> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.grumpybuck.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # On This Date: Babe Ruth Hits No. 60, and 5 Things You Didn't Know About the 1927 Yankees (Sept. 30, 1927) - URL: https://www.grumpybuck.com/on-this-date-babe-ruth-hits-no-60-and-5-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-1927-yankees-sept-30-1927/ - Published: 2026-09-30T12:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-30T12:35:50.000Z - Description: Sept. 30, 1927: Babe Ruth hit No. 60 as the Yankees won their 109th game. Plus 5 things you didn't know about the greatest team ever. - Author: Brad Riddell - Tags: Sports History, On This Date, Baseball, MLB On this date in 1927, in the 8th inning of a 2-2 game at Yankee Stadium, Babe Ruth hit a pitch from Washington's Tom Zachary into the right-field seats for his **60th home run** of the season. Nobody had ever hit 60\. The Yankees won 4-2, their 109th win of the year. The next afternoon they beat Washington again to finish **110-44**, the most wins in American League history at the time. ![Yankee Stadium in its early years.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6a/b0/6ab0eb2f-edcf-411e-aaff-39e6be3d4e39/content/images/2026/09/yankee_stadium_1920s.jpg) Yankee Stadium in its early years. Only about 8,000 people were there to see it. The 1927 Yankees had clinched the pennant weeks earlier, and they are still the team every great team gets compared to. Here are 5 things about them you might not know. ## 1\. Ruth out-homered every other team in the American League ![Babe Ruth at Yankee Stadium in the 1920s.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6a/b0/6ab0eb2f-edcf-411e-aaff-39e6be3d4e39/content/images/2026/09/ruth_swing.jpg) Babe Ruth at Yankee Stadium in the 1920s. The 1927 Yankees hit 158 home runs. Ruth hit 60 of them by himself. No other American League team hit 60\. The Philadelphia A's came closest with 56\. The St. Louis Browns hit 55, the Tigers 51, the White Sox 36, the Senators 29, the Red Sox 28 and the Indians 26\. Ruth also hit more than the Pittsburgh Pirates, the team the Yankees swept in the World Series. Ruth and Lou Gehrig together hit 107\. The only team in either league that hit more was the New York Giants. ## 2\. Gehrig was winning the home run race in August ![New York Daily News, Aug. 20, 1927.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6a/b0/6ab0eb2f-edcf-411e-aaff-39e6be3d4e39/content/images/2026/09/dn_1927-08-20_gehrig_39th_headline.jpg) New York Daily News, Aug. 20, 1927. It wasn't a one-man show until the last month. Gehrig, 24 years old and in his 3rd full season, led Ruth 39-38 on Aug. 19\. On Labor Day they were tied at 44. !["Thirty eight for Babe. Thirty nine for Lou." Marshall Hunt in the Daily News, Aug. 20, 1927.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6a/b0/6ab0eb2f-edcf-411e-aaff-39e6be3d4e39/content/images/2026/09/dn_1927-08-20_38_for_babe.jpg) "Thirty eight for Babe. Thirty nine for Lou." Marshall Hunt in the Daily News, Aug. 20, 1927. Then Ruth hit 16 home runs in 25 days, and Gehrig hit 3\. Ruth's 17 home runs in September were the most anyone had ever hit in a month. Number 59, the day before, was a grand slam. Number 60 came in game 154 of 155, with one out and Mark Koenig on 3rd after a triple. Gehrig finished with 47 home runs and 173 RBIs. Tony Lazzeri was 3rd in the league with 18, so the Yankees went 1-2-3 in home runs. ![Ruth and Gehrig at West Point, 1927.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6a/b0/6ab0eb2f-edcf-411e-aaff-39e6be3d4e39/content/images/2026/09/ruth_gehrig_west_point_1927.jpg) Ruth and Gehrig at West Point, 1927. ## 3\. Walter Johnson made the last out, and it was the last time he ever played ![Walter Johnson on Aug. 2, 1927, getting a medal for his 20 years with the Senators. He retired after the season. Photo: National Photo Company, Library of Congress.