Sakes alive. If someone hit a ball out to me, I'd hear those footsteps comin' from both sides and I began to fear for my life! Both of them were gallopin' around without regard for life or limb, hollerin' all the time. I said, holy cripes, I'm gonna get myself out of here before I get killed! So I shifted Babe to center and moved myself to right, just to keep clear of those two. Sheer self-preservation on my part. But the Babe learned fast. He had a fine throwing arm and did things instinctively.

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Sakes alive. If someone hit a ball out to me, I'd hear those footsteps comin' from both sides and I began to fear for my life! Both of them were gallopin' around without regard for life or limb, hollerin' all the time. I said, holy cripes, I'm gonna get myself out of here before I get killed! So I shifted Babe to center and moved myself to right, just to keep clear of those two. Sheer self-preservation on my part. But the Babe learned fast. He had a fine throwing arm and did things instinctively." in the context of "Harry Hooper, recalling his fellow Red Sox outfielders Babe Ruth and Braggo Roth; as quoted in Babe Ruth: His Life and Legend (1974) by Kal Wagenheim, p. 42." to mean that wisdom is timeless.