Babe Ruth
2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Sports and games people
|
|
|
| Personal Info | |
|---|---|
| Birth | February 6, 1895, Baltimore, Maryland |
| Death: | August 16, 1948, New York, New York |
| Professional Career | |
| Debut | July 11, 1914, Boston Red Sox vs. Cleveland Indians, Fenway Park |
| Team(s) | Boston Red Sox ( 1914- 1919) New York Yankees ( 1920- 1934) Boston Braves ( 1935) |
| HOF induction: | 1936 |
| Career Highlights | |
|
|
George Herman Ruth, Jr. ( February 6, 1895 -- August 16, 1948), also known as "Babe", "The Bambino", "The Sultan of Swat", and "The Colossus of Clout", was an American baseball player. Ruth, a notable sports figure during the Roaring Twenties, was one of the first five players elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Ruth accomplished many things during his career. He set the record for home runs in a single season when he hit sixty in 1927. The record stood for 34 years. Ruth was a member of the original American League All-Star team in 1933. He also made the team in 1934. In 1969, he was named baseball's Greatest Player Ever in a ballot commemorating the 100th anniversary of professional baseball. In 1998, The Sporting News ranked Ruth No. 1 in its list of "Baseball's 100 Greatest Players." In 1999, Ruth was elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team by fans.
Early life
Young George attended St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys, a school run by Roman Catholic brothers. While Ruth was there, a man by the name of Brother Matthias became a figure in his life. Brother Matthias taught Ruth the game of baseball. He worked with Ruth on hitting, fielding and, later, pitching.
In early 1914, a teacher at St. Mary's brought George to the attention of Jack Dunn, owner and manager of the Baltimore Orioles. After watching Ruth pitch, Dunn signed Ruth to a contract and became Ruth's legal guardian When the other players on the Orioles caught sight of Ruth, they nicknamed him "Jack's newest babe." The reference stayed with Ruth the rest of his life as he was most commonly referred to as Babe Ruth from then on.
On July 7, 1914, Dunn offered Ruth, along with Ernie Shore and Ben Egan, to Connie Mack of the Philadelphia Athletics. Dunn asked $10,000 for the trio, but Mack refused the offer. The Cincinnati Reds, who had an agreement with the Orioles, also passed on Ruth. Instead, the team elected to take George Twombley and Claud Derrick.
Two days later, on July 9, 1914, Dunn sold the aforementioned trio to Joe Lannin and the Boston Red Sox. The amount of money exchanged in the transaction is disputed.
Major League Career
The Red Sox years
When Ruth arrived in 1914, the Red Sox had many star players. As such, he was optioned to the minor league Providence Grays of Providence, Rhode Island for part of the season. Behind Ruth and Carl Mays, the Grays won the International League pennant. Ruth appeared in five games for the Red Sox that year, pitching in four of them. He finished the season 2-1 for the major league club. Shortly after the season, Ruth proposed to Helen Woodford, a waitress he met in Boston, and they were married in Baltimore on October 14, 1914.
During spring training in 1915, Ruth secured a spot in the starting rotation. He joined a pitching staff that included Rube Foster, Dutch Leonard, and Smokey Joe Wood. Ruth won 18 games, lost eight, and helped himself by hitting .315. He also hit his first four home runs. The Red sox won 101 games that year on their way to a victory in the World Series. Ruth did not appear much in the series. He did not pitch in the series and he recorded only one at-bat.
In 1916, after a slightly shaky spring, he went 23 - 12, with a 1.75 ERA and 9 shutouts. Despite a weak offense and hurt by the sale of Tris Speaker to the Indians, the Red Sox still made it to the World Series. They defeated the Brooklyn Robins four games to one. This time Ruth made major contributions in the series. In game 2 of the series, the Red Sox won the game and Ruth pitched a 14-inning complete game.
George went 24-13 in 1917 and hit .325. The Sox finished nine games behind the Chicago White Sox, good enough for second place in the AL.
In the 1918 World Series, Ruth appeared as a pitcher and went 2-0 with a 1.06 ERA. Ruth extended his World Series consecutive scoreless inning streak to 29⅔ innings. Since Hippo Vaughn and Lefty Tyler, two left-handers, pitched nearly all the innings for the Cubs, Ruth, who batted left-handed registered only five at-bats.
During the 1919 season, Ruth pitched in only 17 of the 130 games in which he appeared. He also set his first single-season home run record that year. It was his last season with the Red Sox.
The sale
In the early part of 1920, Red Sox owner Harry Frazee agreed to sell Babe to the New York Yankees. Frazee and Jacob Ruppert, Yankee owner, agreed to exchange Ruth for $125,000 and a loan of more than $300,000. The deal was completed on January 3, 1920.
The Yankee Years
The Early 20’s
Ruth hit 54 home runs and batted .376 in his first year with the Yankees. His .847 slugging average was a major league record until 2001.
