Babe Ruth Biography

Do you know who the “Sultan of Swat” is? How about the “Colossus of Clout”, or the “Wizard of Wham”? These names were given to Babe Ruth as he made his mark on the game of baseball. His name was entered into the English language as a synonym for achievement. Though his career, and private life, were a little rocky at times, he still came out on top (Trimble 1). Babe Ruth, or George Herman Jr., was born February 6, 1895, in Baltimore, Maryland (Trimble 1). His father, George Herman Ruth Sr., owned a saloon where he and his wife, Catherine Ruth, worked. George Sr. and Catherine had eight children, but only two of them survived into adulthood, Babe and his sister Mary Margaret. The Ruth’s were very poor and could not afford a hospital
Dunn saw something in the rookie and signed him for $600 before taking him to spring training in Fayetteville, North Carolina. During his training, he received the nickname “Babe” when a coach warned the other players to take it easy on him because he was “one of Jack Dunn’s babes”, but they did not know that Babe would become such a baseball superstar In fact, Dunn sold Babe to the Boston Red Sox only five months after getting him (Trimble 1). Between 1916 and 1918, they won three World Series games, along with an earned-run average of 0.87, a record-setting streak of of 29⅔ shutout innings, and 49 home runs. Babe played in the outfield and at first base, but crowds flooded to see the new player. Before the 1919 season, he hit four home runs in one game, and in the same year, he topped another record by hitting twenty-nine in a single season (Trimble 1). Frazee, the owner of the Boston Red Sox, sold him to the New York Yankees on January 6, 1920, for $100,000 plus a personal loan from the Yankee owner Jacob Ruppert. Babe was unsure of whether or not to go, although he and Frazee got into many arguments, but he finally signed when the Yankees offered him $20,000 a year. Babe also attracted record-breaking crowds for the Yankees in 1920 as they watched him slam 54 home runs and hit a remarkable .376 average. In 1921, Babe’s salary jumped an extra $15,000 on
On October 17, 1914, he married a waitress, Helen Woodford. In 1921, they bought a farm in Sadbury, Massachusetts, where Helen stayed during the season, and named it Home Plate (Trimble 2). Unfortunately, Ruth had cheated on her many times, and in 1922 they made a public appearance with their new daughter Dorothy, who was the the outcome of one of Babe’s affairs, but Helen agreed to raise the child as her own to avoid drama (Trimble 2). Then, as if things were not hard enough for his wife, Babe met and fell in love with an actress named Claire Hodgeson. Helen wanted to divorce, but Ruth refused because he was a Catholic, but in 1925, they were legally separated. In January 1929, Helen died in a fire accident, freeing Babe and Claire to marry, and formally adopt Dorothy, plus Claire’s daughter Julia (Trimble 3). After Babe’s career, he still had plenty of money, numerous corporate deals, and a radio show, but he still missed baseball. While he was in surgery in 1947, Babe was informed that he had throat cancer (Trimble 3), and it killed him on August 16, 1948, at age 53.
Few athletes, past or present, will ever capture the public’s attention like him. Babe’s influence on baseball will never be forgotten (Trimble 3). He was definitely one of the greats. His importance to baseball to baseball and the nation cannot be overemphasized.His name has entered has entered the language as a synonym for