Babe Ruth as a Brooklyn Dodger

[Spirit of '55]

Friends:

I found a nice video clip at bio.com of Babe Ruth being interviewed ("I'm thrilled to be in Brooklyn") after his hiring as a 1B coach in 1938. The clip goes on to say that Brooklyn fans jammed the stands during "endless batting practice" to see the Babe hit one into the stands.

Since he was coaching, his Dodger HRs wouldn't count toward his 714 total, but does anybody know if he smacked a few? The crowd at Ebbets Field is shown jumping to their feet in one brief segment.

Also, was he in the 1938 team picture or listed on any rosters?

[musial6]

The Babe hit #714 in 1935. In '38, he did launch a few BP homers at Ebbets Field.

[jaykay]

Here's one I know you haven't heard. In 1938, when my father was 28 and I was just 2, he went to Ebbets Field with his buddy Oscar, arriving very early to see Babe Ruth up close in batting practice. (In those days - and for quite a few years thereafter - the gates were opened for the start of batting practice, so that a diehard could truly make a full day of it. Home team hits first, as I'm sure you know.) As things developed, the Dodgers' bench players took their cuts, then the regulars, and finally Babe Ruth. According to my father, the Babe hit a few popups, a feeble ground ball or two, and finally launched one into Bedford Avenue. The fans gave him a nice hand. Babe trudged/waddled/moseyed back to the dugout, tipping his cap, and that was the end of his show. He reappeared later to sit on the bench for part of the game, then was gone. My father said that by this time Ruth knew he was never going to become a manager anywhere, and was a Dodger coach just to make some walking-around money. Interesting that Leo Durocher was on this team: there was bad blood between Leo and Babe from their days together on the Yankees. Leo would become the Dodgers' manager the following year, succeeding Burleigh Grimes.

All of this courtesy of my father many years ago. I was at home with Mother. My Ebbets Field debut did not occur for another four years, and the rest, as we say, is history.

[VIBaseball]

I was going to start a new thread, but I surmised there was one that could be revived, and indeed there was.

Some of you may have seen the stories from November 2008 about how this 1938 uniform (the Babe as Brooklyn's first base coach) fetched over $300,000 at auction.

Here are some links to a picture and more information:

http://sportsreviewmagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3044&Itemid=88888936

http://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/babe-ruth-s-1938-brooklyn-dodgers-full-uniform-1-c-4pn7lqzcn1

I was wondering what the orange patch was on the sleeve. Apparently it has to with the 1939 World's Fair. I guess it was being advertised a year ahead.

[Let's Go Mets!]

The 1939 World's Fair patch.

The Babe, wife, and daughter..............

[Let's Go Mets!]

Tthe 1939 World's Fair patch.