The following is from accounts newly compiled by historian William MacDougal, author of the famous Babe Ruth biography, He Showed Everyone Where He Was Going To Hit The Ball: Babe Ruth And His Times.

WALTER SUDS (sports reporter, The New York News): World Series, Game Three, 1932, Chicago. What else can you say? Babe Ruth, the Great Bambino himself, had already hit a homer. And now he’s back at bat, and what does he do?

ED BRODUM (travel manager, New York Yankees): It’s on film even! He points to the Wrigley Field outfield stands, and proceeds to hit the ball outta the park, right where he pointed to. That’s how legends are made, my friend. 

JEBIDIAH CROWDLER (stick and ball reporter, The Bronx Times): He was already a living icon. But calling his shot like he did, it put him over the top, into a whole ‘nother category. 

SUDS: The crowd was in awe. They went nuts, sure, but first they were silent, like they had seen Christ rise from the grave. 

BRODUM: Then, there’s just a huge eruption in the stands. We all knew we’d witnessed something special. Something one of a kind.

CROWDLER: So when the break in the seventh inning comes around, Ruth comes out of the dugout, and everyone who’s not out takin’ a whiz cheers for him. 

SUDS: Man of the people he is, he gets up into the stands. By now he’s worked up an appetite.

BRODUM: He gets to the concessions and is about 30 feet away from the hot dog vendor. That’s when he does it: he points right at one of the hot dogs under the heat lamp. And whaddaya know, that’s the one he eats. He called his shot again!

SUDS: From thirty, forty, maybe even fifty feet away. That’s pretty far to be pointing out a hot dog.

CROWDLER: He didn’t stop there. After that hot dog, he’s at the counter pointing at the next hot dog he wants. And another one. And another one!

SUDS: One after the other, he calls his shot again, with the rest of the hot dogs he’s going to eat for dinner!

BRODUM: He’s not as far away pointing these out as he was from the first one. But still, he’s accurate. Those were the exact hot dogs he ended up eating. 

CROWDLER: The Yankees go on to win. And they celebrated bigly that night in Chicago.

SUDS: They’re at the bar at their hotel and Ruth, he’s having the time of his life.

BRODUM: One arm around a pretty lady, another arm around a beautiful dame. 

CROWDLER: He takes the cigar from his mouth, holds his hand up high, and without a word commands the attention of the whole room. 

SUDS: Babe lowers his hand and extends an index finger right in the direction of a bottle of whisky behind the bar. We couldn’t believe it: called his shot again!

CROWDLER: He glides right over the bar, does this little tippy-toe walk for a few steps, and spins and pulls the bottle right off the shelf from behind the bartender.

SUDS: Everyone was flabbergasted. This was a real hot streak.

BRODUM: After downing that whisky, he points at more drinks, one after another. And each drink he pointed at, he drank. He didn’t miss a-one.

CROWDLER: He went on this run where first base coach Tom Bakersfield would order a beer, and as soon as the bartender passed over his beer to him, the Babe called his shot with Tom’s beer. Must have took eight beers from poor Tom.

SUDS: Babe got pretty drunk that night. But he gets drunk every night. He just doesn’t call his shot when getting sloshed on other nights, so it was special this time.

BRODUM: Now, the celebration’s still going full steam. All the Yankees are having themselves a good time. And the dames are all over them, especially the Babe.

CROWDLER: But he’s paying them no mind when he looks to the end of the bar and points at the wife of first base coach Tom Bakersfield.

BRODUM: Now sure, this could seem crass, but this is Babe Ruth we’re talking about, so she’s not offended or nothin, she’s flattered and happily takes him by the arm.

SUDS: He did it again: called his shot! Oh, and this is all right in front of Tom.

BRODUM: The next few days back in New York, the Babe is given a hero’s welcome by an adoring crowd. They’re all cheering for him, he’s like a God among men now. That’s when he points to something up ahead. And a few blocks away, there’s Yankee Stadium!

CROWDLER: Could that be where he’s goin’?

SUDS: And is he gonna make it?

CROWDLER: Yep. He makes it there just fine.

BRODUM: Not a problem at all for the guy.  A God among men, I tells ya.

SUDS: Now, some of us reporters got locker room access that day. So we saw what came next: when Babe was suiting up for practice, he called every piece of clothing and equipment he put on. 

CROWDLER: His jersey, his mitt, his ball cap – not a-one he missed. 

SUDS: He also points at first base coach Tom Bakersfield, and just laughs.

BRODUM: Wasn’t really calling his shot with that one. Just wanted to point and laugh at the guy.

SUDS: Sometime the next day, Ruth shows up at this underground casino. 

CROWDLER: He sits down at the roulette table right after the dealer spins the wheel. He points at the roulette wheel, his finger gently twirling as the wheel comes to a stop, and he points right at red 32, which is what the wheel landed on! 

BRODUM: He proceeds to do this 46 more times for an hour. Wins $60,000.

SUDS: Later, he ducks into a library to get out of the rain. Just kind of hangs around a bit until it clears up. Doesn’t point at a single book. Not much of a reader, the Babe.

CROWDLER: One thing to know about the Babe: he wasn’t one to brush off his adoring fans. And he just loved the people of New York.

SUDS: “New Yorkers,” he called them. And the moniker stuck.

BRODUM: He didn’t care where or when, he’d sign some autographs for these so-called “New Yorkers” right out on the street. But this one time when they were back in New York, things got dangerous.

SUDS: He’s got his concentration on signing this kid’s baseball – they’re round, baseballs are, so they take some effort to write on – when all of a sudden, a gunshot!

BRODUM: Across the street is first base coach Tom Bakersfield, waving a pistol like a maniac.

CROWDLER: A couple cops arrive, but in the commotion, they don’t know where the shots came from.

SUDS: So Babe waves over at one of the cops and points at Tom.

CROWDLER: And like pushing a button, the crowd of people part, and the cops shoot Tom dead.

BRODUM: That sent a pretty clear message that day: if you are looking to shoot Babe Ruth, better hope Babe Ruth doesn’t predict you’re going to be shot by some cops in the next moment.

CROWDLER: Well, Game Four of the World Series rolled around, and everyone watched wondering if Babe Ruth was going to call his shot. But he never did. 

SUDS: I guess it’s because he already called his shot last game, so it lost its novelty. Or maybe he truly didn’t know where the ball was gonna go, except for that one time. 

CROWDLER: I think it was the latter. After all, he was 100% accurate about everything else he pointed at.

Originally from Toledo, Ohio, and southeast Michigan, David Guzman’s work has featured with The New Yorker, McSweeney’s, The American Bystander, Points in Case, and The Onion. He wrote sketch comedy for the UCB Theatre in New York from 2014-2019. You can find him online on Twitter/X @davidjguzman.