Babe Ruth 2 Essay, Research Paper

On February 6, 1895, George Herman Ruth, Jr., was born in his grandparents house in Baltimore, Maryland.

Ruth as a young child.

Ruth s dad worked as a bartender and owned his own bar. They spent very little time with George because they worked long hours.

Eventually, his parents felt that they couldn t take care of George, and on June 13, 1902, he was taken to St. Mary s Industrial School for Boys. His custody was also signed over to the Xaverian Brothers, a Catholic Order of Jesuit Missionaries who ran St. Mary s.

St. Mary s was both a reformatory and orphanage, which was surrounded by a wall like a prison with guards on duty. George, who was always involved in pranks and fights, was classified as “incorrigible” when he was admitted.

The only positive thing that happened from going to St. Mary s was meeting Brother Mathias. Brother Mathias was the disciplinary guy at St. Mary s. He spent a lot of time with George. He even helped Ruth learn to be a baseball player.

Baseball was a popular game for the boys at St. Mary s and George played well at a young age. He played all positions on the field, was an excellent pitcher and had the ability to hit the ball very well. By his late teens Ruth had developed into a major league baseball prospect. On February 27, 1914, at the age of nineteen, the Baltimore Orioles signed Babe to his first professional baseball contract. Because Ruth s parents had signed over custody of him to St. Mary s, he was supposed to remain at the school until he was twenty-one. To go around this, Dunn, the man who signed him, became Ruth s legal guardian.

Just five months after being signed by the Baltimore Orioles, Babe Ruth was sold to the Boston Red Sox. He made his debut as a major leaguer in Fenway Park on July 11, 1914, pitching against the Cleveland Indians.

In the mornings, Ruth would frequent Landers Coffee Shop in Boston, and it is here that he met Helen Woodford, a seventeen-year-old waitress. They married on October 17, 1914 at St. Paul s Roman Catholic Church in Ellicott City, Maryland. As Babe s career began to blossom and his salary increased, by 1919 he was making $10,000 per year, he and Helen were able to buy a home outside of Boston in Sudbury, Massachusetts.

In December of 1919 Babe was sold to the New York Yankees, owned by Colonel Jacob Ruppert and managed by Miller Huggins. Prior to Ruth s arrival in New York, the team had never won a pennant. With “The Babe” as part of their arsenal they became a dominant force in major league baseball, winning seven pennants and four World Championships from 1920 to 1933.

In New York, Babe and Helen moved into the Ansonia Hotel on Broadway, which was also the New York home for many celebrities. Unlike her husband, Helen was shy and reserved and did not enjoy the constant notoriety that accompanied Babe wherever he went. As a result, she preferred staying at their rural home outside of Boston, where they had a farm with some 200 acres of land and privacy. In 1921, the couple adopted a baby girl, Dorothy.

On January 11, 1929, at the age of 31, Helen died of suffocation in a fire. Dorothy, who was eight at the time was away at boarding school.

Babe met and became interested in a young widow, Claire Hodgson. Claire had come to New York from Georgia with her young daughter Julia in 1920 and worked as a model and actress. On April 17, 1929, the two were married in St. Gregory the Great Roman Catholic Church in New York. This was the day before the Opening Day Game against the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium, and as a wedding present to Claire, Babe hit a home run in his first at bat. In October 1930, Babe formally adopted Claire s daughter Julia, while Claire did the same with Dorothy.

Had Babe Ruth been born fifty years later he would unquestionably have been a star in several sports, at least as a youngster. However, at the time of his youth, baseball was basically the only true “sport of choice.” Nevertheless, the Babe was interested in almost all sporting activities and participated in most of them. He had a passion for hunting and fishing, boxed, bowled but perhaps one of his biggest athletic passions was golf. He loved the game and played whenever he could. As a matter of fact, his daughter Julia still believes that were it not for golf he would not have known what to do with himself after he retired from baseball.

Perhaps it was because as a child he did not receive the love all children deserve, perhaps it was because his childhood was such a difficult one or perhaps it was because of something all together different. Regardless of the reason Babe Ruth loved children and children adored him. Wherever he went children flocked to him and he never tried to discourage them from surrounding him. He genuinely loved kids and felt that he had to do whatever he could to help those children who were in need. Although he may not have always enjoyed public appearances, he never turned down a request to visit or help kids. He made countless visits to children in hospitals and orphanages, and always did what was asked of him to help charitable causes associated with children. This even included St. Mary s. He never tried to hide his roots and difficult childhood, and once he became established he did much to help St. Mary s and the Xaverian Brothers who ran it.

Babe playing another game he loved.

Babe Ruth s last year as a Yankee was 1934. He had a burning desire to manage in the major leagues. In 1935, at the age of forty, he announced that his playing days were through and that he wanted to become a manager. In late February, Judge Emil Fuchs, owner of the Boston Braves, enticed Ruth to join the team by making him believe that the following year he may become the team s manager. Unfortunately for the Babe that never came to pass. Ruth played his last major league game on May 30, 1935, for the Boston Braves and announced his retirement on June 2, 1935. From that day on he kept hoping to get a chance to manage in the major leagues, but the opportunity never came. On February 2, 1936, Babe became a charter member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

In 1946, Babe was diagnosed with throat cancer. Even though doctors performed surgery and he received radiation treatments, the cancer could not be arrested. With doctors being unable to do any more for him, Babe was released from the hospital on February 15, 1947. Subsequently, April 27 was declared “Babe Ruth Day” in every baseball park in the United States and Japan. Although too frail to don his old uniform at the time, Babe did make an appearance on that day at Yankee Stadium.

His final appearance at Yankee stadium actually came later, on June 13, 1948, during the 25th anniversary of “The House that Ruth Built.” During the celebration the Yankees also retired his uniform, number 3, and for that reason Babe put on the uniform for one last time.

At 8:01 p.m. on August 16, 1948, Babe Ruth lost his battle with cancer. For two days, his body lay in state at the main entrance to Yankee Stadium. Hundreds of thousands of people stood in line to pay their last

respects. Babe s funeral was on August 19 at St. Patrick s Cathedral in New York. He is buried at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York. He now rests along side of his wife Claire who was buried next to him after her death in 1976.