RUTH, GEORGE HERMAN "BABE" 1894-1948

Home-run king

Greatest Hitter in Baseball History

Babe Ruth single-handedly changed the character of baseball through his home run prowess, altering the game from an exercise in base-hitting, bunting, and base-stealing to a drama of long-ball hitting. For thirty-nine years he held the record for career home runs—714—which stood until 8 April 1974, when Henry Aaron hit his 715th home run in Atlanta for the Atlanta Braves. At Baseball's Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, an entire room is devoted to Ruth's accomplishments and memorabilia. Ruth was also the first player to earn huge sums of money from baseball, an estimated $1 million in salaries and bonuses and at least another $1 million from endorsements and other enterprises.

Early Life

The legend surrounding Ruth's life and career has its origins in his troubled upbringing. When he was eight years old he was sent for a few weeks to Baltimore's Saint Mary's Industrial School for boys, a home for "incorrigibles." At the age of ten he was returned to the reformatory and from age ten to twenty, he spent at least seven years there. While at Saint Mary's, Ruth came under the influence of Brother Mathias, who in 1914 asked Jack Dunn, a scout for the Baltimore Orioles, then in the Federal League, to watch the nineteen-year-old left-hander pitch. Dunn signed Ruth on 14 February 1914 to a $600 contract with the Orioles.

Early Career

The Federal League collapsed, and Ruth was sold to the Boston Red Sox on 10 July 1914. Ruth won eighteen and lost six in his first season under Bill Carrigan, Ruth's favorite manager among the seven he played for in the course of his career. With the Red Sox be became an all-around player. During the 1917 season Ruth won twenty-four and lost thirteen, with a 2.02 earned run average; in 1918 he hit eleven home runs and set a World Series record by extending his scoreless inning streak to twenty-nine and two-thirds, a record that held until Whitey Ford broke it in 1961. He also began playing in the outfield on the days he did not pitch.

A Crowed Pleaser

Ruth's home run capabilities increasingly drew large crowds wherever he played. Partly because of his ability to attract paying customers and partly because of his continual run-ins with managers and owners about curfews, fines, and suspensions, the Red Sox sold him to the Yankees, a deal that was finalized on 3 January 1920. The New York Yankees owners, "Col." Jacob Ruppert and Colonel Tillinghast Huston, paid Boston owner Harry Frazee, who was in desperate need of funds because of other business ventures, $125,000 cash and granted him a loan of $300,000. Ruth's salary, with bonuses and gate percentages, came to about $41,000 per season for 1920 and 1921.

In Pinstripes

Once in the Yankees organization, Ruth truly began building his legend. In 1920 he batted .376, hit fifty-four home runs, nine triples, and thirty-six doubles; scored 158 runs; batted in 137 runs; and stole fourteen bases. His "slugging average" was .847, still the major-league record. His biographer Robert W. Creamer maintains that 1921, his second season with the Yankees, was a better hitting year for him than 1927, when he hit his record sixty home runs. In 1921 he played in 152 games, hit 59 home runs, had 177 runs batted in, 204 singles, forty-four doubles, sixteen triples, and a batting average of .378. In 1927 he played in 151 games, hit sixty home runs, had 164 runs batted in, 192 singles, twenty-nine doubles, eight triples, and a batting average of .356. In 1923 he was the unanimous choice for Most Valuable Player in the American League, batted. 393 (the highest average of his career, though it was second in the league to Harry Heilmann's .403), and led the league in home runs at forty-one. He negotiated his salary to $52,000 that year. When asked why he insisted on this figure, Ruth replied that he had always wanted to say he made $1,000 a week.

The House that Ruth Built

In 1923 Yankee Stadium, built at a cost of $2.5 million, opened. The new stadium stood on a plot of land bought from the Astor estate and located in the Bronx across the Harlem River from the Polo Grounds, the stadium that had been shared by the Yankees and the New York Giants. Yankee stadium had sixty-two thousand seats, and all were filled on opening day in 1923 when Ruth hit a home run, the first in his new locale, later to be dubbed "The House that Ruth Built."

The Great Years

In 1926 the Yankees won the American League pennant and met the Saint Louis Cardinals in the World Series. Ruth hit three home runs in one game, the first time that feat had been accomplished in Series play. However, the Yankees lost the series four games to three, when Ruth attempted to steal second in the seventh game with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and the Yankees behind in the score, three to two. His being called out ended a Yankees rally that might have changed the outcome of the game and the series. For this play Ruth came under a barrage of criticism.

