By the time Barney and his friends got in Sportsman's Park in St. Louis, the Yankees were on the verge of another World Series sweep, having won the first two games in New York and game three in St. Louis.
Like many sons, Jim Loomis has a souvenir from a trip his father made in 1928. What's unique about Loomis' keepsake is that he's donating it to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. Barney Loomis operated a cafe in Madelia, Minn. Jim said his father loved sports and was a season ticket holder for the Golden Gopher football team for many years.
In 1928, Barney and two friends drove to St. Louis during the World Series. They came without tickets, and had to purchase some on the street. "He always told me," Jim recalled, " 'We made that scalper go with us into the stadium and sit with us before we paid him.' "
The face price of the tickets was $5.50, which was quite a bit of money in those days. Included in the ticket price was $0.50 for war tax, still covering the costs for World War I nearly a decade later. Jim doesn't know if his father paid just the face value for the tickets or if he had to pay extra.
The 1928 World Series was a rematch between the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Yankees. They had played each other in the 1926 fall classic and the Cardinals had won the seven game series 4-3. In 1927, the Yankees swept Pittsburgh in four games to become world champions.
By the time Barney and his friends got in Sportsman's Park in St. Louis, the Yankees were on the verge of another World Series sweep, having won the first two games in New York and game three in St. Louis.
The Cardinals scored a run in the third and fourth innings to take a 2-1 lead. New York's run came on a Babe Ruth solo homer in the top of the fourth.
The Yankees vaunted lineup, called Murderer's Row, broke through for four runs in the top of the seventh. With one out, Ruth and Lou Gehrig hit back-to-back home runs. Two more runs scored to make the score 5-2.
Cedric Durst and Ruth hit solo home runs in the eighth inning as well, and the Cardinals managed just a single run in the bottom of the ninth, making the final score 7-3.
The Yankees set a World Series record by hitting five homers in a single game.
For the second time, Babe Ruth hit three home runs in a World Series game that day. For the series, Ruth hit .625, the highest in World Series history. Gehrig batted .545 with four home runs.
Before he died in 1987, Barney gave his ticket stub and a hand-written score card from the 1928 game to Jim. Recently, Jim came across it while looking through old family pictures and decided he better do something with it.
"I checked with my sons and they're not very interested in this," said Jim. So he contacted the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame's collection of 2.6 million items has been built through gifts.
"Maybe they've got a dozen of these," said Jim. "I don't know. They're interested in collecting as many of these as they can."
Once the paper work is completed, Jim will receive a certificate and a lifetime pass to the museum. Jim did visit the museum several years ago, but is not making any plans to return.