Babe Ruth continued
As Ruth rose, so did the Yankees. The Bombers went from seventh place to first, winning 91 games and the 1926 pennant. Ruth batted .372/.516/.737, with 47 home runs (runner-up Al Simmons had 19), and drove in 153 (36 more than his nearest challenger). The Yankees were also boosted by the great play of two rookie infielders: second baseman Tony Lazzeri and shortstop Mark Koenig. First baseman Lou Gehrig, in his second full season at age 22, led the league with 20 triples and 83 extra-base hits – one more than Ruth.
Ruth belted three home runs in Game Four of the World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals. It was the first time he had ever hit three in one game – and it was the first time that had been done in a World Series game. This was the game before which Ruth allegedly promised to hit a home run for 11-year-old hospital patient Johnny Sylvester.
The 1926 Series came down to a deciding seventh game at Yankee Stadium. When Ruth walked with two outs, New York trailed 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth inning. Bob Meusel was facing Grover Cleveland Alexander when Ruth took off for a second. He was thrown out trying to steal – ending the game and the World Series.
The 1927 Yankees are often talked about as the greatest team in baseball history. New York finished with a 110-44 record, winning the league by a whopping 19 games and sweeping the Pittsburgh Pirates in the World Series. They scored 976 runs, 131 more than second-best Detroit.
Ruth’s fabled 60 home runs – which he had become obsessed with since hitting 59 six years earlier – captured the headlines, but Gehrig at age 24, had a better season. He outhit Ruth (.373 to .356) and nearly matched him in on-base percentage (.474 to .486), and slugging (.765 to .772). Gehrig had more extra base hits (117 to 97), total bases (447 to 417), and RBIs (173 to 165). He led the major leagues in doubles, RBIs, and total bases and was second in the American League in triples, home runs, hits, and batting average.
The Yankees won nine fewer games in 1928, but their 101-53 record was still good enough for a third straight pennant. Ruth batted only .323, but his 54 home runs helped him lead the major leagues in slugging at .709. The Yankees used only three pitchers as they swept the Cardinals in the World Series. Ruth batted .625 (10-for-16), with three doubles, three home runs, and a 1.375 slugging percentage. Gehrig hit .545 (6-for-11) and slugged 1.727.
In January 1929, Babe’s first wife, Helen, died in a house fire in Watertown, Massachusetts. At the time, Helen was living with Edward Kinder, a dentist, and while the deed on the house listed Helen and Kinder as husband and wife, they were not, in fact, married. (Babe and Helen had never officially divorced.) Ruth was devastated by the news. At the funeral, he wept uncontrollably[42].
Babe married Claire Hodgson on April 17. The following day, the Yankees – with numbers on the back of their uniforms for the first time – opened the season against the Red Sox. Babe, wearing his new #3, whacked a first-inning home run to left field and doffed his cap to Claire as he rounded the bases.
On August 11 in Cleveland, Ruth hit the 500th home run of his career. The New York World called it “a symbol of American greatness.”[43] The man who retrieved the homer got two signed baseballs and, after posing for a photo with Ruth, the Babe slipped him a $20 bill[44].
Miller Huggins passed away suddenly near the end of the 1929 season – and Babe lobbied for the manager job in 1930. (Ruth would drop hints about wanting to manage for the next four years, but the Yankees never seriously considered it.) Ruth also asked for his salary to be increased to $100,000 – this coming a few months after Black Tuesday and the start of what became the Great Depression. He ended up signing a two-year deal for $80,000 per season. With exhibition game receipts, movie shorts, personal appearances, and endorsements, Ruth probably earned close to $200,000 in 1930.
By the end of June 1930, Ruth was ahead of his 60-homer pace of 1927, but injuries slowed him down and he finished with 49.
The Yankees were an offensive juggernaut. In both 1930 and 1931, they scored more than 1,000 runs – an average of nearly seven runs per game. But it was the Philadelphia Athletics who won the pennant in 1929, 1930 and 1931 behind the big bats of Jimmie Foxx and Al Simmons and the pitching of Lefty Grove.
In 1931, at age 36, Ruth had one of his finest seasons. He hit .373/.495/.700, with 46 home runs, 162 RBIs, 128 walks and 149 runs scored.
Amazingly, in the seven-year reign of Ruth and Gehrig from 1929-1935, the Yankees won only one pennant. Gehrig (.349/.451/.621. 34 HR, 151 RBIs) was ably assisted by Lazzeri, Bill Dickey, Ben Chapman, and Earle Combs. However, it was Jimmie Foxx of the A’s who led the league in home runs (58).
