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George Herman Ruth, (February 6, 1895 –
August 16, 1948), better known as Babe Ruth and also commonly known by
the nicknames The Bambino and The Sultan of Swat, was an American
baseball player and United States national icon. He was one of the first
five players elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame and he was the first
player to hit over 30, 40 and 50 home runs in one season. His record of
60 home runs in the 1927 season stood for 34 years until it was broken
by Roger Maris in 1961. He also was a member of the original American
League All-Star team in 1933. In 1998, The Sporting News named Ruth as
Number One in its list of "Baseball's 100 Greatest Players."
As discussed in the 1988 book, The Babe: A
Life in Pictures, by Lawrence Ritter and Mark Rucker, it is more than
mere statistical records that make Babe Ruth unequivocally the greatest
baseball player of all time. In several ways, he changed the nature of
the game itself. His exploitation of the "power game" compelled other
teams to follow suit, breaking the monopoly of the "inside game" that
had been the primary strategy for decades. Ruth was the focal point of
the start of what has become statistically the greatest sports dynasty
in history, the New York Yankees. His international fame helped fuel the
rising interest in sports during the Roaring Twenties as the fan base
expanded significantly and triggered major expansion of nearly all the
ballparks in the major leagues.
* * * *
Biography
Early days
He was born at 216 Emory Street in south
Baltimore, Maryland. The house was rented by his maternal grandfather,
Pius Schamberger, a German immigrant who eked out a living as an
upholsterer. Babe's parents, Kate and George Sr., lived above the saloon
they owned and operated on Camden Street. Kate would walk to her
father's home each time she gave birth to a child, eight in all. Only
Babe and his sister, Mary, survived infancy. [Some sources give her name
as Marnie.]
Young George was known for mischievous
behavior. He skipped school, ran the streets, and committed petty crime.
By age seven, he was drinking, chewing tobacco, and had become difficult
for his parents to control. Mary recalled how their father would beat
Babe in a desperate attempt to bring the boy into line, but to no avail.
He was finally sent to St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys, a school
run by Catholic brothers. Brother Matthias, a Roman Catholic priest, and
the school's disciplinarian, became the major influence on his life, the
one man Babe respected above all others. It was Brother Matthias who
taught him baseball, working with him for countless hours on hitting,
fielding and later, pitching.
Because of his "toughness", George became
the team's catcher. He liked the position because he was involved in
every play. One day, as his team was getting pounded, Babe started
mocking his own pitcher. Brother Matthias promptly switched George from
catcher to pitcher to teach him a lesson. But, instead of getting his
comeuppance, Babe shut the other team down.
Brother Matthias brought Babe to the
attention of Jack Dunn, owner and manager of the minor-league Baltimore
Orioles, and the man often credited with discovering him. In 1914 Dunn
signed 19-year-old Ruth to pitch for his club, and took him to spring
training in Florida, where a strong performance with bat and ball saw
him make the club, while his precocious talent and childlike personality
saw him nicknamed "Dunn's Babe". On April 22, 1914 "The Babe" pitched
his first professional game, a six-hit, 6-0 victory over the Buffalo
Bisons, also of the International League. By July 4, the Orioles had a
record of 47 wins and 22 losses, 25 games over .500; but their finances
were not in such good shape. In 1914 the breakaway Federal League, a
rebel major league which would last only 2 years, placed a team in
Baltimore, across the street from minor league Orioles, and the
competition hit Orioles' attendance significantly. To make ends meet,
Dunn was obliged to dispose of his stars for cash, and sold Ruth's
contract, with two other players to Joseph Lannin, owner of the Boston
Red Sox, for a sum rumored to be between $20,000 and $35,000, although
some sources say it was closer to $3000.
The Red Sox
years
Though Ruth was a skillful pitcher, the Red
Sox's starting rotation was already stacked with lefties, so they
initially made little use of him. With a 1-1 record, he was benched for
several weeks before being sent to the International League with the
Providence Grays of Providence, Rhode Island. Pitching in combination
with the young Carl Mays, Ruth helped the Grays win the pennant. At the
end of the season the Red Sox recalled him, and he was in the majors
permanently. Shortly afterwards, Ruth proposed to Helen Woodford, a
waitress he met in Boston, and they were married in Baltimore on October
14, 1914.
During spring training the next season,
Ruth secured a spot as a starter. With such talents as Rube Foster,
Dutch Leonard and a rejuvenated Smokey Joe Wood the pitchers carried the
Red Sox to the pennant. Ruth won 18 games and lost 8 and helped himself
with the bat, hitting .315 and slugging his first four major league home
runs. The Red Sox won the World Series by 4 games to 1, but because
manager Bill Carrigan preferred right-handers, Ruth did not pitch and
grounded out in his only at bat.
In 1916 he returned to the rotation,
although the team's offense had been weakened by the sale of Tris
Speaker to the Cleveland Indians. After a slightly shaky spring, he
would make a case as the best pitcher in the American League. Ruth's
1.75 ERA was best in the AL, and was over a run below the league
average. He won 23 games, lost 12 and threw nine shutouts, still the
best mark for a left hander as well as a Red Sox record. Pitching again
took the light-hitting Sox to the World Series, in which Ruth pitched a
14-inning complete game to beat the Brooklyn Robins as Boston again won
by 4 games to 1. He repeated his strong performance in 1917, going
24-13, but the Red Sox, who could not keep pace with the Chicago White
Sox and their 100 wins, missed out on a third straight postseason
appearance. More importantly, however, Ruth began to show his true skill
as a hitter, compiling a .325 batting average and sending 11 of his 40
hits for extra bases.
It was apparent Ruth was more valuable in
the lineup as an everyday player. In 1918, he began playing in the
outfield more and pitching less. His contemporaries thought this was
ridiculous: former teammate Tris Speaker speculated the move would
shorten Ruth's career. By 1919, Ruth was basically a fulltime
outfielder, pitching in only 17 of the 130 games in which he appeared.
He set his first single-season home run record that year, smacking 29
with the Red Sox, breaking the previous record, while hitting .322 and
driving in 114 runs. News of his batting feats spread rapidly, and
wherever he played large crowds turned out to see him. As his fame
spread, so did his waistline. Since his time as an Oriole, teammates had
marveled at Ruth's capacity for food and by 1919 his physique had
changed from the tall athletic frame of 1916 to a rotund shape with
which he was usually associated. Beneath his barrel shaped body, his
powerful muscular legs seemed strangely thin, but he was still a capable
base-runner and outfielder. His contemporary Ty Cobb would later remark
that Ruth "ran OK for a fat man".
