This article was originally published in The World-Herald on June 21, 2008.
* * *
Babe Ruth was cooler than Gatsby, more famous than Houdini. He had just hit 60 home runs. When he barnstormed the country in the fall of 1927, strangers lavished him with gifts: gold watches and diamond pins and bronze plaques.
But an egg?
Only Omaha.
The city has celebrated visits over the years from diamond kings like Jackie Robinson and Hank Aaron. But no afternoon in Omaha baseball history compares with the Bambino staring down Lou Gehrig at League Park on Oct. 16, 1927, or the bizarre moment when Ruth laid eyes on his namesake.
History, and the newspapers of that era, failed to mention who got the idea or what eventually happened to the "Babe Ruth of poultry." But two hours before Ruth took the field in front of a packed house, he visited the American Milling company at 29th and B Streets, where his namesake, also known as Lady Amco of Norfolk, had just laid her 171st egg.
"When the Babe arrived at the roosts, a crowd of several hundred persons gathered around, " the Omaha Bee reported. . . . "But this was all routine to the Babe — he wanted to meet the little hen herself.
"'The chick! The chick!' Babe exclaimed when he spotted Superintendent George Danforth with the 'Babe' in his arms. At this point the crowd was tense . . . 'Howdy, chick, ' said the Babe with one of his largest and most inviting smiles."
Ruth was the comedian, Gehrig the wingman. When they rolled into Omaha, they were just one week removed from a World Series sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates. They stood at the peak of their respective careers, the two biggest stars in the nation's biggest sport having just completed two of the best offensive seasons in the game's history.
Envision Tiger playing 18 holes this weekend at Benson Park. It was bigger, much bigger.
Ballplayers in those days didn't shun the public in the offseason. In fact, they supplemented their reasonable salaries with barnstorming money. They toured towns across the country to play in exhibitions, hitting home runs and cracking jokes for show.
Ruth had been to Omaha before; he came in October 1922, stayed at the Fontenelle Hotel and played an exhibition with teammate Bob Meusel.
Five years later, Ruth was even more of an idol, having just set the home run record. He raked in $1,000 for each of 21 stops on the "Bustin' Babe's and Larrupin' Lou's" tour, which stretched from Providence, R.I., to San Diego.
For just $1 that balmy October afternoon, according to The World-Herald, "any amateur fan or fannette may sit in the spacious grand at Barney Burch's park and witness the biggest show since Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey and seven other associated circuses first offered their entire performance under one tent."
The day's meaningful event was the city amateur championship game between Brown Park Merchants and Omaha Prints. But first, Ruth joined the Merchants opposite Gehrig and the Prints for a nine-inning game.
Each started at first base. Each went 2 for 5.
Gehrig singled off Ruth's glove in the third inning, then tripled in the fifth. Ruth launched a ball over the center field fence in the fourth inning. With two on in the seventh, he lashed the first pitch over the right field palisades.
Ruth and Gehrig later fell apart, refusing to speak to each other until Gehrig's dying days. But in '27, they were close friends, competing for headlines and the home run crown. Ruth finished the '27 season with 60, 13 better than Gehrig's 47. The third-best slugger in the league hit just 18.
But home run totals don't reflect their staggering dominance. Ruth-Gehrig, or Gehrig-Ruth, ranked 1-2 in slugging, RBIs, runs, total bases and walks.
No wonder the '27 Yankees, who went 110-44, are still recognized as one of the best teams ever.
Ruth hit .356, with 60 homers (more than any other team in the American League) and 164 RBIs. He walked 137 times. He scored 158 runs. His slugging percentage of .772 is sixth all time. At 32, he had one of his best seasons.
Gehrig: .373, 47 homers, 175 RBIs. Hitting behind Ruth in the lineup, he slugged .765, seventh all-time. His 117 extra-base hits are second only to Ruth's 119 in 1921. He bagged 447 total bases (no one has had more since), including 52 doubles and 18 triples.
"Columbia Lou" was just 24, just 436 games into his streak of 2,130 consecutive, but 1927 was the best season he'd ever have, better even than his Triple Crown year of 1934.
Gehrig won the MVP in '27. Ruth would've challenged, but at the time, a player was allowed to win the award only once — Ruth had won in 1923.
