Babe Ruth
...sh off. George Herman Ruth was born February 6, 1895 in Baltimore, Maryland. He was the oldest of eight children. Unfortunately all but George’s sister, Mamie, died during infancy (baberuth.com). George was admitted to St. Mary’s Industrial School for Boys at the age of eight. St. Mary’s, which was a school for orphans and delinquents, listed George as “incorrigible” with records of drinking, stealing, and chewing tobacco (Fitzpatrick 37). While at St. Mary’s, Ruth was in the band. He played the bass drum and led the band. Ruth also learned to play baseball while at St. Mary’s. Ruth was a catcher for the school’s team. “I was poking fun at the pitcher one day, when our coach came over to see what I thought was so funny. He then asked me if I thought I could do better. So coach handed me a glove and sent me to the mound. Even though I had never pitched, as soon as I walked on to the mound I felt as if I was born to be there (qtd. in Baseball Magazine 1921: Fitzpatrick 38).” By the time Ruth was a teenager, he had a fast ball that served as the talk of the town ( Fitzpatrick 38). Jack Dunn heard about Ruth’s fast ball and came to scout him at St. Mary’s. Dunn offered Ruth a job and at the age of 19, Ruth signed with the Baltimore Orioles on February 27, 1914. Later in the season though, Ruth was sold along with two other teammates to the Boston Red Sox for 30,000 dollars (Fitzpatrick 41). After six seasons and one World Series showing, Ruth was sold to the New York Yankees for 100,000 dollars (Heuman 131). Ruth’s last season in baseball was in 1935. At the end of the 1934 season, Ruth was sent down to the minor leagues where he played for the Boston Braves ( Heuman 134). After the 1935 season Ruth retired from baseball and spent his time playing golf and spending time with his family. Ruth set thirty- three records in league play (Heuman 132). Ruth hit fifty or more for six years straight from 1926 - 1931. He also hit over fifty in 1920 and 1921. Ruth’s career total of hits was 714 (Fitzpatrick 37). In 1919 Ruth hit a record of 29 home runs. The next year Ruth hit 54 home runs, out doing his old record by 25 home runs (Sullivan 12). Ruth hit his sixtieth home run in the 1928 season (Schor 6). In 1928 Ruth set another record. This time the record was fifteen career World Series home runs. In 1930 Ruth was making a record eighty thousand dollars per season. At this time, he was making more than the president, Herbert Hoover (Berke 42). In his career, Ruth had many nicknames. Some of those names consisted of the Sultan of Swat, the King of Krash, the Great Bambino, and his most common, the Babe. His nickname, the Babe, came from his Baltimore teammates when he first joined their club in 1914 (Wallace 119) . Ruth earned his other names from fans and reporters throughout the rest of his career. One of the most memorable events in sports history occurred in the 1932 World Series. In game three of the 1932 Series, Ruth came up to bat. He pointed to the center field stands, as though he was calling his shot. Ruth let the first two strikes fly by, calling them strikes as though making fun of the umpire. Then once again he pointed to the center field stands, and sure enough smacked a homer straight there. This incident became one of the most talked about events in all of sports’ history (Berke 57) . In Ruth’s career he made it to eight World Series. One showing was with the Boston Red Sox in 1915 and the other seven were with the New York Yankees in 1921, 1922, 1923, 1926, 1927, 1928, and 1932 (Schor 7). When Ruth was interviewed in 1921 he said, “Next to my home run record, I take the greatest pride in my World Series showing (with Boston) (qtd. in Baseball Magazine 1921: Fitzpatrick 38).” After Ruth’s last...