The Called Shot: Babe Ruth, The Chicago Cubs, & The Unforgettable Major League Baseball Season of 1932 by Thomas Wolf (review)

A reader might pause at the title of this book, The Called Shot: Babe Ruth, The Chicago Cubs, & The Unforgettable Major League Baseball Season of 1932, and wonder: how do you cover all of these subjects in a cohesive manner?

Well, Thomas Wolf is up to the task. This book goes well beyond the title in its scope and offers something for almost everyone. For baseball fans, there is a chronicle of the 1932 season and the plight of the Chicago Cubs, who overcame a variety of off-the-field distractions to unexpectedly win the National League pennant.

Wolf provides a warts-and-all account of the on and off the field exploits of Babe Ruth, who comes from the St. Mary’s Industrial School for Boys to become a larger-than-life personality. Named to the first class for the National Baseball Hall of Fame, many think him to be the greatest baseball player of all time. At the end of his life, he was wracked with health problems and died much too early.

Rogers Hornsby may be a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame for his baseball prowess, but his lack of skills as a people person and his gambling addiction were not star qualities.

There is the great influence of William Wrigley and his effect on the fortunes of his Cubs both in life and after his death.

We relish when Joe McCarthy, fired by the Cubs, gets his revenge when his New York Yankees swept the 1932 World Series from his old team. Kennesaw Mountain Landis and his unflinching approach to serving as the Major League Baseball commissioner are also examined in depth. There are profiles of so many famous and not-so-famous baseball players that are too numerous to mention, but all equally compelling.

For history buffs, there are mentions of Herbert Hoover, a Washington Senators fan, who was in office during the Great Depression. The book mentions Cubs fan John Dillinger, who many think could have come out of prison to play in the Majors. He chose to rob banks instead. Wolf also tells the unlikely story of warden Charles Ireland taking two convicts, one a murderer, to the 1932 World Series games in Chicago.

We learn Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a die-hard Yankees fan who was present for the 1932 series. Later, there is an interesting meeting between Roosevelt and a future president as well.

Pop culture enthusiasts also can find items of interest. You will discover how and why Bernard Malamud, a young Brooklyn Dodgers fan, found the inspiration in his later life to write The Natural, a novel which would become a movie starring Robert Redford.

Violet Popovich and the role she played in the 1932 season for the Cubs provides a fascinating look at life in Chicago during that time. The book also profiles Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, a New York Yankees fans who often traveled with the team and starred in movies with Shirley Temple.

Twelve-year-old Paul Warhola, a Pittsburgh Pirates fan whose family lived near Forbes Field, was present for what would be Babe Ruth’s final Major League home run. It was a called shot over the roof in right field, the first ever to go that high and far. Ruth finished the day driving in six of seven Boston runs in an 11–7 loss.

Paul and his brother, John, often attended Pirates games. Paul worked in the stadium selling peanuts and newspapers. Their younger brother, Andy, wasn’t much of a baseball fan, preferring the arts.

There is even a touch of mystery as Wolf asks whether or not Ruth called his home run shot to center field in the fifth inning of Game Three of the 1932 World Series. Wolf has collected numerous accounts, including two rare videos of Ruth prior to stepping into the...