Despite the box office appeal of Ruth, the
Red Sox were in a perilous financial position. In his desire to attract
the best players, owner Harry Frazee had paid relatively large salaries
throughout the war years. However, the team's failure to make the 1919
World Series and Frazee's own failings as a theater promoter meant that
by the end of the year, he needed an influx of cash to stay afloat. His
only available source of money was his players, and so he offered the
best of them to the New York Yankees, until then a perennial second
division team. For a sum of $125,000 and a loan of more than $300,000
(secured on Fenway Park itself), Ruth was sold to the Yankees on January
3.
Ruth's sale to the Yankees started a
phenomenon known to many sports fans as the "Curse of the Bambino" as
well as one of the most heated rivalries in professional sports. Many
fans believed "The Curse" to be the impetus behind the Red Sox being
unable to win a World Series until the 2004 World Series.
Ruth the
Yankee
Almost immediately, Ruth began to pay off
on his investment. He trained extensively over the winter, which was by
no means always the case, and in 1920 turned up at spring training in
fine condition. As a result, he supplanted a rather average outfielder
who went on to forge the Chicago Bears and the NFL. George Halas was
miffed about being cut, so he gave up on baseball when Ruth took his
roster spot. When the season started, it was clear that the more
hitter-friendly Polo Grounds suited him, and Ruth's 1920 season turned
into one that no one had ever come close to seeing before in baseball.
He hit 54 home runs, smashing his year-old record, batted .376, and led
the league in runs (158), RBI's (137), walks (148), and his slugging
average of 847 was a major league record for over 80 years (Barry Bonds
eclipsed it with a .860 mark in 2001). Perhaps the most incredible
statistic of the season however was that Ruth out-homered all but one
team in baseball, only the Philadelphia Phillies with 64 hit more home
runs than Ruth.
Ruth's remarkable season had the Yankees in
a serious pennant chase for the first time since 1904 (a year famous for
Jack Chesbro's wild pitch that costed the Yankees, then called the
Highlanders, the pennant.) The Yankees battled the entire season with
the Cleveland Indians, player-managed by Tris Speaker, Ruth's old Red
Sox teammate, and the Chicago White Sox, the same infamous "Black Sox
scandal" team.
The season was noted for one tragic
incident that occurred on August 16, 1920, when the Indians were playing
the Yankees in New York. Yankee pitcher Carl Mays threw a pitch that hit
Indian shortstop Ray Chapman in the temple, knocking him to the ground.
Chapman was helped up by teammates and began walking to the clubhouse in
centerfield, but as they reached the outfield grass, Chapman fell again,
and now had to be carried off the field. Taken to a hospital, Chapman
died the next morning after an operation. (Chapman's death remains the
only major league player fatality to occur on the field.) The Indians
seemed galvanized by Chapman's death, and held off the White Sox and
Yankees to win the pennant, and eventually the World Series.
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The
Greatest Season Ever
As historic as Ruth's 1920 season was, his
1921 season was even better. In fact, Ruth's 1921 season is
statistically the greatest season by any batter in major league history.
This season merits a mention of most of his numbers, with how some of
them rank all-time for a single-season. In 152 games, Ruth batted .378,
had 204 hits, 44 doubles, 16 triples, 59 home runs (8th all-time) scored
177 runs (2nd all-time), 171 RBI's (7th all-time), walked 144 times,
with 119 extra-base hits (1st all-time), slugged .846 (3rd all-time),
and amassed 457 total bases (1st all-time). Even some of the best
present day baseball statistical reseachers, using modern methods to
measure a player's value, show Ruth's season is unmatched. The Stats
Major League Baseball Handbook, a massive baseball encyclopedic work,
compiled by noted baseball researchers Bill James, Neil Munro, Don
Zminda, and John Dewan, developed a runs created formula to value how
many runs a player actually produces. Using their formula, the 208 runs
created by Ruth in 1921 is the highest total for any player in any
season.
Ruth's season was monumental, but the
Yankees had many quality players who helped lead the Yankees to their
first ever pennant. Bob Meusel, Frank Baker, and Wally Pipp were part of
a lineup that batted .300 and scored 948 runs. The pitching was led by
ace Carl Mays, who won 27 games, with fine seasons by Waite Hoyt and Bob
Shawkey.
The Yankees met the New York Giants in the
World Series, managed by John McGraw. The Giants excelled at McGraw's
time-tested strategy of use of the hit-and-run, stolen base, and bunt,
and despite hitting only 75 home runs, led the N.L. in runs scored.
Their star was slick-fielding Frankie Frisch, who batted .341 and led
the league in stolen bases with 49. The everyday lineup included solid
players such as George Kelly, Ross Youngs, and Dave Bancroft.
The Yankees were up 3-2 in the series, but
Ruth had badly scraped his elbow in game 2 when sliding into third. He
continued to play, but eventually his arm became swollen and infected,
and was told by the team physician not to play the rest of the series
(although he would pinch hit in game 8). Without Ruth, the Yankees
seemed mentally beaten, and lost the last 3 games of the series. Ruth
had a respectable series, going 5-16, a .316 average, drove in 5 runs
and hit his first World Series home run, but he struck out 8 times. The
Giants had measure of revenge on the Yankees, who were using their Polo
Grounds as its home, and had further embarrassed the Giants by
outdrawing them in attendence.
It was during 1921 that Ruth was invited to
Columbia University for a battery of tests. The findings were
illuminating. Doctors discovered that the pitch he could hit hardest was
just above the knees, on the outside corner. And when he hit perfectly,
in still air, with the bat moving at 110 ft/s (34 m/s), the ball would
carry 450 to 500 feet (140 to 150 m). In a clinical test of steadiness,
by inserting a charged rod successively into small holes of different
sizes, Ruth proved to be the best of 500 volunteers. His eyes responded
to flashing bulbs in a darkened chamber 20 ms quicker than the average
person—very valuable for picking up a ball as it left a pitcher's hand.
Science corroborated what baseball fans already knew: Babe Ruth was born
with seemingly preternatural gifts. As some have written, perhaps
teammate Joe Dugan put it best: "Born? Hell, Babe Ruth wasn't born! The
son of a bitch fell from a tree!"