Winners

During the next two years the Yankees gained dramatic revenge against the entire National League by sweeping the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1927 World Series and the Saint Louis Cardinals in the 1928 World Series, From 1926 to 1931 Ruth led the American League in home runs. The 1927 Yankees are considered by many to be the greatest team ever assembled. As a team they batted .307 and won 110 games and lost 44, a winning percentage of .714. Their famous "Murderer's Row" label predates Ruth, but once he and his teammate Lou Gehrig began their home-run rivalry in 1927, the name seemed especially applicable. In the four-game 1928 Series, Ruth had ten hits in sixteen at bats for a .625 batting average, still a World Series record. His salary was now raised to $70,000 a year for the next three years.

The Glory Years

The 1920s with the Yankees were Ruth's glory years. He led the American League in home runs from 1926 to 1931. A bearlike, fun-loving, and much-loved figure, Ruth was legendary for his public rowdiness and his eating, drinking, and womanizing. He missed the first two months of the 1925 season with a "stomach-ache heard round the world," the result of his eating dozens of hot dogs washed down with beer. He remained a boisterous child-man throughout the decade, and his prodigious appetites soon exaggerated his famous physique—a bulging belly atop spindly legs.

More than the President was Paid

In 1930 Ruth's salary was raised to $80,000, a salary even higher than President Herbert Hoover's ("I had a better year than the President," he said, and was no doubt correct as the Great Depression had begun). Ruth's abilities began to wane in 1932, though the most famous of his legends occurred that year when in the third game of the World Series against the Chicago Cubs, with the scored tied 4—4, Ruth allegedly pointed his bat toward center field and hit the next pitch—low and away—deep into the center-field bleachers. Whether he had "called" this home run or not is still much discussed, though he clearly had called home runs before, once in 1927 and again in 1931. Whether or not the 1932 "call" actually occurred, it quickly became part of baseball lore.

The Declining Years

Ruth had always expected to manage the Yankees when his playing days were over, but his history of carousing and rebellion against management defeated his ambition. Instead, he signed with the Boston Braves as a player-assistant manager for the 1935 season; on 25 May 1935 he hit three home runs for his new National League team, but the Braves were losing money, and Ruth quarreled with the team owner. In June 1935 Ruth was given his unconditional release. He coached for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1938, but his brief nonplaying baseball career was drawing to a close.

Death

In 1946 Ruth developed a cancerous growth on the left side of his face; the following year he under-went radiation treatment, which caused him to lose nearly eighty pounds. On Sunday, 13 June 1948, in celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of Yankee Stadium, Ruth and other Yankee veterans of the 1923 season were invited to attend a special ceremony. Ruth, the last former player to walk out onto the field, was greeted with tumultuous applause. When he died on 16 August 1948, thousands of fans filed past his bier at Yankee Stadium.

Source:

Robert W. Creamer, Babe: The Legend Comes to Life (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1974).

Babe Ruth

Born: February 6, 1895
Baltimore, Maryland
Died: August 16, 1948
New York, New York
American baseball player

Babe Ruth, an American baseball player, was one of sport's most famous athletes and an enduring legend.

Early years

George Herman Ruth Jr., later known as Babe Ruth, was born on February 6, 1895, in Baltimore, Maryland, one of George Herman Ruth and Kate Schamberger's eight children. Of the eight, only George Jr. and a sister, Mamie, survived. Ruth's father owned a tavern, and running the business left him and his wife with little time to watch over their children. Young George began skipping school and getting into trouble. He also played baseball with other neighborhood children whenever possible.

At the age of seven Ruth was sent to the St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys, a school that took care of boys who had problems at home. It was run by the Brothers (men who had taken vows to lead religious lives) of a Catholic order of teachers. Ruth wound up staying there off and on until he was almost twenty. At St. Mary's, Ruth studied, worked in a tailor shop, and learned values such as sharing and looking out for smaller, weaker boys. He also developed his baseball skills with the help of one of the Brothers.

Signs baseball contract

Ruth became so good at baseball (both hitting and as a left-handed pitcher) that the Brothers wrote a letter to Jack Dunn, manager of the Baltimore Orioles minor league baseball team, inviting him to come see Ruth. After watching Ruth play for half an hour, Dunn offered him a six-month contract for six hundred dollars. Dunn also had to sign papers making him Ruth's guardian until the boy turned twenty-one.

When Dunn brought Ruth to the Oriole locker room for the first time in 1914, one of the team's coaches said, "Well, here's Jack's newest babe now!" The nickname stuck, and Babe Ruth stuck with the team as well, performing so well that he was moved up later that year to the Boston Red Sox of the American League. Ruth pitched on championship teams in 1915 and 1916, but he was such a good hitter that he was switched to the out-field so that he could play every day. (Pitchers usually play only every four or five days because of the strain that pitching has on their throwing arm.) In 1919 his twenty-nine home runs set a new record and led to the beginning of a new playing style. Up to that point home runs occurred very rarely, and baseball's best players were usually pitchers and high-average "singles" hitters. By 1920 Ruth's frequent home runs made the "big bang" style of play more popular and successful.

