George Herman Ruth, Jr. (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 1914-1935. 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.
Although he spent most of his career as an outfielder with the New York Yankees, Ruth began his career as a successful starting
pitcher for the Boston Red Sox. He compiled an 89-46 win-loss record during his time with the Red Sox and set several
World Series pitching records. In 1918, Ruth started to play in the outfield and at first base so he could help the team on a day-to-day
basis as a hitter. In 1919, appearing in 111 games as an outfielder, he hit 29
home runs to break Ned Williamson's record for a single
season.
In 1920, Red Sox owner Harry Frazee sold Ruth
to the New York Yankees. In his next 15 seasons in New York, Ruth led the league or placed in the top ten in batting average, slugging percentage, runs, total bases, home runs, RBI, and walks several times. Ruth's 60 home runs in 1927 was the
single season home run record for 34 years until it was broken by Roger Maris. Ruth's
lifetime total of 714 home runs was once considered one of Major League Baseball's
"unbreakable" records, but Hank Aaron broke it in 1974 (Barry
Bonds broke Aaron's record in 2007). In contrast, after he was sold from the Red Sox, the Red Sox franchise floundered for
decades after having been previously the most successful major league team prior to the trade. This great disparity of success
between the Yankees and Red Sox eventually led to a superstition that was dubbed the "Curse of the Bambino", a "curse" that effectively ended in 2004 when the Red Sox won their first
World Series title in 86 years.
Beyond his unprecedented statistics, Ruth completely changed baseball itself. The popularity of the game exploded in the
1920s, largely due to him. Ruth ushered in the "live-ball era" as his big swing led to
gargantuan 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.
Ruth became the first true American sports celebrity superstar whose fame transcended baseball. Off the field he was famous
for his charity, but also was noted for his often reckless lifestyle that epitomized the hedonistic 1920s. Ruth became an American icon, and even though he died nearly 60 years ago his name is still one of the most
famous in all of American sports. His participation in an all-star tour of Japan in 1934 sparked
that country's rabid interest in professional baseball; a decade later, Japanese soldiers seeking the ultimate insult for
American troops would sometimes shout, "To hell with Babe Ruth!"[1]
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." The next year, baseball fans
named Ruth to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. In a
1999 ESPN poll, he was ranked as the third greatest US athlete of the century, behind
Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali.
Early life
Ruth was born at 216 Emory Street in southern Baltimore, Maryland.[2] 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.[2] Ruth's
parents, Kate Schamberger-Ruth and George Herman Ruth, Sr.,[3] eventually owned saloons on Lombard and Camden Street in
Baltimore.[4] Only one of
Ruth's seven siblings, his sister Mamie, survived past infancy.[3]
Ruth's parents worked long hours and had little time to take care of him. When he was seven years old, they sent him to St.
Mary's Industrial School for Boys, a reformatory and orphanage, and signed custody of over to the Catholic
missionaries who ran the school. Ruth remained at St. Mary's for the next 12 years, rarely
visited by his family. At St. Mary's, a man by the name of Brother Matthias became a father figure in his life. Brother Matthias
taught Ruth the game of baseball. He worked with Ruth on hitting, fielding and, later, pitching. [3]
Ruth (top row, far left) at St Mary's Industrial School for Boys
In early 1914, a teacher at St. Mary's brought George to the attention of Jack Dunn, owner
and manager of the minor-league Baltimore Orioles. After watching Ruth
pitch, Dunn signed Ruth to a contract. 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) [5] 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.[6]
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.[7]
Two days later, on July 9, Dunn sold the trio to Joe Lannin and the Boston Red Sox.[8] 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. He picked up the victory in his major league
debut on July 11; ironically, Duffy Lewis scored the winning run after pinch-hitting for
Ruth. 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. Behind Ruth and Carl Mays, the Grays won the International League pennant.
Shortly after the season, in which he'd finished with a 2-1 record, Ruth proposed to Helen Woodford, a waitress he met in
Boston. They were married in Ellicott
City, Maryland, on October 17, 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,[9] 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 was not a factor; he did not pitch in the series, and he
grounded out in his only at-bat.
