When the legendary sluggers of the series-winning New York Yankees were at their peak, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig were playing off-season playoff games. From time to time, they even caused storms in Canada.
One fall afternoon in the early 1930s, Ruth and Gehrig booked a game in Ottawa against a local team. Among the Ottawa players were Rangers ace center and Hall of Famer Frank Boucher as well as Frank’s brother Buck Boucher, another NHL player, but not a Ranger.
Remarkably, El Bambino was held hitless in his first three at-bats, but in the fourth he actually hit the ball. In Frank Boucher’s autobiography, “When the Rangers Were Young”, he recalls Ruth’s success:
“He hit a long fly deep to right center and when it left his bat it sure looked gone. But the ballpark had acres of space in the outfield. My brother Buck – in made a catcher who used my outfielder’s glove – played outside back to deep center to right As the ball started to go down, it appeared that Buck might have a chance.
“But as the ball was going down, Buck ran several loose little circles under it and finally, in a last desperate moment, after misjudging him, he stabbed him across the body with what was my glove, not his Usual catcher’s mitt.
“Buck caught the ball in the strap with one hand. At that point Ruth was on his way to second and he just stopped and laughed and thumbed his nose at Buck who was looking at my glove with astonishment!”