Troubled
season
The 1921 World Series appearance would
indirectly lead to problems for Ruth. Seeking to avoid diminishing the
meaning of the fall classic, organized baseball institued a rule in 1911
that prohibited World Series players from playing in exhibition games
during the off-season. Ruth, typically, decided this rule did not apply
to him, and even though Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis
had warned Ruth about the trip, Ruth went ahead and embarked on his
usual lucrative barnstorming tour with two teammates. Landis came down
hard on the recalcitrant players, and suspended Ruth and teammate Bob
Meusel for the first six weeks of what was to be a turbulent 1922 season
for Ruth. The suspension would also put Ruth in a surly mood the entire
season. When he returned to the Yankees May 20, Yankee management named
Ruth their first on-field captain, but just five days after his return,
he was ejected for arguing an umpire's call at third, and exacerbated
the situation by climbing into the seats to confront a heckling fan. The
captaincy was stripped, and Ruth's suddenly hair-trigger temper would
see him suspended three more times in 1922 for arguing with umpires.
While Ruth suffered his first professional
setback, his personal life was in a worse state. Helen, who disliked the
celebrity lifestyle to which the Babe was drawn, lived on their farm
near Boston with their adopted daughter, Dorothy. Free from the eyes of
his wife, Ruth embraced the lifestyle even more fully. His love of fine
food, undiminished over the years, was matched only by his appetites for
then-illegal liquor, nightlife and casual sex.
The suspension at the beginning of the
season effected Ruth at the plate. He struggled all year, and his
batting, on-base and slugging averages all fell dramatically
(.315/.434/.672). He hit 35 home runs and drove in 99, but the
suspensions and some injuries led him to playing in only 110 games. All
his time missed on the field hurt the Yankees, but they still had just
enough to get past George Sisler and the rest of the heavy-hitting St.
Louis Browns for the pennant. Ruth's struggles during the season
continued into the World Series. Giant manager John McGraw had
instructed his pitchers to throw Ruth nothing but curve balls, and Ruth
never adjusted. He went just 2-17, a .118 average, and the Yankees were
defeated by the New York Giants (4-0, with one tie) in the World Series
for the second straight year.
"The House
That Ruth Built"
Ruth regrouped from his troubled 1922
season. He worked out hard in the off-season, came into the 1923 season
in good shape, and it showed in his play. He batted .393 (it would be
the highest of his career, although he lost the batting title to Harry
Heilmann who hit .403), and his home run total of 41 (a modest total for
him) led the majors. Ruth also led the A.L. in walks (170, a
single-season record not broken until Barry Bonds 177 walks in 2001,
runs (131), RBI's (151), extra-base hits (99), slugging average (.764),
and on-base percentage (.545). He also only missed two games, having
missed over 40 games the previous season. Ruth had returned to his
dominant form, and the Yankees easily returned to the World Series.
The 1923 season also saw the opening of
Yankee Stadium. The Yankees had been sharing the Polo Grounds with the
Giants since 1913, but since Ruth arrived, the Yankees had badly been
outdrawing the Giants. With increased revenue and team success, as well
as a threat of eviction from the Polo Grounds by the Giants, the Yankees
needed a new home. In 1921, Yankee owner Jacob Ruppert bought a small
piece of land in the Bronx for $600,000 from the Astor estate. After a
year of construction and a cost of $2.5 million (a huge sum at the
time), the 62,000 seat Yankee Stadium opened on April 18, 1923.
Fittingly, in the first game played there, Ruth hit the stadium's first
home run, and it was sportswriter Fred Lieb who soon nicknamed Yankee
Stadium "The House That Ruth Built".
Detractors of the stadium, and perhaps of
Ruth also, would call it "The House Built for Ruth", and "Ruthville", as
the short 295-foot distance to right-field seemed tailor made for some
"cheap" home runs for the left-handed pull hitting Ruth. In time, this
argument would have little support statistically. From 1923-1932, in his
prime home run hitting years at Yankee Stadium, Ruth hit more home runs
on the road, and in his 60 home run season of 1927, he hit 32 of those
on the road.
For the third straight year the Yankees
faced the Giants in the World Series. Ineffective in his last 2 series,
Ruth was the best player on the field in this series. He went 7-19, a
.368 average, slugged 1.000, walked 8 times, scored 8 runs, hit 3 home
runs, and led the Yankees to a 4-2 series victory. The Yankees had their
first World Series title, and the start of what became the most
successful major sports team in North America. From 1923 to the present,
the Yankees have won 27 World Series, which averages out to about one
World Series title every 3 years.
"The
Bellyache Heard Around the World"
During spring training in 1925, Ruth began
suffering severe stomach cramps and a fever. His condition gradually
became worse, and on April 7, while the Yankees were staying in
Asheville, North Carolina, a weakened Ruth completely collapsed in a
bathroom. It was agreed Ruth needed to return to New York to recover,
and he was accompanied by Paul Krichell, a Yankee scout. Ruth's collapse
wasn't newsworthy until on London newspaper ran a headline that Ruth was
dead, a story Krichell quickly quelled when Ruth's train reached
Washington, DC. By the time their train reached Pennsylvania Station in
New York, Ruth was wrapped in blankets and unconscious. His body had to
be lifted out of a train window and they waited for and ambulance.
During the wait, Ruth had briefly opened his eyes and saw his wife Helen
and Ed Barrow. Shortly after this, Ruth became delirious and flailed his
arms and legs uncontrolably and needed to be held down by those around
him. On the ambulance ride to St. Vincent's hospital, Ruth again
suffered a couple more convulsive attacks that were so violent it took
six assistants to hold him down. He was given a sedative, and by the
time the ambulance reached the hospital, Ruth was calm.
After an examination by Dr. Edward Kinder,
Ruth's personal physician, Dr. Kinder said Ruth had a touch of the flu
and in intestinal attack. Dr. Kinder agreed to let Ruth rejoin the team,
but after another week, Ruth's fever became worse, and after another
examination, Dr. Kinder now diagnosed Ruth as having an 'intestinal
abscess', and he would need surgery. The surgery, performed on April 17,
took only 20 minutes and was called a complete success.
Dr. Kinder stated Ruth's diet was the
problem, as Ruth had not watched how much he ate and drank. Ruth's
weight was high at this time, up to about 256 pounds. It was writer W.O.
Mcgeehan who invented the story that Ruth's collapse was caused by
over-indulging on hot dogs and soda pop before a game, a fanciful story
which led to Ruth's illness being dubbed "the bellyache heard around the
world". This story wasn't that far-fetched however, Ruth frequently did
eat hot dogs before games, and he washed them down with bicarbonate of
soda to keep from feeling bloated.