In 1921, the Yankees met the New York Giants in the World Series. Ruth badly scraped his elbow during Game 2 sliding into third base. After the game, he was told by the team physician not to play the rest of the series. Without him, the Yankees lost the series. Ruth hit .316, drove in five runs and hit his first World Series home run.
Ruth's appearance in the 1921 World Series created a problem. After the series, Ruth played in a barnstorming tour. At the time, there was a rule that prohibited World Series participants from playing in exhibition games during the off-season. Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis suspended Ruth for the first six weeks of the 1922 season.
Despite his suspension, George was named the Yankees on-field captain. Ruth started his 1922 season on May 20. Five days later, he was ejected from a game and Ruth subsequently lost the title.
In his shortened season, Ruth appeared in 110 games, hit 35 home runs and drove in 99 runs. Even without Ruth for much of the season, the Yankees still made it to the World Series. Unfortunately, Ruth got just two hits in seventeen at-bats and the Yankees lost to the Giants for the second straight year.
Ruth finished the 1923 season with a career-high .393 batting average and major leagues leading 41 home runs.
For the third straight year the Yankees faced the Giants in the World Series. The Bambino batted .368, walked eight times, scored eight runs, hit three home runs and slugged 1.000 during the series. The Yankees won the series 4 games to two.
During spring training in 1925, Ruth fell ill. In order to recover, Ruth returned to New York. Coming off the injury, Ruth finished the season with a .290 average and 25 home runs in 98 games. The team finished next to last in the A.L. with a 69-85 mark.
The Mid-Late 20’s
Babe performed at a much higher level during 1926 season. That year, Ruth hit .372 with 47 home runs and 146 RBI.
The Yankees won the AL title and advanced to the World Series. Unfortunately for Ruth, the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Yankees in seven games. However, Ruth had his moments. In game 4, he hit three home runs.
The 1927 Yankees went 110-44, won the A.L. pennant by 19 games, and swept the Pittsburgh Pirates in the Series. That year Ruth , hit a career high 60 home runs, batted .356, drove in 164 runs and slugged .772.
The following season started off very well for the Yankees. The team even built a 13-game lead in July. But the Yankees were soon plagued by some key injuries, erratic pitching and inconsistent play. The Philadelphia Athletics club quickly ate into the Yankees lead. 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.
Ruth's play in 1928 mirrored his team's play. He got off to a hot start, and on August 1, had 42 home runs. This put him on pace to hit more than the 60 home runs he hit the previous season. But Ruth's power waned, and he hit just 12 home runs in the last two months of the regular season. Still, he ended the season with an impressive 54, the fourth (and last) time he passed 50 home runs in a season plateau.
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 as the 1926 team, except for Rogers Hornsby, who was traded for Frankie Frisch after the 1926 season.
The series was no contest. The Yankees swept the Cardinals 4-0. Ruth batted .625 and hit three home runs in game four of the series.
Decline and end with Yankees
In 1929, the Yankees failed to make the World Series for the first time in three years. The Yankees failed to make the playoffs in each of the next three years. Although the Yankees slipped, Ruth led or tied for the league lead in home runs each year from 1929-1931.
In 1932, the Yankees went 107-47 and won the pennant under manager Joe McCarthy. Ruth did his part as he hit .341, with 41 home runs and 137 RBIs. Ruth did miss 21 games on the schedule that year; this included the last few weeks of the season.
The Yankees faced the Chicago Cubs in the 1932 World Series. The Yankees dispatched the Cubs in 4 games and batted .313 as a team. During game 3 of the series, Ruth hit what has now become known as Babe Ruth's Called Shot. During the at-bat, Ruth supposedly gestured to the bleachers in an attempt to predict the home run.
Ruth remained productive in 1933. He batted .301, hit 34 home runs, drove in 103 runs, and led the league in walks. As a result, Ruth was elected to play in the very first All-star game. He hit the very first home run in the game’s history on July 6, 1933, at Comiskey Park in Chicago, Illinois. The two-run home helped the AL score a 4-2 victory.
In 1934, the Bambino recorded a .288 average, 22 home runs, and made the All-Star team for the second consecutive year. During the game, Ruth was the first of five consecutive strikeout victims for Carl Hubbell. In what turned out to be his last game at Yankee Stadium, only 2,000 fans attended.
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.
1935 with the Braves
In 1935, Boston Braves owner Emil Fuchs signed Ruth to a Free Agent contract. On opening day, before a capacity crowd of over 25,000, Ruth played in his first game with the Braves. They defeated the New York Giants in Boston by a score of 4-2.
On May 25, 1935, at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, Ruth went 4-4, drove in 6 runs and hit 3 home runs in an 11-7 loss to the Pirates. These were the last three home runs of his career. Five days later, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Ruth played in his last major league game. That season, he hit just .188 with six home runs in 72 at-bats. The Braves had similar results. They finished 38-115, and it was the third worst record in major league history.
