MALDEN, DEXTER NATIVE PRUETT WAS RUTHLESS AGAINST BABE

"If all the pitchers were like (Dr. Hubert "Shucks" Pruett), no one would have heard of me." -- Babe Ruth

Dr. Hubert Shelby Pruett -- a Malden and Dexter native -- was ruthless against the Babe.

The most recognizable baseball icon in history wasn't the Sultan of Swat against Pruett. He was the King of Ks.

Against the Southeast Missouri southpaw, Ruth didn't swing for the fences. He headed back to the dugout.

In other words, Pruett had the Babe's number. And that's how Pruett is remembered by baseball historians: the Bambino's worst nightmare. And Ruth admitted it.

"He had a dinky little curve," Ruth was quoted as saying. "But he could fool me with it every time. ... I never looked sillier in my life, swinging from the ground and hitting nothing but air."

Perhaps no pitcher with a career record of 29-48 and a 4.63 earned run average has been as well documented.

But Pruett made the Babe look like the Rookie.

Featuring a screw ball (then known as a fadeaway) that was fairly new to baseball at the time -- especially from a left-hander -- Pruett fanned the most famous Bronx Bomber the first five times he faced him and 10 of the first 13 times. Over Pruett's career, he held Ruth to a .190 batting average (Ruth had a career average of .342), striking Ruth out 15 times in 30 at-bats. Ruth hit just one of his 714 career home runs off Pruett.

The first time Pruett faced Ruth, he struck him out on three pitches.

"The first time I faced Babe Ruth was in relief," said Pruett some time before he passed away in 1982. "When I went out to the mound, I didn't know who he was. All I knew was that he was a left-handed hitter, and I didn't have much trouble with left-handers."

In Pruett's 1922 rookie season with the St. Louis Browns, Ruth batted 21 times against Pruett, a 5-10, 135-pounder, and struck out 13 times, a 62 percent strike out ratio. Pruett fanned 70 batters the entire year with nearly 20 percent of those strike outs coming from one source: Babe Ruth.

For Pruett, it was a shame that every hitter wasn't Babe Ruth.

Pruett's only winning season came in 1930 when he was with the New York Giants. He went 5-4 that year with a 4.78 ERA.

Though he didn't have a winning record, Pruett's best season was his rookie year with the St. Louis Browns. In 1922 the Browns finished just one game behind the eventual World Series Champion Yankees. Pruett went 7-7 with a 2.33 ERA in 39 games. It is argued that the 1922 Browns team was their best ever, even better than the 1944 pennant winners.

Pruett, who pitched at the University of Missouri, also threw professionally for the Phillies.

While playing for Tulsa, a minor league team of the Browns, Pruett tossed a no-hitter.

Pruett, who was generally a relief pitcher but also started sometimes, almost signed with the St. Louis Cardinals, but when he reported to the ballpark and walked into the Cardinals office, the team was on the road. No executive was there to meet him. Instead, as Pruett recounted, "Bob Quinn, general manager of the Browns, asked if it would make any difference which team I signed with and I told him no."

Arm trouble hindered Pruett throughout much of his pitching career, but that was okay, because Pruett had other ambitions besides being a pitcher.

He wanted to be a doctor.

Really, pitching during the summer was little more than a way to get Pruett through medical school.

He was supposed to play his second season with the New York Giants in 1931, but had to miss spring training to complete an internship.

But when Pruett told Giants manager John McGraw this, the coach quipped, "I'm running a baseball team, not the Mayo Clinic."

Pruett enrolled in the St. Louis University School of Medicine, and, having earned his degree after eight years, became a practicing physician. He practiced general medicine for 41 years before retiring in 1973.

On one occasion, Ruth was receiving an award from The Sporting News. Pruett approached the Hall of Famer and said: "Thanks, Babe, for putting me through medical school. If it hadn't been for you, nobody would ever have heard of me."

Ruth remembered Pruett and replied: "I'm glad there weren't many more like you. I never would have gotten by in the major leagues. If I had anything to do with making you a doctor, well, I'm glad I helped somebody."

HUBERT PRUETT'S CAREER STATISTICS

Hubert Shelby "Shucks" Pruett

Born Sept. 1, 1900, Malden

Died Jan. 28, 1982, Ladue

Career statistics

Team W L Pct. ERA Games

1922 St. Louis Browns 7 7 .500 2.33 39

1923 St. Louis Browns 4 7 .364 4.31 32

1924 St. Louis Browns 3 4 .429 4.57 33

1927 Philadelphia Phillies 7 17 .292 6.05 31

1928 Philadelphia Phillies 2 4 .333 4.54 13

1930 New York Giants 5 4 .556 4.78 45

1932 Boston Braves 1 5 .167 5.14 18

Totals seven years 29 48 .377 4.63 211