I think the pitcher in your photo could be Walter Johnson. Size and gait look right. Ruth hit the first of his ten home runs against Johnson in Washington on May 7, 1918. Two days earlier, Boston manager Ed Barrow, at Harry Hooper's urging, had started Ruth at first base, his first-ever game as a position player and not hitting ninth in the lineup, and this was the second time. This homer against Johnson was Ruth's third in three games, and probably cemented Barrow's strategy to get more offensive output from his star pitcher when he wasn't on the mound. A rather historic photo, if all this is true.
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