Babe Ruth: Legends in Sports

by Matt Christopher

  The ball soared deep and high to right field as everyone in the stadium stood and craned their necks to watch the flight of the ball. When it finally came down it was ten rows deep in the right-field stands. Babe Ruth had hit the first home run in Yankee Stadium! After the Yankee victory that day, a sports-writer referred to the stadium as “the House that Ruth Built,” a nickname that has stayed with it ever since.

  For the rest of the season there was no stopping New York. Although Ruth didn’t hit home runs quite as frequently as before, ending the season with only forty-one, he hit better than ever, staying above .400 for most of the year before finishing at .393. The Yankees won the pennant by sixteen games over Detroit. Once again, they played the New York Giants in the World Series.

  Thus far, Ruth had done everything in New York but help the Yankees win a championship. For all his accomplishments he knew he wouldn’t really be considered a success until the Yankees won the series. Giants’ manager John McGraw entered the series confident. After all, his pitchers had shut down Ruth in both 1921 and 1922 by throwing him outside curve balls. “The same system,” he said, “will suffice.”

  This time, however, Ruth was ready. He tripled in the first game, a Yankee loss, but in game two he broke loose with two long home runs and narrowly missed a third. Although the Giants won game three 1–0, the Giants chose to walk Ruth twice rather than let him hit. Then, in game four, Ruth and the Yankees took command and won the next two games to finally take the series away from their crosstown rivals.

  Yankee owner Jake Ruppert was ecstatic. “Now I have the greatest ballpark and the greatest team,” he said. Everyone already knew he had the greatest player — Babe Ruth.

  Before he was a Boston Red Sox pitcher and a New York Yankees slugger, Babe Ruth played for Baltimore in the International League in 1914. This is his baseball card for that year.

  An undated photo shows pitcher Babe Ruth in his Red Sox uniform. His ability to slug home runs had not yet been discovered by the ball club.

  Home run! Yankee Babe Ruth, the Sultan of Swat, clouts one into the stands in this undated photo.

  Babe Ruth makes baseball history when he slugs in his sixtieth home run on September 30, 1927.

  A rare shot of the Babe sliding into home plate. Usually he arrived standing up!

  Even Babe Ruth’s strikes were powerful! In upper left corner, he taps the plate. In upper right, he swings and misses for strike one. Strike two follows, then strike three and he’s out.

  Babe Ruth embraces an emotional Lou Gehrig on July 4, 1939—the day Gehrig called himself “the luckiest man in the world.”

  Fans always flocked to Babe for autographs. In 1947, he signed a ball for a young female ballplayer.

  The following year, the cocky Yankees figured they’d win another world championship in 1924 just by showing up. Although Ruth had started drifting back to his old ways and was again gaining weight, most observers figured that the Yankees still had more than enough firepower and pitching to win.

  But the overconfident Yankees got off to a slow start. Before the season they foolishly released pitcher Carl Mays. He later won twenty games for Cincinnati while the Yankee pitching staff fell apart. By mid-season the Yankees were battling Washington and Detroit for the pennant.

  Ruth, however, was having another great year, just a shade below his performance in 1923. Still, despite cracking 46 home runs and hitting .378, he couldn’t put the Yankees over the top. They finished second.

  Unlike the previous winter, this year Ruth didn’t take care of himself. Instead of spending the off-season on his farm, getting ready for the upcoming season, he ran all over the country eating, drinking, and partying way too much. By the time he started thinking about the upcoming season, he weighed nearly 260 pounds! He tried to lose weight, but he wasn’t disciplined enough to turn down big meals, exercise regularly, and go to bed early. When spring training began, he was still overweight, drinking heavily, and staying up all hours of the night.

  Manager Miller Huggins repeatedly cautioned Ruth about his behavior, but Ruth just laughed at him. Huggins was a little man and Ruth didn’t take him seriously. Besides, despite being out of shape he hit nearly .500 in the spring. He felt indestructible.

  Then, near the end of spring training, all the late nights, drinking binges, smoking, and overeating caught up with him. The Yankees were on their way back to New York when Ruth, who had been complaining of stomach cramps, collapsed on a train platform in North Carolina.

