Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, and Lou Gehrig joined other American League players to form a special tour team called the All Americans for the goodwill trip to Japan.
Ill Babe Ruth of the New York Yankees baseball team lying in his hospital bed at St. Vincent's hospital and photographed for the first time since his illness.
Babe Ruth, byname of George Herman Ruth, Jr., also called the Bambino and the Sultan of Swat, was an American professional baseball player. Largely because of his home-run hitting between 1919 and 1935, Ruth became, and perhaps remains to this day, America's most celebrated athlete.
Background
George Herman Ruth Jr. was born on February 6, 1895, in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. He was the son of George Herman Ruth, Sr. and Kate (Schamberger) Ruth.
Ruth had a difficult childhood. Both his parents, George Herman Ruth, Sr., and Kate (Shamberger) Ruth, came from working-class, ethnic (German) families. Ruth, Sr. owned and operated a saloon in a tough neighborhood on the Baltimore waterfront. Living in rooms above the saloon, the Ruths had eight children, but only George, Jr., the firstborn, and a younger sister survived to adulthood. Since neither his busy father nor his sickly mother had much time for the youngster, George roamed the streets, engaged in petty thievery, chewed tobacco, sometimes got drunk, repeatedly skipped school, and had several run-ins with the law.
Education
When Babe's parents noticed that he was becoming unruly as a youngster, they sent him to St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys (now the Cardinal Gibbons School) which was run by Catholic monks. The school was known for its strict order and discipline. He learned vocational skills like shirt making and carpentry at the school. During this time he also discovered his talent for playing baseball.
Baseball offered Ruth an opportunity to escape both poverty and obscurity. While a teenager at St. Mary's, he achieved local renown for his baseball-playing prowess, and in 1914 Jack Dunn, owner of the local minor-league Baltimore Orioles franchise, signed him to a contract for $600. Ruth obtained the nickname "Babe" when a sportswriter referred to him as one of "Dunn's babes."
Ruth soon became the best left-handed pitcher in baseball. Between 1915 and 1919 he won 87 games, yielded a stunning earned run average of only 2.16, won three World Series games (one in 1916 and two in 1918), and, during a streak for scoreless World Series innings, set a record by pitching 292/3 consecutive shutout innings.
At the same time, Ruth exhibited so much hitting clout that, on the days he did not pitch, manager Ed Barrow played him at first base or in the outfield. In an age when home runs were rare, Ruth slammed out 29 in 1919, thereby topping the single-season record of 27 set in 1884 (by Ned Williamson of the Chicago White Stockings). In 1920 Harry Frazee, the team owner and a producer of Broadway plays who was always short of money, sold Ruth to the New York Yankees for $125,000 plus a personal loan from Yankee owner Jacob Ruppert. While initially reluctant to leave Boston, Ruth signed a two-year contract with the Yankees for $10,000 a year.
As a full-time outfielder with the Yankees, Ruth quickly emerged as the greatest hitter to have ever played the game. Nicknamed by sportswriters the "Sultan of Swat," in his first season with the Yankees in 1920, he shattered his own single-season record by hitting 54 home runs, 25 more than he had hit in 1919. The next season Ruth did even better: he slammed out 59 homers and drove in 170 runs. In 1922 his salary jumped to $52,000, making him by far the highest-paid player in baseball.
In 1922 Ruth's home run totals dropped to 35, but in 1923 - with the opening of the magnificent new Yankee Stadium, dubbed by a sportswriter "The House That Ruth Built" - he hit 41 home runs, batted .393, and had a record-shattering slugging percentage (total bases divided by at-bats) of .764. He continued with a strong season in 1924 when he hit a league-leading 46 home runs, but in 1925, while suffering from an intestinal disorder (thought by many to be syphilis), his offensive production declined sharply. That season, while playing in only 98 games, he hit 25 home runs.
On the field during the 1926 season, Ruth returned to his old form. Indeed, in the 1926-32 seasons, Ruth in his offensive output towered over all other players in the game. For those seven seasons, he averaged 49 home runs per season, batted in 151 runs, and had a batting average of .353 while taking the Yankees to four league pennants and three World Series championships. In 1927 Ruth's salary leapt to $70,000. That season he hit 60 home runs, a record that remained unbroken until Roger Maris hit 61 in 1961. That same season Ruth teamed with Lou Gehrig to form the greatest home-run hitting duo in baseball. Ruth and Gehrig were the heart of the 1927 Yankees team - nicknamed Murderer's Row - which is regarded by many baseball experts as the greatest team to ever play the game.