Some newspaper reporters whispered that
Ruth actually had a bad case of gonorrhea, but no one seemed to be
willing to put this assertion in print. An old teammate of Ruth's
vouched for the veneral disease story, saying it was the entire reason
for Ruth's problems. A case of gonorrhea would have not been out of the
question for the promiscuous Ruth, and some of his symptoms of chills,
fever, and general pain are associated with some more complicated
symptoms of gonorrhea. Still, abdominal surgery is a very unusual
treatment for veneral disease, even during this medical age, and Ruth
did have a clear visible scar running from just under his rib cage to
his left lower abdomen. Evidence would suggest Ruth's illness was what
physicians had stated, but it is possible Ruth may have had both
problems, with physicians intentionally not mentioning the veneral
problems, a revelation that would have probably been quite scandalous at
the time.
After six weeks of recovery, Ruth rejoined
the Yankees on May 26. He had lost 30 pounds and was weak and out of
condition, but he wanted badly wanted to be in the lineup. He clearly
came back too soon, and struggled miserably trying to find his swing,
and was hitting only around .250 in July. Eventually he regained his
lost weight and managed to get somewhat on track, but finished with a
.290 average and 25 home runs in 98 games, and except for the last
couple years at the end of his career, the 1925 season was easily Ruth's
worst season in the majors.
The Yankees 1925 season went as badly as
Ruth's. Some injuries, age and poor play had them at the bottom of the
standings all year, and they finished next to last in the A.L. with a
69-85 mark. It was later in the season that Ruth had a well publicized
fight with manager Miller Huggins, who fined Ruth $5000 and suspended
him nine days for numerous curfew violations. Only after an apology to
Huggins and the team was he allowed to play again, and it would be the
last time Ruth ever questioned Huggins authority. The one bright spot of
the season was first baseman Wally Pipp being benched for a game on June
2 that put a young Lou Gehrig in the lineup, a lineup Gehrig stayed in
for the next 2,130 consective games.
After his poor season, Ruth dedicated
himself to improving his physical condition, and he worked out hard each
off-season. His weight remained about the same, but over the years, Ruth
had replaced body fat with muscle. He was now 30 years old, and he went
on to have some of his seasons after this age, a time in sports when the
great majority of ball players were past their prime (or out of the
game) by the time they reached 30. Ruth remained a highly productive
player until age 38, a testament that Ruth was much better athlete than
often given credit for.
Return to
the top
The 1925 season proved to be an aberration,
as in 1926 he rebounded back to being the best player in baseball. Ruth
led the league in home runs, rbi's, runs scored, walks, slugging
average, and was 2nd in batting average. The Yankees also bounced back,
going from a 7th place finish in 1925 all the back to the World Series,
where they met the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Cardinals were led by star
player-manager Rogers Hornsby, who for him, had bad year at the plate,
hitting just .317 (he had averaged .401 the previous five seasons). The
Cardinals had other fine players, including Jesse Haines, Jim Bottomley,
Chick Hafey, and Grover Alexander, now a 39 year-old epileptic and
alcoholic who a decade earlier was the best pitcher in baseball.
The Yankees had been heavy favorites in the
series, but the Cardinals pushed the series to a 7th game. The
highlights of the series up this point had been Ruth's 3-home run game
in game 4 (the first time a player hit 3 home runs in a World Series
game), and Alexander's clutch pitching, as he started and won games 2
and 6.
In game 7, the Cardinals clinged to a 3-2
lead in the 7th inning, when the Yankees loaded the bases with two outs.
The stage was now set for one of the classic moments in baseball
history. Hornsby removed starting pitcher Haines, who had developed a
blister on his finger, and summoned Alexander from the bullpen.
Alexander was napping in the bullpen at the time, and according to some
accounts, may have been suffering the effects of a hangover from the
previous night celebration of his game 6 win. Facing rookie star Tony
Lazzeri, Alexander's first pitch was a ball. The next pitch was a low
fastball that was called a strike. The next pitch sailed near Lazzeri's
head for ball two. Lazzeri almost assured himself baseball immortality
on the next pitch, which he lined to left field that just went foul,
missing a home run by a couple of feet. With the count now 2-2,
Alexander struckout Lazzeri swinging, ending the Yankee rally.
Alexander retired the side in the 8th, and
the first 2 men in the 9th, when Ruth came up to bat. Pitching carefully
to him, Alexander walked Ruth. With Bob Meusel at bat, and Lou Gehrig in
the on-deck circle, Ruth pulled the most notable gaffe of his career. He
inexplicably took off trying to steal 2nd, and was easily thrown out by
catcher Bob O'Farrell, ending the game and giving the Cardinals the
World Series. Alexander's strikeout of Lazzeri would go down in baseball
lore, and Ruth, despite an oustanding series, was perceived as a goat by
some. Those in Ruth's defense would say the was Alexander was pitching,
the Yankees were not likely goint to start a rally anyway, and maybe a
steal of second might have upset Alexander, in which case then just a
single could have tied the game. Ruth did not dwell on the play much, as
his baseball mentality his entire career was such that he was never
afraid of looking bad and failing.
Ruth's superb 1926 season ended on a
bittersweet note, but he had silenced many of his critics who said his
career was on the decline after the 1925 season. Nevertheless, Ruth had
put up sme amazing statistics in his first seven years as a Yankee, but
he had led the Yankees to just one World Series title, and they lost
three others. From this point though, he would enjoy greater World
Series success, and in fact, Ruth played in three more series and never
again even lost a single World Series game.
1927: A
Team for the Ages
In 1927, the Ruthian Yankees reached a peak
that few teams in baseball history have ever equaled. They went 110-44,
winning the A.L. pennant by 19 games, and then proceeded to sweep the
Pittsburgh Pirates in the World Series. Only four teams have won more
games. The 1906 Chicago Cubs, who won 116, the 1954 Cleveland Indians,
who won 111, the 1998 Yankees, who won 114 and the 2001 Seattle Mariners
who won 116 games (although the latter two played in 162-game seasons).
The Cubs and Indians however both lost in the World Series, and the
Mariners were defeated before even reaching the World Series,
effectively removing them from a debate of the greatest team ever.
