Babe Ruth take them from last place on the Fourth of July to the 1914 World Series championship. Egan was traded to Cleveland after two weeks on the Boston roster. During his time as a Red Sox, he kept an eye on the inexperienced Ruth, much as Dunn had in Baltimore. When he was traded, no one took his place as supervisor. Ruth's new teammates considered him brash, and would have preferred him, as a rookie, to remain quiet and inconspicuous. When Ruth insisted on taking batting practice despite being both a rookie who did not play regularly, and a pitcher, he
Babe Ruth trot around the bases. He made so many errors that three Braves pitchers told McKechnie that they would not take the mound if he was in the lineup. Before long, Ruth stopped hitting as well. He grew increasingly annoyed that McKechnie ignored most of his advice. For his part, McKechnie later said that Ruth's huge salary and refusal to stay with the team while on the road made it nearly impossible to enforce discipline. The Braves' deterioration mirrored that of Ruth's; their Opening Day win was the only time they were above .500 all year. Ruth soon realized that Fuchs