In 1916, after a slightly shaky spring, he went 23-12, with a 1.75 ERA and 9 shutouts.
On June 27, he struck out 10 Philadelphia A's, a career high. On July 11, he started both games of a doubleheader, but the feat
was not what it seemed; he only pitched a third of an inning in the opener because the scheduled starter Rube Foster was having trouble getting loose. Ruth then pitched a complete game victory in the nightcap.
Ruth had unusual success against Washington Senators star pitcher Walter Johnson, beating him four times in 1916 alone, by scores of 5-1, 1-0, 1-0 in 13 innings, and 2-1.
Johnson finally outlasted Ruth for an extra-inning 4-3 victory on September 12; in the years to come, Ruth would hit 10 home runs
off Johnson, including the only two Johnson would allow in 1918-1919. Ruth had nine shutouts in 1916, an AL record for
lefthanders that was unmatched until Ron Guidry tied it in 1978.
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 a major contribution, pitching a 14-inning
complete-game victory in Game Two.
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.
Ruth's outburst was an example of self-discipline problems that plagued Ruth throughout his career, and is regarded as the
primary reason (other than financial) that Frazee was willing to sell him to the Yankees two years later.
Less than three weeks later, June 11 was an example of why Ruth was so valuable to Boston.
The lefthander was pitching a no-hitter in a 0-0 game, before a single deflected off his glove in the 8th inning. 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. He was mostly used as an outfielder, and hit a
league-leading 11 home runs. 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,[10] But since lefthanders 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. After the 1917 season in which he hit .325,
albeit with limited at bats, teammate Harry Hooper suggested that Ruth might be more
valuable in the lineup as an everyday player.
In 1918, he began playing in the outfield more and pitching less, making 75 hitting-only appearances. His contemporaries
thought this was ridiculous; former teammate Tris Speaker speculated the move would shorten
Ruth's career, but Ruth himself wanted to hit more and pitch less. In 1918, Ruth batted .300 and led the A.L. in home runs with
11 despite having only 317 at bats, well below the total for an everyday player.
During the 1919 season, Ruth threw a pitch in only 17 of his 130 games. He also set
his first single-season home run record that year with 29, including a game-winning walkoff homer on a September "Babe Ruth Day"
promotion. It was Babe Ruth's last season with the Red Sox.
Sold to New York
Ruth in 1920, the year he joined the Yankees.
On December 26, 1919, Frazee sold Ruth to the
New York Yankees. Popular legend has it that Frazee sold Ruth and several other of his
best players to finance a Broadway play, No, No,
Nanette (which actually didn't debut until 1925). The truth is somewhat more
nuanced.
After the 1919 season, Ruth demanded a raise to $20,000-double his previous salary. However, Frazee refused, and Ruth
responded by letting it be known he wouldn't play until he got his raise. He'd actually jumped the team several times, including
the last game of the 1919 season.
Frazee finally lost patience with Ruth, and decided to trade him. However, he was effectively limited to two trading
partners--the Chicago White Sox and the then-moribund Yankees. The other five clubs
rejected his deals out of hand under pressure from American League president Ban Johnson,
who never liked Frazee and was actively trying to "Yank" the Red Sox out from under him. The White Sox offered Shoeless Joe Jackson and $60,000, but Yankees owners Jacob
Ruppert and Cap Huston offered an all-cash deal--$100,000.
Frazee, Ruppert and Huston quickly agreed to a deal. In exchange for Ruth, the Red Sox would get $25,000 in cash and three
$25,000 notes payable every year at 6 percent interest. Ruppert and Huston also loaned Frazee $300,000, with the mortgage on
Fenway Park as collateral. The deal was contingent on Ruth signing a new contract, which was
quickly agreed to, and Ruth officially became property of the Yankees on December 26. The
deal was announced ten days later.
In the January 6, 1920 edition of the Boston Globe, Frazee described the transaction:
- “I should have preferred to take players in exchange for Ruth, but no club could have given me the equivalent in men without
wrecking itself, and so the deal had to be made on a cash basis. No other club could afford to give me the amount the Yankees
have paid for him, and I don’t mind saying I think they are taking a gamble. 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.”
