YANKEES V. RED SOX--4/14/31 (OPENING DAY)

On April 14, 1931, Wakatsuki Reijiro became the new Prime Minister of Japan and Berlin Police Vice-President Bernhard Weib won a defamation lawsuit against Joseph Goebbels, who was ordered to pay 1500 Reichmarks. Meanwhile, in New York City, Baseball season opened with the New York Yankees playing the Boston Red Sox in a game that began at 3PM and lasted a brisk two hours. (What the hell happened to baseball that added a third of the time to this already tedious game's length?) Ultimately the Yankees beat the Sox 6-3, with Babe Ruth hitting a homer in the seventh (see below video).  The above is sound-on-film footage of pre-game and game activities, captured by the invaluable Fox Movietone sound cameras. You'll see Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and the Yankees manager Joe McCarthy (who stayed with the team until 1946). More importantly, you'll see that on that early spring day pretty much everyone wore a hat and tie to the ball game.

If you're interested in the box score and all the stats on this long-forgotten game played on a long-forgotten Tuesday afternoon, click here you big geek. Thanks goes to my new favorite Youtuber, Guy Jones, who's been restoring and posting these extraordinary Fox Movietone clips. Their rawness and lack of narration make them true time-travel devices, with nothing to interfere with the Verite nature of what they capture. Below dig Ruth's homer as well as a short opening speech by Mayor James J. Walker who then tosses out the first ball...



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