*Babe Ruth Thread*

[Dude Paskert]

A question for the Ruth experts. Did the Babe ever give an extensive interview, either in print or radio, where he talked about his life? I don't mean a fluff piece but a real honest and detailed account of his life?

I'm sure Babe had some input to "Babe Ruth's Own Book Of Baseball", which discussed his life and playing style, but the book was really written by Ford Frick.

[Badge714]

I have two books that may be of help: 1) Babe Ruth's Own Book of Baseball by George Herman Ruth (Ford Frick) and 2) The Babe Ruth Story by Babe Ruth as told to Bob Considine. They're obviously ghost written; nonetheless, the real Ruth comes through. These two books are too often overlooked. I bought both from Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/Babe-Ruths-Own-Book-Baseball/dp/0803289391/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1381321907&sr=1-1&keywords=babe+ruth%27s+own+book+of+baseball

http://www.amazon.com/Babe-Ruth-Story/dp/0451174925/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1381321960&sr=1-1&keywords=babe+ruth+story+considine

I really don't have a particular question in mind. I just wanted to see if I could get a better feel for Ruth's personality in real life when he's not hamming it up for the fans. There's that one film with the orphans where Ruth teaches one kid how to hit where it seems he is just being himself. But I have nothing else really to compare it.

[Dude Paskert]

Hornsby didn't think he could. Twice as manager of the Cards in the World Series, in St. Louis, he went to the mound to instruct pitcher Flint Rhem, how to pitch to Babe, nothing but slow stuff. Home run to deep RCF.

Next at bat, again Hornsby to the mound. Rhem, "Hornsby gives me same instructions,same thing, nothing but slow stuff, he was just lucky the first time." Another home run, over thr pavillion, across Grand Avenue and breaking a Cheverolet showroom window.

Don't know if Hornsby gave reliever Heman Bell any instructions. Ruth hit number three off of him, dead center, a couple of hops in the bleachers, bounces into the street, ends up in front of the YMCA Building.

I have to laugh when I see comments ( not you) that Babe had trouble with breaking balls or slow stuff. Wouldn't they have figured that out over 22 years, throw more of those pitches, nonsense.

Rogers was not the greatest handler of pitchers, which you might expect (Ted had the same trouble as a manager)...can't remember which pitcher it was, but Hornsby came over from second at a key moment in a game with the wise advice of, "Don't give him anything to hit, but don't walk him!"
The exasperated pitcher said, "You can't have it both ways, do you want me to pitch to him or not?!?!?"
Rogers looked down, pounded his hand into his glove, and walked away.
At least he had the good sense to let Pete Alexander do his thing...Rogers was horrified in the '26 WS when Pete said he was going to bust Lazzeri inside with a fastball after giving him junk outside and said Tony would knock it out of the park. Pete told Hornsby not to worry, that the pitch would be so inside that he'd only be able to pull it foul, especially after the junk outside.
Rogers thought a second, smiled, and said, "Who am I to tell YOU how to pitch?"
Hornsby had a lot of respect for Alexander's greatness, probably from facing the crafty old buzzard so many times. You'll note that Pete was very careful with Ruth in the 9th inning of that Game 7 and walked him, and of course we all know that Babe was caught stealing to end the series.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

I really don't have a particular question in mind. I just wanted to see if I could get a better feel for Ruth's personality in real life when he's not hamming it up for the fans.

Oh gotcha.

The first three chapters in the Articles/Chapters section will give you a good sense http://www.baseball-fever.com/showth...be+Ruth+Thread

Also, read the third section of this http://www.baseball-fever.com/showth...38#post2125038

And this http://www.baseball-fever.com/showth...127#post652127

[Honus Wagner Rules]

I'm not sure if this photo has been posted before. I have never seen it before.

dodger-outfielders-tuck-stainback-buddy-hassett-kiki-cuyler-with-babe-ruth-1938-1.jpg

[SHOELESSJOE3]

I'm not sure if this photo has been posted before. I have never seen it before.

[ATTACH]130236[/ATTACH]

Have seen it a few times.
Found that Babe's contract with the Dodgers as a coach contained a clause.
That he agreed to take batting practice with the Dodger team in home games.
Obvious reason, maybe a few hundred or more would attend a game to watch him taking batting practice.
He probably didn't mind doing that.

[SultanOfWhat]

Remember the Waite Hoyt story about Ruth hitting a titanic home run in Yankee Stadium that struck a "red fire barrel" with the word "FIRE" written on it in white? That drive occurred on May24, 1930. Well, here is a photo from Opening Day, 1931, and we can see a fire barrel matching that exact description in the photo, this time in the bleachers in left-center. Look at the right side of the Westminster Hosiery billboard:




Nice one of Babe's locker, probably well after his playing days (maybe from 1948):




Babe in Fresno, October, 1931:




Local newspaper from the next day:




Nice advertisement, but the date seems off. Maybe it was moved up a week after this was printed, as The Babe seems to have played in Fresno on October 21st. Either that or the years were different:



Maybe the above is a reference to Lou's MVP season in 1927.


Caption said 1921, but that was the season of white caps, so maybe 1920:




Fresno again:



Caption:

Now we know: that's 8-year-old Robert Jett Walker with Babe Ruth in this 1927 photo by Claude "Pop" Laval. MUST CREDIT: Pop Laval Foundation. Imagine what it must have been like to be say, 10 years old and be that close to Lou Gehrig, left and Babe Ruth. And then to get a baseball from the Sultan of Swat himself! The priest was John J. Crowley, then chancellor of the Monterrey Fresno Catholic Diocese. (Crowley Lake near Bishop is named for him.)




Caption:

Kerry Yo Nakagawa put together an exhibit and documentary at the Fresno Art Museum honoring Japanese-American Baseball League which flourished throughout the valley in the early and mid part of the century. There are historic photos, uniforms, bats, gloves and even a wooden home plate. Historic photo of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, and four members of the team when the Lou's and the Babe's came barnstorming into Fresno in the 20's. Kenichi Zenimura stands between Gehrig and Ruth. PHOTO COPY TAKEN MONDAY 4/29/96 Kenichi Zenimura was one of the oldest amateur baseball players in his time and considered the dean of Nisei baseball in America when he died at the age of 68 on Nov. 13, 1968, in Fresno. At 5 feet and 105 pounds Zenimura is sandwiched between baseball icons Lou Gehrig (6-0, 200) on his right and Babe Ruth (6-2, 215) on his left in this 1927 photo during an exhibition baseball stop in Fresno by Ruth's "Bustin' Babes". In the photo are (l-r): Johnny Nakagawa, Gehrig, Zenimura, Ruth, Fred Yoshikawa and Harvey Iwata.

[SultanOfWhat]

I have dozens of Ruth photos to share, so I want to get some more into the thread.

1920:




Story behind a well-known baseball card image:







Ruth strikes out in his first at bat in the nightmarish 1922 WS:




Date stamp October 7, 1927. Could be from game 1 or game 2 versus Pirates in Forbes Field.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

Rogers was not the greatest handler of pitchers, which you might expect (Ted had the same trouble as a manager)...can't remember which pitcher it was, but Hornsby came over from second at a key moment in a game with the wise advice of, "Don't give him anything to hit, but don't walk him!"
The exasperated pitcher said, "You can't have it both ways, do you want me to pitch to him or not?!?!?"
Rogers looked down, pounded his hand into his glove, and walked away.
At least he had the good sense to let Pete Alexander do his thing...Rogers was horrified in the '26 WS when Pete said he was going to bust Lazzeri inside with a fastball after giving him junk outside and said Tony would knock it out of the park. Pete told Hornsby not to worry, that the pitch would be so inside that he'd only be able to pull it foul, especially after the junk outside.
Rogers thought a second, smiled, and said, "Who am I to tell YOU how to pitch?"
Hornsby had a lot of respect for Alexander's greatness, probably from facing the crafty old buzzard so many times. You'll note that Pete was very careful with Ruth in the 9th inning of that Game 7 and walked him, and of course we all know that Babe was caught stealing to end the series.

Maybe not that good at handling pitchers but my post was just to shoot down that line, not only Honsby believed, so did some others................Ruth has problems with the slow stuff. Charlie Root threw him a slow curve in the 1932 WS and the ball nearly landed on the intersection, Waveland and Sheffield.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

Do you think that multiple sources whose job it is to specifically report where all balls traveled, let alone those of Babe Ruth, would be likely to misrepresent where such balls landed? Seems kind of silly for anyone to question such things. Forget about the distinct fire barrel. There were many other landmarks throughout every stadium, and the landing points of any ball leaving the yard, especially those of Ruth's were payed full attention to. I know you know this. It's just humorous when people claim first hand observers didn't know what they were seeing.

Your pictures are absolute gold. How many pages are you at by now? Is there any doubt Ruth was the most photographed human of all time? By the way, I've seen it before, and I don't remember where. But do you have the pic where Ruth is holding the champion egg laying hen? I love that picture and the story that goes with it.

I do have that pic with Babe and the chicken, some where and did post it on BBf long ago. Will take a look for it, if I recall babe was wearing a jacket at the time with the usual big grin. Here are a couple of others I have.

[SultanOfWhat]

The Babe, Tony, and Lou wear arms bands to memorialize Miller Huggins. Photo dated September 27, 1929, 2 days after Huggins shuffled off his mortal coil. The photo caption states that all AL games were postponed that day for the funeral.




The Babe had a tumultuous relationship with the Mighty Mite, but I think their worst moments were years in the past at the time of Huggins' passing.


Here they are in a photo from 1921.

[SultanOfWhat]

Can anyone shed light on the contract values towards the end of Ruth's career (and beyond) listed below? I don't believe the Yankees paid him anything after 1934, and we know he was with the Braves in 1935. This is the Baseball Reference page.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

That guy is all jacked up. The only years he made 80k were '30 and '31, two year contract. It's true he did have a percentage of gate written into his three year deal in '35 with the Braves, so maybe that's where he's getting those figures from, but he's till way off on earlier years.

Everything you need to know about his contracts is here. http://www.baseball-fever.com/showth...641#post794641

EDIT: Oh I see. You can't look at the salary column. For instance in 1932 it should say 75k. It says 80k. But if you look over in the notes section in small print it says 75000.00 LOL not sure why he'd do that.

[SultanOfWhat]

Thanks for that link to your earlier post in this thread. I will look into that. I'll also go through the photos I've collected, as many show Ruth sitting down with Ruppert and signing contracts. Other photos show the actual contracts. I also have images of canceled payroll checks from the Yankees to Ruth.

[Honus Wagner Rules]

So did Ruth earn over $1 million in salary as a ballplayer?