Yankee years
1920-1925
Babe Ruth in 1921, maybe his finest season.
Ruth hit 54 home runs and batted .376 in 1920, his first year with the Yankees. His .847 slugging average was a Major League
record until 2001, when it was broken by Barry
Bonds. Aside from the Yankees, only the Philadelphia Phillies managed to
hit more 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 .379 and slugging .846 while leading the Yankees to their first league championship. On July 18, 1921, Babe Ruth
hit career home run #139, breaking Roger Connor's record of 138 in just the eighth year of
his career. (This was not recognized at the time, as Connor's correct career total was not accurately documented until the 1970s.
Even if the record had been celebrated, it would have been on an earlier date, as Connor's total was at one time thought to be
only 131.)
Ruth quickly became synonymous with the home run, because he led the transformation of baseball strategy from the "inside
game" to the "power game", and because of the style and manner in which he hit them. His ability to drive a significant number of
his home runs in the 450–500 foot range and beyond resulted in the lasting adjective "Ruthian," to describe any long home run hit
by any player. Probably his deepest hit in official game play (and perhaps the longest home run by any player), occurred
on July 18, at Detroit's Navin Field, in which he hit one to straightaway
center, over the wall of the then-single-deck bleachers, and to the intersection, some 575 feet from home plate.
As impressive as Ruth's 1921 numbers were, they could have been more so under modern conditions. Bill Jenkinson's 2006 book,
The Year Babe Ruth Hit 104 Home Runs, attempts to examine each of Ruth's 714 career home runs, plus several hundred long
inside-the-park drives and "fair-foul" balls. (Until 1931 in the AL, balls that hit the foul pole
were considered ground-rule doubles, and balls that went over the wall in fair
territory but hooked foul were ruled foul. The author concluded that Ruth would have been credited with 104 home runs in 1921, if
modern rules and field dimensions were in place.
The Yankees had high expectations when they met the New York Giants in the
1921 World Series, and the Yankees won the first two games with Ruth in the lineup.
However, Ruth badly scraped his elbow during Game 2 sliding into third base (he had walked and stolen both second and third).
After the game, he was told by the team physician not to play the rest of the series. Although
he did play in Games 3, 4 and 5, and pinch-hit in Game 8 of the best-of-9 Series, his productivity was diminished, and the
Yankees lost the series. Ruth hit .316, drove in five runs and hit his first World Series home run. (Although the Yankees won the
fifth game, Ruth wrenched his knee and did not return to the Series until the eighth [last] game.)
Ruth's appearance in the 1921 World Series also led to a problem and triggered another disciplinary action. After the series,
Ruth played in a barnstorming tour. A rule at the time 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.
Ruth's off-the-field life often interfered with his performance, and sometimes he just proved to be a thorn in the side of his
manager, Miller Huggins. A policeman pulled Ruth over one night for driving up a
one-way street, and Babe protested, "Well, I was only going one way!" But Huggins
saw nothing funny about it--Ruth was supposed to be in the hotel room at the time, not out carousing. When he was inducted into
the Baseball Hall of Fame years later, he was present for the
posthumous induction of Huggins. Ruth admitted, Huggins "was the only one who could handle me." [11]
Despite his suspension, Ruth started his 1922 season on May
20 as the Yankees' new on-field captain. But five days later, he was ejected from a game for throwing dirt on an umpire,
and then climbed into the stands to confront a heckler; Ruth was subsequently stripped of the captaincy. In his shortened season,
Ruth appeared in 110 games, hit 35 home runs and drove in 99 runs. Despite Ruth's partial absence, the Yankees still made it to
the 1922 World Series. Ruth had just two hits in seventeen at-bats, and the Yankees
lost to the Giants for the second straight year.
The Sultan of Swat in 1923
In 1923, the Yankees moved from the Polo Grounds, where they had sublet from the Giants,
to their new Yankee Stadium, which was quickly dubbed "The House That Ruth Built".
