
Before Game 3, Chicago fans reportedly cursed and spat on Ruth and his wife Claire as they arrived at Wrigley Field. Throughout the game, fans pelted him with lemons while Cubs players heckled him mercilessly from their dugout.
After taking two strikes from pitcher Charlie Root, Ruth made a pointing gesture—but whether he pointed to center field, at Root, or at the Cubs' dugout remains one of baseball's greatest mysteries. He then crushed Root's curveball an estimated 440–490 feet to deep center field.
The story gained its name from sportswriter Joe Williams, who wrote the headline 'RUTH CALLS SHOT AS HE PUTS HOME RUN NO. 2 IN SIDE POCKET' for the New York World-Telegram, borrowing terminology from billiards. The widely circulated article gave the legend its life.
Ruth's own accounts of the event changed over the years, growing more dramatic each time. He initially said he was just pointing at the Cubs' dugout, but later claimed he had deliberately pointed to center field—and even said he'd pointed there before Root's first pitch.
In 2020, an audio clip surfaced from a radio show originally aired on October 6, 1932, in which teammate Lou Gehrig said Ruth was indeed pointing toward the flagpole in center field. Gehrig also reportedly said, 'What do you think of the nerve of that big monkey.'
Among the spectators that day were Franklin D. Roosevelt, then a presidential candidate who reportedly laughed watching Ruth round the bases, and 12-year-old John Paul Stevens, who would become a U.S. Supreme Court Justice and later confirmed Ruth pointed to center field.
The very next batter after Ruth was Lou Gehrig, who blasted Root's only remaining pitch into the right-field seats for his second homer of the day. The Yankees won 7–5 and completed a four-game sweep of the World Series the following day.
Pitcher Charlie Root was deeply annoyed by the called-shot legend for the rest of his career. Despite winning over 200 games, he was most often remembered as the man who gave up baseball's most famous home run.