Babe Ruth: Difference between revisions

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At age seven, Ruth was sent to [[Cardinal Gibbons School (Baltimore, Maryland)|St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys]], a [[Reform school|reformatory]] where he was mentored by Brother Matthias Boutlier of the [[Xaverian Brothers]], the school's disciplinarian and a capable baseball player. In 1914, Ruth was signed to play [[Minor League Baseball|Minor League]] baseball for the [[Baltimore Orioles (minor league)|Baltimore Orioles]] but was soon sold to the Red Sox. By 1916, he had built a reputation as an outstanding pitcher who sometimes hit long home runs, a feat unusual for any player in the [[dead-ball era]]. Although Ruth twice [[Win–loss record (pitching)|won]] 23 games in a season as a pitcher and was a member of three [[World Series]] championship teams with the Red Sox, he wanted to play every day and was allowed to convert to an outfielder. With regular playing time, he broke the [[List of Major League Baseball progressive single-season home run leaders|MLB single-season home run record]] in 1919 with 29.

Although Barrow predicted that Ruth would beg to return to pitching the first time he experienced a batting slump, that did not occur. Barrow used Ruth primarily as an outfielder in the war-shortened 1918 season. Ruth hit .300, with 11 home runs, enough to secure him a share of the [[List of Major League Baseball annual home run leaders|major league home run title]] with [[Tilly Walker]] of the Philadelphia Athletics. He was still occasionally used as a pitcher, and had a 13–7 record with a 2.22 ERA.<ref name="stats" /><ref>{{harvp|Wagenheim|1974|p=42}}</ref><ref>{{harvp|Creamer|1992|pp=153–170}}</ref>

 

 

[[File:Babe Ruth by Bain, 1919.jpg|thumb|left|Ruth in 1919]]

 

[[File:Babe Ruth by Paul Thompson, 1920.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.75|Ruth in his first year with the [[New York Yankees]], 1920]]

 

Although Ruppert and his co-owner, Colonel [[Tillinghast L'Hommedieu Huston|Tillinghast Huston]], were both wealthy, and had aggressively purchased and traded for players in 1918 and 1919 to build a winning team, Ruppert faced losses in his brewing interests as [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]] was implemented, and if their team left the Polo Grounds, where the Yankees were the tenants of the New York Giants, building a stadium in New York would be expensive. Nevertheless, when Frazee, who moved in the same social circles as Huston, hinted to the colonel that Ruth was available for the right price, the Yankees owners quickly pursued the purchase.<ref>{{harvp|Creamer|1992|pp=205–207}}</ref>

In the offseason, Ruth spent some time in [[Havana]], Cuba, where he was said to have lost $35,000 ({{Inflation|US|35000|1921|fmt=eq|r=-4}}) betting on horse races.<ref>{{cite news |author1=Special to the New York Times |title=Says Ruth Lost $35,000 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1921/01/01/103526324.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221031164944/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1921/01/01/103526324.pdf |archive-date=October 31, 2022 |url-status=live |access-date=December 1, 2022 |work=The New York Times |volume=LXX|issue=22,988 |date=January 1, 1921 |page=20}}</ref>

 

 

The Yankees had high expectations when they met the [[New York Giants (NL)|New York Giants]] in the [[1921 World Series]], every game of which was played in the Polo Grounds. The Yankees won the first two games with Ruth in the lineup. However, Ruth badly scraped his elbow during Game 2 when he slid into third base (he had walked and [[stolen base|stolen]] both second and third bases). After the game, he was told by the team physician not to play the rest of the series.<ref>{{harvp|Spatz|Steinberg|2010|p=355}}</ref> Despite this advice, he did play in the next three games, and pinch-hit in Game Eight of the best-of-nine series, but the Yankees lost, five games to three. Ruth hit .316, drove in five runs and hit his first World Series home run.<ref name="stats" /><ref>{{harvp|Wagenheim|1974|pp=95–96}}</ref><ref>{{harvp|Creamer|1992|pp=241–243}}</ref>

 

====Batting title and "bellyache" (1924–1925)====

 

In 1924, the Yankees were favored to become the first team to win four consecutive pennants. Plagued by injuries, they found themselves in a battle with the Senators. Although the Yankees won 18 of 22 at one point in September, the Senators beat out the Yankees by two games. Ruth hit .378, winning his only AL [[List of Major League Baseball batting champions|batting title]], with a league-leading 46 home runs.<ref>{{harvp|Graham|1943|pp=101–102}}</ref>

 