Lee Sinins, creator of the Sabermetric Baseball Encyclopedia, ranks Ruth's '27 season as the sixth-best offensive season of all time, right behind Gehrig's '27 season. Only Ruth in '21, '23 and '20, and Barry Bonds in 2001 are ranked higher.
At League Park, which stood at 15th and Vinton Streets, Omahans got to see the two go head-to-head. Gehrig took the mound in the seventh after Ruth's second homer. In the eighth, he was nicked for a run on back-to-back doubles. With two on and two out, he intentionally walked a batter to face Ruth with the bases loaded.
Ruth fouled off pitch after pitch, each eliciting a collective gasp from the crowd. Finally, Gehrig struck him out swinging.
Ruth had better luck on the mound, where he spent the last three innings. The former pitcher turned Yankees right fielder informed batters what pitch he was going to throw and still struck out the side. He fanned Gehrig on four pitches.
"A notable feature, " The World-Herald's Archie Baley wrote, "was the zest and spirit with which the two Yankee stars entered the contest, side by side with the amateurs, several of whom showed signs of nervousness and stage fright at appearing in the same lineup with the big boys. The batting behemoths kept up a lively chatter throughout the game, encouraging the hurlers and keeping up the pep of the contest."
In the top of the ninth, Ruth struck out Johnny Rosenblatt, the future mayor. Then he coaxed Gehrig into a popup, slamming the door on a 9-5 victory.
Unsatisfied, he kept pitching to Gehrig until the Iron Horse ripped one over the right field fence.
The heroes gave way at 3:30 p.m. to the amateur championship game. But not before a special presentation.
Lady Amco's owner and the state secretary of agriculture gave Ruth one of her newest eggs. It was tied with a ribbon, lodged in a jewelry box and inscribed "From the Queen of Eggs to the King of Hitters." They sent it to New York, where it was drained and filled with a preservative, "so that the Bambino always can keep a souvenir of his namesake."
Ruth, upon receiving it, grinned, studied it and said, "Looks like an egg for breakfast now."
The Nebraska 100: Our greatest athletes
The Nebraska 100, originally selected in 2005 and then updated and re-ranked in 2015, came from a pool of nearly 500 names from the ranks of high school, college, amateur and professional sports from the past 140 years. Assistance came from a panel of veteran sports observers from across the state, with the newspaper's sports staff determining the final rankings.
After his days as a three-sport standout at McCook, Jeff Kinney came to Nebraska in 1968 to play quarterback. But two other QBs also joined the Huskers that season. So Kinney moved to flanker and eventually I-back, and that's where he flourished over the next three seasons.
Decorated college and high school football and wrestling star. High school teacher, coach and administrator. But Charles Bryant was foremost a pioneer. Bryant, an all-state athlete at Omaha South before graduating in 1950, became the first black football player of the modern era at Nebraska in 1952.
George Flippin was once described by Lincoln Star sports editor Cy Sherman as a "charged bull, into which was bred the tenacity of the bulldog, the ferocity of the tiger and the gameness of the man who knows no fear." He was Nebraska's first black athlete, in 1891, before black athletes were banned by the university from 1917 until the late 1940s.
Former Broken Bow cowboy Paul Tierney has won arguably the two most prestigious titles in rodeo. He finished his 10-year professional career by topping $1 million in career earnings, and his 2008 induction into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame makes him the most accomplished cowboy from Nebraska.
Shelby, Nebraska, is one of the flattest towns in one of the flattest states in America. The elevation difference between the highest and lowest points is 7 feet. It is literally a town without a hill, one of the last places you’d expect to produce an Olympic gold medalist in bobsled. But that didn't stop Tomasevicz.
Rhodes did it all. The Ansley native held three state high school track records at the same time (vault, long jump, high jump); was player-coach of Ansley’s first football team in 1920, which went undefeated that season; helped Ansley win a pair of state basketball titles; and played baseball. After graduating from high school in 1922, Rhodes went on to earn eight varsity letters at Nebraska — three in football and track, and two in baseball.
After a stellar three-sport high school career at Cambridge, Houghtelling surprised many by signing to play volleyball instead of basketball at NU.
Even though basketball had been her first love, she’s never regretted the decision.