The Yankees swept the Chicago Cubs in the 1932 World Series, giving them wins in 12 straight World Series games. It was during the third game – October 1 at Wrigley Field – that Ruth added to his legend. The game was tied 4-4 when Ruth stepped in against Cubs starter Charlie Root with one out in the fifth inning. Ruth had already hit a three-run homer and flew to deep right, and the Cubs’ bench-jockeying was at a fever pitch.
Everyone agrees that as Root threw two called strikes to Ruth, the Babe held up one and two fingers. What exactly happened before Root three his 2-2 pitch will never be definitely known. The legend says Ruth pointed towards the center field bleachers, indicating that was where he was going to hit the next pitch. Or he may have been saying “I’ve still got one strike left.” Or he was jawing with the hecklers in the Cubs dugout.
Either way, Ruth swung and belted the ball to deep center field – one of the longest home runs seen at Wrigley – for his second home run of the afternoon. He laughed as he jogged around the bases, pointing and jeering at the Cubs dugout.
Of the many game stories written that afternoon, only one (Westbrook Pegler) mentioned Ruth “calling his shot.”[45] Within two or three days, however, writers who had initially made no reference to Ruth’s theatrics – and even a few who had not been in attendance at the park – were offering their own recollections. And thus a legend was born[46]. A 16mm home movie of the at-bat surfaced in 1999. The grainy film does show Ruth pointing his arm, but it’s impossible to determine exactly what he is doing.
Root maintained that Ruth “did not point at the fence before he swung. If he had made a gesture like that, well, anybody who knows me knows that Ruth would have ended up on his ass.”[47] As for the Babe, when asked whether he had really pointed to the bleachers, he smiled and said, “It’s in the papers, isn’t it?”[48]
It was Ruth’s last trip to the World Series. He played on seven World Series champions: four with the Yankees (1923, 1927, 1928, 1932), and three with the Red Sox (1915, 1916, and 1918). He was also on the losing side of three World Series teams with New York (1921, 1922, 1926).
1933 was Ruth’s 20th season in major league baseball. He batted only .301 with 34 home runs, though he still led both league in walks. One of the season’s highlights was the inaugural All-Star Game, played at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Ruth hit the game’s first home run. He also robbed Chick Hafey of a home run in the eighth inning to preserve the AL’s 4-2 win.
The Yankees finished seven games behind the Senators and, to boost attendance for the last home game of the year, announced that Ruth would pitch against the Red Sox. The 39-year-old outfielder held the Red Sox without a run for five innings. With a 6-0 lead, he stumbled in the sixth, allowing a walk, five singles, and four runs. The Yankees held on to win, 6-5. Although Ruth prepared for the start by throwing batting practice weeks, the complete game took its toll. He couldn’t so much as comb his hair with his left arm for about a week[49].
Ruth took a $17,000 pay cut in 1934. His $35,000 contract was still the highest in the game, but it was his lowest salary since 1921. On July 13, in Detroit, Babe hit his 700th career home run. (At that point, only two players had hit even 300 home runs: Lou Gehrig (314) and Rogers Hornsby (301.). Four days later, Ruth drew his 2,000th walk.
In August, during the Yankees’ final trip to Fenway, a record crowd of 48,000 turned out on a Sunday afternoon, assuming it would be Ruth’s last appearance in Boston. The fans cheered everything Ruth did. When he grounded out in his final at-bat, he was given a long, standing ovation. “Do you know that some of them cried when I left the field?” Ruth said afterward. “And if you wanna know the truth, I cried too.”[50]
On the other hand, on September 24, for what was rumored to be his final home game in a Yankees uniform, only 2,000 fans showed up. Babe played only one inning, being replaced by a pinch-runner after drawing a walk. He ended the year with a .288 batting average.
During the off-season, Ruth agreed to travel with an all-star team to Japan. In arranging for a passport, he discovered that his date of birth was February 6, 1895. He had always believed he was born on February 7, 1984[51]. He was actually a year younger than he had thought.
Yankees owner Jacob Ruppert, not wanting Ruth to return in any capacity in 1935, worked out a secret deal with Boston Braves owner Emil Fuchs. Fuchs would offer Ruth a contract that included the titles of “assistant manager” and “vice president.”[52] Ruth loved the idea and when he informed Ruppert, the Yankee owner said he wouldn’t stand in Ruth’s way. At spring training in 1935, Ruth learned that the Yankees had already assigned his #3 to George Selkirk. They were also using his locker to store firewood[53].
