Ernie Shore’s “Perfect” Game and Babe Ruth’s Ejection in 1917

Ernie Shore

"The Boston Globe covered this game with as much attention to the fracas that got Babe Ruth ejected after walking the first batter as to Ernie Shore’s feat of retiring the 26 batters he faced in relief, which, with the first batter being thrown out stealing, made 27 straight outs, if not quite an absolute perfect game. It happened at Fenway Park on June 23, 1917, in the first game of a doubleheader vs. the Washington Senators. Here’s most of the Globe’s account: 'FAME FOR SHORE, SOX IN TWIN WIN. No-Hit, No-Run and No-Man-to-First Performance. Modest Ernie Shore took a place in the Hall of Fame as a no-hit, no-run, no man-reached-first base pitcher in the curtain-raiser of the twin bill with the Griffmen at Fenway Park yesterday. It was the best pitching seen in this city since 1904 when Cy Young put over a similar feat, the only difference being that Uncle Cyrus pitched to every batter, while the Carolina professor did not get into the exercises until after Ruth, who had walked Morgan, the first batter, had been removed from the pastime for striking Umpire Brick Owns. . ."
Misc. Baseball

Babe Ruth

Perfect Relief For The Babe
"Ernie Shore, a tall, lanky pitcher from North Carolina, made himself comfortable in the corner of the Red Sox dugout at Fenway Park in Boston. It promised to be a long, lazy afternoon for Shore—that afternoon of June 23, 1917. The Red Sox were playing the Washington Senators in a doubleheader, and Shore, who had pitched against the Yankees two days before, expected to watch both games from his cozy spot on the bench. The Red Sox pitchers were Babe Ruth and Dutch Leonard, and against Washington, then as now, it seemed certain they would be sufficient. Ruth, starting the first game, walked Ray Morgan, Washington's lead-off hitter. Ruth had argued with Umpire Brick Owens on the ball three pitch and now he stalked off the mound toward the plate. Owens whipped off his mask and advanced to meet him, whereupon Ruth threw a looping right-hand punch. Some say the punch caught Owens on the jaw, others say the left ear but, in any event, both Ruth and his catcher, Chet Thomas, were thrown out of the game."
SI Vault

Ruth or Aaron? Epilogue
"I had written a few weeks ago on the similarity between the Aaron Myette ejection that almost lead to a no-hitter and the 1917 Babe Ruth ejection that lead to what was once called a perfect game by Ernie Shore (until MLB changed its criteria). Jon Fifer wrote to me and pointed out that the circumstances surrounding Ruth's ejection were slightly more involved: 'On the subject of the game in which Babe Ruth started, walked the first batter, got tossed, and Ernie Shore came in, picked off the man on first, and then set down 26 straight, Ruth wasn't ejected because he simply 'argued balls and strikes'. He also punched the umpire, knocking him out, and had to be corralled into the dugout by his entire team. I was always curious about this game, first seeing it described as Ruth being ejected, then ejected for arguing balls and strikes, then for hitting the ump, finally for knocking the ump out. Robert Cramer kind of glosses over this in his biography, Babe, but I think I first got the complete story from Bill James, and have seen it since elsewhere.' He was absolutely correct. I was writing extemporaneously-don't try this at home; it's dangerous-and had left out those details. I wanted to investigate further, and then got caught up in other things. That's why I'm just getting to it now-my apologies to Jon and my thanks for his patience. I found a few sources with similar stories, but since they come from very interesting source and I myself am incredibly verbose, I thought I would let those sources speak for themselves at length."
Mike's Baseball Rants

Babe and Ernie

This Day In History: June 23, 1917
"On this day in history, 1917, Babe Ruth was on the mound for the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park against the Washington Senators. He threw four straight balls, at least as far as the umpire, Clarence 'Brick' Owens, was concerned, walking Ray Morgan. Ruth thought the second and the fourth pitch were both strikes, so charged the umpire and reportedly yelled at him, 'If you’d go to bed at night, you *expletive*, you could keep your eyes open long enough in the daytime to see when a ball goes over the plate!' As you might imagine, the umpire didn’t take too kindly to this and told Ruth that if he didn’t shut up and get back to the mound, he’d be thrown out of the game. Ruth then yelled at him, 'Throw me out and I’ll punch ya right in the jaw!' Owens then threw him out and Ruth attempted to punch him in the jaw… He missed though, and instead hit a glancing blow behind the umpire’s ear, but nevertheless knocked Owens down."
This Day In History