Babe Ruth

By: Riley Wolpert

Babe Ruth started his career with the Boston Red Sox but people know him for playing with the New York Yankees. He played with the Yankees from 1920 to 1929. He ended his career in 1935 when he retired after playing for his third team the Boston Braves.

babe-ruth.jpg

Babe Ruth's real name is George Herman Ruth Jr. and he was born in Baltimore. He was born on February 6, 1895. His childhood was rough. He lost his mother when he was a teenager and when she was alive she was always ill. When he was seven, his dad sent him to St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys. St. Mary's is like an orphanage and Babe's dad signed custody of Babe over to the catholic missionaries who ran the church. He was introduced to baseball while he was there. One of the brothers there took Babe under his wing and became the father figure for him and helped Babe with his baseball skills. Babe didn't leave St. Mary's for twelve years.

St. Mary's played a university in an game and Babe was noticed by Joe Engel. Joe told a minor league team's manager about Ruth. The manager's name was Jack Dunn and he signed Babe Ruth to a contract in 1914 at the age of 19. The team was the Baltimore Orioles. They were a minor league team back then but now they are a major league team. When Jack Dunn signed Babe he had to become the legal guardian because he couldn't sign Babe until 25 because age of majority. When the playors for the team saw Babe they called him "Jack's new babe" so Babe became his nickname which he sticked with until he died. He has been called and best known for the name Babe Ruth. He was soon traded to a major league team called the Boston Red Sox.

In his first season with the Boston Red Sox he only played in five games and he pitched four of them. The next year he 42 games and he kept playing more games with the Red Sox until he was traded. His last season with Boston, he played 130 games and batted .322 which is good. He won the world series with Boston and he pitched a 14-inning complete game in game 2. He won three world series while at Boston. His batting kept getting better and better since coming into the league. He was sold to the New York Yankees in 1919.

He is best known for playing for the Yankees. played his best seasons there and he played the most seasons there. His best season was in 1920 when he broke the home run record by hitting 54 home runs He won the world series with the Yankees four times. He won the Al MVP ( Most Valuable Player) in 1923. He had some of the greatest stats in the history of baseball. He had two nicknames that were also famous. They were "The Bambino" and "The Sultan of Swat". People say the he is the best player to play baseball ever and that he is the third biggest sports figure in the world. He played for the Yankees until 1935 when he was sold to a different team.

He played for the Boston Braves for one season before calling it quits. Ruth was one of the first five player elected to the Hall Of Fame in 1936. Two years later Larry MacPhail, the Brooklyn Dodgers general manager, offered him a first base coaching job in June and he took the job. Babe quit the job at the end of the season. That was his last job in the Major League's. He played in a charity event that took place in 1943 and he drew a walk. He became the director of American Legion's Youth Baseball in 1947. He soon got ill.

In 1946 he got a pain in his eye that would not go away. He had a tumor in his neck that had encircled his left carotid artery. When he got out of the hospital, he had already lost 80 pounds. Even though he was sick he got to attend the "Babe Ruth Day". He didn't get better from there, his illness got worse. Later he made a Babe Ruth Foundation, a charity for disadvantaged children. Another Babe Ruth Day held at Yankee Stadium helped to raise money for this charity. The cancer returned but he still attended the 25th anniversary of the opening of Yankee Stadium on June 13, 1948. He was able to see his old teammates from the 1923 Yankee team and they all took photographs. At the celebration someone took a picture of Babe Ruth using a baseball bat as a cane. It is one of the most famous pictures in baseball history. His numbered was retired in 1948.

NatFein1948BabeRuth.jpg

Shortly after the celebration Babe had to go back to the hospital. While he was at the hospital, he got tons of get well stuff. He aslo got a phone call from the president, Harry Truman. He was able to watch the movie about his life. It was called The Babe Ruth Story. After watching it he went to the hosipital for the last time. He could barely talk and he just got worse and worse until he died at the age of 53. No one will ever forget the great Babe Ruth.

FACTS:

  • He hit the first home run in All-Star Game history, at Chicago's Comiskey Park in 1933
  • His best season was in 1920 when he broke the home run record by hitting 54 home runs
  • He hit his first home run against a pitcher who pitched for the Yankees.
  • He hit 60 home runs in 1927, which was 14% of all home runs hit that season. To hit 14% of all home runs today, you would have to hit around 300 home runs.
  • They say he hit the longest home run ever out of Wrigley Field.
  • Because of Babe Ruth, the Yankees had to build a larger stadium because he was so popular. It was named Yankee Stadium but the fans started calling it "The House That Ruth Built".

Retired Jersey
Bob_Babe_Ruth_Jersey_Ball.jpg

Hall of Fame
448px-Babe_Ruth_Plaque_commons.jpg

Add a New Comment

Bibliography

"Welcome to BabeRuth.com." Welcome to BabeRuth.com. 3 Mar. 2009 <http://www.baberuth.com/>.

"Babe Ruth Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com." Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Baseball Statistics and History. 30 Oct. 2008. 4 Mar. 2009 <http://www.baseball-reference.com/r/ruthba01.shtml

"Babe Ruth: Biography". 3/4/09 <http://www.answers.com/topic/babe-ruth>.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License