Jack Bentley, pitcher and first baseman for the Baltimore Orioles in the International League hit 20 home runs in 1920. The feat earned Bentley, who was born in Sandy Spring, Maryland, the nickname “Home run” among local fans. Dean Snyder of The Denver Express declared:
“Maryland is the home run state.
“Three swat kings hail from the oyster state. Each has earned the “Home Run” prefix”
Snyder spoke to all three: Bentley, Frank Baker, born in Trappe, Maryland, and Babe Ruth, born in Baltimore.
Bentley said:
“Homerunning depends on how you place your feet. ’That gives a batter poise. Keep your feet together. You’re set to step up or back then.
“(During the 1920 season) I tried for a while to keep my feet apart. I hit a batting slump. (Orioles) Manager Jack Dunn told me to get my feet together. I did. Then I started bouncing ‘em over the walls.”
Jack Bentley
Baker said:
“It’s the way I grasp the bat.
“Grab it right down at the knob. No long distance hitter holds the bat far up. Use all the wood in the bat.
“That’s my secret.”
Frank Baker
Ruth said:
“The eye and the swing is the thing.
“Coordinating the two…that makes the ball travel. Swing a fraction of a second too early or too late and you don’t hit a homer.
“The old eye counts most. Without a keen eye you flivver.
“I hit 54 last year because I timed my swing. When I was making (the movie “Headin’ Home” during the 1920 season) my eyes went bad. I didn’t bust one for three weeks. No pictures for me this summer.
“I’m shootin’ at 75.”
Babe Ruth
Bentley hit 24 and 22 home runs the next two seasons with Baltimore (he was also 12-1 with 2.34 ERA in ’21 and 13-2 1.73 on the mound) and was purchased by the New York Giants for $72,000.
“Home run” Bentley appeared in 65 games in the field and hit just seven home runs in 539 National League at-bats from 1923-1927—as a pitcher, he was 40-22 with a 4.35 ERA.
Baker sat out the 1920 season after his wife died of Scarlet Fever in February. Snyder predicted that when he returned to the Yankees he would “fight Bambino Babe a home run duel.” He hit 16 home runs in 564 at-bats in 1921 and ’22 before retiring.
Ruth didn’t get “75 in 1921—he settled for 59. “Headin’ Home,” presented by boxing promoter Tex Rickard, opened at Madison Square Garden on September 19, 1920, to what The Brooklyn Eagle called “a fair sized crowd.” As for the quality of the film Ruth said caused his eyes to go bad for “three weeks,” the paper said:
“It is an astonishing thing that when people, prominent in other walks in life, enter the moving picture field, they generally appear in most absurd pieces.”
Baseball History Daily 
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