Ruud is Nebraska’s all-time leading tackler with 432 stops. As a senior captain in 2004, he was a third-third All-American, a first-team All-Big 12 performer and NU’s defensive MVP. He was selected in the second round of the NFL draft. Ruud played eight NFL seasons, leading Tampa Bay in tackles for four of those.
Trotter starred at Omaha Creighton Prep, where he was a two-time all-state selection, and was Nebraska's first — and only — player named to the McDonald's High School All-American team.
Grand Island coach Doug Whitman once noted that swimmer Scott Usher was "one to watch." As it turned out, the entire country had the chance to watch Usher. Usher finished seventh in the 200 breaststroke in the 2004 Olympics and in 2008 fell just short of returning for a second Olympics.
Ron Kellogg is considered one of the best pure shooters in Nebraska prep history. The Omaha Northwest grad wasn't bad in college, either, according to then-Kansas coach Larry Brown.
Skinny 14-year-old Geddes left his father, eight brothers and eight sisters in Jacksonville, Florida, and arrived at Boys Town in 1962. Geddes had played football just once before arriving but took such a beating in a sandlot game against older players that he didn’t plan to play again. But Boys Town coach Skip Palrang spotted him and talked him into giving it a try. He eventually thrived and helped the Cowboys win a state title.
The 1978 Holdrege graduate turned down multiple scholarship offers from other schools, including a football and track package from Iowa State, to walk on with the Nebraska football team. The 150-pound walk-on became an integral part of the Husker offense. The three-year starter ranked in the top 10 in receptions and yards by the time he left in 1982.
While a career in the NBA never materialized for the Omaha Benson and Iowa graduate, Woolridge played overseas for 13 years. Leagues in Turkey, France, Germany, Venezuela, Israel and Cyprus. And the money was good. "To do what I loved professionally for 13 years, I can't complain about it," he said in 2013.
Louise Pound, in so many fields, was the trailblazer for women's athletics in the state. And this while becoming a preeminent educator in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln English department over a half-century. In 1890, Pound won the Lincoln city tennis championship. She captured the university's men's singles and doubles titles in 1891 and 1892 — the only female in school history to receive a men's varsity letter.
The best softball teams used to hail only from the West Coast. Keaton changed that. The former Papillion-La Vista and Nebraska star put Nebraska softball on the map with her dominating presence and performances in the pitcher's circle.
Once the last player to survive the cut on Nebraska's recruiting board, Noonan ultimately became a household Husker name. He earned first-team All-America honors and was named the Big Eight athlete of the year as a senior. His 12 sacks that season are tied for third in school history, and his 24 career sacks are tied for fourth.
John Parrella was Nebraska raised, the pride of Grand Island. NU defensive coordinator Charlie McBride once ranked him among the top three defensive tackles he had ever coached.
One press clipping described Hopp, a first baseman and outfielder, as "a dynamo who, perhaps more than anyone else, typifies the dashing, hell-for-leather play” of the St. Louis Cardinals. Hopp's 14-year career spanned five teams and as many World Series appearances, including back-to-back World Series victories with the Yankees. In all, he won four World Series and was an All-Star in 1946, when he hit .333 and drove in 48 runs for the Boston Braves.
Born in Holdrege in 1939 and raised near Axtell, Anderson began his quest at an early age and eventually built a makeshift shooting range as a high school senior at Axtell. After attending Nebraska for one year, Anderson joined the U.S. Army so he could pursue his Olympic dream.
Hare picked Nebraska from a slew of offers after starting for four years for Omaha Tech, where he averaged 26.4 points a game as a senior in 1963. Tech won the Class A title that year after going 22-2 and cruising through the state tournament by an average of 21 points a game. That team was voted into the Omaha Sports Hall of Fame and recently was chosen as having one of the best starting fives in Nebraska high school sports history.
Osborne remains just one of two men to win The World-Herald’s high school (1955) and state college (1959) athlete of the year awards. In high school, Osborne was all-state in football and basketball in 1954-55 and helped Hastings win a state title on the hardwood. In track, he won the discus at the state meet and placed second in the 440-yard dash. The future coach and congressman also stood out on the baseball diamond and had a pro football career.