Although Ruth was married throughout most of his baseball career, when team co-owner [[Tillinghast L'Hommedieu Huston|Tillinghast 'Cap' Huston]] asked him to tone down his lifestyle, Ruth replied, "I'll promise to go easier on drinking and to get to bed earlier, but not for you, fifty thousand dollars, or two-hundred and fifty thousand dollars will I give up women. They're too much fun."<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iYY6LBA_DUwC|page=158|title=Baseball As I Have Known It|first=Fred|last=Lieb|publisher=Cowar, McCann and Geoghagen|location=New York|year=1977|isbn=978-0-8032-7962-9|access-date=November 26, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160510232217/https://books.google.com/books?id=iYY6LBA_DUwC|archive-date=May 10, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> A detective that the Yankees hired to follow him one night in Chicago reported that Ruth had been with six women. [[Ping Bodie]] said that he was not Ruth's roommate while traveling; "I room with his suitcase".<ref name="menand20200525">{{Cite magazine |last=Menand |first=Louis |date=May 25, 2020 |title=How Baseball Players Became Celebrities |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/06/01/how-baseball-players-became-celebrities |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en |access-date=May 26, 2020 |archive-date=January 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220110022815/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/06/01/how-baseball-players-became-celebrities |url-status=live}}</ref> Before the start of the 1922 season, Ruth had signed a three-year contract at $52,000 per year with an option to renew for two additional years. His performance during the 1922 season had been disappointing, attributed in part to his drinking and late-night hours. After the end of the 1922 season, he was asked to sign a contract addendum with a [[morals clause]]. Ruth and Ruppert signed it on November 11, 1922. It called for Ruth to abstain entirely from the use of intoxicating liquors, and to not stay up later than 1:00&nbsp;a.m. during the training and playing season without permission of the manager. Ruth was also enjoined from any action or misbehavior that would compromise his ability to play baseball.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://sports.ha.com/itm/baseball/1922-babe-ruth-signed-contract-addendum-limiting-his-drinking-late-nights-i-ll-promise-to-go-easier-on-drinking-an/a/707-19090.s?ic4=GalleryView-Thumbnail-071515 |title=1922 Babe Ruth Signed Contract Addendum Limiting His Drinking, Late Nights |page=5 |website=Heritage Auctions logo The World's Largest Collectibles Auctioneer |access-date=August 31, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150919233936/http://sports.ha.com/itm/baseball/1922-babe-ruth-signed-contract-addendum-limiting-his-drinking-late-nights-i-ll-promise-to-go-easier-on-drinking-an/a/707-19090.s?ic4=GalleryView-Thumbnail-071515 |archive-date=September 19, 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>

 

==Cancer and death (1946–1948)==

[[File:RuthMonument.jpg|thumb|right|Tribute to Babe Ruth, Monument Park, as seen at the original Yankee Stadium]]

 

 

In 1974, Ruth's birthplace in [[Baltimore]] was renovated and opened to the public as the [[Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum]]. The museum houses a collection of artifacts from Ruth's life, including some rare baseball cards and the earliest known signature of Ruth, from when he was still pitching in the schoolyard.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://nesn.com/2013/06/babe-ruth-birthplace-museum-one-of-baltimores-hidden-gems-video/|title=Babe Ruth Birthplace Museum One of Baltimore's Hidden Gems (Video)|date=June 16, 2013|website=NESN.com|language=en-US|access-date=April 30, 2016}}</ref> Ruth's widow, Claire, his two daughters, Dorothy and Julia, and his sister, Mamie, helped select and install exhibits for the museum.<ref>{{cite web |title=History |url=https://baberuthmuseum.org/babe-ruth-birthplace-museum/ |website=baberuthmuseum.org}}</ref>

One long-term survivor of the craze over Ruth may be the [[Baby Ruth]] candy bar. The original company to market the confectionery, the Curtis Candy Company, maintained that the bar was named after [[Ruth Cleveland]], daughter of former president [[Grover Cleveland]]. She died in 1904 and the bar was first marketed in 1921, at the height of the craze over Ruth.<ref>{{harvp|Smelser|1975|p=208}}</ref> He later sought to market candy bearing his name; he was refused a trademark because of the Baby Ruth bar. The Ruth estate licensed his likeness for use in an advertising campaign for Baby Ruth in 1995. In 2005, the Baby Ruth bar became the official candy bar of Major League Baseball.<ref name="nytimes2006">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/06/business/worldbusiness/06iht-web.0606ruth.1900800.html|title=Baseball adopts a candy, whatever it's named for|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|first=Richard|last=Sandomir|date=June 6, 2006|access-date=February 12, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130601020629/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/06/business/worldbusiness/06iht-web.0606ruth.1900800.html|archive-date=June 1, 2013|url-status=live}}</ref>

 

 

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