HOT SPRINGS, Ark. — The 119th World Series will begin this Friday night between the Diamondbacks and the Rangers where Major League Baseball will crown a new champion. However, more than a century ago one of the game's greatest hitters began his legacy in Garland County.
Hot Springs is known for natural water, bathhouses— and at one time Spring training baseball. In fact, for several seasons the "Sultan of Swat" called the Spa City home in the Spring. Babe Ruth first came to Hot Springs with the Boston Red Sox in 1915 when he was 20 years old.
Steve Arrison, CEO of Visit Hot Springs described the moment the Great Bambino arrived; he was hooked.
“Party hard and play hard. He worked out really hard, he always took at-bats. Later in his career he really liked the casinos," he explained. “Back in the 1900s, Hot Springs was like a little Las Vegas. They had gambling, of course, it wasn’t legal, but they had all kinds of stuff going on here."
On the diamond by day, looking for the ace of diamonds by night— however, Babe’s biggest hit wasn’t at the blackjack table, it was much closer to a bayou where Jamie Bridges’ family has owned the Arkansas Alligator Farm since 1947.
“The farm was started in 1902 from a man named Campbell. The paperwork we have says he went down to the Everglades of Florida and brought back 1,500 alligators,” Bridges said.
Fast forward to 1918, Ruth was primarily a pitcher for the Red Sox, chomping at the bit for a chance at the plate when he finally got his chance. It would turn out to be a day that would change America’s Pastime forever.
“He’s playing at Whittington Park against the Brooklyn Dodgers on St. Patrick’s Day March 17, 1918, where he hit a home run that both dugouts stand up and applauded. It leaves the park and lands in the alligator farm across the street,” he described.
Taking a walk around the Arkansas Alligator Farm Bridges pointed out one special spot.
"It landed supposedly in this gator pond right here," he said. "You can see we’ve got a sign that says March 17, 1918. A lot of people come here to see where the ball landed.”
Now is this just a story for the birds or did Babe Ruth really do this? Matt Monagan, a writer for MLB had to know the answer.
“I saw this one about him hitting a 500-foot home run into an alligator farm and I got to look into this,” Monagan said.
He added that the Hot Springs homer launched the Babe primarily off the mound and into the box.
“They were like we need to get this guy in the field, and we need to get him hitting full time. That was kind of the beginning because he put on a show in Hot Springs,” he explained.
But exactly how far did this majestic mash travel? Arrison's team wanted to verify exactly that.
"We brought in a consulting firm and an engineering firm. We know where home plate is in Whittington Park. The Alligator Farm is the oldest attraction in the state of Arkansas. The alligator farms are right where they’ve always been. They’ve never moved, they measured it with satellites and all the things we can do these days and it was 573 feet," he said.
One swing right here in Arkansas launched the folklore of Babe Ruth— and Bridges believed that if it was hit today the ball would've traveled even further!
“They didn’t have the bats and balls they have today so can you imagine what it could have been," he added.
Who knows, without Hot Springs, the legend of the Great Bambino might never have surfaced.
“We’re just thankful it happened in Hot Springs and we’re just thankful to have one of three Babe Ruth statues in the world," Arrison added.
The other two statues are in Japan and the Babe’s hometown of Baltimore.