The 1932 World Series revealed not only Ruth's flair for exploiting the moment but produced his famous "called shot" home run. In the third game of the series against Chicago, while being heckled by the Cubs bench, Ruth, according to a story whose accuracy remains in doubt to this day, responded by pointing his finger to the centre-field bleachers. On the very next pitch, Ruth hit the ball precisely into that spot. After 1932 Ruth's playing skills rapidly diminished. Increasingly corpulent and slowed by age, his offensive numbers dropped sharply in both 1933 and 1934. He wanted to manage the Yankees, but Ruppert, the team's owner, is reported to have said that Ruth could not control his own behavior, let alone that of the other players, and so refused to offer him the post. Hoping eventually to become a manager, in 1935 Ruth joined the Boston Braves as a player and assistant manager. But the offer to manage a big-league team never came. Ruth finished his career that season with 714 home runs, a record that remained unblemished until broken by Henry Aaron in 1974.
Ruth was a hopeless spendthrift, but, fortunately for him, in 1921 he met and employed Christy Walsh, a sports cartoonist-turned-agent. Walsh not only obtained huge contracts for Ruth's endorsement of products but also managed his finances so that Ruth lived comfortably during retirement. During his final years, Ruth frequently played golf and made numerous personal appearances on behalf of products and causes but missed being actively involved in baseball. Still, he maintained his popularity with the American public; after his death from throat cancer, at least 75,000 people viewed his body in Yankee Stadium, and some 75,000 attended his funeral service (both inside and outside St. Patrick's Cathedral).
Babe Ruth was a highly prolific baseball player who created history with his career records for home runs (714), slugging (.690), runs batted in (2213) and bases on balls (2062) - many of which were broken only decades after his retirement.
He led his teams to seven World Series championships over his long and productive career. This famous baseball player was the American League home run champion 12 times in his career. He was ranked No. 1 on the list of 'Baseball's 100 Greatest Players' by 'The Sporting News' in 1998.
On April 19, 1949, the Yankees unveiled a granite monument in Ruth's honor in the center field of Yankee Stadium. The Babe Ruth Birthplace Museum is located at 216 Emory Street, a Baltimore row house where Ruth was born, and three blocks west of Oriole Park at Camden Yards, where the AL's Baltimore Orioles play.
Religion
Ruth was a lifelong Catholic. As an adult, he strayed from the church, but returned to the fold later in life. Ultimately, Ruth endorsed religious education, encouraging parents to bring their kids up in that old tradition, and stressing that despite whatever pitfalls might befall a person throughout their life, a strong religious tradition will bring them back on to the right path: "As far as I'm concerned, and I think as far as most kids go, once religion sinks in, it stays there - deep down."
Ruth was so devout throughout his life that he and his first wife (also a Catholic) never divorced despite being separated for three years before her death - on account of the Catholic Church's stance on divorce.
Politics
Ruth said that he was a Democrat, when Republican Warren G. Harding, running for president in 1920, asked for Ruth's endorsement. Ruth replied: "Hell, no, I'm a Democrat." However, when Harding offered Ruth $4,100 (a tidy sum back then) to get behind him, Ruth took the offer. So he was a Republican for the right price.
Ruth did actively campaign for one presidential candidate, Democrat Al Smith in 1928. He gave speeches, made appearances and endorsed the candidate on the radio.
Beyond that, Ruth was, however inadvertently, party to at least one important political movement. In 1915, when the Suffrage movement was lobbying hard for the women's vote, they offered to pay Boston Red Sox players for each home run they hit at Fenway Park in a public relations scheme for their cause. The Sultan of Swat hit one home run in Boston that year, collected his money and backhandedly endorsed the Suffrage movement.
Views
Quotations:
"The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don't play together, the club won't be worth a dime."
"Every strike brings me closer to the next home run."