  Rumors swept the country that he had died, but after a few days he felt a little better and left with Yankee scout Paul Krichell to rejoin the team. He made it as far as Washington, D.C., before collapsing again. This time he fell unconscious.

  Krichell somehow got him on the train to New York. When the train pulled into the station, Ruth had to be removed through a window on a stretcher — he couldn’t walk and was so fat that the stretcher could not be maneuvered down the aisle. He was rushed to St. Vincent’s Hospital and admitted on April 9. He remained in the hospital for the next six weeks.

  Over time, the illness became known as the “bellyache heard around the world,” and it was often blamed on too many hot dogs and too much soda pop. But that wasn’t the cause. Ruth was seriously ill. Although the exact nature of the illness remains a mystery, he did undergo a minor operation to remove an intestinal abscess. Some have speculated that he had some kind of embarrassing disease, while others believe Ruth may have been receiving treatment for alcoholism. Whatever the cause, he was very, very sick for a long time.

  When he finally left the hospital on May 26, he didn’t look like Babe Ruth. He had lost thirty pounds, and his legs were rail thin and shaky from lack of exercise. His gaunt face made him look twenty years older. Even when he felt well enough to play again, he didn’t play like Babe Ruth.

  The Yankees had struggled without him and were already out of the race. Through June and July, Ruth hit only .250 with a handful of home runs. The only bright spot on the team was rookie first baseman Lou Gehrig, who was hitting nearly .300.

  New York sportswriters looked at Ruth and saw a player near the end of his career. He was a thirty-year-old man who looked like he was fifty. Despite his weight loss in the hospital, he was still too heavy and waddled around the bases. A hard run left him weak. Pitchers weren’t afraid of him anymore. On one occasion Huggins even removed Ruth from a game for a pinch hitter.

  Incredibly, within weeks of leaving the hospital he resumed his late-night lifestyle. That didn’t help his recovery. He had met another woman, Claire Hodgson, and wanted to marry her, but because he was Catholic he couldn’t divorce Helen. On and off the field, Ruth was a mess.

  It all came to a head on August 29 in St. Louis. Ruth stayed out past team curfew and got caught. When he arrived at the park the next day, Miller Huggins told him, “Don’t bother getting dressed. I’m suspending you and fining you $5,000. You’re to go back to New York.”

  “What?” Ruth bellowed. He couldn’t believe Hug-gins would do that, but the manager had already checked with Jake Ruppert and the owner told him to do what he felt was best for the team. Ruth threatened his manager, saying, “If you were half my size I’d punch you.”

  Huggins stood his ground and didn’t flinch. “If I were half your size, I’d punch you,” he said. Then he told Ruth not to return to the ball club until he was ready to apologize, not only to Huggins but to his teammates.

  Ruth was angry and hurt. He railed against Huggins to the press and said he was going to appeal to Commissioner Landis or to Jake Ruppert. He didn’t think anyone could tell him what to do. After all, he was Babe Ruth. He foolishly believed that because he was so popular and famous either Landis or Ruppert would order Huggins to put him back in the lineup. Ruth told the press he expected Landis to “do the right thing,” and that Huggins “has Ruppert buffaloed. Huggins is trying to make me the goat.” Ruth wanted Huggins fired and said he would never play for him again. If the suspension was upheld, R
uth said he was prepared to quit the game.

  But Ruth misread both Landis and Ruppert. Landis didn’t even want to meet with him and announced that he supported the suspension. Ruppert was even more direct, saying, “I understand Ruth says he will not play for the Yankees as long as Huggins is manager. Well, Huggins will be manager as long as he wants to be.” Ruth was shocked.

  Everyone liked Ruth. Everyone wanted to see him play. But everyone agreed that unless he started taking care of himself and changed his ways, baseball and the Yankees were better off without him. No one was bigger than the game.

  After a few days Ruth asked Huggins if he could apologize and the manager turned him down — he wanted Ruth to realize how serious the situation was. As Ruth waited on the sideline, he began to realize how much he enjoyed playing and how he was wasting his life. He even called Brother Matthias and spent several hours discussing his future.

