Babe Ruth biography:Early life and Childhood of Babe Ruth:Ruth was born at 216 Emory Street in southern Baltimore, Maryland. His maternal grandfather, German immigrant Pius Schamberger, was an upholsterer; he rented a house located only a block from where Oriole Park at Camden Yards now stands. Ruth's German American parents, Kate Schamberger-Ruth and George Herman Ruth, Sr. eventually owned saloons on Lombard and Camden Street in Baltimore. Only one of Ruth's seven siblings, his sister Mamie, survived past infancy.Ruth's parents worked long hours and had little time to take care of him. When he was seven years old, they sent him to St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys, a reformatory and orphanage, and signed custody over to the Catholic missionaries who ran the school. Ruth remained at St. Mary's for the next 12 years, rarely visited by his family. At St. Mary's, a man by the name of Brother Matthias became a father figure in his life. Brother Matthias taught Ruth the game of baseball. He worked with Ruth on hitting, fielding and, later, pitching. Although Ruth batted and threw left-handed, he wrote right-handed. .jpg "Ruth (top row, far left) at St Mary's Industrial School for Boys") On July 7, 1914, Dunn offered Ruth, along with Ernie Shore and Ben Egan, to Connie Mack of the Philadelphia Athletics. Dunn asked $10,000 for the trio, but Mack refused the offer. The Cincinnati Reds, who had an agreement with the Orioles, also passed on Ruth. Instead, the team elected to take George Twombley and Claud Derrick. Two days later, on July 9, Dunn sold the trio to Joe Lannin and the Boston Red Sox. The amount of money exchanged in the transaction is disputed. Personal life of Babe Ruth:Ruth married Helen Woodford, his first wife, in 1914. Owing to his infidelities, they were reportedly separated as early as 1920 and as late as 1926. After they separated, Helen entered a relationship with a physician and perished in a house fire in January 1929. Ruth and several Yankees attended her funeral.Babe Ruth had two daughters. Dorothy Ruth was born in 1921 to mistress Juanita Jennings Jennings apparantly allowed her daughter to be adopted and raised by Helen and Babe Ruth. Dorothy was raised believing that Helen was her real mother. Helen died in a fire in 1929 when Dorothy was 8. It wasn't until 1980 at the age of 59 that Dorothy learned her real mother's identity. It isn't clear how much of the truth about Dorothy's origins Helen Ruth actually knew. While growing up, Dorothy knew her biological mother Juanita, only as a close family friend. Dorothy married and became Mrs. Pirone, and she wrote a book about her father, My Dad, the Babe, co-authored by Chris Martens and published on the 40th anniversary of her father's death, Aug. 16, 1988. Babe Ruth's other daughter was Julia Ruth. Born in 1917 to Claire Hodgson, Babe's second wife; Julia was 12 when her mother married the Babe. She currently resides in Arizona. Ruth married actress and model Claire Hodgson in April 1929. Ruth and Claire regularly wintered in Florida, frequently playing golf during the off-season and while the Yankees were spring training in St. Petersburg, Florida. After retirement, he had a winter beachfront home in Treasure Island, Florida, near St. Petersburg. .jpg "Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig at West Point, New York (1927)") .jpg "Ruth golfing with former New York Governor Al Smith in Coral Gables, Florida (1930) – State") .jpg "The Great Bambino with future U.S. President George H. W. Bush at Yale") .jpg "The Yankee duo reunited – Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth on Lou Gehrig Day (July 4, 1939)") Weight misconception about Babe Ruth:Though Babe Ruth is usually remembered as having been very overweight, this is largely because of oft-repeated showings of newsreels taken late in his career. Ruth was a large man who did indeed battle weight gain (especially given his sometimes careless diet), but he did not become significantly overweight until his last few seasons. Photographs from his early career (such as the ones accompanying this article) show a trim and athletic Ruth.Babe Ruth in Radio and films:Among his many forays into various popular media, Ruth was heard often on radio in the 1930s and 1940s as both a guest and on his own programs with various titles: The Adventures of Babe Ruth was a 15-minute Blue Network show heard three times a week from April 16 to July 13, 1934. Three years later, he was on CBS twice a week in Here's Babe Ruth which was broadcast from April 14 to July 9, 1937. That same year he portrayed himself in "Alibi Ike" on Lux Radio Theater. His Baseball Quiz was first heard Saturdays on NBC June 5 to July 10, 1943 and then later that year from August 28 to November 20 on NBC, followed by another NBC run from July 8 to October 21, 1944.His film roles included a cameo appearance as himself in the Harold Lloyd film Speedy (1928). His first film appearance occurred in 1920, in the silent movie Headin' Home. He made numerous other film appearances in the silent era, usually either playing himself or playing a ballplayer similar to himself. Ruth's voice was said by some biographers to be similar to that of film star Clark Gable, although that was obviously not evident in the silent film era. He had an appropriate role, as himself, in Pride of the Yankees, the story of his ill-fated teammate Lou Gehrig. Ruth had three scenes in the film: One in which he appeared with a straw hat. He said "If I see anyone touch it, I'll knock his teeth in!" The teammates convinced young Gehrig (Gary Cooper) to chew the hat up; he got away with it. In the second scene, the players go to a restaurant, where Babe sees a side of beef cooking and jokes, "Well, I'll have one of those..." and, the dramatic scene near the end, where Gehrig makes his speech at Yankee Stadium ending with "I consider myself the luckiest man..." Babe Ruth retirement and post-playing days:In 1936, Ruth was one of the first five players elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Two years later, Larry MacPhail, the Brooklyn Dodgers general manager, offered him a first base coaching job in June. Ruth took the job but quit at the end of the season. The coaching position was his last job in Major League Baseball. His baseball career finally came to an end in 1943. In a charity game at Yankee Stadium, he pinch hit and drew a walk.In 1947, he became director of the American Legion's youth baseball program. .jpg "The Yankee duo reunited – Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth on Lou Gehrig Day (July 4, 1939)") Illness of Babe Ruth:In 1946, he began experiencing severe pain over his left eye. In November 1946, a visit to French Hospital in New York revealed Ruth had a malignant tumor in his neck that had encircled his left carotid artery. He received post-operative radiation therapy. Before leaving the hospital in February 1947, he lost approximately 80 pounds (35 kg).Around this time, developments in chemotherapy offered some hope. A new drug named teropterin, a folic acid derivative, was developed by Dr. Brian Hutchings of the Lederle Laboratories. It had been shown to cause significant remissions in children with leukemia. Ruth was administered this new drug in June 1947. He was suffering from headaches, hoarseness and had difficulty swallowing. He agreed to use this new medicine but did not want to know any details about it. All the while he was receiving this experimental medication, he did not know it was for cancer. On June 29, 1947, he began receiving injections and he responded with dramatic improvement. He gained over 20 pounds (9 kg) and had resolution of his headaches. On September 6, 1947, his case was presented anonymously at the 4th Annual Internal cancer Research Congress in St. Louis. Teropterin ended up being a precursor for methotrexate, a now commonly used chemotherapeutic agent. .jpg "A cancer-ravaged Ruth (right) in 1948, visited by New York City Mayor William O'Dwyer.") On April 27, 1947, the Yankees held a ceremony at Yankee Stadium. Despite his health problems, Ruth was able to attend "Babe Ruth Day". Ruth spoke to a capacity crowd of more than 60,000, including many American Legion youth baseball players. Although lacking a specific memorable comment like Gehrig's "Luckiest man" speech, Ruth spoke from the heart, of his enthusiasm for the game of baseball and in support of the youth playing the game. Later, Ruth started the Babe Ruth Foundation, a charity for disadvantaged children. Another Babe Ruth Day held at Yankee Stadium in September 1947 helped to raise money for this charity. After the cancer returned, Ruth attended the 25th anniversary celebration of the opening of Yankee Stadium on June 13, 1948. He was reunited with old teammates from the 1923 Yankee team and posed for photographs. The prize-winning photo taken from behind, using a bat as a cane, standing apart from the other players, and facing "Ruthville" (right field) became one of baseball's most famous and widely circulated photographs. .jpg "The grave of Babe Ruth") Death of The Babeball player Babe Ruth:Shortly after he attended the Yankee Stadium anniversary event, Ruth was back in the hospital. He received hundreds of well-wishing letters and messages. This included a phone call from President Harry Truman. Claire helped him respond to the letters.On July 26, 1948, Ruth attended the premiere of the film The Babe Ruth Story, a biopic about his life. William Bendix portrayed Ruth. Shortly thereafter, Ruth returned to the hospital for the final time. He was barely able to speak. Ruth's condition gradually became worse, and in his last days, scores of reporters and photographers hovered around the hospital. Only a few visitors were allowed to see him, one of whom was National League president and future Commissioner of Baseball, Ford Frick. “Ruth was so thin it was unbelievable. He had been such a big man and his arms were just skinny little bones, and his face was so haggard,” Frick said years later. On August 16, the day after Frick's visit, Babe Ruth died at age 53. His body lay in repose in Yankee Stadium. His funeral was two days later at St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York. Ruth was then buried in the Cemetery of the Gate of Heaven in Hawthorne, New York. .jpg "Ruth's widow, Claire, at the unveiling of a memorial plaque in Baltimore's old Memorial Stadium (1955)") |
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