He Wouldn’t Be in the Movie Because He Didn’t Get the Point

The news Monday that a Kentucky man claims to have a two-minute film that might help solve a half-century-old Babe Ruth mystery recalls Ruth’s alleged called-shot home run in the 1932 World Series.

During the New York Yankee-Chicago Cub Series that year, Ruth, according to many witnesses, called a home run by pointing to the center-field seats at Wrigley Field, where he hit the next pitch.

The Kentucky man, Kirk Kandle, wouldn’t say exactly what his film shows. An independent television producer has bought the film.

A front-row spectator that day was James Roosevelt, who sat next to his father, New York Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt, then in his first run for the presidency.

“I remember that, with great deliberation, (Ruth) pointed to the longest part of the park,” recalled James Roosevelt, in a 1982 Times interview.

“There was no question what the gesture meant. And when he hit the homer, I remember Dad saying: ‘Unbelievable!’ ”

But for decades a different version was told by the Cubs’ pitcher that day, Charlie Root.

According to author Robert Creamer, Root once told him he turned down an offer to appear in the film “The Babe Ruth Story.”

“Not if you’re going to have him pointing,” Root told the movie people, according to Creamer. “He didn’t point. If he had, I would have knocked him on his (butt) with the next pitch.”

Mike’s hot: Coach Mike Ditka of the Chicago Bears on Denver owner Pat Bowlen firing his coach, Dan Reeves:

“Stupidity is running rampant in the NFL. Let me tell you something, gang. . . . There are probably, in our league today, maybe one or two people who can stand on the same pedestal as Dan Reeves.”

Trivia time: Where was Babe Ruth on Jan. 6, 1920, when he was told that the Boston Red Sox had sold him to the New York Yankees for $100,000?

Opening jitters?Bill Walsh says John Robinson might have rough sledding in his USC comeback--but only in his opening game, when USC meets Houston Sept. 4 at the Coliseum.

Walsh, as did Robinson, left college football coaching for a long run in the NFL and returned last season to the college ranks.

“In my first game, against Texas A&M;, I was out of sync because I didn’t know my players well,” Walsh said. “I didn’t know what to expect. After that first game, I felt a lot better about things.”

Stanford lost to Texas A&M;, 10-7.

Sudden thought: If Robinson falters, would USC consider bringing back John McKay? He’s only 69. Howard Jones is out. He died 52 years ago.

Talkin’ trash: Bryan Burwell, in USA Today, on the belief held by many that the Miami Hurricanes invented taunting in sports:

“Miami didn’t create trash-talking. Perfected it? Maybe. But players have been talking trash long before any of those Hurricanes were born. They talk mess in the NBA. They talk it in the NFL. And if baseball weren’t so darned boring, they’d be doing it there, too.”

Actually, sports trash-talking can be traced at least as far back as 1909, when Pittsburgh played Detroit in the World Series.

At one point in the Series, Detroit star Ty Cobb reached first base on a single. While there, according to legend, he is said to have shouted to future Hall of Famer Honus Wagner, the Pittsburgh shortstop:

“Hey, Krauthead--I’m coming down on the next pitch.”

And he did. But Wagner not only tagged Cobb out, he mashed the baseball into Cobb’s mouth, touching off a brief fistfight. Wagner won that, too.

Trivia answer: On the 18th green of the Griffith Park Golf Course in Los Angeles.

Quotebook: Penn State football Coach Joe Paterno, 66, on his prospects for a national championship next season, after a 7-5 season: “We’re going to make another run at it . . . either that or I’ll kill myself trying.”