The Bellyache Heard 'Round the World

Did You Know

The Bambino showed up to spring training in 1925 as a bloated out of shape man child. Five years of his fun loving, hard drinking and raucous behavior had caught up to him. After two days of fainting spells and belly aches, he was admitted to the hospital and received a diagnosis of an ulcer. He underwent surgery and was confined to the hospital for 30 days. By the time he returned to action the Yankees were 15 and 25 in 7th place and declared themselves out of contention and commenced with retooling.  In June, a slumping 1B Wally Pipp came down with a headache.  Manager Miller Huggins replaced him with Lou Gehrig and that was the end of Pipp as a Yankee. He was later purchased off waivers by the Reds where he played for the next three seasons. Meanwhile nothing would deter Ruth from having fun.  Miller Huggins got fed up with his antics and fined him $5,000. Ruth would have his worse season as a Yankee hitting .296 with 25 HRs in 98 games. The Yanks would slump to an embarrassing 7th place finish.