Hoppen turned down a Kentucky scholarship offer. He also said no to Notre Dame, Missouri, Kansas and Colorado. And yes to Nebraska. Between 1982 and 1986, the 6-foot-11 center became NU’s all-time leading scorer, and he did it with clinical efficiency.
The only native Nebraskan to win a national wrestling championship at NU, Vering took his success to the international level, representing the U.S. in a pair of Olympics, claiming a world silver medal and winning gold at a Pan Am Games.
As a junior, Henry won golds for Bellevue West in the 200, 400 and long jump. Henry went on to set a national age-group record in the long jump and was part of the USA Junior World Team in 1995. At Nebraska, Henry won the NCAA indoor and outdoor long jump titles in 1996. All told, Henry was a three-time Big 12 champion and a 10-time All-American.
Kindig-Malone won gold medals at state in the long jump, hurdles and relays, but it wasn’t until she started getting scholarship offers from UCLA, Iowa and NU that she realized she might be good. Later, she won Big Eight heptathlon and pentathlon titles at Nebraska, becoming an All-American and helping the Huskers win their first indoor national championship in 1982. Kindig-Malone also won a Class C state basketball title with Hastings St. Cecilia in 1977.
Sauer and Bernie Masterson — No. 43 on the Nebraska 100 — paired together in the backfield to usher in one of the first great runs for Husker football. The two led Nebraska to Big Six championships in 1931, ’32 and ’33, when the Huskers went undefeated in league play. Sauer was an All-American in 1933 for the second-ranked Huskers. He also lettered in track, baseball and wrestling.
Cantwell, from Crete, won four straight Class B shot put and discus titles, including three consecutive all-class gold medals in the shot. She was a two-time NCAA shot put champion at SMU and was the 2002 U.S. indoor and outdoor champion as well as a 1999 world indoor bronze medalist. Cantwell also competed in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.
Orduna lettered at running back for the Huskers in 1967, ’68 and ’70, running for 1,968 yards and 26 touchdowns. The Omaha Central graduate also played three NFL seasons.
A two-way football player even during his professional career with Green Bay, Charles Brock helped revolutionize the linebacker position in the pros while helping the Packers win two NFL championships. The Columbus native was recalled as a fierce competitor by the late Lee Remmel, a team historian who covered the Packers for nearly 30 years.
Lindsey, a Millard North graduate, was a standout defender for Notre Dame, the U.S. national team and San Jose of the WUSA, in which she played three seasons.
The image of Cory Schlesinger barreling into the end zone for the winning touchdown in the 1995 Orange Bowl burns brightly in the memories of Nebraska football fans. Schlesinger did some barreling in his day, but prided himself on being a bruiser. That trait served him well, especially in his 12 years with the Detroit Lions.
Schmidt represented the U.S. in the 2008 Olympics in the 800. Four years later, she returned to run the 800 and 1,500. The Olympic appearances are accompanied by plenty of other honors: a 2006 U.S. indoor 800 championship; a pair of U.S. outdoor silvers in the 800 (2006, 2008); and while with the North Carolina Tar Heels, two outdoor 800 titles and a distance-medley relay championship.
Mann was a jack of all trades, but a master of all of them, too. “Les did everything well. He was tops at football, basketball, track and baseball. He would have been equally great in other sports,” said Mann’s close friend, Scott Dye, in a newspaper account following Mann’s 1962 death in a car accident.
Dan Brand’s path to an Olympic wrestling medal was anything but typical. He competed in football, basketball and track at Bellevue High, but never was all-conference. He made the Nebraska freshman team in basketball, but after being cut, he signed up for the intramural wrestling tournament. He won and went on to compete in the Olympics.
Vinciquerra played football at Tech High and Creighton University, but is better remembered for making the 1936 U.S. Olympic boxing team. A natural heavyweight, he won a national Golden Gloves championship that year as a 175-pounder. He had a pro record of 42 wins (26 by knockout), four losses and five draws from 1937 through 1941, fighting over 20 times in 1937.
The résumé almost seems too much to comprehend. Four-sport star at Lincoln High. Nebraska football great. Pittsburgh Pirates baseball signee. Four-time football All-Pro with the Green Bay Packers.
At Beatrice, Hohn was a four-time state hurdles champion, a state basketball champion and an all-state football player. As a senior in 1960, he was the Nebraska high school athlete of the year.
