George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. was larger than life, lived on the edge
and -- 66 years after his passing and 100 since his debut -- still has a
name and face as recognizable* as Michael Jordan's and Muhammad Ali's.
(He also loved sharing stories with kids, as seen above in image No. 1
on our list of 25).
Ruth left an indelible mark on the game of baseball and, through 714
blasts, helped usher in a new era of the game in which the home run
would become an offensive weapon. During Ruth's career, his
mind-boggling achievements as a batter and pitcher were one thing, and the incredible force of his presence quite another. Wrote Ruth biographer Lawrence Ritter in "
The Babe: The Game That Ruth Built":
"On a baseball field he was, for almost
twenty years, the center of attention no matter what he was doing: from
the time he first stepped out of the dugout for batting or fielding
practice, hours before a game was scheduled to begin, until the last out
in the ninth inning, most of the audience seemed mesmerized by his
presence. Fans in the box seats and bleachers alike, at home or away,
spent most of their time watching his every move."
In this collection of photos commemorating the 100th anniversary of
Ruth's July 11, 1914, debut in the big leagues, we take a tour through
his career and also look at many photos of the legend out of uniform, as
you’re probably not accustomed to seeing him.
*At least to everyone who isn't Scotty Smalls.
2. Ruth grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, where at age 7 his parents
sent him to St. Mary’s Industrial School for Boys, a school run by
Catholic monks. While attending St. Mary’s, Brother Matthias helped Ruth
hone his immense baseball skills as a pitcher and hitter.
Transcendental Graphics
Three-year-old George Herman Ruth poses for a portrait in Baltimore in 1898, long before he was known as 'The Babe.'
3. One
version of the story of Ruth’s signing by
Baltimore Orioles
manager-owner Jack Dunn goes that when St. Mary’s brothers invited Dunn
to take a look at Ruth, Brother Matthias offered, “Ruth can hit.” Dunn,
who had been in pursuit of a lefty pitcher, asked, “Can he pitch?”
Brother Matthias responded, “Sure. He can do anything.” And between 30
minutes and one hour later on Feb. 14, 1914, Ruth accepted an offer to
join the Orioles (the O’s were a minor-league team in the International
League at the time).
Public Domain
Ruth is the bookend all the way on the right.
4. This 1914 baseball card indicates that Ruth was a pitcher at the
time (indeed he was). Also around that time, Ruth’s “Babe” nickname
emerged. Although a few iterations of that story exist, the common
thread is that Dunn had handpicked Ruth and therefore was “one of Jack
Dunn’s babes.” Although a fairly common nickname at the time, “Babe”
worked well for the youthful, boisterous star-to-be.
5. The Orioles were cash-strapped in 1914. Needing to raise funds, Dunn resorted to selling 19-year-old Ruth to the
Boston Red Sox on July 4 that year. One week later, Ruth made his debut for the club,
a 4-3 Red Sox win over the Cleveland Naps at Fenway Park
in which Ruth threw seven innings, allowing eight hits and two earned
runs. Ruth played in four more games that year for the Red Sox, pitching
in three of them, but the team was well-stocked so they optioned Ruth
down to the Providence Grays. In this photo you can really see Babe’s
distinctive facial features -- a large, flat nose, big lips and squinty
eyes. He was also much bigger than the average major-leaguer who stood
about 5-foot-9 and 170 pounds; Ruth grew to an imposing 6-foot-2 and 215
pounds.
Transcendental Graphics-Getty Images
Babe Ruth, pitcher for the Providence Grays minor league team, poses for a team photograph in 1914.
6. Ruth broke camp with the Red Sox in 1915 and became a regular in the team’s starting rotation. He also happened to
dominate: in 32 games (28) starts the southpaw collected 18 wins against eight losses and posted a 2.44 ERA in 217 innings.
Transcendental Graphics-Getty Images North America
The Boston Red Sox pose for an annual portrait for the year 1915.
