Babe Ruth, Out Standing In His Field, 1926

Yes, I know that is a terrible pun.

Here is an apocryphal story about Babe Ruth and this little known feat.

In this rare news photograph, Babe Ruth has just caught a baseball dropped from an airplane on July 22, 1926 at Mitchel Field (an early New York airport) in Garden City, Long Island. The New York Times reports Ruth donned an army uniform to drum up publicity for the Citizens Military Training Camps.

Six times, baseballs were dropped from the airplane and Ruth was sweating up a storm, running all over the field trying to catch one. On the seventh attempt, Ruth caught a baseball from 300 feet up, according to the Times account “establishing another world record.” The caption on the photo says the pilot, Captain Harold McClelland was travelling about 80 mph and dropped the ball from about 200 feet up.

Regardless of how high the plane was, it appears to be a true story as evidenced by the photograph with its caption and the July 23, 1926 New York Times story, which is reproduced below.

What couldn’t Babe Ruth do?