Imagine my surprise when my father – whom, it turns out, I’ve known my entire life! – dropped this nugget of information on me earlier this week:
He once met former New York Yankee infielder, Everett Scott, at one of the bowling alleys Scott owned and operated following his playing days in and around Fort Wayne, IN.
Me: Wait a minute!?! Everett Scott, the Major League Baseball player who was teammates with Babe Ruth in both Boston and New York. You met him? My Dad: Yes Me: So, you mean to tell me I have a Babe Ruth Number of 3? My Dad: A what?
Let me back this story up a moment.
A month or so ago, I happened to mention something to my dad about the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon parlor game and how, the legend has it, anyone who’s ever worked in Hollywood can be connected back to actor Kevin Bacon in six moves or fewer. It’s based on the concept that all humans are connected to everyone else in six connections or fewer.
I noted to my father that both he and I have a Bacon Number of 3 and explained how Bacon starred with Timothy Robbins in 2003’s Mystic River. Robbins (Bacon Number of 1) once had architectural work done by my cousin’s former husband, Joe (Bacon Number of 2), and we both have met Joe. Ergo, our Bacon Number of 3.
So, if the same concept applies to my dad, Scott, and Ruth, my dad has a Babe Ruth Number of 2 and me one of 3.
I was stoked!
And then I read Scott’s Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) bio. He died in November 1960 which means my father, then only a teenager, would not have been working where he thought he was near the bowling alley. But then I read that Scott had a son, Everett Jr., so I called my dad to probe further.
Me: When did you think you met Scott? My Dad: Sometime in mid-1960s. Me: Um, I've got some bad news. Everett Scott died in 1960. My Dad: Hmmm, I was told I was meeting Everett Scott when a friend introduced us. Me: Could it have been his son? He was a junior. My Dad: Certainly might have been.
I’m going with it!
So my dad’s Babe Ruth Number is 3 and mine is a 4.
It’s not quite a 3, but I’ll take the 4. I’ve shaken the hand of a person who shook the hand of the son of Everett Scott who played with Babe Ruth for nine seasons. And I had no idea for over 55 years!
P.S. I also discovered in Scott’s SABR bio that he owned the consecutive games played streak (1,307) before his 1-time teammate Lou Gehrig broke it and set the number at 2,130 before Cal Ripken broke it and owns the current record of 2,362.