7. Babe with his first wife, Helen. Ruth was
fond of the pipe and cigars among other indulgences, and for a time even
returned to an old trade as a cigar maker in the winters, selling his own brand.
Transcendental Graphic-Getty Images
Ruth smokes a pipe as he plays a piano while his wife, Helen, stands alongside, circa 1915.
8. He flourished as a pitcher with the Red Sox (in 1916 he led the
league in ERA at 1.75 and recorded 23 wins; he followed that with 24
wins and a 2.01 ERA in 1917), though by 1918 it became obvious that he
was too damn good with the stick to keep a bat out of his hands. Ruth
lobbied for more time in the field (when he wasn’t pitching) and in 95
games mostly as an outfielder, he swatted 11 home runs, which led the
league in 1918, the last year the Red Sox won the World Series until
2004.
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Ruth warms up on the sidelines of Boston's Fenway Park in 1918.
9. In his last season with the Red Sox in 1919, Ruth swatted 29 home
runs, a robust number in the so-called "dead ball era." Nevertheless,
Red Sox brass grew tired of Ruth’s salary demands, dust-ups, reckless
behavior and his penchant for chowing down on hot dogs and soda pop.
Here’s the famous contract that sent Ruth to the
New York Yankees in 1919, effecting the “Curse of the Bambino.”
Stan Honda-AFP
At a sports memorabilia sale in 2005, Leila
Dunbar of Sotheby's displays the 1919 contract selling baseball player
Babe Ruth from the Red Sox to the Yankees.
10. In his first season with the Yanks, 1920, in an era when players
mostly hit for contact and batting average, Ruth, with his full-hearted
upward stroke, clubbed a record 54 home runs and batted .378. George
Sisler finished second in the home run standings that year with 19. Ruth
also started on the mound 15 games that season, tallying a 9-5 record.
For the sabermetrics crowd, Ruth was also good for 11.9 WAR in 1920.
B Bennett-Getty Images North America
Ruth swings at a pitch circa 1920.
11. The Yankees made it to their first World Series in 1921 and lost to
the New York (baseball)
Giants, then again in 1922, finally exacting
revenge in 1923 World Series, the first of the Yankees' 27 titles. By
1921 Ruth had already established himself as such a force that
scientists at Columbia University hooked Ruth up to some instruments
to prove his superiority in speed of eye, brain and muscle for a
psuedo-scientific piece that appeared in "Popular Science."
Transcendental Graphics-Getty Images North America
It's science.
12. According to the archive notes on this scene, Ruth succeeded at
straddling “King Jess,” a “notoriously ill-tempered” Holstein bull owned
by lawyer John M. Kelley. Kelley had invited Ruth and other public
figures to his New Jersey estate in November 1922 to witness a wager
between him and circus rider May Wirth as to whether Wirth could ride
King Jess. This is long before bars installed mechanical bulls.
FPG-Archive Photos
Wave that cap, Babe.
13. This photo shows Ruth in 1922 feeding chickens at his
cottage in Sudbury, Massachusetts, about 30 miles outside Boston. Ruth
liked to hunt, fish and farm there. The estate known as “Home Plate
Farm”
fetched $1.225 million in October 2013 in a sale by the previous tenants who had lived there for more than 20 years.
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Though the place has been renovated, some
Ruth relics remain, including burn marks on the floor of one room where
Ruth is said to have flicked his cigar ashes.
14. Ruth had expensive tastes, and that included an appetite for
cars. Here he is circa 1923 giving Yankees manager Miller Huggins a ride
on Riverside Drive in Manhattan. On occasion, Ruth even
took some young fans aboard.
Also check out the short movie below, “Just Pals,” in which Ruth
teaches a kid how to swing and then gets a surprise inside his vehicle
at the end.
Transcendental Graphics-Getty Images North America
15. In Game 4 of the 1926 World Series, Ruth smacked a record three
home runs in the same game. He’s pictured here crossing the plate after
his third dinger. The Yankees actually lost this series to the
Cardinals in seven games.
