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On This Day in History | 1949

The monuments of Lou Gehrig (l.), Miller Huggins (c.), and Babe Ruth (r.) in deep center field in Yankee Stadium.

On this day 64 years ago, it was Opening Day of the 1949 season. Slightly over eight months after the passing of The Sultan of Swat, Babe Ruth, the Yankees unveiled a monument in his honor in center field next to other Yankee legends Lou Gehrig and Miller Huggins. The Yankees would go on win the game 3-2, with Eddie Lopat getting the complete game win, and Tommy Henrich hitting a game-winning home run in the bottom of the 9th inning. As written in the St. Petersburg Times on April 20, 1949:

A granite monument to Babe Ruth was unveiled by his widow, Mrs. Claire Ruth, in deep center field at Yankee Stadium before the game with Washington. The permanent tribute to the great Yankee slugger, sits before identical shafts commemorating Lou Gehrig and Miller Huggins, other figures in the great, golden era of the Yanks in the 20’s and early 30’s.

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