For Bryce Harper — 2024 Is A Postseason Chance to Etch His Name in the Record Books Among the Best of All-Time.
In the third game of the 1932 World Series as the Yankees played the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field — the legendary Babe Ruth stepped to the plate with the game tied at 4–4 in the fourth inning. This was not the same Babe Ruth who took major league baseball by storm beginning in 1919 as a member of the Boston Red Socks, or the man who etched his name into baseball lore as a New York Yankee.
Just a month prior — The Sultan of Swat was diagnosed with appendicitis. He was heavy, and was feeling the effects of both drinking and smoking. Running was even more difficult. As he approached the plate in the deadlocked contest — perhaps the most famous power slugger in baseball history who was already legendary in his time — Ruth was heckled both by the bench of the Chicago Cubs and by their fans.
What happened next would be one of the most controversial moments ever in American sports history.
Down in the count 0–2, and after taking two consecutive strikes Ruth walked to the plate and pointed towards a fluttering American flag in center field at Wrigley. He then launched a home run to deep center field. Almost no one remembers Lou Gehrig’s home run in the same inning.
This week, Bryce Harper’s Philadelphia Phillies clinched a spot in the 2024 NL Playoffs by winning the NL East — 92 years after Babe Ruth’s Yankees made it to the 1932 World Series. What makes this significant is that Bryce Harper and Babe Ruth are the only two players in MLB history with fifteen home runs in less than fifty post-season games.
For the Phillies — the oldest continuously operating sports franchise in America since 1883— this year is significant for more reasons than just clinching the NL East for the first time since 2011. It’s been 45 years since All-Star Pete Rose left the Cincinnati Reds for Philadelphia in 1979 for $3.2 Million. The result was a 1980 World Series Championship for Philadelphia over the Kansas City Royals.
One Hundred and ten years ago — in the offseason of 1914 — the Phillies would begin to build a roster that would take them to their first World Series in 1915. That appearance was made possible in part by a February trade of Sherry Magee for Oscar Dugey, Possum Whitted, and cash compensation. Or fifteen years ago in 2009 when the Phillies won the National League Pennant to advance to the World Series against those New York Yankees.
After winning the World Series in 1932 and plagued by health problems — Babe Ruth would never win another World Series and would play his last season in New York in 1934. Harper is hoping that three key anniversaries for the 141 year history of the Phillies point to a World Series appearance once again in 2024. Whether the Phillies win this year or not, Harper’s legacy is yet to be solidified.
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