Ruth ended up playing in 28 games for the Braves, batting .181. The one bright spot came on May 25 in Pittsburgh. Ruth belted the final three home runs of his career and drove in six runs. Career home run #714 disappeared over the right field roof – the longest home run ever hit at Forbes Field.
Many of the hitting records Ruth once held have been broken, but what cements Babe’s status as the best to ever play the game is the combination of hitting for average, hitting with power, and his work on the mound. In addition to his batting exploits, Ruth also pitched 163 games, with a record of 94-46 and a career ERA of 2.28 (12th-best in the modern era, since 1900). For 71 years, he was also the unlikely answer to a great trivia question: Who is the only major league to pitch at least 10 seasons and have a winning record in all of them? Ruth had winning records in 10 seasons 1914-1921, 1930, and 1933. Andy Pettite now holds the record for 13 seasons (1995-2007).
After a brief stint as a Brooklyn Dodgers coach, Ruth retired to a life of golf, fishing, bowling, and public appearances. In November 1946, he checked into French Hospital on 29th Street in Manhattan, complaining of headaches and pain above his left eye. It was cancer, though the newspaper never printed the word.
Babe Ruth Day was held at Yankee Stadium (and every other major league park) the following April. A crowd of 58,339 was there and many of them, players as well as fans, were shocked at how frail and shrunken the mighty Babe had become.
Ruth was in and out of the hospital for the next year. He returned to the Bronx one more time, on June 13, 1948, a rainy, cold day. Yankee Stadium was celebrating its 25th anniversary and Babe #3 was being retired. Ruth was back in the hospital 11 days later. The cancer had spread to his liver, lungs, and kidneys. He knew he was dying.
Babe Ruth died at 8:01 p.m. on August 16, 1948. He was 53 years old. He is buried at the Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Valhalla, New York, next to his second wife Claire, who died in 1976.
Leigh Montville, author of The Big Bam, called Ruth “the patron saint of American possibility … The fascination with his career and life continues. He is a bombastic, sloppy hero from our bombastic sloppy history, origins undetermined, a folk of American success.”[54]
The New York Times began its obituary: “Probably nowhere in all the imaginative field of fiction could one find a career more dramatic and bizarre than that portrayed in real life by George Herman Ruth.”[55]
An abridged version of this biography originally appeared in SABR’s “Deadball Stars of the American League” (Potomac Books, 2006), edited by David Jones. It also appeared in “From Spring Training to Screen Test: Baseball Players Turned Actors“ (SABR, 2018), edited by Rob Edelman and Bill Nowlin.
Sources
In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author also consulted Baseball-Reference.com.
Druscilla Null, “‘My Father Was of German Extraction’: Babe Ruth’s Ruth/Rüdt Ancestors,” Maryland Genealogical Society Journal, December 2017. This article documents that Babe Ruth’s great-grandfather was Jacob Ruth/Rüdt of Mondfeld, Germany, whose son, John Anton Ruth, was Babe Ruth’s grandfather.
Notes
1. Allan Wood, Babe Ruth, and the 1918 Red
Sox (San Jose, California: Writers Club
Press, 2001), 55.
2. Ibid.
3. George Herman Ruth, Babe Ruth’s Own
Book of Baseball (New York: G.P. Putnam’s
Sons, 1928; Lincoln: University of Nebraska
Press, Bison Books, 1992), 5-6.
4. Paul W. Eaton, Sporting Life, August 7, 1915.
5. “Talking It Over In The Dugout At Fenway
Park,” Boston Post, August 15, 1915.
6. The Boston Globe of June 12, 1916, reported:
“Someone of these days Babe Ruth may
become an outfielder. [Manager Bill] Carrigan,
[pitcher Vean] Gregg , and others think that
with the proper training, the Baltimore slugger
should make a whale of a player for the outer
garden.” The next day, the Boston American
reported, “Babe is such a great hitter that Bill
wants to have him in the lineup daily if
possible. So fans at home don’t be a bit surprised
if Ruth soon becomes one of the Red Sox out-
fielders.” Paul Shannon wrote in the Boston
Herald, “[If] the batting of certain parties does
not improve, big Babe Ruth may soon be a
fixture in the Boston outfield.” As quoted in
Kerry Keene, Raymond Sinibaldi, and David
Hickey. The Babe in Red Stockings: An In-
Depth Chronicle of Babe Ruth with the Boston
Red Sox 1914-1919 (Champaign, Illinois:
Sagamore Publishing, 1997), 81.