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16. For the famed 1927 Yankees, Babe broke his own single-season home
run record of 59 (1921) by adding one more. To commemorate the new
record, manager Miller Huggins (below, center) presented the home run
king with a crown after the season.
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Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown, but not so for Ruth, who led the league in homers three of the next four seasons.
17. Along with many other prominent athletes, Broadway stars and Wall
Street bigwigs, Ruth trained for the season at McGovern's Gym beginning
in 1925 until the end of his career in 1935. Former boxer, personal
trainer and gym owner Arthur McGovern’s reconditioning of Ruth after a
down year in 1925 actually helped his own rise to prominence. McGovern
said of the challenge:
“Ruth weighed 254. ... He was as near to being a total loss as any
patient I have ever had under my care. His stomach had gone back on him
completely. The slightest exertion left him short of breath.” (
More on Ruth’s training here.) Also check out some bonus footage of Lou Gehrig boxing former heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey at McGovern’s Gym in 1935.
FPG-Archive Photos
Check out the legs, circa 1929.
18. Prior to the 1930 season, Ruth signed another contract with the Yanks that would pay him
$80,000 per season, a massive amount at the time, especially for a baseball player. That season,
a reporter asked Ruth
what he thought about the fact that he was out-earning then-president
Herbert Hoover, who collected $75,000. Ruth responded, "I know, but I
had a better year than Hoover.”
FPG-Archive Photos
Ruth leans on the counter of an outdoor bar and drinks from a straw, circa 1930.
19. Ruth is pictured below with teammate Lou Gehrig at the batting cage in Yankee Stadium before a game in 1930.
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20. Whether Babe actually called a home run shot in the 1932 World
Series is still a matter of mystery and debate and will probably forever
remain as such.
Said Ruth biographer Leigh Montville:
“It’s one of those stories: It’s whatever you want it to be. All the
different participants said different things. All opinions are pretty
good because the Babe himself said everything and anything. He talked
big and was forever a blowhard. ... I don’t think he called his shot as
if he was going to hit a homer to a specific spot. But he was pointing
that he was going to hit the ball a long way. It was fortuitous the way
it worked out.”
Transcendental Graphics-Archive Photos
An illlustration of Ruth calling his shot in the fifth inning of the third game of the 1932 World Series.
21. Here’s Babe during the November 1933 offseason walking with his
second wife, Claire, as they hunted quail in Maine. Ruth played one more
season with the Yankees before the organization agreed to let him go to
the Boston
Braves as second vice president and assistant to manager Bill McKechnie. Ruth ended up playing for the Braves a bit,
hitting the last three of his 714 career home runs at Forbes Field in the same game on May 25, 1935, against the
Pirates.
22. Ruth enjoyed a lot of fishing and golfing in his retirement. In this photo, Ruth and Hall of Fame Red Sox and
Indians outfielder Tris Speaker prepare for a round at Acacia Country Club in Cleveland in 1935.
Louis Van Oeyen/Weste-Getty Images North America
Ruth was in town to compete as an amateur in the True Temper Open. He shot an 85 for the day.
23. Legendary outfielders Tris Speaker, Ruth and Ty Cobb pose before a game at Yankee Stadium in 1941.
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24. Ruth visits his locker one last time on June 13, 1948, during the
Yankee Stadium Silver Anniversary celebration. That same day, the
Yankees retired his jersey, No. 3. Only two months later, Ruth passed
away on Aug. 16, 1948, at 53, after battling throat cancer.
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25. Another Yankees legend, Mickey Mantle, poses for a portrait next
to the statue of Babe Ruth in center field prior to a workout on April
15, 1960, at Yankee Stadium.
Kidwiler Collection-Diamond Images
For much more on Ruth, check out this fantastic, comprehensive story by Paul Adomites and Saul Wisnia, which was helpful in preparing this piece.