Personal life
Marriages
Ruth married Helen Woodford, his first wife, in 1914. Together, they adopted a daughter. They were reportedly separated as early as 1920 and as late as 1926. After they separated, Helen perished in a house fire. Ruth and a number of Yankees attended her funeral.
On April 17, 1929, the Babe married actress Claire Hodgson. They stayed married until the Babe's death in 1948.
Retirement and post-playing days
In 1936, Ruth was one of the first five players elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Two years later, Larry MacPhail, the Brooklyn Dodgers general manager, offered him a first base coaching job in June. Ruth took the job, but quit at the end of the season. The coaching position was his last job in Major League Baseball. In 1942, Ruth decided to get into acting. He played himself in the film The Pride of the Yankees. The film was biopic of Lou Gehrig. His baseball career finally came to an end in 1943. In a charity game at Yankee Stadium, he pinch hit and drew a walk.
Illness
In 1946, he began experiencing severe pain over his left eye. 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. He was released from the hospital in February 1947.
On April 27, 1947, the Yankees held a ceremony at Yankee Stadium. Despite his health problems, Ruth was able to attend "Babe Ruth Day". Ruth spoke to a capacity crowd of more than 60,000. Later, Ruth started the Babe Ruth Foundation, a charity for disadvantaged children. Another Babe Ruth Day held at Yankee Stadium in September of that year helped to raise money for this charity.
After the cancer returned, Ruth attended the 25th anniversary celebration of the opening of Yankee Stadium on June 13, 1948. He was reunited with old teammates from the 1923 Yankee team and posed for photographs.
Death
Shortly after he attended the Yankee Stadium anniversary event, Ruth was back in the hospital. He received hundreds of well-wishing letters and messages. This included a phone call from President Harry Truman. Claire helped him respond to the letters.
On July 26, 1948, Ruth attended the premiere of the film The Babe Ruth Story, a biopic about his life. William Bendix portrayed Ruth. Shortly thereafter, Ruth returned to the hospital for the final time.
Cancer had eaten away at his body and he was barely able to speak. Ruth's condition gradually became worse, and in his last days, scores of reporters and photographers hovered around the hospital. Only a few visitors were allowed to see him, one of whom was the then National League President and future Commissioner of Baseball, Ford Frick. “Ruth was so thin it was unbelievable. He had been such a big man and his arms were just skinny little bones, and his face was so haggard,” Frick said years later.
On August 16, the day after Frick's visit, Babe Ruth died at the age of 53. His body lay in repose in Yankee Stadium his funeral was two days later at St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York. Ruth was then buried in the Cemetery of the Gate of Heaven in Hawthorne, New York.
Statistics
Career Statistics
| G | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | R | RBI | BB | SO | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2,503 | 8,399 | 2,873 | 506 | 136 | 714 | 2,174 | 2,213 | 2,062 | 1,330 | .342 | .469 | .690 | 1.159 |
| W | L | WP | GP | GS | CG | Sh | SV | IP | BB | SO | ERA | WHIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 94 | 46 | .671 | 163 | 148 | 107 | 17 | 4 | 1,221.1 | 441 | 488 | 2.28 | 1.16 |
Trivia
- In 1920, Ruth hit 54 home runs. That season, only the Philadelphia Phillies (and of course the Yankees) managed to hit more as a team. They hit 64.
- For the first 40 years of his life, Ruth believed his birthday to have been February 7, 1894. Most contemporary accounts, therefore, will contain inaccurate accounts of Ruth's age. Ruth continued to use the 1894 date when asked his age, because he was accustomed to it.
- The statue of Babe Ruth at the Eutaw Street entrance of Camden Yards has him holding a catcher's mitt for a right handed player. This is not a mistake as the statue portrays Ruth during his days at St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys. In his autobiography Ruth states that lefty gloves were not available.
- Ruth played himself in a cameo appearance in the Harold Lloyd film Speedy (1928).
- In 1929, the Yankees became the first team to use uniform numbers regularly (the Cleveland Indians used them briefly in 1916). Since Ruth batted third in the order, he was assigned number 3. The Yankees retired Ruth's number on June 13, 1948.
- Ruth's 1919 contract that sent him from Boston to New York was auctioned off for $996,000 at Sotheby's on June 10, 2005. The most valuable memorabilia relating to Ruth was his 1923 bat which he used to hit the first home run at Yankee Stadium on April 18, 1923. Ruth's heavy Louisville Slugger solid ash wood bat sold for $1.26 million at a Sotheby's auction in December of 2004, making it the second most valuable baseball memorabilia item to date, just behind the famous 1909 Honus Wagner baseball card.
- Named his Farm: Home Plate Farm.