*Babe Ruth Thread*

[pheasant]

Here's a pic of Ruth pitching.

ruth.jpg

[pheasant]

Here's Ruth playing some handball. That sport burns a bunch of calories.

ruth.jpg

[pheasant]

This is Ruth in 1928. This has to be the leanest pic that I've seen of him after 1924.

ruth.jpg

[westsidegrounds]

The Braves treated him better than the Yanks in some ways.

Seems like Baseball in general, and the Yankees in particular, didn't treat Ruth very well once he was of no further use to them as a player.

That famous final appearance at Yankee Stadium - how was that organized? Was he paid at all for that?

[Sultan_1895-1948]

I doubt it.

There was Babe Ruth day in 1947. That's the photos you see of him in the trench coat. Then the 1948 Nat Fein moment I think in June where he borrows Feller's bat to use as a cane.

[westsidegrounds]

I was thinking of the second one, and that iconic image of him, back to the camera, SRO in the Stadium, cap off, leaning on a bat ... wonderful photograph - it's so great that you don't see his face but that you know (of course) who it is, and you can use your imagination as to how he looks and what he's thinking.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

I was thinking of the second one, and that iconic image of him, back to the camera, SRO in the Stadium, cap off, leaning on a bat ... wonderful photograph - it's so great that you don't see his face but that you know (of course) who it is, and you can use your imagination as to how he looks and what he's thinking.

I doubt he was paid for that one. That photo by Nat Fein, Pulitzer Prize in photography.

The Bam had lots of heart on that day. So weak he needed help getting on the uniform, they offered to take him on the field in a wheel chair, he declined.
The story about that Bob Feller bat, it was taken by one of Bob's teammates, no name given. Many years later Bob found the bat and paid around S90,000.00, bought his own bat.
Isn't that something, on that day to help him stand, he uses the weapon that brought him fame, that terrorized so many pitchers, so fitting.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

I was thinking of the second one, and that iconic image of him, back to the camera, SRO in the Stadium, cap off, leaning on a bat ... wonderful photograph - it's so great that you don't see his face but that you know (of course) who it is, and you can use your imagination as to how he looks and what he's thinking.

YEAH THIS IMAGE ON THE LEFT

along with the Nat Fein picture. Those two are probably my two most favorite pictures of the Babe. Ironically, you can't see his face in either. If you look you can see all the other photographers. Fein realized that aside from nobody needing or wanting to see a depressing old face of Ruth, the story was bigger. The number 3 with the famous right field grandstand he so often molested in the background. His final stand. The house he built. A sendoff roughly 2 months before his death and the number 3 so prominently displayed, a number MLB should have retired long ago imo. Part of me thinks he was thinking of his final walk from the gates of St. Mary's to where he was that day. The journey he took was so remarkable that decades later people like us study him. Some to an incredible degree and we still haven't uncovered it all. Can you imagine living such a fulfilling life. He certainly did. For all his flaws, if there is a God, he blessed Ruth with the biggest heart off the assembly line, that is clear.

Nat-Fein.jpg

[pheasant]

The best Slugger of the 1930s thread got me wondering about Ruth's road stats during the Live Ball era.

Ruth's road stats, 1920-1935: 3772 AB, 1295 H, 328 HR, 2620 TB, .343 AVG, .695 ISO, 11.5 AB/HR, .352 ISO.

[pheasant]

Ruth's 1920-1932 road stats: 3305 AB, 1169 H, 303 HR, 2368 TB, .354 AVG, .716 Slug%, 10.9 AB/HR, .361 ISO.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

Language barrier no problem here, anything for a laugh.

[sturg1dj]

Random Babe Ruth question:

While looking at old New York Times and Boston Globe articles around the time of his sale to the Yankees it is reported multiple times that he gives the Red Sox a salary ultimatum and actually says he is ready to retire.

Now obviously this was just Ruth trying to gain leverage over a salary dispute as evidenced in later Globe articles that report that Ruth was furious at first that he was sold.

My question is why is the main story that he was sold because Frazee needed money for a broadway musical when it seems more that Ruth made a salary ultimatum and Frazee called his bluff?

[SHOELESSJOE3]

I guess it could be the same as Babe retiring, he would no longer be with the Bosox. What he told Frazee would happen if he didn't double his pay, he would go into making movies or professional boxing. Doubt Frazee really believed that Ruth meant that, but his message was clear, double my pay or I leave the team. I don't believe the Boston faithful bought Harry's reason for sending the Babe packing. Babes ways were bad for the team, difficult to control and was "one man team" more interested in his numbers than being a team player. The team would be better off with Ruth gone and a better rounded team.

Harry was right on one count, Ruth was one man team on a good team. He led both leagues in most offensive stats in 1919. The team scored 565 runs, Babe scored 103 runs, team 495 RBI, Babe 113. The 29 home runs took care of most of that, but why would that matter he was putting up numbers. Also 9-5 pitching, 17 starts 15 complete games and 111 games in the outfield.
Comes down to one thing factor, obvious the real reason, Harry needed the money, losing money on Broadway and he had Babe Ruth, he cashed in. Soon Harry would send other Bosox players packing, there go the Red Sox and here come the Yankees.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

How to pitch to Babe Ruth, by Rogers Hornsby.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

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