The game had ended. Babe, who had delivered one of his trademark long drives that afternoon, was worn out and ready to head home. “Not tonight, Babe,” I told him. “Tonight you’re coming to college with me. You’re going to take scientific tests that will uncover your secret.” “Who’s asking for it?” Babe said. “I am,” I answered, “and so are several hundred thousand fans. We want to understand how one man has developed a batting skill as extraordinary as yours—why you can hit the ball the way no one else on earth can.” And off we went. Still in his baseball uniform, Babe didn’t go back to his easy chair; instead, he went to Columbia University to sit for his first college examination. He tackled the tests with the enthusiasm of a schoolboy, and they showed why his sudden rise to stardom came only after years in which he was regarded as a wild but powerful hitter. The way he suddenly acquired his unmatched ability has long been one of baseball’s puzzles. The Babe Ruth psychology experiments became a cover story in 1921. Image source: Cummings Center for the History of Psychology. Albert Johanson, M.A., and Joseph Holmes, M.A., of the research laboratory in Columbia University’s psychology department—men who probably never watched Ruth swing a bat and who neither know nor care whether his average is .007 or .450—are .500 hitters in the field of psychology. They escorted Babe Ruth into the great laboratory of the…