Facing Babe Ruth
In 1931, Day got a second shot at the big leagues, playing in 22 games with the Brooklyn Robins -- now known as the Los Angeles Dodgers. He went 2–2 with a career-low 4.55 ERA for the Robins. He played in his final major league game in September 1931 and spent the 1932 and 1933 seasons with minor league stints in Minneapolis and Baltimore.
Hall-of-Fame catcher Al Lopez caught for Day in 1931. In an Associated Press interview, Lopez recounted a story about a 1931 exhibition game against the New York Yankees. "The fans had been reading about him being a champion hog caller, so they all started calling 'Yip, yip yeeee!' He strikes out the first hitter, puts the ball and glove down and lets out this call. He strikes out the next batter and does it again. Babe Ruth was on deck, and he gets a big kick out of it. He’s laughing at this guy. Then he has Ruth with two strikes. It gets real quiet. The fans are hoping he'll strike out Ruth so he can yell again. On the third pitch, Ruth hits one a mile over the fence. Pea Ridge never did his hog call again.”
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Famous quotes containing the words facing and/or babe:
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