ABSTRACT
One of the legendary moments in American baseball occurred during the third game of the 1932 World Series when Babe Ruth, with two strikes against him and the game tied, pointed to center field and then hit the next pitch to where he had pointed for a home run. The classic version of this story has, however, been challenged on numerous occasions. For example, Woody English, the captain of the team opposing Ruth, claims that Ruth never pointed:
Both the reporters and Woody English saw exactly the same posture assumed by Babe Ruth’s body at a crucial moment: In the midst of his turn at bat, after having swung twice at the ball and missed, Ruth raises his arm into the air in front of him, and extends a finger or two. In the legend the arm with its extended fingers performs the action of pointing toward a particular place; for Woody English, Ruth’s hand was displaying the number two, the current strike count.
