As a Minor, Ruth Was a Major Talent

Babe Ruth, who was born 100 years ago next Monday, made his first big splash in baseball as a minor league pitcher, according to Ruth historian Robert Creamer.

Ruth, 19, signed with the then-minor league Baltimore Orioles in 1914, fresh out of a Baltimore reform school, St. Mary’s. Writing in the current issue of Smithsonian, Creamer describes Ruth’s first professional pitching performance, in an exhibition game:

“He took the mound against the Philadelphia Athletics, then the most powerful team in baseball, winner of three of the previous four World Series.

“Ruth stopped the Athletics, pitched a complete game and beat them, 6-2. By the time the Orioles returned to Baltimore to start the season, Ruth was famous, and he was famous the rest of his life.”

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Trivia time: Name the site for the only Super Bowl played in Texas.

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Nothing for granted: Mike Henderson, coach of the Guide Rock (Neb.) High boys’ basketball team, had watched his teams suffer through an 87-game losing streak.

But in a recent game, his team had a five-point lead over Orleans with 3.5 seconds remaining. He called time out.

“It was hard for me to contain my excitement there, but I had to talk to the boys and remind them of a few things,” he explained.

“We lost a seven-point lead with 1:49 to go against Kenesaw. After that, I knew anything could happen.”

Not to worry, Coach. Guide Rock won, 57-50.

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If you build it . . . Thomas Eagleton, who spearheaded the St. Louis drive to bag the Rams, said one element in St. Louis’ favor was lacking in other cities’ runs at the Rams: The stadium known only so far as Exhibit Hall No. 6.

The 20-story structure that rises on 16 acres of downtown St. Louis is about two-thirds complete. It’s a $260-million project that’s part of the America’s Convention Center. When the Rams don’t need the stadium--about 355 days per year--it becomes 160,000 square feet of convention space.

“We wouldn’t have gotten the Rams if we didn’t have the stadium about to come into being,” said Eagleton, a former U.S. Senator.

“No one else built on the if-come.”

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Add stadium: Georgia Frontiere’s 48-seat luxury box will be big enough to also accommodate her baby grand piano.

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Cy Young award: A golfer who sinks two holes in one in one round isn’t quite “Believe it or Not” material, but it is when the golfer has one arm.

Cy Young, 70, of Delray Beach, Fla., lost part of his left arm 60 years ago. But that didn’t stop him Saturday from getting two aces at Lakeview Golf Course in Delray Beach.

Young used a three-iron on the 96-yard first hole, then holed the 107-yard 13th with a three-wood.

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Trivia answer: Rice Stadium in Houston, for Super Bowl VIII, Jan. 13, 1974.

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Quotebook: Connecticut basketball Coach Jim Calhoun, whose previously unbeaten team had just been routed, 88-59, at Kansas: “I have just talked to our athletic director and we are not dropping basketball at the University of Connecticut.”