The 1932 Series is one of the most famous events in Wrigley Field history because of the infamous "called shot" by Babe Ruth. Was it a called shot? Was it even a good series?

The answer to both questions is: No.

The Cubs got swept in four games by the Yankees, and it wasn't even close. In the four game series the Cubs led for exactly eight innings total. They led for three innings in Game 1 before losing 12-6. And then they didn't lead again until Game 4, when they led for the first five innings, before the Yankees exploded for 10 runs in the last four innings.

The Cubs had a pretty impressive team that year. They had four Hall of Famers (Gabby Hartnett, KiKi Cuyler, Burleigh Grimes, and Billy Herman), and four quality starting pitchers (22-game winner Lon Warneke, 19-game winner Guy Bush, and 15-game winners Charlie Root and Pat Malone), but they were up against one of the best teams of all-time. In addition to Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, that 1932 Yankees team had Hall of Famers Lefty Gomez, Bill Dickey, Tony Lazzeri, and Joe Sewell. They won an astounding 107 games during the regular season.

In addition to that, the 1932 Yankees were a riled up team, who hated the Cubs for dissing one of their former teammates. Mark Koenig had replaced Cubs shortstop Billy Jurges during the season after Jurges was shot by a fan. Despite hitting .353 during the season and saving the hides of the Cubs, the players voted not to give him a full World Series share. This really angered the Yankees, especially their emotional leader Babe Ruth.

Did Babe Ruth really call the shot? Almost certainly not. The writers said he did, and he played along with it, but he also privately acknowledged that he never would have done that to Charlie Root who was known as a ruthless headhunter. According to the Cubs players, Ruth was being taunted by the Cubs dugout (who should have had their heads examined after they already ticked off the Babe). Ruth was more than likely pointing at the dugout, gesturing that he still had one strike left. That may have looked to the writers like he was calling his shot. Plus, the writers said he pointing to left--but he hit nearly all of his homers to right, and the actual homer went to deep centerfield...an unusual location for a homer by the Babe. The called shot is probably nothing more than a legend.

Nevertheless, part of the legend is true. He did homer. And Gehrig homered right after that. And they both homered again later in the game. It was a 4-game pummeling. Lou Gehrig hit .529 in that series, and would have been named the MVP if they had such an honor in those days.

And the Cubs lamented that they had now gone 24 years since their last World Series championship. I'm sure somebody uttered that dreaded phrase: "Just wait 'til next year."