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Babe Ruth

Babe Ruth “was the greatest player in the history of baseball”, declares bad-boy Pete Rose, prohibited from the Hall of Fame for betting on his sport. On the other hand, George Herman Ruth, notorious gambler, drinker, womanizer, and brawler, was among the first playersnamed to baseball’s Honor roll.

With the end of World War I, Americans were exhausted from duty and sacrifice and disillusioned with trying to make the world safe for democracy. The country was ready to have fun, celebrate life and, like the hit song said, “Let the good times roll.”

It was the “Roaring Twenties”; a time of speakeasies, flappers, radio, movies, and jazz. Spectator sports, especially professional baseball, were becoming big business entertainment industries. Few American heroes exemplified the Age and the Attitude like Babe Ruth.

Ruth was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1895. His parents were tavern keepers. When George was seven, his father turned him over to St. Mary’s School for Boys, a reformatory and orphanage run by Catholic missionaries. George stayed at St. Mary’s for 12 years, during which time he rarely saw his parents. It was here he learned to play cards and baseball. Big and athletic, his baseball skills, especially his pitching, were being noticed by the time he was 15.

By the time he was 19, his talent was recognized by professional baseball. Bought by the Boston Red Sox, he became a major league pitcher and outfielder. Because of his youth, he soon became known as “Babe” Ruth.

Although often overlooked, Ruth was a great pitcher before he became a legendary home run hitter. In his first World Series, in 1916, he gave up one run in the first inning; then went on to pitch 13 scoreless innings for a 2-1 win. The 14-innings he pitched still stands as the longest complete game in World Series history.

As Boston’s ace, the Babe won all three games he pitched to bring the 1918 World Series title to Bean Town. It was the last time Boston would be World Champs until 2004. The next year, Ruth was sold to the New York Yankees for $125,000.

Babe Ruth “the Sultan of Swat”, the “Home Run King”, blossomed in New York. In 1920, his first year with the Yankees, he hit 54 out of the park - more than double his previous record. So many fans flocked to see the Babe that a bigger ball park was necessary. Yankee Stadium opened in 1923 and became known ever after as “The House that Ruth Built”.

During his 22-year career, Ruth established himself as the greatest home run hitter of his era. In 1927, he hit 60 homers during a 154-game season. That record stood until 1961 when Roger Maris hit 61 over the fence in a 162-game schedule. But Babe Ruth’s lifetime .690 batting percentage is not likely to ever be eclipsed.

Having grown up under the austere, restrictive system at St. Mary’s, when Ruth became a star he lived life to the fullest. He smoked cigars and was a heavy user of snuff. Money, booze and women were plentiful and he enjoyed it all. He once declared, “I swing big… I hit big or I miss big. I like to live as big as I can.”

A hell-raiser, Ruth sometimes was as wild on the field as he was off. On one occasion, he was suspended for going into the stands after a fan. Another time he was penalized because he blasted the umpire in the face with a fistful of dirt.

Ruth loved the race track. Not a good handicapper, he bet big and lost often. Money was meaningless to the Bambino and he had a generous heart. He once dumped $8,000 in track winnings on the club house table and told his teammates who made far less than he, “grab whatever you need.”

So notorious did Ruth’s track gambling become that the Commissioner of Baseball ordered him never to bet the horses again. The superstar responded by going to the dog races that evening.

Professional baseball players spent a lot of time on the road and in hotel rooms. Card games, particularly pinochle, poker and bridge were favorite pastimes. Ruth wasn’t an especially good card player.

When he played poker, one biographer writes, “He liked to raise even when his cards did not justify it.” Another author explained, “His poker playing suffered because of his love of action. He won very little because he took every risk.” A friend said Ruth played poker “the way he hits a baseball - wildly, freely, forcefully; and more often than not, he loses.”

Yankee players were spending so much time and money at poker that the team manager tried to curb the action by limiting clubhouse poker games to 25-cents a bet. Irritated, the rebellious Bambino simply switched to bridge at 50 cents a point and dropped $350 in 15 minutes!

Babe Ruth lost a lot of money playing poker. One night as the game ended, player Miguel “Mike” Gonzalez, the big winner, declared, “Babe Root! I hope she play beizbol long time, maka lotsa money!”

After retiring from baseball, Ruth gave freely of his time to children’s orphanages and hospitals.During World War II he visited troops and sold War Bonds. In 1946, he was diagnosed with throat cancer and died two years later at the age of 53.

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