A YouTuber broke down rare footage from a June 15, 1920 game between the Yankees and Indians, focusing on Babe Ruth and some odd details from baseball a century ago. The clip opens with Ruth warming up, digging into the dirt, and using a modern-looking water cooler, surprisingly already around back then. One scene shows a teammate folding up his glove and putting it in his pocket, a move unheard of today. Wally Pipp takes some batting practice while the catcher just stands upright—apparently catchers didn’t crouch yet. Another batter, likely Bob Meusel, swings with wild, unbalanced steps that make it look more like slow-pitch softball.
The creator identifies the game as June 15 by catching a rare pickoff at third base by catcher Truck Hannah—an unusual play backed up through box scores. Babe Ruth leads off the top of the fourth and records a single, though the footage skips straight to his next at-bat where he ends up striking out with a big, awkward follow-through. The narration highlights how Ruth brought the concept of swinging for the fences into the game, contrasting it with the standard choppy swings of the era.
Much of the video had clearly staged moments, including a fake home run scene designed to hype Ruth. In reality, Ruth didn’t homer in this game, and the Yankees may have even lost. The faked home run is followed by a dramatized scene of kids racing for the ball in a backyard, one dressed like a mailman, another stuck on a fence, and a girl who ends up stealing the bike. The footage ends with a long shot of fans slowly filing out of the Cleveland ballpark—quiet, casual, and very different from modern exits.