There is an article in today's Philadelphia Inquirer on the closing of Ascension of Our Lord parish for economic reasons. The article talks about its history, including what happened on 9/4/23. The parish had a ballfield here that had expenses it could not afford, so the pastor, who was the Philadelphia Athletic's chaplain, asked Babe Ruth to play for the parish team against a team from the Lit Brothers department store after the Yankees played the A's that day. The Babe suited up in the rectory at Westmoreland and F Streets, and played first base here. He hit a ball about 600 feet, but it was a double under the league's rules. Lit's won 2-1. Does anyone know which corner this field was on? A Web search found an explanation for the name of the field, and it also appears that boxing was held here. [See information provided in comment below, thanks to Jeff T.]
Publication date | Jun 24, 2018 |
Neighborhood |
There is an article in today's Philadelphia Inquirer on the closing of Ascension of Our Lord parish for economic reasons. The article talks about its history, including what happened on 9/4/23. The parish had a ballfield here that had expenses it could not afford, so the pastor, who was the Philadelphia Athletic's chaplain, asked Babe Ruth to play for the parish team against a team from the Lit Brothers department store after the Yankees played the A's that day. The Babe suited up in the rectory at Westmoreland and F Streets, and played first base here. He hit a ball about 600 feet, but it was a double under the league's rules. Lit's won 2-1. Does anyone know which corner this field was on? A Web search found an explanation for the name of the field, and it also appears that boxing was held here. [See information provided in comment below, thanks to Jeff T.]