Characteristically, he hit the stadium's first home run on the way to a Yankees victory. Ruth finished the 1923 season with a
career-high .393 batting average and major-league leading 41 home runs. For the third straight year the Yankees faced the Giants
in the 1923 World Series. Ruth batted .368, walked eight times, scored eight runs, hit
three home runs and slugged 1.000 during the series. The Yankees won their first World Series title by 4 games to 2, and the
groundwork for the Yankees dynasty had been established.
Ruth narrowly missed winning the Triple Crown in 1924. He hit .378 to lead the American League in batting, led the major
leagues with 46 home runs, and batted in 121 runs to finish second to Goose Goslin's 129.
Ruth's on-base percentage was .513, the fourth of 5 years in which his OBP exceeded .500. However, the Yankees finished second, 2
games behind the Washington Senators, who went on to win their first and only World
Series while based in D.C.
During spring training in 1925, Ruth fell ill, and returned to New York for what was reported as stomach surgery. The press dubbed Ruth's ailment as "the bellyache heard
round the world," and wrote about an alleged hot dog binge, but more recent writers have suggested that Ruth was suffering from
untreated gonorrhea. Playing just 98 games, Ruth finished the season with a .290 average and
25 home runs. The team finished next to last in the American League with a 69-85 mark. It would be 40 years before a Yankees team
would again experience such a poor season.
1926-1930
Babe Ruth performed at a much higher level during 1926 season, batting .372 with 47
home runs and 146 RBI. The Yankees won the AL title and advanced to the 1926 World
Series. The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Yankees in seven games. However,
Ruth had his moments. In Game 4, he hit three home runs,[12] Despite his batting heroics, he is also remembered for a costly baserunning blunder. Ruth had a
reputation as a good but overaggressive baserunner (he had 123 stolen bases, including 10 steals of home, but only a 51% career
percentage). With two outs in the bottom of the 9th inning of the deciding 7th game, with the Yankees trailing 3-2, Ruth tried to
steal second base. But he was thrown out, and the Cardinals were champions. It is the only time that the final out of a World
Series was a "caught stealing."
Ruth was the leader of the famous 1927 Yankees, also known as Murderer's Row because of the strength of its hitting lineup and its effect on opposing pitchers. The
team won a then AL-record 110 games (The 2001 Seattle Mariners now hold the record with
116 wins), took the AL pennant by 19 games, and swept the Pittsburgh Pirates in the
1927 World Series.
With the race long since decided, the nation's attention turned to Ruth's pursuit of his own home run mark of 59. Early in the
season, Ruth expressed doubts about his chances: "I don't suppose I'll ever break that 1921 record. To do that, you've got to
start early, and the pitchers have got to pitch to you. I don't start early, and the pitchers haven't really pitched to me in
four seasons. I get more bad balls to hit than any other six men...and fewer good ones." Ruth was also being challenged for his
slugger's crown by teammate Lou Gehrig, who nudged ahead of Ruth's total in midseason,
prompting the New York World-Telegram to anoint Gehrig the favorite. But Ruth
caught Gehrig (who would finish with 47), and then had a remarkable last leg of the season, hitting 17 home runs in September.
His 60th came on September 30, in the Yankees' next-to-last game. Ruth was exultant, shouting after the game, "Sixty, count 'em,
sixty! Let's see some son-of-a-bitch match that!" In later years, he would give Gehrig some credit: "Pitchers began pitching to
me because if they passed me they still had Lou to contend with." In addition to his career-high 60 home runs, Ruth batted .356,
drove in 164 runs and slugged .772.
The 1927 New York Yankees, one of the greatest baseball teams of all-time. (Ruth is on top row, fifth
from the left.)
The following season started off very well for the Yankees, who led the AL by 13 games
in July. But the Yankees were soon plagued by some key injuries, erratic pitching and inconsistent play. The Philadelphia Athletics, rebuilding after some lean years, were erasing the Yankees' lead. In early
September, the A's took over first place by a game over New York. 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 performance. He got off to a hot start and on August
1, he had 42 home runs. This put him ahead of his 60 home run pace from 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.
