Jim Bradshaw: Crowley ballyard was too big even for Babe Ruth

Local folk were disappointed when Babe Ruth came to Crowley in late March 1921 and didn’t hit a home run.
Of course, it was hard to do in Crowley in those days.
The baseball diamond was laid out inside the fairgrounds race track so that the outfield stretched forever and home runs were nearly impossible.
The Yankees were in town to play an exhibition game against the Indianapolis Indians, an American Association team that did part of its spring training in Crowley that year.
The Yankees, who spent their spring in Shreveport in 1921, won the game 5-0, but Ruth didn’t contribute much to the win.
He hit two long flies that were caught and two infield grounders that were handled easily.
It was not unusual for big league teams to visit warm south Louisiana back then.
Most of them held training camp in the sunny south and then took leisurely train trips North, playing exhibitions along the way.
The St. Louis Cardinals had stopped in Crowley the week before, beating Indianapolis 7-6.
At that game, the Crowley Signal reported, “the attendance was fine and the enthusiasm was of the white heat type.”
According to the New York Times, “The usual half holiday was declared” when the Yankees came to town, and “close to 3,000 fans, which number is about three-eighths the town’s population” turned out for the game.
“Babe Ruth’s failure to hit for the circuit, or even to reach first base on any of his four trips to the plate, was something of a disappointment to the crowd, which gave the battering bambino a cordial and most noisy welcome
"The daily paper got out an early afternoon extra, with the first page given over mainly to Ruth and his less celebrated conferees.
"Ruth had been interviewed on various topics, including Crowley’s seven-story skyscraper, as it is called down here, and in which much pride is taken by the community.”
That skyscraper was the new bank building on North Parkerson Avenue. When it was built in 1920, it was the tallest building between New Orleans and Houston and still is the tallest building in Crowley.
“I noticed your skyscraper,” Ruth told a writer for the Signal, “great for a city of this like. … You can’t imagine what … the signs of progress mean. It is all in the thought, after all; think right, live right, and you get there with flying colors,”
Ruth told the Signal, “I go back in spirit to the corner lot where I first learned to bat the ball and I thank God for giving me the power to punch the pig skin in the nose.
"I thank the teachers in the Catholic school back in Baltimore who taught me the first principles of the great game.”
According to the Times, Babe demonstrated “his remarkable hitting power even though he failed to deliver the much-expected home run,” explaining that “the Indianapolis outfielders were able to play so far back that it was impossible to hit beyond them.”
Local fans were also impressed with Yankee pitcher Carl Mays, who threw with an underhand delivery that mystified the Indianapolis hitters.
“The underhand flinger … had the Hoosiers well tamed,” the Times reported. “He served up the underhand toss from down near the ground … and the American Association hitters were helpless.”
Eddie Ash, sports editor of the Indianapolis News, reported that, even though they lost to the major league teams, the Indians were well satisfied with their stay in Crowley. The team took over the second floor of the Lyons Hotel and ate most of their meals at the Liberty Café, with at least one exception.
“Though unaccustomed to such events,” Ash wrote, “the players went through … [a] gumbo banquet … given by the Ladies’ Aid Society of the Methodist Church in fine style.”
“The Crowley boosters do not ask much in return for their hospitality,” he wrote, “merely requesting that visitors say a good word for Crowley and … Eat More Rice.”
A collection of Jim Bradshaw’s columns, "Cajuns and Other Characters," is now available from Pelican Publishing. You can contact him at jimbradshaw4321@gmail.com or P.O. Box 1121, Washington LA 70589.