Lincoln High football went 23-1-1 during Debus' three seasons on the varsity squad. Debus also played basketball and was all-state in American Legion baseball. But his best sport was track and field, where at state he single-handedly nearly doubled the point total of the second-place team.
Skinner won two high school state golf titles, two junior state championships and the 1980 state match-play crown. She went to Oklahoma State, where she was a two-time Big Eight champion and was named Golf Magazine’s 1982 college player of the year. On the LPGA Tour, Skinner won events in 1985, ’86, ’87, ’93, ’94 and ’95 before leaving in 2003.
Woohead rushed for the second-most yards (7,962) in the history of college football in all divisions and won the Harlon Hill Trophy (Division II’s version of the Heisman) twice. He finished his NFL career with 2,238 yards and 15 touchdowns rushing, along with 2,698 yards and 17 touchdowns receiving.
The 6-foot-5, 300-pound offensive tackle was a model of consistency. The three-time all-conference pick flattened plenty of defensive players, with an incredible one sack allowed in 46 career games with the Huskers. As a senior, he captained Tom Osborne's first national title team.
No. 58, Larry Station
A 2009 inductee into the College Football Hall of Fame, the former Iowa and Omaha Central great was a two-time All-America linebacker, three-time first-team All-Big Ten selection and an NFL draft pick. At Omaha Central, he was twice named to the All-Nebraska team.
At Nebraska, Cahoy — an Omaha South grad — earned four NCAA national championships — two on the horizontal bar and two on the parallel bars. He made the 1980 U.S. Olympic team.
As a senior in 1985, Rathman produced the best season ever by a Husker fullback. He ran for 881 yards, a position record by 164 yards. He went on to win two Super Bowls with the San Francisco 49ers in a nine-year NFL career. In 1989, he led NFC running backs with 73 catches, and he capped the season with two touchdowns in a Super Bowl victory over Denver.
A left-hander with a nearly unstoppable fadeaway hook, Witte, a Lincoln High grad, became a three-time All-American (1932-34) at Wyoming. He was the first collegian to score more than 1,000 points in a career (1,069), earning him the nickname "One Grand Witte."
Losing was something Olson never dealt with at Omaha Northwest, going 27-0 with a 0.76 ERA, 276 strikeouts, seven no-hitters — including four in the state playoffs and one in the state championship game — and four state titles before playing at Auburn and being drafted fourth overall in the 1988 MLB draft.
Stecher won the world wrestling championship on July 5, 1915, in Omaha, beating Charlie Cutler in two falls at Rourke Park in front of 15,000 fans. Stecher wore a championship belt studded with 308 diamonds. He became a celebrity across Nebraska. In 1920, he reportedly earned a winner’s purse of $40,000 — four times what Babe Ruth earned the year before.
As a senior, Jones earned all-state honors in football as a halfback and then as a point guard, helping Boys Town win the Class A state basketball championship. But where he really excelled was track. He was the state champion in the mile run, became an All-American at Iowa and was a two-time Olympian.
The first woman from Nebraska to make the U.S. Olympic team, Frost competed in the discus at the 1968 Mexico City Games. In June 2015, at the age of 70, Frost set one world (javelin) and two American records (shot put, discus) for the 70-74 age group. She already owned two USA Track and Field age group records in the discus — 60-64 and 65-69.
A native of St. Paul, Nebraska, Randy Rasmussen was part of one of the great upsets in Super Bowl history when he blocked for Joe Namath in the 1969 win over Baltimore. He was selected in the 12th round of the draft by the Jets. He stayed for 15 seasons and 207 games, including 144 in a row.
Schonewise had been a three-sport star at Bertrand High School, earning All-Nebraska honors in volleyball and basketball while winning state titles in the 100-meter low hurdles in 1981 and 1982. She helped Nebraska reach its first national title game in 1986 and won the Honda-Broderick Award, the Heisman Trophy of volleyball, in 1987.
Scott Frost — a Parade All-American in football and a state champion shot-putter in track at Wood River — battled through criticism to lead the Huskers to the 1997 national title. He became the first NU quarterback to accumulate more than 1,000 rushing yards and 1,000 passing yards in the same season.