Becomes legend with the Yankees

In 1920 Babe Ruth was sold to the New York Yankees for one hundred thousand dollars and a three hundred fifty thousand dollar loan. This was a huge event which increased his popularity. In New York his achievements and personality made him a national celebrity. Off the field he enjoyed eating, drinking, and spending or giving away his money outright; he earned and spent thousands of dollars. By 1930 he was paid eighty thousand dollars for a season, a huge sum for that time, and his endorsement income (money received in return for public support of certain companies' products) usually added up to be more than his baseball salary.

Ruth led the Yankees to seven American League championships and four World Series titles. He led the league in home runs many times, and the 60 he hit in 1927 set a record for the 154-game season. (Roger Maris hit 61 home runs in a 162-game season in 1961.) Ruth's lifetime total of 714 home runs is second only to the 755 hit by Hank Aaron (1934–). With a .342 lifetime batting average for 22 seasons of play, many consider Babe Ruth the game's greatest player.

When Ruth's career ended in 1935, he had hoped to become a major league manager, but his reputation for being out of control made teams afraid to hire him. In 1946 he became head of the Ford Motor Company's junior baseball program. He died in New York City on August 16, 1948.

For More Information

Creamer, Robert W. Babe: The Legend Comes to Life. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1974.

Miller, Ernestine G. The Babe Book: Baseball's Greatest Legend Remembered. Kansas City, MO: Andrews McMeel, 2000.

Ritter, Lawrence S. The Babe: The Game That Ruth Built. New York: Total Sports, 1997.

Smelser, Marshall. The Life That Ruth Built: A Biography. New York: Quadrangle/New York Times Book Co., 1975. Reprint, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1993.

Van Riper, Guernsey. Babe Ruth, One of Baseball's Greatest. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1983.

Wagenheim, Kal. Babe Ruth: His Life and Legend. New York: Praeger, 1974. Reprint, Chicago: Olmstead Press, 2001.

Babe Ruth (George Herman Ruth), 1895–1948, American baseball player, considered by many the greatest of all baseball players, b. Baltimore.

Early Life

When he was seven years old his parents placed him in St. Mary's Industrial School (Baltimore), an institution for underprivileged boys. His days at St. Mary's were spent learning the tailor's trade and practicing baseball in his spare time. He began to play semiprofessional ball in Pennsylvania and was signed by the Baltimore Orioles (International League) in 1914. That same year he was sold as a pitcher to the Boston Red Sox of the American League.

Major-League Career

Ruth, a left hander, proved to be (1914–19) a formidable pitcher for the Red Sox and one of the most successful in major-league baseball, winning 87 and losing 44 games and winning three World Series games (one in 1916, two in 1918). However, because pitchers do not play in every game, in 1919 Ruth was shifted to the outfield, where his hitting prowess could be used consistently.

The following year he was sold to the New York Yankees of the American League, and because of his batting feats and attractive public personality he greatly helped to salvage baseball's popularity, weakened by revelations that gamblers and players, in the so-called Black Sox scandal, had successfully conspired to influence the results of the 1919 World Series. Ruth hit the most home runs per season for several years (1919–21, 1923–24, 1926–30), tied for the home run lead in 1918 and 1931, and set a record of 60 home runs in a 154-game season in 1927. (In 1961 Roger Maris hit 61 in a 162-game season, in 1998 Mark McGwire hit 70, and in 2001 Barry Bonds hit 73.) Ruth hit 714 home runs in major league play, a record that held until 1974, when Hank Aaron surpassed it. Ruth led the Yankees to seven pennants (1921–23, 1926–28, 1932), and Yankee Stadium, built in 1923, came to be known as "the house that Ruth built."

He was the highest-paid player of his era, but toward the end of his career he took several salary cuts before he was traded by the Yankees to the Boston Braves (National League) in 1935. He played with the Braves while serving as assistant manager but soon (June, 1935) was released.

Ruth was an unmistakable figure with his large frame and spindle-thin legs, and his talented and colorful play captured baseball fans' imagination. For example, in the third game of the 1932 World Series he appeared to indicate a spot in the stands of the Chicago Cubs' ball park where he would hit the ball and promptly blasted it there for a home run. Off the playing field "the Bambino," as he was affectionately called, made headlines for his charitable actions, such as visiting sick children in hospitals, as well as for his prodigious appetites and flamboyant lifestyle.

