The Babe Chases 60: That Fabulous 1927 Season, Home Run by Home Run

The spectacular events of the '98 baseball summer forced some people's imaginations to ponder both undreamed-of numbers and a pair of immense shadows cast from the Yankee past. If Roger Maris's 61 in '61 was the stuff of legend, that the mighty Ruth had clobbered his inconceivable 60 in 1927 entered immediately into the national consciousness as the stuff of full-blown myth. Indeed, so much myth swirls around the Babe that reality is often captive to the fable. Not here, though. Relying heavily on contemporary newspaper accounts of the daily progress of the '27 season, Robertson goes to bat for the truth in this fascinating and well-conceived compendium of research and analysis that also examines Ruth's complex and often testy relationship with teammate Lou Gehrig. Every game in which Ruth popped one comes with a full box score and some kind of historical and baseball context attached. The whole year, in fact, resonates with the larger context of Lindbergh, Coolidge's decision not to run, the Sacco and Vanzetti executions, and The Jazz Singer's heralding the talkies. Such perspective carries with it immediacy; as Ruthian as the Ruth fable is in the end, Robertson makes it feel like it happened just yesterday. --Jeff Silverman