"Don't ever forget two things I'm going to tell you. One, don't believe everything that's written about you. Two, don't pick up too many checks."
"As soon as I got out there I felt a strange relationship with the pitcher's mound. It was as if I'd been born out there. Pitching just felt like the most natural thing in the world. Striking out batters was easy."
"If it wasn't for baseball, I'd be in either the penitentiary or the cemetery."
Personality
Babe Ruth was an affable, boisterous and good-natured to a fault person.
Babe Ruth was an American hero, a role model for the American Dream, proof-positive that every poor kid in America, with talent and hard work, could grow up to be a legend. Ruth was instrumental in reinforcing that unique "Americanness" of baseball as well. In fact, he made it his mission: "I won't be happy until we have every boy in America between the ages of six and sixteen wearing a glove and swinging a bat."
Physical Characteristics:
Babe Ruth's height was 6 ft 2 in (188 cm). He weighed 216 lbs (98 kg).
Quotes from others about the person
"Ruth made a grave mistake when he gave up pitching. Working once a week he might have lasted a long time and become a great star." - Tris Speaker
"I've seen some great hitters and long-distance hits in my day, but none like the Babe's on Saturday. He's the greatest home run hitter of all time." - Honus Wagner
"Most enthusiasts think of Ruth only as a mighty batsman. As a matter of fact, he is a very finished outfielder with a marvelous throwing arm... Ruth plays a hard-hit ball as well as any outfielder in the business. He goes after a ground ball like an infielder, and for all his size he is a smart and daring base runner." - Christy Mathewson
Interests
Hunting, fishing, bowling, traveling
Politicians
Al Smith
Sport & Clubs
Baseball, golf; Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Boston Braves
Connections
Babe married Helen Woodford in 1914. They adopted one daughter, Dorothy. The couple separated later because of his infidelities. He married actress Claire Merritt Hodgson in 1929, only three months after the death of his first wife, and adopted her daughter Julia.
It's worth noting, that in her book, My Dad, the Babe, Dorothy Ruth claimed that she was Ruth's biological child by a mistress named Juanita Jennings. Juanita admitted to this fact to Dorothy and Julia Ruth Stevens, Dorothy's stepsister, in 1980, who was at the time already very ill.
Father:
George Herman Ruth, Sr.
(1871 - 1918)
Mother:
Kate (Schamberger) Ruth
(1873 - 1912)
Spouse:
Claire Merritt Ruth
(1897 - 1976)
ex-spouse:
Helen (Woodford) Ruth
(1896 - 1929)
Friend:
Johnny Sylvester
Johnny Sylvester (April 5, 1915 - January 8, 1990) was an American packing machinery company executive who was best known for a promise made to him by Babe Ruth during the 1926 World Series. Sylvester was seriously ill and hospitalized. Ruth said he would hit a home run on his behalf, which was followed by what was widely reported at the time as Sylvester's miraculous recovery.
Daughter:
Dorothy Ruth
(June 7, 1921 - May 18, 1989)
Dorothy Ruth was the biological daughter of Babe Ruth and his mistress Juanita Jennings (born Juanita Grenandtz). She was adopted by Babe and his first wife Helen (Woodford) Ruth of Boston, Massachusetts. She wrote a memoir of her father, titled My Dad, the Babe.
adopted daughter:
Julia Ruth Stevens
(July 7, 1916 - March 9, 2019)
References
The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth
The Big Bam traces Ruth's life from his bleak childhood in Baltimore to his brash entrance into professional baseball, from Boston to New York and into the record books as the world's most explosive slugger and cultural luminary.
2006
Babe: The Legend Comes to Life
In this extraordinary biography, noted sportswriter Robert W. Creamer reveals the complex man behind the sports legend. From Ruth's early days in a Baltimore orphanage to the glory days with the Yankees, to his later years, Creamer has drawn a classic portrait of an American original.
The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created
Drawing from more than 250 interviews, a trove of previously untapped documents, and Ruth family records, Jane Leavy, the author of this work, breaks through the mythology that has obscured the legend and delivers the man.
2018
Becoming Babe Ruth
Matt Tavares's striking homage to one of baseball's legends offers a rare view into Babe Ruth's formative years in "the House that Ruth built."
