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The Strat-O-Source Volume 5, Issue 4
Late July, 1998 |
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Ruth Powers American League to Victory! The best of the best. That is what being an All-Star in the OOSL represents. Of all the best players, of all the years that base ball has been played, to be selected to play in this series represents reaching a level that is significant indeed. So all the brightest stars came out to shine then, to compete in the best of seven extravaganza that is the OOSL All-Star Series. The games were played on the fields of the National League's St. Louis Cardinals and the Junior Circuit's Philadelphia A's, with home field advantage going to the Nationals. But the real advantage in this series was the return to the American League of the brightest of all these stars, the one and only Babe Ruth. Last year The Bambino called New York's Polo Grounds home, but this season he has returned to Yankee Stadium, and while the Yanks have fallen on hard times as a team, Mr. Ruth is certainly not the reason. Apparently he had powerful motivation to prove to the Nationals that he was still The Sultan of Swat, and he chose these games as his personal forum, spurring the Americans on to a 4-1 series win. Ruth hit .455 with 5 long balls and 11 ribbies in the five game set to snare unanimous MVP honors, and who can argue with that? Consider the Nationals pitching staff was populated with names such as Pete Alexander, Walter Johnson, Satchel Paige and Randy Johnson and those numbers look all the more imposing. But Ruth was not alone in knocking these guys around - the Americans smacked the ball around to the amazing tune of a .356 team batting average! Next to that gaudy number, the National's .298 looks positively wimpy. A game by game recap follows ... |
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