  Finally, after nine long days, Huggins agreed to meet Ruth. Babe approached his manager like an ashamed little boy and apologized profusely. Then Huggins told him he would have to make the same apology to his teammates.

  The Yankees gathered in the clubhouse and Ruth sheepishly entered the room, nearly in tears. “I was wrong,” he admitted. “I’m too hotheaded.” He knew he had let everyone down. More importantly, he had let himself down, wasting his talent and ruining the season for his team and the fans.

  Ruth was allowed to rejoin the team, but the season could not be saved. The Yankees finished seventh and Ruth hit only .290 with 25 home runs. Although Babe had always enjoyed the backing of the press, even the sportswriters had turned against him. Many believed he should retire and that the Yankees would be better off without him.

  So far, despite hitting a record number of home runs, Ruth had yet to fulfill his promise as a Yankee. While they had won three pennants, they had won only one world championship and in the seasons after that Ruth had done little to excite New York’s management, his teammates, or fans. Unless he permanently turned his life around soon, his career as a Yankee would be a failure.

  CHAPTER SIX

  1926–1928

  The Greatest

  The suspension finally shocked Ruth into taking his life and his career seriously. He separated from Helen, and she moved from the farm back to Boston. He felt badly about his marriage falling apart, but he knew he had hardly been the ideal husband. All winter long Ruth tried to make amends for his horrible performance in 1925.

  He turned down a chance to make money on another exhibition tour. He wrote a magazine article in which he apologized to the fans and admitted he had acted like “a boob.” Determined to get back in shape, he put himself in the hands of gym owner Artie McGovern.

  It helped that he had the love and support of Claire Hodgson. Like Brother Matthias, Ruth respected her opinion. When she told him that he had to change, Ruth listened. He realized that if he did not, he would lose more than his baseball career. He might also lose her.

  Every day he spent four hours at the gym, working out. At first the exercise sessions, which included long walks, handball, weightlifting, and steam baths, left him exhausted. But ever so slowly he began to lose weight and replace flab with muscle.

  By February of 1926 he was ready to play again. He had lost nearly thirty pounds and almost ten inches from his waist. Although no one would ever accuse Ruth of being slender, he was once again a powerful athlete.

  Meanwhile, the Yankees were invigorated by the addition of infielder Tony Lazzeri, a terrific hitter, and the continued improvement of first baseman Lou Gehrig, who was beginning to show that he was almost as dangerous at the plate as Ruth. Hodgson stayed close to Ruth all year and she kept him from running around all hours of the night.

  The Yankees got off to a great start and just kept going. Babe Ruth wasn’t just back, he was all the way back, hitting .372 and cracking 47 home runs while driving in 155. Tony Lazzeri and Lou Gehrig each knocked in over 100 runs as well, and the Yankees cruised to the pennant. They then met the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series.

  The Yankees were big favorites, but the Cardinals were a talented team. After New York won the first game, the Cardinals came back to win the next two. Ruth, in a post-season slump, collected only two singles in the first three games. Game four in St. Louis was a must-win for New York.

  Ruth came to the plate determined to do what it took to give his team that win. In the first inning he hit the first pitch he saw for a home run. In the third inning he hit another home run. Then, in the sixth inning, he truly outdid himself.

  With the count at three-and-two, Ruth swung and hit the ball as hard as possible. It soared deep to center field. Announcer Graham MacNamee was broadcasting the game to the nation over the radio, one of the first national broadcasts. Fans all over the country heard his description:

  The Babe hits it into the centerfield bleachers for a home run! A home run! Did you hear what I said? Oh, what a shot! … This is a World Series record, three home runs in one series game … They tell me that’s the first ball ever hit into the center field stand. That’s a mile and a half from here!

  It wasn’t quite that far, but it was the farthest ball ever hit in St. Louis. Even Cardinal fans applauded his hit, which was in fact the first ball ever hit into the centerfield bleachers. Not that the ball stopped there — it bounced out of the bleachers into the street!