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6a/b0/6ab0eb2f-edcf-411e-aaff-39e6be3d4e39/content/images/2026/09/walter_johnson_1927_medal.jpg) Walter Johnson on Aug. 2, 1927, getting a medal for his 20 years with the Senators. He retired after the season. Photo: National Photo Company, Library of Congress. In the top of the 9th, down 4-2 with 2 out, the Senators sent up a pinch-hitter for Zachary: Walter Johnson, 39 years old, with 417 wins, in his 21st and final season. He flied out to right field, where Ruth caught it. It was Johnson's last appearance in a major league game. ![The Washington Evening Star box score, Oct. 1, 1927. Ruth 3-for-3. Johnson 0-for-1: "Batted for Zachary in ninth inning."](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6a/b0/6ab0eb2f-edcf-411e-aaff-39e6be3d4e39/content/images/2026/09/star_1927-10-01_boxscore.jpg) The Washington Evening Star box score, Oct. 1, 1927\. Ruth 3-for-3\. Johnson 0-for-1: "Batted for Zachary in ninth inning." ## 4\. The man who gave up No. 60 became a Yankee and went 12-0 ![Tom Zachary with the Senators, 1925. Photo: Harris & Ewing, Library of Congress.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6a/b0/6ab0eb2f-edcf-411e-aaff-39e6be3d4e39/content/images/2026/09/zachary_1925_loc.jpg) Tom Zachary with the Senators, 1925\. Photo: Harris & Ewing, Library of Congress. Zachary insisted the ball was foul. The Yankees picked him up off waivers in August 1928, and he won a World Series game for them that October. ![New York Daily News, Oct. 8, 1928: "Zachary Holds Cards Down."](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6a/b0/6ab0eb2f-edcf-411e-aaff-39e6be3d4e39/content/images/2026/09/dn_1928-10-08_zachary.jpg) New York Daily News, Oct. 8, 1928: "Zachary Holds Cards Down." In 1929, he went **12-0** with a 2.48 ERA. Nobody has ever won more games in a season without losing one. ## 5\. Ruth wasn't allowed to win the MVP ![New York Daily News, Oct. 12, 1927. The story notes Ruth was "ineligible because he had won the honor before."](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6a/b0/6ab0eb2f-edcf-411e-aaff-39e6be3d4e39/content/images/2026/09/dn_1927-10-12_gehrig_mvp.jpg) New York Daily News, Oct. 12, 1927\. The story notes Ruth was "ineligible because he had won the honor before." Under the American League's rules at the time, a player could only win the award once, and Ruth had won it in 1923\. So in the greatest home run season anyone had ever seen, he wasn't eligible. Gehrig won it. ## The rest of the story ![The 1927 New York Yankees.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6a/b0/6ab0eb2f-edcf-411e-aaff-39e6be3d4e39/content/images/2026/09/yankees_1927_team.jpg) The 1927 New York Yankees. The ball was caught by Joe Forner, a 40-year-old truck driver from the Bronx, who sold it for $100\. It's in the Hall of Fame now. The Yankees had already broken the American League record for wins, 105 by the 1912 Red Sox, on Sept. 24. ![The Sunday Star, Sept. 25, 1927.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6a/b0/6ab0eb2f-edcf-411e-aaff-39e6be3d4e39/content/images/2026/09/star_1927-09-25_106th_win.jpg) The Sunday Star, Sept. 25, 1927. They swept the Pirates in the World Series. The last game ended in the bottom of the 9th, when Pittsburgh's Johnny Miljus struck out Gehrig and Bob Meusel with the bases loaded and then threw a wild pitch that let Earle Combs score the winning run. The 110 wins stood as the American League record until the 1954 Indians won 111\. Ruth's 60 lasted 34 years, until Roger Maris hit 61 in 1961. **Who's the greatest team you ever saw? Tell us in the comments.**