RICHMOND, Va. -- May 25, 1935 didn't mark Babe Ruth’s final game, but man, it really should’ve.
The Sultan of Swat, on the wrong side of 40, was unceremoniously jettisoned by the Yankees during spring training. Sensing an opportunity to spark some interest in the team, the perennially cellar-dwelling Braves brought the Babe back to Beantown as a free agent. But, as a shell of his former self, Ruth batted .153 with three home runs through the first month of the season and, despite playing for a team that would finish with 38-115, the writing was on the wall.
Nonetheless, ol’ Babe still had just enough of the old magic left when he stepped into the batter’s box in Pittsburgh that afternoon in late May. He notched his 712th, 713th, and 714th homers, his record to stand for four decades. After his third dinger, a blast the likes of which Forbes Field had seldom seen, he went straight to the locker room, calling it a day. As it turned out, it would have been the perfect moment to call it a career, as well.
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