The '27 Yankees batted .307, slugged .489,
scored 975 runs, and outscored their opponents by a record 376 runs. The
Yankees did not just beat teams, they demoralized them, and the powerful
line-up was again being called "Murderers' Row" (a term first used by a
sportswriter to describe the 1919 pre-Ruth Yankee lineup). Centerfielder
Earle Combs had a career year, batting .356 with 231 hits, and
leftfielder Bob Meusel and secondbaseman Tony Lazzeri each drove in over
100 runs. The pitching staff led the league in ERA at 3.20, and included
Waite Hoyt, who went 22-7, and Herb Pennock who went 19-8. It was Lou
Gehrig though who broke through and established himself as a great
player. Gehrig had one of the greatest seasons of any hitter. He batted
.373, with 218 hits, 52 doubles, 18 triples, 47 home runs, 175 RBI's,
slugged at .765, and was voted A.L. MVP. In time, the 1927 Yankees would
send six players to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
It was also a magical year for Ruth. As
late as August 10, Gehrig had the home run lead over him, 38-35. Gehrig
hit only 9 the rest the season, but Ruth went on a home run tear. By the
next to last game of the season, he was at 59 homers. On September 30,
he lined a shot down the line into the right-field stands for number 60
off Washington Senators pitcher Tom Zachary. Zachary argued to umpire
Bill Dinneen the ball was foul, but Dinneen upheld the home run. Ruth
had set his home run record of 59 in 1921, and had been unable to even
approach it until this season. After his 60th, an elated Ruth shouted in
the clubhouse, "Sixty, count 'em sixty! Let's see some son of a bitch
top that!" In addition to the home runs, Ruth batted .356 and drove in
164 runs.
The Yankees met the Pirates in the World
Series, who were just two years removed from a World Series title. The
Pirates since had added high average hitting brothers Paul Waner and
Lloyd Waner. Before game 1, it was said the Yankees smashing balls over
the wall in spacious Forbes Field during batting practice had the Pirate
players awestuck and beaten before the series even started. The series
though was not a Yankee offensive onslaught. Two of the games were
decided by one run, the Yankees batted just .279 with 2 home runs (both
by Ruth), and averaged fewer runs per game than their season average. As
far as combined batting average, the Waner brothers outhit Ruth and
Gehrig. It would be the Yankee pitching that actually dominated the
series. Their team ERA was 2.00, and the Pirates batted just .223 and
scored only 10 runs in the 4 games.
The 1927 Yankees, as every team in history,
had their weaknesses. They were just average defensively, with mediocre
players at thirdbase, shortstop and catcher, and had a weak bench. The
pitching staff was good, but not dominating. Nevertheless, many present
day baseball historians cite the 1927 Yankees as the greatest baseball
team of all-time.
1928:
Repeat
The Yankees dominance of 1927 carried over
to the first half of 1928 season, where they built a 13 game lead in
July. The Yankees then became hit by some key injuries, inconsistent
play, and a rising Philadephia Athletics team started to quickly close
the gap. In early September, the A's took over first place with a 1-game
lead, but in a pivotal series later that month, the Yankees took 3 out
of 4 games and held on to win the pennant by 2.5 games.
Ruth's play in 1928 mirrored his teams
play. He got off to a hot start, and on August 1, had 42 home runs, well
ahead of the pace of his record 60 home run season set the previous
season. Ruth's power though fell off, and he he hit just 12 home runs
the last two months, but still ended the season with an impressive 54,
the fourth (and last) time he passed 50 home runs in a season.
The Yankees had a World Series rematch with
the St. Louis Cardinals, who had upset them in the 1926 series. The
Cardinals had the same core players and the 1926 team, except Frankie
Frisch was now playing secondbase instead of Rogers Hornsby, as the two
had been traded for each other before the 1928 season.
The series was no contest. The Yankees
swept the Cardinals, no game was close, and Ruth and Gehrig demolished
Cardinal pitching. Ruth went 10-16, a .625 average (still a record for
average in World Series play), and hit 3 home runs, all hit in game 4,
and the second time he hit 3 homers in a World Series game. Gehrig was
just as great, going 5-11, a .545 average, with 4 home runs, 9 RBI's,
and a slugging average of 1.727. The Yankees also extracted some revenge
on Grover Alexander, who went 0-1, with and ERA of 19.80 in 5 innings
pitched. The Yankees had their second straight title, and the 4 game
sweeps in back-to-back World Series has been only accomplished one other
time, by the 1938 and 1939 Yankees.
Death of
Helen
On January 11, 1929, Ruth's former wife
Helen died in a house fire in Watertown, Massachusetts. She had been
living there with her husband, a dentist Dr. Edward Kinder, who was away
at the time of the fire. The fire started in the first floor, and must
have spread quickly preventing her escape, as her body was found
upstairs on the second floor. It was later determined by fire examiners
that the house had been improperly electrically wired. The fuses were
too strong, so when the circuits became overloaded, the fuses did not
blow to cut off the power. Helen Kinder had taken her husband's last
name, and after her death, Dr. Kinder was quite shocked to learn that
his wife was once the wife of Babe Ruth. She and Babe had separated some
three years before, but did not seek a divorce because they were
Catholic. Despite their separation, Ruth cried when he heard the bad
news, and a few days later, he and a number of Yankee players and
personnel attented her funeral. Helen was just 31.
New
marriage
By the time of Helen's death, Ruth was
involved with a widowed socialite named Claire Merritt Hodgson, a woman
he first met in 1923. Claire was educated, socially sophisticated, and a
somewhat strong-minded woman who proved to be an ideal fit for Ruth.
Helen's death cleared the way for Ruth to marry Claire, and they took
their wedding vows on April 17, 1929. Upon marriage, Claire took
complete control of their finances, and managed Babe's often
free-wheeling spending, although he never had any finanical problems.
She frequently traveled with the team on road trips, and curtailed some
of his late-night social activities. She also helped manage his diet,
even though she did little cooking herself. His food portions were cut
down, she reduced his starchy foods and desserts, and forced him to eat
more meat and vegetables. Ruth loved to drink, and even though it never
controlled him, Claire put a limit on it. Claire and Babe stayed
together until his death, and she proved to be the right type of
companion for him, but Ruth remained an emotionally distant person. As
Paul Carey, Ruth's good friend, once commented, "I don't think Babe
really love Claire, I don't think he really loved anybody."
1929-1931
In 1929, the Yankees World Series run
ended, and the three years period from 1929-1931 would be the longest
stretch (excluding his ending years of 1933-1935) that a Ruth team did
not win a pennant. The offense was still highly productive, and in fact
the 1930 and 1931 teams outscored the great 1927 team, but the pitching
fell off badly. The Philadelphia Athletics overtook the Yankees, and for
the next three years won the A.L. pennant. Manager Connie Mack had
rebuilt the A's into one of the best teams ever, and they won the World
Series in 1929 and 1930, although lost the 1931 series in seven games.
The powerful lineup was led by Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons, Mickey Cochrane,
and the pitching was anchored by Lefty Grove, who undoubtedly was the
best pitcher of his era (not to mention one of the greatest pitchers of
all-time). Although the Yankees slipped, Ruth continued to put up
stellar numbers, and led or tied the league in home runs all three of
these years.
