title: The Babe in Red Stockings: An in Depth Chronicle of Babe Ruth with the Boston Red Sox, 1914-1919
author:  Kerry Keene 
description: The extent of the legendary Babe Ruth's accomplishments on the field with the Boston Red Sox has never been fully appreciated. In those glory years of 1915 through 1918, Ruth topped his circuit many times. In 1916 he led the league in ERA, shutouts, games started, and fewest hits per nine innings. In 1917 he led in complete games, finishing second in the American League in wins. By the 1918 season, his league leads were coming in other categories such as home runs and slugging percentage. Yet, he remained a formidable enough force on the mound as his performance (a six-hit shutout in the 1918 World Series would indicate). This would turn out to be Ruth's last World Series performance with the Boston Red Sox. It would also be the last time a Red Sox starting left-handed pitcher would win a World Series game for 24,876 days, until Bruce Hurst shut out the New York Mets 1-0 in Game 1 of the 1986 World Series. All in all, relatively few seem to realize the magnitude of his pitching prowess in his three years as a full-time pitcher, as he was much in the same class as Grover Cleveland Alexander and Walter Johnson. As a left-hander, he took a back seat to no one. Herein lies the story of The Babe In Red Stockings: An In-Depth Chronicle of Babe Ruth, a highly recommended addition to any baseball history collection. -- <i>Midwest Book Review</i>
zlib_text: _**The**_ **G IVE N DAY**  
   **Dennis L ehane**
  
  ![](Images/image00409.jpeg) _for Angie, my home When Jesus comes a calling,
  she said, He’s coming ’round the mountain on a train._ —Josh Ritter, “Wings”
  
  **Contents**
  
  Epigraph  iii  
  Cast of Characters  1  
  Babe Ruth in Ohio  3  
  Prologue  
  Due to travel restrictions placed on major league baseball by… 5  
  The Milk Run  33  
  Chapter One  
  On a wet summer night, Danny Coughlin, a Boston police… 35  
  Chapter Two  
  Luther lost his job at the munitions factory in September. 54  
  Chapter Three  
  The day the Red Sox played their first World Series… 65  
  Chapter Four  
  On a Sunday afternoon, Danny went to his father’s house… 77  
  Chapter Five  
  A week after Luther became a husband, he and Lila… 98  
  Chapter Six  
  Danny met Tessa Abruzze the same week people started to… 111  
  Chapter Seven  
  Luther was shooting pool alone in the Gold Goose when… 132  
  Chapter Eight  
  After the flu had passed on, Danny returned to walking… 155  
  Chapter Nine  
  T