In 1936, Ruth became the second player to be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame; Ty Cobb was the first. A year before he died he established and endowed the Babe Ruth Foundation to aid underprivileged youth. He wrote How to Play Baseball (1931).



See biography by L. Montville (2006).

George Herman Ruth Jr.

George Herman Ruth, Jr. (1895-1948), American baseball player, was the sport's all-time champion, its greatest celebrity, and most enduring legend.

George Herman Ruth was born on Feb. 6, 1895, in Baltimore, one of eight children of a saloonkeeper. Judged as incorrigible at the age of 7, Ruth was committed to the St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys, where he learned baseball from a sympathetic monk. His left-handed pitching brilliance prompted Jack Dunn of the Baltimore Orioles to adopt him in 1914 to secure his release. That same year Dunn sold him to the American League Boston Red Sox. Ruth pitched on championship teams in 1915 and 1916, but his hitting soon marked him as an outfielder. In 1919 his 29 home runs set a new record and heralded a new playing style. Baseball had been dominated by pitching and offense; by 1920 Ruth's long hits inaugurated the "big bang" style.

In 1920 Babe Ruth was sold to the New York Yankees for $100,000 and a $350,000 loan. This electrifying event enhanced his popularity. His feats and personality made him a national celebrity. An undisciplined, brawling wastrel, he earned and spent thousands of dollars. By 1930 he was paid $80,000 for a season, and his endorsement income usually exceeded his annual income.

Ruth led the Yankees to seven championships, including four World Series titles. He was the game's perennial home run champion, and the 60 he hit in 1927 set a record for the 154-game season (Roger Maris hit 61 home runs in 1961, but on the extended game schedule). His lifetime total of 714 home runs is unsurpassed. With a .342 lifetime batting average for 22 seasons of play, many rate him the game's greatest player.

When his career ended in 1935, Ruth's reputation as being undisciplined frustrated his hopes of becoming a major league manager. In 1946 he became head of the Ford Motor Company's junior baseball program. He died in New York City on Aug. 16, 1948.

Further Reading

So much has been written about Ruth, both in his lifetime and since his death, that it is surprising to find no adequate biography of him. A popular biography of his playing career is by sportswriter Thomas Meany, Babe Ruth: The Big Moments of the Big Fellow (1947). Also useful is Ruth's The Babe Ruth Story as Told to Bob Considine (1948). An intimate, iconoclastic account of Ruth's personal life was written by his wife, Claire M. Ruth (with Bill Slocum), The Babe and I (1959). A Pulitzer Prize—winning sketch of Ruth, written at the height of his career, is included in Laurence Greene, The Era of Wonderful Nonsense: A Casebook of the Twenties (1939). Ruth's impact on baseball history is assessed in David Q. Voigt, American Baseball (2 vols., 1966-1970). □

Ruth, George Herman (“Babe”) (1895–1948), baseball player. Born to a German saloon‐owning family, George Herman Ruth Jr. played ball at a Baltimore industrial school before turning professional in 1914. He was soon the ace of the Boston Red Sox pitching staff, winning eighty‐nine games over six seasons and setting a World Series record in 1918 for consecutive scoreless innings. Astoundingly, the next year he hit twenty‐nine home runs, another record, prompting the Red Sox to sell him to the New York Yankees as a hitter for an unheard‐of $125,000.

Babe Ruth (the nickname by which he was universally known) virtually made the Yankees. Before 1920 they had never won a pennant. In Ruth's fifteen years, they won seven, plus four World Series championships. Ruth led the league in homers twelve times, hitting 60 in 1927 alone and finishing with a total of 714. He also batted a career .342 and was a fine fielder. Yankee Stadium became “The House that Ruth Built.” Millions saw him play. The all‐powerful New York press loved him. He was the “Sultan of Swat,” best paid and most acclaimed athlete of his day, a charter member of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

People idolized Ruth because of his hitting, which transformed baseball offense from singles‐and‐steals to raw power, and baseball itself into mass entertainment. But they also loved his undisciplined high spirits, his good humor, even his extravagant eating, drinking, and womanizing. He would sign autographs for hours, visit hospitals, then step into a convertible and carouse all night. He golfed, hunted, smoked huge cigars, made movies, and barnstormed around the world. Demonstrating how much fun life could be, Babe Ruth symbolized the hedonism and exuberance of the 1920s. While this image cost him a chance to manage, fans loved him for it. When he died of cancer, a hundred thousand mourners viewed his bier.
See also Sports: Professional Sports; Twenties, The.

Bibliography

Ken Sobol , Babe Ruth and the American Dream, 1974.
Marshall Smelser , The Life that Ruth Built, 1975.

Ronald Story