It was during the 1929 season that another
tragedy struck close to Ruth. Yankee manager Miller Huggins developed an
ugly looking carbuncle on his face that turned out to be a symptom of
erysipelas, a streptococcal infection of the skin. The bacterial
infection had been left untreated for too long, and sepsis developed,
which proved fatal for Huggins in September. Huggins had been the only
manager Ruth had as a Yankee, and, despite many run-ins with the feisty
Huggins, Ruth had great admiration and respect for him. After hearing of
his death, Ruth and several Yankee players cried, and the league paid
its respect by cancelling all games the day after his death.
Last Glory:
The Called Shot
The Yankees were back on top in 1932. The
team went 107-47, and easily won the pennant under manager Joe McCarthy,
who had taken over in 1931 (a job Ruth had eagerly wanted). The
Philadelphia Athletics run ended, and soon the team was broken up as
difficult economic times made it impossible for the A's to meet their
stars salary demands. Since their last pennant four years earlier, the
Yankees had added future hall of fame players which included pitchers
Red Ruffing and Lefty Gomez, infielder Joe Sewell, and catcher Bill
Dickey.
For Ruth, it was the last year at producing
at a high level. He hit .341, with 41 home runs and 137 RBI's, but it
was the first time since 1918 that Ruth did not lead the league in home
runs when playing nearly a full season of games. Jimmie Foxx nearly
equaled Ruth's 60 mark with 58 home runs in 1932, and it was apparent
that Ruth was no longer the home run king. Ruth also missed 21 games,
and at the end of the year had missed a couple of weeks due to severe
abdominal pains that left him weakened before the start of the World
Series.
The Yankees opponents in the World Series
were the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs were playing just a little better than
mediocre ball much of the season, but in a weak year in the National
League, they were still in first place with a 53-46 record under manager
Rogers Hornsby. After a heated argument with Cubs president William
Veeck, Hornsby was fired and replaced by Charlie Grimm, the Cubs
firstbaseman. Grimm led the cubs to a 37-18 record the rest the season,
and they edged out the Pittsburgh Pirates for the pennant. The Cubs
built their team on pitching, and led by Lon Warneke, Guy Bush, and
Charlie Root, let the league in ERA. The everyday lineup also had fine
players, such as Billy Herman, Kiki Cuyler, and Gabby Hartnett.
The 1932 World Series was noted for some
raucus bench jockeying from both sides that eventually even had some
unruly fans involved. The heated atmosphere started before the series
began. The cause was over former Yankee shortstop Mark Koenig, whom the
Cubs picked up in late August. Koenig batted .353, played solid in the
field, but the Cub players voted him only half a share of their World
Series money. When some of Koenig's Yankee friends heard of this, they
began criticizing the Cub players. Ruth's remarks seemed to especially
set the Cubs off when he called them "cheapskates". The Cub players
retaliated with their own insults on the field, the great majority of it
directed at Ruth, and the banter lasted all series. The series became
especially rowdy when the Yankees went to Chicago. The city was in a
riled up state, and people directed their displeasure at Ruth. While
Ruth was leaving a Chicago hotel with his wife Claire, someone spat on
her, and when Ruth was warming up before game 3, fans threw lemons from
the stands at him.
On the field, the Yankees dispatched of the
Cubs in 4 games with one of the greatest offensive displays in a World
Series, certainly the best in a 4-game series. The Yankees batted .313,
averaged over 9 runs a game, and Lou Gehrig did much of the damage.
Gehrig went 9-17, a .529 average, scored 9 runs, drove in 8, and hit 3
home runs.
The series however is remembered for one
memorable play that occurred in game 3 of the series. It would be Babe
Ruth's last great moment on the baseball stage, when he hit his final
Series home run, an incident that came to be known as Babe Ruth's Called
Shot.
Decline and
end with Yankees
Despite his heroics in the 1932 Series,
Ruth was informed in 1933 by Ed Barrow that his salary would be cut 33%,
from $75,000 to $50,000 a year. Ruth's salary had been cut before the
1932 season, but it was only a $5,000 cut. It was the Great Depression,
and teams were losing money, although the Yankees themselves were still
making a profit. Barrow and owner Jacob Ruppert were also looking to
phase Ruth out from the Yankees. In these days, even players who had
been superstars were often subject to having their salaries cut for even
slightly diminished productivity, and sometimes for no reason at all. As
it had been in baseball up to this time, (and would continue until the
mid-1970's) owners had a virtual stranglehold over players in
negotiations. The only recourse a player had in those times was to hold
out (almost always only an option when the player was in his prime) and
hope public pressure from teammates, fans, and media might make the
owners give in somewhat, but this was no guarantee. The real problem was
baseball's reserve clause, which a player was locked with his team until
he was traded or released. Even with all his stature, Ruth was not
immune from this. Ruth eventually settled to play for $52,000, although
he was still the highest paid player in the game. Ruth was quite unhappy
with the pay cut, but in economic times that forced thousands of banks
to close, the dust bowl ruining farmers lives, and 25% of Americans
unemployed in 1933, no one felt sorry for him.
Ruth remained productive in 1933, batting
.301, with 34 home runs, 103 RBI's, and led the league in walks with
114. Although most major league players could only dream about these
type of numbers, they were well below Ruth's previous standards. The
batting average and slugging average were down over 40 points and 100
points respectively from his career averages, and he was slow in the
field. It was clear Father Time was eroding Ruth's skills. The Yankees
did finish 2nd to the Washington Senators, but never seriously
threatened to win the pennant. At least to Barrow and Ruppert, Ruth and
the Yankees season justified his pay cut, and the next year, Ruth took
another big pay cut down to $25,000 a year, a 50% cut.
One highlight of the season was Ruth
hitting the very first home run in the very first All-Star game, held
July 6, 1933 at Comiskey Park in Chicago, Illinois. His 2-run shot of
Bill Hallahan helped the A.L. to a 4-2 win over the N.L., and he also
made a fine defensive catch in the game.
After the season Ruth continued to press
Barrow for a chance to manage the Yankees, but Barrow had no intentions
of getting rid of manager Joe McCarthy. Ruth never got along well with
the disciplinarian style of McCarthy, and had stated he could do a
better job managing the team, but the Yankees never gave him the chance.
The most they offered him was a chance to manage the Yankees farm team
in Newark, New Jersey, an offer Ruth scoffed at with justification.