Nicknamed "The Burr Oak" after his hometown, Steinkuhler rode a strong work ethic when he enrolled at Nebraska in 1979 as a freshman. In practices, he prided himself on finishing first in running drills. The effort paid off. Steinkuhler was a starter at guard for Husker teams that were never ranked lower than eighth in his junior or senior years. In his final season, he became one of only 13 players to win both the Lombardi and Outland — the most prestigious awards given to college lineman — and his No. 71 jersey became one of only 17 to ever be retired at Nebraska.
Reynolds garnered All-America honors as he scored 22 touchdowns in the 1950 season and added enough extra points to score 157 points. He finished second in the country with 1,342 yards rushing in just nine games, had eight straight 100-yard games and finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting.
Hokuf was twice All-Nebraska in football and basketball and state pentathlon champion at Crete High; three-time all-conference in football at Nebraska; two-time All-Big Six in basketball for the Huskers and a charter member of the school’s basketball hall of fame; the 1933 Big Six javelin champion while scoring in three events; played three years in the NFL with the Boston Redskins. Not to mention his versatility for the Husker football team.
Roland "Gip" Locke was called the "greatest of all time" by his coach, Henry Schulte — and for good reason. Locke held world records in the 100 and 220 (20.5 seconds on May 1, 1926). He went on to become the NCAA outdoor champion in both the 100 (9.9) and the 220 (20.9) in 1926. He captained the NU track team in 1925 and '26, and lettered in football and baseball.
Masterson helped lead the Huskers to 23 wins and a tie in 28 games under coach Dana X. Bible, never losing a home game as a Husker quarterback. Elected into the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame in 1977, Masterson was also a swimming and track star at Lincoln High and in college.
Presnell was a three-year letter winner at halfback for Nebraska, earning All-Missouri Valley Conference honors in 1926 and 1927. As a senior in 1927, he led the nation in total yards. The two-time All-Pro, who was 5-foot-10 and 190 pounds in his playing days, played halfback, quarterback, safety and kicker in the NFL. Presnell led the league in scoring in 1933 for the Portsmouth Spartans — the forerunners of the Lions.
Born near Blue Springs, Nebraska, he had no opportunity to play high school football. But he quickly caught on to the sport when he went to college at Nebraska Wesleyan. He then transferred to Nebraska, where he played mostly halfback his junior year — scoring on runs of 90, 85, 70 and 58 yards — before moving to end as a senior.
Hooper was All-Nebraska in basketball three times for Alliance High School. She was one of the best players in Nebraska basketball history, finishing first-team All-Big Ten three times, winning Big Ten Player of the Year in 2014 and finishing second at NU in career points and rebounds.
In 1976, Vollertsen led Palmyra to its first state tournament, earning all-state honors. After helping the Americans win bronze at the 1982 world championships, Vollertsen was part of a breakthrough for Team USA. The women won silver at the 1984 Los Angeles Games — the first Olympic medal in volleyball for the U.S.
The 1981 Gothenburg High graduate was named to five Pro Bowls and finished his professional career with 422 receptions, 4,630 yards and 30 touchdowns. But what stands out most in a diverse athletic career that also included All-America football and track and field honors at the University of Wyoming? “My highlight was my senior year of high school football at Gothenburg,” Novacek said.
Forget for a moment that he amassed 3,094 all-purpose yards as a four-year starting halfback for NAIA power Central Oklahoma or that he led the NFL in average yards per kickoff return for Detroit in 1969. It’s the winning time by Williams in a now legendary 100-yard dash that still raises eyebrows — nine-and-a-half seconds.
After winning gold medals at state for Omaha Central in the 100- and 220-yard dashes in 1958, Sayers went to Omaha University to compete in track and football. On the track, he won NAIA championships in the 100 in 1962 and the 100 and 200 in ’63. His 100 time of 10.2 in ’62 was tied for second best in the world, and his 200 time of 21.0 was tied for fifth. He beat future Olympic gold medalist “Bullet” Bob Hayes twice in the 100 during ’62.
Projected for greatness by the older fighters at the C.W. Boxing Club as a youth, Terence “Bud” Crawford lived up to lofty expectations by becoming a top-ranked amateur and then Omaha’s first world champion. His accomplishments and stardom have continued to skyrocket since these rankings were released in 2015.