Why Babe Ruth once caught a baseball dropped from an airplane at Mitchel Field on Long Island

On a hot summer day 100 years ago, Babe Ruth came to Long Island to catch a baseball dropped from an airplane flying high above Uniondale's Mitchel Field.

After seven tries, he finally cradled a ball dropped 300 feet from a U.S. Army S.E.5a, a British-built fighter biplane used during World War I. The New York Times chronicled the event in a front-page article published the next day.

It's a strange and little-known moment in baseball and Long Island history. But Nassau County officials and representatives from the Cradle of Aviation Museum commemorated its 100th anniversary on Wednesday by unveiling a plaque at Mitchel Field.

So what brought Ruth to Long Island on that day?

Before slugging two hits and driving in four runs in the Yankees' 13-10 victory over the White Sox on July 22, 1926, Ruth came to Nassau County for two reasons.

First, he was there to promote Mitchel Field's burgeoning aviation program, which developed in earnest after World War I, and second, to tout a summer camp on Long Island, according to the Times story.

"They thought this would be a cool way to generate some publicity for himself, but I think it was more for the Army Air Corps, and he partnered with the Army," Cradle of Aviation President Andrew Parton said at the commemoration on Wednesday. "It took a few times because the plane's flying over at 100 miles an hour, and trying to catch the trajectory is not the easiest thing in the world, so it did take him a few times."

Mitchel Field opened as Hazelhurst Field #2 in 1918 — a training base to support the United States' effort during World War I. It was renamed later that year to honor former New York City Mayor John Purroy Mitchel, who was killed that July during a training flight in Louisiana while with what was then known as the Army Air Service.

Ruth’s stunt came one year before Charles Lindbergh’s first trans-Atlantic flight to Paris in his "Spirit of St. Louis" monoplane, which took off from nearby Roosevelt Field.

"I think anything that highlights Long Island history, this is a part of it," Parton said of Ruth's exploit. "We're celebrating the 250th anniversary of the country. For half of that time, aviation played a role, and during that 125 years, Long Island played a significant role. It's a great way to kind of highlight Long Island's role in history and certainly in aviation history."

Grainy newsreel footage shows Ruth catching the ball from the soaring plane, with a narrator intoning, "Catching a ball dropped from an airplane is a challenge he can’t pass up. Even if it means risking a fractured skull."

As part of Wednesday's commemoration, Nassau County officials and Uniondale firefighters dropped baseballs from the top of a hook-and-ladder fire truck for summer campers to catch.

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman played a video message from former Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte.

"It's an honor to remember an amazing moment in baseball history. One hundred years ago, Babe Ruth stood right here on Mitchel Field and pulled off an incredible feat, catching a baseball dropped from an airplane," Pettitte said. "Here's to the enduring legacy, the Babe, the greatest game ever played in Nassau County."

Ruth’s stunt may have been inspired by early ballplayers who caught balls dropped from the Washington Monument, said Marty Appel, a Yankees historian, author and former team public relations director.

"It was a high-risk maneuver. If it hit him, it could be a risky thing, and today they would never allow it," Appel said. "But he did it and caught the ball. He was Babe Ruth. He was always up for anything."