Players such as Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker, and a 26-year-old Joe Cronin had
been given big league managerial jobs with no previous managing
experience. At one point Frank Navin, owner of the Detroit Tigers,
seemed serious about hiring Ruth to player manage the Tigers. Ruth
however put off a meeting with Navin to take a trip to Hawaii, and
Navin, never a particularly congenial man anyway, essentially retracted
any meeting with Ruth. Ruth never received a chance to manage, as owners
apparently took to heart a statement Barrow had made about Ruth when he
said, "How can he manage other men when he can't even manage himself?"
Ruth's play continued downward in 1934,
finishing with a .288 average and 22 home runs. It was understood during
the season it would be Ruth's last season in a Yankee uniform, and Ruth
himself stated it might be the last year he played. He made the 1934
All-Star team, but certainly this was more for his name than anything
his was doing on the field. During the game, he was the first of the
five consecutive strikeout victims (with Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Al
Simmons, and Joe Cronin) of Carl Hubbell, one of the most famous moments
in All-Star game history. As he made his last appearances around various
cities, it was accepted as his farewell tour, and a fairly large crowd
turned out to see his last game at Yankee Stadium.
After the 1934 season, Ruth went on a
baseball barnstorming tour in the far east. Players such as Jimmie Foxx,
Lefty Gomez, Earl Averill, Charlie Gehringer, and Lou Gehrig were among
14 players who played a series of 22 games. 17 of the games were played
in Japan, and the reception there was completely enthusiastic. Ruth was
by far the most popular player there. Baseball had been big in Japan for
decades, so many Japanese baseball fans were well aware of Babe Ruth.
Riding in a car, Ruth waved the American and Japanese flags, and a crowd
of Japanese waved American flags back at him. The games were played in
two different stadiums: Tokyo's Meiji-Jingu Stadium which held over
60,000 fans and Koshien Stadium near Kobe which held over 80,000. Both
sites had been sold out for weeks. Ruth would excite the crowds with 13
home runs in the 17 games. The tour was a complete success in Japan, and
in just a couple years, Japan organized its first professional baseball
league, the Japan Professional Baseball Association.
The Last
Act: Return to Boston
In 1935, Boston Braves owner Emil Fuchs was
looking to jumpstart the Braves franchise. A perenial bottom dwelling
team, the Braves had improved somewhat, but the Depression killed off
attendance, and Fuchs was desperate to revive fan interest and hence
revenue. Fuchs was very interested in Ruth and a complex deal was worked
out with Barrow and Ruppert, both eager to get Ruth out of McCarthy's
hair and off the Yankees. The deal was finalized in February 1935, an
offer which Fuchs promised Ruth a share in the teams profits, an
assistant managerial job to Braves manager Bill Mckechnie, (with a good
chance to succeed him next year), and Ruth could play whenever he
wanted. All parties seemed happy with the deal, and with much media
hoopla, Ruth returned to the city that gave him his major league start.
On opening day, before a home capacity
crowd of over 25,000, Ruth was responsible for all the Braves runs in a
4-2 win over Carl Hubbell and the New York Giants. Fan excitement for
the Braves was as high as it had ever been, but the euphroria quickly
died away. Ruth completely stopped hitting, was clumsy in the field, and
soon missed a dozen or so games. The Braves were as bad as they had ever
been, and the few fans that showed up booed the team. Ruth was also
miffed that Mckechnie ignored any of Ruth's advice and managed the team
how he wanted. Soon Ruth realized Fuch's promise to a stake in the
profits was hot air, as who would want to invest in a losing team.
On May 25, 1935, at Forbes Field,
Pittsburgh, Ruth gave one last glimpse of how great a player he was. He
went 4-4, drove in 6 runs, and hit 3 home runs in an 11-7 loss to the
Pirates. The last homer would be the longest ball ever hit at Forbes
Field. It was his 714th and last home run, and his last hit. He hung on
another few days, and on May 30 in Philadelphia, played in his last
major league game. He struck out in the first, and playing the field the
same inning, hurt his knee and left the game. He would never play
another big league game.
Fuchs and Ruth's relationship soured badly.
Fuchs blamed Ruth for the failures of the Braves, and Ruth believed
Fuchs had lied to him about the Braves franchise. After another argument
with Fuchs, Ruth stated to reporters, "I'm quitting." The experiment
with Fuchs, Ruth and the Braves was a complete failure for all parties.
Fuchs, who had borrowed much money, saw revenue and attendance continue
to fall, and soon lost ownership control of the team. Ruth had played in
only 28 games, and batted a dismal .181 in 72 at-bats (striking out 24
times) in his last season as a player. The season for the Braves was a
complete disaster, as they finished 38-115, a .248 winning percentage,
the third worst percentage in major league history.
Later years
In 1939, the years of fast living began to
show signs of catching up with Ruth. During a round of golf with his
playing partner Ben Curry, Ruth said to him, "I feel terrible." He was
taken to the clubhouse where a doctor observed his condition. It wasn't
diagnosed then, but Ruth probably suffered a mild heart attack. About a
year later, he suffered a similar attack. By this time Ruth's weight had
ballooned to over 270 pounds.
In 1942 Ruth was asked to play a part (as
himself, in his athletic prime) in the film The Pride of the Yankees, a
film biography of Lou Gehrig, who had passed away from ALS in June of
1941. Ruth would need to lose a great deal of weight to play the role,
and a vigorous workout schedule had him losing 40 pounds. He did a
respectable job of acting in a bit part, but the strict hours of filming
did not suit his night life. He caught a bad cold (he caught frequent
colds his whole life), which developed into pneumonia. At one point, a
report circulated that he was near death, but he recovered in a couple
of weeks, finished the film part, and was soon back to playing golf and
doing other activities he enjoyed.
During World War II, Ruth did some charity
work for the Red Cross, and himself bought over $100,000 in war bonds.
He even organized a charity golf game with his old rival Ty Cobb (the
two had despised each other in their playing days). Ruth appeared at
many benefits during the war, and a few times donned his old baseball
uniform. During one benefit at Yankee Stadium, he batted against the
former great pitcher Walter Johnson, and another time, pinch hit in a
game made up of teams from the armed forces. Later, in 1943, in another
charity game at Yankee Stadium, he pinch hit, drew a walk, but tore
cartilage in his knee when running the bases, and this would be the last
time he would play in a formal game.
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Illness
After the war, Ruth continued to look for a
chance to manage in the big leagues, something he had wanted to do even
as a player during his heyday. While times before he had essentially
been blackballed by owners, who for various reasons didn't trust him,
this time it was his health that would prevent the opportunity. In 1946,
he began experiencing severe pain over his left eye. He wasn't
concerned, thinking it was sinus problems, but this situation would be
much more grave than his health problems of the past. In November, 1946,
a visit to French Hospital in New York revealed Ruth had a malignant
tumor in his neck that had encircled his left carotid artery, and he
would need surgery to have the cancerous growth removed. During the
surgery, part of his nerves that led to the larynx had to be cut, and as
a result his voice was reduced to a whisper. He would be unable to
swallow foods, and had to be fed with feeding tubes. He also was given
radiation therapy to control the cancer doctors could not remove.