  No one knew, however, that the home run meant even more to a little boy listening to MacNamee’s broadcast. Young Johnny Sylvester had been badly hurt in a fall from a horse and was laid up in a New York hospital. His father had asked for the Cardinals and Yankees to send him some autographed baseballs to cheer his son up. The teams did, and Ruth added a promise that he would hit a home run for Johnny. The boy heard MacNamee announce all three of Ruth’s three home runs. The smile that lit his face didn’t go away for days.

  The Yankees won 10–5. They took the next game, too, thanks to a great save made by Ruth. The Yankees were up in the series, but the Cardinals fought back and took game six to tie. It came down to the final game, and as it turned out, the final pitch.

  The Yankees trailed 3–2 in the ninth. With two out, Ruth walked. If he could score, the Yankees would tie the game. Yankee outfielder Bob Meusel dug in at the plate. Suddenly, Ruth took off, trying to steal second! The throw from home came in fast, hard, and on target. Ruth was out, and so were the Yankees.

  Ruth was roundly criticized for the play. It dampened an otherwise great series and a great comeback for the Babe.

  The loss only made Ruth and the Yankees more determined for victory in 1927. Ruth had proven to his teammates that he was in control of his life, so no one worried anymore about the way he acted off the field. Although he still liked to have fun and still had an enormous appetite, he knew when to stop and made sure that he was ready to play every day.

  And play he did. No one will ever forget Babe Ruth and the 1927 Yankees.

  Everything went right. Many people still consider the 1927 Yankees the greatest team in the history of baseball. They had great pitching, great fielding, and great hitting. They didn’t just beat other teams, they beat them badly. One reason was the emergence of Lou Gehrig.

  The very first time a Yankee scout saw Gehrig playing for Columbia University, he called him “another Ruth.” Now in his third season in the major leagues, Gehrig was about to serve notice that the scouting report was accurate. Gehrig hit fourth in the Yankees lineup right behind Ruth. Together, the two Yankees stars formed the greatest slugging duo in the history of baseball. Sportswriters dubbed the Yankee lineup “Murderers’ Row.”

  From the start of the season, Ruth and Gehrig sent shivers down the backs of American League pitchers. It seemed as if one of them hit one or two home runs every day. The Yankees scored runs in bunches. One opposing pitcher admitted, “I would rather pitch a doubleheader against any other club than a single game against the Yankees.”

  Ruth, in particular, seemed invigorated. Every home run hit by
Gehrig seemed to spur Ruth on. After all, he had won the major league home run crown in six of the past eight seasons. He didn’t want to lose his title to his own teammate.

  By mid-season the Yankees were far ahead in the pennant race. The big question became who would lead the league in home runs — Ruth or Gehrig — and whether either man would break Ruth’s existing record of fifty-nine home runs.

  Entering September, Ruth led Gehrig by two home runs, 43 to 41. Then, on September 6 in Boston, with both men stuck on 44 homers, Ruth pulled ahead. As the Yankees split a doubleheader, Ruth cracked three home runs, including one observers believed was the longest ever hit at Fenway Park. Then the next day he hit two more, putting him only ten home runs behind the record.

  Over the final weeks of the season, fans all over the country kept track of Ruth’s home runs. And Ruth, knowing everyone was watching, responded with a remarkable performance.

  On September 22 his 56th home run in the ninth inning led the Yankees to their 105th win of the season, tying a mark set by the 1912 Boston Red Sox. As he toured the bases with the game-winning hit, dozens of fans poured onto the field and ran with him around the bases. Some of them tried to take his bat, but Ruth held it high over his head, laughing and dashing between his fans on his way to the plate. The record seemed within his grasp.

  But over the next week, Ruth hit only one more homer. With only three games left in the season, the record seemed out of reach. It would take what sportswriters called a “Ruthian” performance to hit sixty home runs. Of course, no one was more “Ruthian” than Babe Ruth himself.

  On September 29, Ruth broke loose and cracked two home runs to tie the record. After hitting number fifty-nine he shook Lou Gehrig’s hand at home plate and then tipped his hat to the crowd. Even Gehrig, who had stalled at “only” forty-seven home runs, stood in awe of Ruth.