The Yankees had a 1928 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. Despite the Cardinals' strength and the Yankees' problems, once the Yankees got to the series they were ready, and the
series proved to be no contest. The Yankees swept the Cardinals 4 games to 0, the first time a team had swept consecutive
championships. Ruth batted .625 and had his second three home run World Series game in the finale.
Decline and end with Yankees
In 1929, the Yankees failed to make the World Series for the first time in three
years, and it would be another three years before they returned. Although the Yankees had slipped, Ruth led or tied for the
league lead in home runs each year during 1929–1931. At one point during the 1930 season, as a stunt, Ruth was called upon to
pitch for the first time since 1921, and he pitched a complete-game victory. (He had often pitched in exhibitions in the
intervening years).
A well-dressed Ruth in 1930.
Also in 1929, the Yankees became the first team to use uniform numbers regularly (the Cleveland Indians used them briefly in 1916). Since Ruth normally batted third in the order (ahead of
Gehrig), he was assigned number 3 (to Gehrig's 4). The Yankees retired Ruth's number on June 13,
1948.
In 1930, which was not a pennant year for the Yankees, Ruth was asked by a reporter what he thought of his yearly salary of
$80,000 being more than President Hoover's $75,000. His response: "I know, but I had a
better year than Hoover." Ruth had supported Al Smith in the 1928 Presidential election. That
quote has also been rendered as, "How many home runs did he hit last year?" Three years later, Ruth would make a public
appearance with the ex-President at a Stanford – USC football game.
In the 1932 season, the Yankees went 107-47 and won the pennant under manager
Joe McCarthy. Ruth did his part by hitting .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, after having
already homered earlier in the game, Ruth hit what has now become known as Babe Ruth's
Called Shot. During the at-bat, Ruth supposedly gestured to the deepest part of the park in center-field, predicting a
home run. The ball he hit traveled past the flagpole to the right of the scoreboard and ended up in temporary bleachers just
outside Wrigley Field's outer wall. The center field corner was 440 feet away, and at age
37, Ruth had hit a straightaway center home run that was perhaps a 490 foot blow [13]. It was Ruth's last Series homer (and his last Series hit), and it became one of the legendary
moments of the game.
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 first All-Star game. He hit the first home run in the
game's history on July 6, 1933, at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The two-run home run helped the AL score a 4-2 victory. As the footage of that
hit reveals, the 38-year-old Ruth had become noticeably overweight by then, as his playing career was winding down. However, he
was again called upon to pitch in one game, and again pitched a complete game victory, his final appearance as a pitcher. For the
most part, his Yankee pitching appearances (five in fifteen years) were widely-advertised attempts to boost attendance. Despite
unremarkable pitching numbers, Ruth had a 5-0 record in those five games, raising his career totals to 94-46, an exceptionally
high winning percentage.
In 1934, Babe Ruth 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. By this
time, Ruth had reached a personal milestone of 700 home runs and was about ready to retire.
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.
Sold to the Braves
By this time, Ruth knew he didn't have many years left as a player, and made no secret that he wanted to manage the Yankees.
However, Ruppert wouldn't even consider dumping McCarthy. Ruth and McCarthy had never gotten along, and Ruth's managerial
ambitions only made relations between the two chillier. Just before the 1934 season, Ruppert offered to make Ruth manager of the
Yankees' top minor-league team, the Newark Bears. However, Ruth's wife, Claire Merritt Hodgson, and his business manager both advised him to turn it down. After the 1934
season, Ruppert talked to nearly every other major-league owner, but no one was interested in making Ruth manager. By this time,
McCarthy didn't want Ruth on the team, and Ruppert decided to trade Ruth.
Ruppert finally found a taker in Boston Braves owner Emil Fuchs. Even though the
Braves had fielded fairly competitive teams in the last three seasons, Fuchs was sinking in debt and couldn't afford the rent on
Braves Field. Fuchs thought Ruth was just what the Braves needed, both on and off the
field.