Released from the hospital in February
1947, Ruth was now 80 pounds lighter. Although he regained some of his
strength to play golf, hunt, and other activities he had enjoyed, it was
still obvious to all those who saw him that his health was not good. The
tumor had continued to grow, and he was in so much pain he required
morphine. He did manage to attend Babe Ruth Day, an appreciation of what
Ruth had done for the game, held April 27th, 1947 at Yankee Stadium. It
was on this occassion where Ruth spoke in a disheartening croaking voice
to a capacity crowd of 60,000. He made an impromptu speech, which
included the line "The only real game in the world, I think, is
baseball."
In June, 1947, Ruth was in so much pain
physicians tried and experimental new drug on him, a drug that was a
synthetic form of folic acid. The ongoing treatments seemingly improved
Ruth so much, his case was cited at an International Cancer Congress
held in St. Louis. He seemed to have recovered some of his health, and
with renewed energy started the Babe Ruth Foundation, a charity for
disadvantaged children. Another Babe Ruth Day held at Yankee Stadium in
September helped raise money for his newest charity.
Unfortunately, the apparent recovery was
only a brief remission of the cancer. His health gradually declined, and
he became sick and was in as much pain as he had ever been. On June 13,
1948, a weak Ruth barely was able to attend the Yankee's 25th
anniversary celebration of the opening of Yankee Stadium. He met old
teammates from the 1923 Yankee team, and stood for photographs. The
highlight of the day was when his name was announced over the
loudspeaker, and the crowd erupted into a loud roar. Ruth spoke a few
words a the microphone, saying how much he enjoyed seeing his old
teammates and being a Yankee. After a 2-inning game played by the old
players, Ruth left Yankee Stadium for the last time. Shortly before, he
had a conversation with former teammate Joe Dugan. Ruth told Dugan,
"Joe, I'm gone, I'm done Joe," a confession which had Ruth breaking down
and crying, and Dugan crying with him.
There can be little doubt the cause of
Ruth's throat cancer was a lifelong habit of tobacco use. He chewed
tobacco, smoked cigars, and used snuff in such large amounts that the
dust would clog his nasal passages. Ruth's lifelong problems with colds
and other respitory problems can also likely be tied to this habit. The
direct link between tobacco use and cancer seemed to be medically
conclusive in the 1920's (medical evidence of the link even goes back to
the 18th century), but due to various reason, the public was largely
unaware of the risks of tobacco use until several decades later. This
evidence, even if known during Ruth's lifetime, probably would have not
influenced its use by Ruth or other ballplayers, since the baseball
culture of tobacco use had been ingrained since baseball's beginnings.
Death
Shortly after the event, Ruth was again
back in the hospital. By now, he knew it was cancer, even if no one had
told him, which apparently no one ever did since his cancer was
diagnosed back in 1946. He received hundreds of well-wishing letters
daily, many requesting autographs and photos, and with his wife Claire's
help, made sure he answered every one. He was still able to walk and get
out even nearing his end. On July 26, 1948, he attended the premier of
the film about his life, The Babe Ruth Story, which starred William
Bendix (ironically Bendix had been a Yankee bat boy in the 1920's.) Ruth
however was feeling very ill, and left well before the film was
finished.
Ruth returned to the hospital, and this
time he would never leave. The cancer had eaten away at his body,
leaving him with an emaciated appearance, and his voice was reduced to a
bare whisper. Only a few visitors were allowed to see him, one of whom
was the current National League President and future Commissioner of
Baseball, Ford Frick. Frick had been a good friend of Ruth's since
Ruth's early days as a Yankee and the ghostwriter for various articles
supposedly written by Ruth. In the last days, scores of reporters had
hovered around the hospital, almost anticipating the end. The day after
Frick's visit, Babe Ruth was dead at the age of 53. He was buried in the
Cemetery of the Gate of Heaven in Hawthorne, New York (about 25 miles
North of New York City.) His wife Claire was buried next to him on upon
her death in 1976.
Ruth's birthplace has been preserved as a
combination Babe Ruth museum and Baltimore Orioles museum, and is just a
short walk from Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
Statistics
Career Statistics:
Hitting
Pitching
Notes and
Trivia
-
For the
first 40 years of his life many people, Ruth included, believed his
birthdate to have been February 7, 1894. Most contemporary accounts,
therefore, will contain inaccurate accounts of Ruth's age.
-
Ruth was a
member of the Roman Catholic fraternal organization the Knights of
Columbus.
-
He threw and
batted lefthanded, but wrote righthanded.
-
In her book,
"My Dad, The Babe," his adopted daughter Dorothy claimed she was his
biological child, the product of an affair between Ruth and a
long-time family friend.
-
In 1929, the
Yankees became the first team to regularly use uniform numbers (the
Cleveland Indians used them briefly in 1916). Since Ruth batted
third in the order, he was assigned number 3. Eventually, uniform
numbers were associated with players without regard to the batting
order. The Yankees retired Ruth's number "3" on June 13, 1948. The
first number the Yankees had retired was Lou Gehrig's number "4".
-
Ruth's wife
Claire was a cousin of baseball slugger Johnny Mize.
-
Ruth's 1919
contract that sent him from Boston to New York was auctioned off for
$996,000 at a Sotheby's auction on June 10, 2005. Most of the money
will go to an organization that fights world hunger.
The
Infamous Asterisk
In the middle of the 1961 season, while
both Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris were chasing Ruth's home run record
of 60, Ford Frick made a ruling that if a new record of 61 were set, it
would have to be done in 154 games or less. If it were set in more games
(the 1961 season was 162 games), the two records would be shown
separately in the record books. It is an urban legend, probably
originating with a New York sportswriter named Dick Young who first used
the word "asterisk", that an asterisk was literally used to distinguish
the new record. Major League baseball itself, however, had (and has) no
official record book of its own, and Frick later acknowledged that there
was never any official qualification of Maris' accomplishment. For
several years, various record books did indeed show the two totals, one
for a 162-game season, one for a 154-game season (the The Sporting News
Record book showed it that way for decades), but eventually Ruth's
earlier figure of 60 disappeared entirely and Maris was shown as being
the exclusive record holder. Maris' record has now been surpassed
several times since 1998 but Maris is still the American League record
holder.
* * * *
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