Mick & the Babe

Aside from some secondary, late-season statistics, the American League pennant race is over. The Yankees are in. Yet even Yankee haters are still watching the ball games, for these days the Yanks supply their own competition. Every inning that he comes to bat, their broad-backed slugger, Mickey Charles Mantle, tangles with one of baseball's fanciest records: the massive total of 60 home runs hit by the Yankees' Babe Ruth during the 1927 season.

At week's end the Oklahoma Kid had 117 out of 154 games behind him; 42 homers were already in the book (10 righthanded, 32 lefthanded). He was eight games ahead of the Babe's 1927 pace. But ahead of him was the Babe's whirlwind finish. In his big year Ruth hit 17 home runs in September alone (four in the last three games).

To the delight of the scorekeeper-historians, their figures are already the foundation for endless argument. "The Babe got a break," says the man in the stands. "The opposition had to pitch to him. Gehrig was always on deck." The long-memoried fellow alongside demurs: "Look at the record. They walked the Babe 138 times in '27. He had only 540 at bats. Mantle has 413 with a fourth of the season left. And what about Berra? Do pitchers pass the Mick to get at him?"

But the Babe's detractor has a memory too. "Weren't the rules on Ruth's side then? There were no ground-rule doubles. Some of his homers actually bounced into the stands. Counting them that way, Mantle might have broken the record already." The sentimentalist has a ready answer: "The fences are shorter now, which makes things more than even. And what about the rabbit ball?"

The argument will live even if Mickey fails. And even if the 60-homer mark is passed, Ruth will reign supreme. His name still fills the record books. For all his switch-hitting talents, Mickey will never pitch 29 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings in World Series play. He will have a tough time even approaching the Babe's lifetime total of 714 homers. It will be many a long summer before he bats in 2,209 runs. As long as he remains a Yankee, Mantle will be playing his home games in the House That Ruth Built.

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