7. Burt Whitman, “Frazee Rejects $100,000 Offer
7. Burt Whitman, “Frazee Rejects $100,000 Offer
For Pitcher Ruth,” Boston Herald and Journal,
April 30, 1918.
8. “Frazee States Col. Ruppert Offered $150,000
For Ruth,” Boston Herald and Journal, May 29,
1918. Frazee: “I think the New York man showed
good judgment in making such a big offer. Ruth
already is mighty popular in New York, and just
think what he would mean to the Yankees if he
we're playing for them every day and hitting
those long ones at the left field bleachers and
the right field grandstand!”
9. Glenn Stout, The Selling of the Babe: The Deal
That Changed Baseball and Created a Legend
(New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2016), 52.
10. Wood, 144, 146-147.
11. “The Season’s Sensation,” Baseball Magazine,
October 1918: 472.
12. Wood, 204-206. Several players had both
12. Wood, 204-206. Several players had both
pitched and played in the field before Ruth,
but none of them were as talented or success-
ful. Guy Hecker pitched, played the outfield,
and spent time at first base from 1882-90. In
1884, he won 52 games for the Louisville
Colonels (American Association) and had a
1.80 ERA. Hecker was rarely among the
league’s top hitters, but his .341 average in
1886 won the batting title. Washington
Senators pitcher Al Orth pulled double duty
for several seasons, but when he led the
American League in wins and complete games
in 1906, he played only one game in the
outfield. Doc White of the Chicago White Sox
led the American League in 1907 with 27 wins,
but appeared on the mound in all but two of his
48 games. In 1909, when he truly divided his
time, he batted only .234 (although his on-base
average was .347) and was 11-9 with a 1.72
ERA. Doc Crandall played second base and
pitched for the St. Louis Terriers of the
Federal League in 1914, leading his team in
batting average (.309) and tying for the lead
in wins (13). The following year, as a pitcher
and pinch-hitter, Crandall won 21 games and
batted .284.
13. Robert W. Creamer, Babe: The Legend Comes
To Life (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1974),
177.
14. Interviews with Allan Wood, July 22, 1995,
October 30, 1995, and January 5, 1997. Allan
Wood, “Someone Can Recall Red Sox Title,”
Baseball America, March 6, 1997.
of the Boston Beaneaters (National League),
supported the deal. Tenney: “I agree with
Frazee for he knows his business best... No ball
player is indispensable to a team.” Duffy: “Star
players do not make a winning team. Players of
ordinary ability working for the interest of the
club are greater factors in the winning machine
than the individual.” Johnny Keenan, leader of
Boston’s Royal Rooters: “It will be impossible
to replace the strength Ruth gave to the Red
Sox. The Batterer is a wonderful player and the
fact that he loves the game and plays with his all
to win makes him a tremendous asset to a club.”
(New York Times, January 7, 1920: 22.) Orville
Dennison, a fan living in Cambridge, wrote to the
Boston Globe: “Many sane followers of baseball
claim that no player in the game is worth
paying $100,000 for and that if the Boston
club obtained such a sum, it is the gainer.”
(Wood .352.) Frazee: “[B]aseball fans pay
to see games won and championships
achieved. They soon tire of circus attractions.
And this is just what Ruth has become.”
(Stout,190.) Ed Cunningham of the Boston
Herald noted that Ruth “is of a class of ball
players that flashes across the firmament
once in a great while... Stars generally are
temperamental. This goes for baseball and
the stage. They often have to be handled
with kid gloves. Frazee has carefully
considered the Ruth angle... Boston fans un-
doubtedly will be up in arms but they should
reserve judgment until they see how it works
out.” Ed Cunningham, “Red Sox Sell Babe
Ruth to Yanks for More than $100,000,”
Boston Herald, January 6, 1920: 18.
16. “Babe Ruth Accepts Terms Of Yankees,”
New York Times, January 7, 1920: 22.
17. Wood, 352.
18. Kal Wagenheim, Babe Ruth: His Life and
Legend (New York: Praeger Publishers,
1974), 62.
19. Leigh Montville, The Big Bam: The Life
and Times of Babe Ruth (New York:
Doubleday, 2006), 111.
20. During the 1946 World Series, Ruth
watched the St. Louis Cardinals employ a
Boston Red Sox. Ruth told sports-writer
Frank Graham: “They did that to me in the
American League one year. I could have hit .