After a series of phone calls, letters and meetings, the Yankees traded Ruth to the Braves on February 26 1935. It was announced that in addition to remaining as a player,
Ruth would become team vice president and would be consulted on all club transactions. He was also made assistant manager to
Braves skipper Bill McKechnie. In a long letter to Ruth a few days before the press
conference, Fuchs promised Ruth a share in the Braves' profits, with the possibility of becoming co-owner of the team. Fuchs also
raised the possibility of Ruth becoming the Braves' manager, perhaps as early as 1936.
Ruth in a Boston Braves uniform in 1935, his last year as a player.
Amid much media hoopla, Ruth played his first home game in Boston in over 16 years. Before an opening-day crowd of over
25,000, Ruth accounted for all of the Braves' runs in a 4-2 defeat of the New York
Giants. The Braves had long played second fiddle to the Red Sox in Boston, but Ruth's arrival spiked interest in the
Braves to levels not seen since their stunning win in the 1914 World Series.
But this couldn't last. That win proved to be the only time the Braves were over .500 that year. By May 20, they were 7-17, and their season was effectively over. While Ruth could still hit, he could do little
else, and soon stopped hitting as well. His conditioning had deteriorated so much that he could do little more than trot around
the bases. His fielding was dreadful; at one point, three of the Braves' pitchers threatened not to take the mound if Ruth was in
the lineup. Ruth was also miffed that McKechnie ignored most of his advice. He soon discovered that he was vice president and
assistant manager in name only, and Fuchs' promise of a share of team profits was nothing more than hot air. In fact, Fuchs
expected Ruth to invest some of his money in the team.
On May 25, at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, Ruth went 4-for-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. His last home run cleared the roof at the old Forbes Field—he became
the first player to accomplish that feat. Five days later, in Philadelphia, Ruth played in his last major league game. He struck out in the first inning
and, while playing the field in the same inning, hurt his knee and left the game.
Two days after that, Ruth summoned reporters to the locker room after a game against the Giants and announced he was retiring.
He'd wanted to retire as early as May 12, but Fuchs persuaded him to stay on because the Braves
hadn't played in every National League park yet. That season, he hit just .181 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, just a few percentage points fewer than the infamous 1962 New York
Mets. Fuchs finally caved in under mounting debt and lost control of the Braves with just over two months left in the
season.
Personal life
Ruth married Helen Woodford, his first wife, in 1914.[14] Together, they adopted a daughter.[15] They were reportedly separated as early as 1920[16] and as late as 1926.[17]
After they separated, Helen perished in a house fire in January 1929. Ruth and several Yankees attended her funeral.
On April 17, 1929, Ruth married actress Claire Hodgson.[18] They
stayed married until Babe Ruth's death in 1948.[19]
Ruth regularly wintered in Florida, frequently playing golf
during the off-season and while the Yankees were spring training in St. Petersburg,
Florida. After retirement, he had a winter beachfront home in Treasure Island,
Florida, near St. Petersburg.
Weight Misconception
Though Babe Ruth is usually remembered as having been very overweight, this is largely because of oft-repeated showings of
newsreels taken late in his career. Ruth was a large man who did indeed battle weight gain (especially given his sometimes
careless diet), but for much of his career he was not especially overweight. In fact, photographs from his early career show a
trim and athletic Ruth, one unfamiliar to most.
Radio and films
Among his many forays into various popular media, Ruth was heard often on radio in the 1930s and 1940s as both a guest and on
his own programs with various titles: The Adventures of Babe Ruth, sponsored by Quaker Oats, was a 15-minute
Blue Network show heard three times a week from April 16
to July 13, 1934. Three years later, he was on CBS twice a week in
Here's Babe Ruth which was sponsored by Sinclair Oil and broadcast from April 14 to
July 9, 1937. That same year he portrayed himself in
"Alibi Ike" on Lux Radio Theater. His
Baseball Quiz was first heard Saturdays on NBC June 5 to July
10, 1943 and then later that year from August 28 to
November 20 on NBC, followed by another NBC run from July 8
to October 21, 1944.
His film roles included a cameo appearance as himself in the Harold Lloyd film
Speedy (1928). His first film appearance occurred in 1920, in the silent movie
- George Herman "Babe" Ruth 
