*Babe Ruth Thread*

[SHOELESSJOE3]

Here's a question and fun exercise to share opinions.

In what order, and why, would you say the following were the biggest influences/most important to Babe Ruth.

In no particular order and feel free to add someone if you feel the need.


Lou Gehrig
Artie McGovern
Kenesaw Landis
Claire
Helen
Ed Barrow
Christy Walsh
Brother Matthias
Miller Huggins

I'll take the easy way out, just a few words, in no particular order.
Brother Matthias, father like figure. Babe never forgot some of the lessons Matthias taught him and inspired him. Believe it or not the wild at times Babe did still attend a Sunday Mass, not every week but he did.

McGovern did whip Babe into shape, said Babe was total mess when he first took him on. I guess Babe himself gets an assist here, he took the first step to contact McGovern.

Claire his wife, some of the Babe's family did not care for her, the fact that they believe she favored her own daughter at the time she was married to Babe. Also that she appeared too domineering...???

True or not, my opinion no Claire, no 700 homers for Babe, close but not 700. From 1929 she was there to make sure he ate the right food, curbed some of his ways, cut down on the night life. At times she even traveled with the team so even on the road he was a good boy.

I mean he just did make the 700 club and I believe, like her ways or not, keeping an eye on him for some years allowed him to maintain the level he did from 1929 till he retired.

I would think some are aware of the fact, Babe did buy Brother Matthias a brand new Cadillac. In an accident the Cadillac was demolished...............Babe bought him another Cadillac.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

I'll take the easy way out, just a few words, in no particular order.
Brother Matthias, father like figure. Babe never forgot some of the lessons Matthias taught him and inspired him. Believe it or not the wild at times Babe did still attend a Sunday Mass, not every week but he did.

McGovern did whip Babe into shape, said Babe was total mess when he first took him on. I guess Babe himself gets an assist here, he took the first step to contact McGovern.

Claire his wife, some of the Babe's family did not care for her, the fact that they believe she favored her own daughter at the time she was married to Babe. Also that she appeared too domineering...???

True or not, my opinion no Claire, no 700 homers for Babe, close but not 700. From 1929 she was there to make sure he ate the right food, curbed some of his ways, cut down on the night life. At times she even traveled with the team so even on the road he was a good boy.

I mean he just did make the 700 club and I believe, like her ways or not, keeping an eye on him for some years allowed him to maintain the level he did from 1929 till he retired.

I would think some are aware of the fact, Babe did buy Brother Matthias a brand new Cadillac. In an accident the Cadillac was demolished...............Babe bought him another Cadillac.

Couldn't agree more about Claire. First time he asked her out, Claire said yes but insisted that her friend come along. Babe said ok but they couldn't go out because of the attention. Always a party in Babe's place anyway. They hung out and talked. Claire witnessed how Babe was treated by everyone, never having to get up for anything, treated like a king. At nights end, she suggested that he shouldn't drink so much, and apparently that was the first time a woman ever said that to him. Some type of motherly affection appeal to Claire for Babe and it was good for him.

For the record I would put Matthias first, just as you did. Actually Brother Gilbert never gets any mention but he was extremely influential too. But Matthias for sure. Was there for hours and hours of practice and was a fatherly figure when it was most needed.

The rest would prob go

McGovern
Barrow
Claire
Walsh
Gehrig
Landis
Huggins
Helen

[SHOELESSJOE3]

The right attitude at such a young age.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

I always call this the "unofficial called shot".
This was Babe's first at bat in the called shot game.

According to Gehrig, the Cub bench got all over him as soon as he came out to the on deck circle and heard him yell............You guys are never going back to NY.

He then pointed..............here comes a few lemons tossed his way. Cub fans even tossed lemons at him when he was sgagging fly balls in the pre-game batting practice.

[BSmile]

The right attitude at such a young age.

Hahaha!
That's great, I've never seen that before.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

The young Bam, 1906, another pic of him with his favorite people, the kids.
Yes, Jack Dunn was high on the Babe but little did he know what was in the future.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

Babe time out!

[SHOELESSJOE3]

Be careful what you wish for Flint. He did get his chance, gave up two of Babe's 3 home runs and was gone in the 4th inning.].

[SHOELESSJOE3]

Alexander on Babe's 3 homer game, 1926 WS.
The third homer deep into dead center, half way up the bleachers, bounces over back wall and into street, ends up in front of YMCA Building on Grand Avenue.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

Hornsby, how to get Ruth out.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

Both of his 3 homer games in the WS came at Sportsmans Park, St. Louis. All during the game when in the outfield Ruth and the spectators in the bleachers carried on conversations, lots of yelling. Ruth said he told them he would hit two today. After his second homer some bottles were thrown his way. Cub fans in the 1932 WS were kinder, they threw lemons his way.
But credit the bleacher crowd throwing bottles his way. After his third home run, he returned to left field, now the bottle throwers stood and cheered him.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

Babe's 3 homer game, Sportsmans Park, 1928 World Series.
Hard to imagine, spectators throw bottles at outfielder............and the game continues to be played.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

To take nothing away from them. Great players Cobb and Speaker, but this picture goes a long way in displaying the admiration of Ruth.
ruthcobbspeaker.jpg

[SHOELESSJOE3]

This covers only a small sample from a couple of months out of the 1918 season, a couple of weeks in June and a couple of weeks in August 1918, one from 1920.

No telling how many times Babe received rhe IBB over his career.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

This covers only a small sample from a couple of months out of the 1918 season, a couple of weeks in June and a couple of weeks in August 1918, one from 1920.

No telling how many times Babe received rhe IBB over his career.

And that's back in 1918, imagine how it was later on.

Shoeless, I don't think the vast majority will ever fully comprehend the challenge Ruth presented to opposing teams.

We are the same, in that our objective has never been to make Ruth into something he wasn't. Lord knows he's the last one who needs exaggeration or hyperbole. But people who have delved into game accounts and truly studied Ruth's career can see it plainly and he's unique, because things he did on and off the field were hard to believe.

We all saw what a roided out Bonds faced in a tiny strike zone era. Babe dealt with a much larger zone and, unlike Bonds (or Teddy Ballgame for that matter), he understood there was value in his swinging outside of the zone. So, for the most part, when he walked, it was an unintentional intentional walk. They didn't report those as IBB just like they rarely mentioned the actual IBB. I remember reading he was legit IBB with the bases loaded and the other team lost 1-0