600 that year slicing singles to left.” Mark
Gallagher, The Yankee Encyclopedia (6th
Edition) (Champaign, Illinois: Sports
Publishing LLC, 2003), 206.
21. Montville, 114.
22. Variety, September 24, 1920.
23. Marshall Smelser, The Life That Ruth Built
(New York: Random House, 1975), 201.
24. Ruth’s fielding statistics can be found at
24. Ruth’s fielding statistics can be found at
Baseball-Reference (https://www.baseball-
reference.com/players/r/ruthba01.shtml#all_
standard_fielding).
25. Tom Meany, Babe Ruth: The Big Moments
25. Tom Meany, Babe Ruth: The Big Moments
of the Big Fellow (New York: A.S. Barnes
and Company, 1947), 84.
26. Montville, 167-71.
27. Montville, 159-60.
28. Paul Dickson, The New Dickson Baseball
26. Montville, 167-71.
27. Montville, 159-60.
28. Paul Dickson, The New Dickson Baseball
Dictionary (New York: Harcourt Brace &
Company, 1999), 424.
29. Glenn Stout and Richard A. Johnson.
29. Glenn Stout and Richard A. Johnson.
Yankees Century: 100 Years of New York
Yankees Baseball (Boston: Houghton
Mifflin Company, 2002), 99.
30. Hugh Fullerton, “Why Babe Ruth is Greatest
30. Hugh Fullerton, “Why Babe Ruth is Greatest
Home Run Hitter,” Popular Science Monthly,
October 1921. (The magazine’s cover
promised: “Babe Ruth’s Home Run Secrets
Solved by Science.”)
31. Creamer, 258.
32. Creamer, 261.
33. Creamer, 262.
34. Montville, 203.
35. Wagenheim, 140. The caption read: “Notice
31. Creamer, 258.
32. Creamer, 261.
33. Creamer, 262.
34. Montville, 203.
35. Wagenheim, 140. The caption read: “Notice
how snugly they nestle in the vast cavern of
his interior.”
36. Montville, 203.
37. Stout and Johnson, 112.
38. Wagenheim, 140.
39. Montville, 216-18.
40. Montville, 218-21.
41. Creamer, 301.
42. Montville, 282-84.
43. Wagenheim, 196.
44. Montville, 293.
45. Creamer, 364, 367-68.
46. Stout and Johnson, 153.
47. Creamer, 366-67.
48. Creamer, 368. In The Big Bam,
36. Montville, 203.
37. Stout and Johnson, 112.
38. Wagenheim, 140.
39. Montville, 216-18.
40. Montville, 218-21.
41. Creamer, 301.
42. Montville, 282-84.
43. Wagenheim, 196.
44. Montville, 293.
45. Creamer, 364, 367-68.
46. Stout and Johnson, 153.
47. Creamer, 366-67.
48. Creamer, 368. In The Big Bam,
Leigh Montville writes: “He called shots
all the time. He loved to create situations.
It was for other people to determine what they
meant. … He challenged his entire environment.
Whipped up all parties, then made them shut up.
The specifics might be hazy, but the general
the story was not wrong.” (312) The next day,
Cubs starter Guy Bush, facing Ruth in the top of
first inning, with men on first and second and no
outs, drilled the Babe with a first-pitch fastball.
Montville adds: “Something out of the ordinary
[had] happened.” (313)
49. Montville, 322.
50. Montville, 327.
51. Ibid.
52. Montville, 337-38.
53. Montville, 339.
54. Montville, 13.
55. Murray Schumach, “Babe Ruth, Baseball’s
49. Montville, 322.
50. Montville, 327.
51. Ibid.
52. Montville, 337-38.
53. Montville, 339.
54. Montville, 13.
55. Murray Schumach, “Babe Ruth, Baseball’s
Greatest Star and Idol of Children, Had a
Career Both Dramatic and Bizarre,” New York
Times, August 17, 1948: 14. “A creation of the
times, he seemed to embody all the qualities
that a sport-loving nation demanded of its
outstanding hero. … Ruth [was] a figure un-
precedented in American life. A born showman
off the field and a marvelous performer on it,
he had an amazing flair for doing the
spectacular at the most dramatic moment.”
Full Name George Herman Ruth.
Full Name George Herman Ruth.
Born: February 6, 1895, Baltimore, MD (USA)
Died: August 16, 1948 New York, NY (USA)
Stats:
Stats:
