*Babe Ruth Thread*

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Randy,




Did the Babe have chronic leg injuries that caused him to have weak legs when he got older? I don't remember any detailed mention of leg injuries in the Creamer biography.

Partially torn knee cartilage back in his Boston days but other than that....the main issue was the Yankees, specifically Miller Huggins, had no clue how to deal with an aging Ruth.*




Creamers book is great for a biography but the type of in depth research Jenkinson did, is unsurpassed. In the Comparative Difficulty chapter under Training and Medical Care, he explains how mis-handled Ruth was, in terms of cutting down his spring training activity, which wasn't so bad since he was getting in about 54 holes of golf a day. But as he aged, he needed the exercise and starting in '32 the Yanks prohibited him from playing golf during the season. They were trying to save his legs without realizing at that point, golf was the only thing keeping him goin'.*




He had slipped as an all-around player in '31, but in '32 he hit a wall, and as Jenkinson points out, "Of all the years Ruth spent in the game (except for his 1925 illness), 1932 was the season that he manifested the most physical deterioration from the year before. It was not a coincidence." (no inside the park HR after 1927 btw)




Because it's such an important subject matter when comparing eras, I'm thinking about adding the Training and Medical care portion to The Ultimate Babe Ruth Thread. Either way, you really need to go buy Jenkinson's first book. You can't stop at Creamer! Especially when Smelser is still out there too!

[SHOELESSJOE3]

Here he is, out of shape, out of the game for 3 years, 43 years old.
Check out some of his competition, in their prime, three of the some of the NL's heavy hitters, in the top 8 or 10 in home runs over the last three seasons.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

They milked this guy right up to the end, he probably didn't mind this clause in his contract as a Dodger coach.
Who ever heard of a coach obligated, in his contract, that he was to take batting practice with the team in home games.
Obvious, this might get a few hundred, maybe a thousand more in the seats.

[Badge714]

Honus, Smelser attributes the decline to the legs going first. I've heard this for most of my seventy years on earth. As an expert witness, the legs do go first. Smelser: "Assuming that all organs stay healthy, the legs go first. . . . What happens to the leg muscles is what happens to any elastic substance that is stretched many times: it loses the power of snapping back. Babe Ruth illustrates how undamaged players decay until they slip down to the level of us average people, His legs failed several years before his arm: his arm failed before his eyes. Lee Allen of the Baseball Hall of Fame put it well: 'The batting eye is last to go - Rogers Hornsby, at fifty-seven, could still hit line drives.' Even the journeyman major-leaguer seems to retain that marvelous coordination. It takes as good coordination to fall away from an inside pitch as it does to hit the ball. All of us have seen the lame, overweight, dead-armed designated hitter alternately hit the dirt and hit the ball. Ruth in his last playing years could do both." (I remember Duke Snider talking about an Old-Timer's Game he once played in. He was playing center field and a ball was hit in the gap. His mind told him that he could run it down. But once starting for it, his legs said, "Oh, no you can't." Just so.) Also, I read that the Yankees wouldn't let Ruth play golf in his last year/s. This probably didn't help. Incidentally, in his first game as a Boston Brave and with his usual flair for the dramatic, Ruth accounted for all four runs in a 4-2 victory, hitting a home run in the fifth inning (off Carl Hubbell).

Randy,

Did the Babe have chronic leg injuries that caused him to have weak legs when he got older? I don't remember any detailed mention of leg injuries in the Creamer biography.

[Dude Paskert]

Randy,

Did the Babe have chronic leg injuries that caused him to have weak legs when he got older? I don't remember any detailed mention of leg injuries in the Creamer biography.

This makes me think of the player who Bill James thought was the only one nicknamed after another player's body parts...Sammy Byrd, "Babe Ruth's Legs".

[Dude Paskert]

Honus, Smelser attributes the decline to the legs going first. I've heard this for most of my seventy years on earth. As an expert witness, the legs do go first. Smelser: "Assuming that all organs stay healthy, the legs go first. . . . What happens to the leg muscles is what happens to any elastic substance that is stretched many times: it loses the power of snapping back. Babe Ruth illustrates how undamaged players decay until they slip down to the level of us average people, His legs failed several years before his arm: his arm failed before his eyes. Lee Allen of the Baseball Hall of Fame put it well: 'The batting eye is last to go - Rogers Hornsby, at fifty-seven, could still hit line drives.' Even the journeyman major-leaguer seems to retain that marvelous coordination. It takes as good coordination to fall away from an inside pitch as it does to hit the ball. All of us have seen the lame, overweight, dead-armed designated hitter alternately hit the dirt and hit the ball. Ruth in his last playing years could do both." (I remember Duke Snider talking about an Old-Timer's Game he once played in. He was playing center field and a ball was hit in the gap. His mind told him that he could run it down. But once starting for it, his legs said, "Oh, no you can't." Just so.) Also, I read that the Yankees wouldn't let Ruth play golf in his last year/s. This probably didn't help. Incidentally, in his first game as a Boston Brave and with his usual flair for the dramatic, Ruth accounted for all four runs in a 4-2 victory, hitting a home run in the fifth inning (off Carl Hubbell).

I concur...my legs still feel strong and my leg press hasn't changed much, but the springiness of my legs just isn't there anymore, despite my body weight being about the same as most of my life. I'm still great for pushing a broken down car, but taking steps 2-3 at a time just isn't an option anymore.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

This makes me think of the player who Bill James thought was the only one nicknamed after another player's body parts...Sammy Byrd, "Babe Ruth's Legs".

Another myth that is exaggerated and taken to the extreme in that abortion of a movie with John Goodman in it (much like holding Huggins by the ankles off a train, never happened). Byrd would spell Ruth when he came out of the game, and pinch run for him prior to doing so. But the idea that he was so hobbled, as to have a guy literally waiting at first to run the bases for him is absurd.

[Honus Wagner Rules]

Another myth that is exaggerated and taken to the extreme in that abortion of a movie with John Goodman in it (much like holding Huggins by the ankles off a train, never happened). Byrd would spell Ruth when he came out of the game, and pinch run for him prior to doing so. But the idea that he was so hobbled, as to have a guy literally waiting at first to run the bases for him is absurd.

That movie sucked beyond belief. I did like one scene though. Ruth is talking to some guy as they walk up some stairs.

Guy: "We play inside ball. Hit 'em where they ain't."

Ruth: "Well they ain't over the fences so that's where I hit 'em."

[SHOELESSJOE3]

Another myth that is exaggerated and taken to the extreme in that abortion of a movie with John Goodman in it (much like holding Huggins by the ankles off a train, never happened). Byrd would spell Ruth when he came out of the game, and pinch run for him prior to doing so. But the idea that he was so hobbled, as to have a guy literally waiting at first to run the bases for him is absurd.

If I could only get my hands on all the reels(of course I can't) of the Bendix and Goodman Babe movies, I would burn them all.
Those that don't know the Babe, don't know the game may just believe he was just a big clumsy oaf, not the great athlete he really was.
Not sure but I think I caught a bit of the Goodman movie some years ago, I thoght I recall seeing one scene where Babe hits one out, gets to first base and pinch runner finishes his rounding the bases.
I will never, ever take even a peek at these two movies.
The movie made for TV in the 1990's was well worth watching. Can't find it anywhere.

[Honus Wagner Rules]

I've been looking for it, just for you my man

I've been looking for this film as well. It has disappeared. It's not on Netflix nor Red Box, nor youtube.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

I've been looking for this film as well. It has disappeared. It's not on Netflix nor Red Box, nor youtube.

What really burns me, I recorded that movie on VHS tape, moved and lost it.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

I've been looking for it, just for you my man

Don't know where else to look Randy, thanks, but the search goes on.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

I always think, he seems to be everywhere. I have his image on a etch a sketch, a maze cut out in a corn field visable from the air and even on a tortilla chip and now here.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

What really burns me, I recorded that movie on VHS tape, moved and lost it.

This should make you feel better. Had a complete league card set from Jordan's rookie year, my grandma got for me. I took his card and put it in my bike spokes in order to make motorcycle sounds. If I could go back in time, I'd slap myself in the face.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

This should make you feel better. I had a complete league card set from Jordan's rookie year, took his card and put it in my bike spokes in order to make motorcycle sounds. If I could go back in time, I'd slap myself in the face.

I recall doing the same with baseball cards from the 1950's, no Babe but as a Yankee fan, some Yogi and a dozen or more Mantle cards, early Mantle cards.
It was a matter of luck, no one, not many saved cards back then. Luck, they happened to leave a box of cards in the attic or cellar, 30 years later they find what they forgot about is worth some bucks.