Babe Ruth
(February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948), also popularly known as "Babe", "The Bambino", and "The Sultan of Swat", was an American Major League baseball player from 1914 to 1935. Named the greatest baseball player in history in various surveys and rankings, his home run hitting prowess and charismatic personality made him a larger than life figure in the "Roaring Twenties".
He was the first player to hit 60 home runs in one season (1927), a record which stood for 34 years until broken by Roger Maris in 1961. Ruth's lifetime total of 714 home runs at his retirement in 1935 was a record for 39 years, until broken by Hank Aaron in 1974.
Unlike many power hitters, Ruth also hit for average: his .342 lifetime batting is tenth highest in baseball history, and in one season (1923) he hit .393, a Yankee record. His .690 career slugging percentage, and 1.164 career OPS remain the major league records.
Ruth dominated in the era in which he played.
He led the league in home runs during a season twelve times, slugging percentage thirteen times, OPS thirteen times, runs scored eight times, and RBIs six times. Each of those totals represents a modern record (and also an all-time record, except for RBIs).
In 1936, Ruth became one of the first five players elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
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 Number 1 on the list of "Baseball's 100 Greatest Players." In 1999, baseball fans named Ruth to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.
Ruth ushered in the "live-ball era," as his big swing led to escalating home run totals that not only excited fans, but helped baseball evolve from a low-scoring, speed-dominated game to a high-scoring power game.
Off the field he was famous for his charity, but also was noted for his often reckless lifestyle. His participation in an all-star tour of Japan in 1934 sparked that country's interest in professional baseball; a decade later, Japanese soldiers seeking the ultimate insult for American troops would sometimes shout, "To hell with Babe Ruth!"
Early life
Ruth was born at 216 Emory Street in southern Baltimore, Maryland. His maternal grandfather, German immigrant Pius Schamberger, was an upholsterer; he rented a house located only a block from where Oriole Park at Camden Yards now stands. Ruth's German American parents, Kate Schamberger-Ruth and George Herman Ruth, Sr., eventually owned saloons on Lombard and Camden Street in Baltimore. Only one of Ruth's seven siblings, his sister Mamie, survived past infancy.
Ruth's parents worked long hours and had little time to take care of him.
Mary's Industrial School for Boys, a reformatory and orphanage, and signed custody over to the Catholic missionaries who ran the school. Mary's, a man by the name of Brother Matthias became a father figure in his life.
He worked with Ruth on hitting, fielding and, later, pitching. Although Ruth batted and threw left-handed, he wrote right-handed.
Ruth (top row, far left) at St Mary's Industrial School for Boys
In early 1914, a teacher at St. Since Ruth was only 19 years old, Dunn had to become Ruth's legal guardian as well; at that time, the age of majority was 25. 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, and he was most commonly referred to as Babe Ruth from then on.
On July 7, 1914, Dunn offered to trade Ruth, along with Ernie Shore and Ben Egan, to Connie Mack of the Philadelphia Athletics.
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, Dunn sold the trio to Joe Lannin and the Boston Red Sox. The amount of money exchanged in the transaction is disputed.
Major League career
Ruth pitching for the Red Sox in 1914, at Comiskey Park in Chicago
Red Sox years
Ruth appeared in five games for the Red Sox in 1914, pitching in four of them.
The Red Sox had many star players in 1914, so Ruth was soon optioned to the minor league Providence Grays of Providence, Rhode Island for most of the remaining season. They were married in Ellicott City, Maryland, on October 17, 1914.
During spring training in 1915, Ruth secured a spot in the Red Sox starting rotation.
He joined a pitching staff that included Rube Foster, Dutch Leonard, and Smokey Joe Wood. The Red Sox won 101 games that year on their way to a victory in the World Series.
This time Ruth made a major contribution, pitching a 14-inning complete-game victory in Game Two.
Ruth batting in 1918
Ruth went 24-13 with a 2.01 ERA and 6 shutouts in 1917, and hit .325, but the Sox finished second, nine games behind the Chicago White Sox. Ruth's most memorable game of the season was one he had very little part in playing.
On June 23 against the Washington Senators, after walking the leadoff hitter, Ruth erupted in anger, was ejected, and threw a punch at the umpire (he'd be suspended for 10 games). Ernie Shore came into the game as an impromptu replacement, and pitched a perfect game the rest of the way.
Boston finally pushed across a run in the 9th, and Ruth held onto his 1–0 victory by striking out Ty Cobb. In 1942, Ruth called this game his greatest thrill on the field.
In 1918, Ruth pitched in 20 games, posting a 13–7 record with a 2.22 ERA.
His statistics were curtailed slightly when he walked off the team in July following an argument with Boston's manager.
Ruth threw a 1–0 shutout in the opener of 1918 World Series, then won Game Four in what would be his final World Series appearance as a pitcher. In three games, Ruth was 3–0 with an 0.87 ERA, allowing 19 hits in 31 innings.
Ruth extended his World Series consecutive scoreless inning streak to 29⅔ innings, But since left-handers Hippo Vaughn and Lefty Tyler pitched nearly all the innings for the Cubs, Ruth, who batted left-handed, registered only five at-bats in the Series.
Emergence as a hitter
Despite his exceptional pitching numbers, Ruth's hitting prowess had become undeniable, and his playing record reflected it. Between 1915–1917, Ruth had been used in just 44 games in which he had not pitched.
However, he was effectively limited to two trading partners--the Chicago White Sox and the then-moribund Yankees. With this money the Boston club can now go into the market and buy other players and have a stronger and better team in all respects than we would have had if Ruth had remained with us.”
However, the January 6, 1920 New York Times was more prescient:
“The short right field wall at the Polo Grounds should prove an easy target for Ruth next season and, playing seventy-seven games at home, it would not be surprising if Ruth surpassed his home run record of twenty-nine circuit clouts next Summer.”
It also turns out that there was a solid basis for the No, No, Nanette story.
Aside from the Yankees, only the Philadelphia Phillies managed to hit more home runs as a team than Ruth did as an individual, slugging 64 in hitter-friendly Baker Bowl.
In 1921, Ruth improved to arguably the best year of his career, hitting 59 home runs, batting .378 and slugging .846 (the highest with 500+ at-bats in an MLB season) while leading the Yankees to their first league championship. (This was not recognized at the time, as Connor's correct career total was not accurately documented until the 1970s.
Ruth spoke to a capacity crowd of more than 60,000, including many American Legion youth baseball players. Although lacking a specific memorable comment like Gehrig's "Luckiest man" speech, Ruth spoke from the heart, of his enthusiasm for the game of baseball and in support of the youth playing the game.
Top performers in other sports are often referred to as "The Babe Ruth of ______." He is widely regarded as one of the greatest baseball players in history. Many polls place him as the number one player of all time.
Films have been made featuring Ruth, or a Ruth-like figure ("The Whammer" in The Natural, for example).
As a sidelight to his prominent role in changing the game to the power game, the frequency and popularity of Ruth's home runs eventually led to a rule change pertaining to those hit in sudden-death mode (bottom of the ninth or later inning).