Known by many names over a long career in the formative years of the major leagues, George Herman Ruth, as any biography of Babe Ruth will tell you, was and is larger than life. From his dominant stature to his dominant personality and his larger-than-life accomplishments on the field, the Babe Ruth life lives on more than 60 years after his death. The autobiography of Babe Ruth, written by Ruth himself, was probably one of the few that did not need to be written since his life was so well documented from his early entry into baseball.
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Born in 1895, George began his career in the major leagues at the age of 19 with the Boston Red Sox. Because of his natural talent and his large 6‘2” frame, the Sox manager at the time nabbed him right away– he was another one of their “babes” and thus he earned the nickname. He delivered 6 great years to the Boston Red Sox both as a hitter, with a batting average right around .300, and as a pitcher, highlighted by the 1916 season when he had a league-leading ERA of 1.75 and a season record of 23-12.
Almost inexplicably, another chapter in the biography of Babe Ruth began when the Boston Red Sox traded Ruth to the Yankees before the 1920 season in a trade that has been criticized for nearly a century. Boston’s new ownership at the time, in desperate need of money for other ventures, traded him for a huge sum in cash and loans. That trade was said to have cursed the Red Sox who would not win another World Series for 90 years after the trade. This was aptly coined “The Curse of the Bambino” in the 1980s.
Of course, Ruth’s career and legend exploded after he was traded and he is today most remembered for his accomplishments as a New York Yankee. He became the great home run hitter of his era with a record 60 home runs in a 154 game span, which was finally erased by Roger Maris in 1961. Off the field, Babe Ruth was legendary for his gregarious lifestyle and his marriages, one to a 17-year-old bride and later to a famous actress and model.
The defining moment of his career and, most likely, the reason there is a Babe Ruth museum came during his tenure with the Yankees in the 1932 World Series. At bat and already well into the pitch count, Ruth smiled and pointed to the bleachers out above center field. On the next pitch, Ruth knocked the ball out of the park right over that very same spot and the Yankees went on to win the series against the Cubs. Nothing Babe would do in the rest of his life would overshadow this swing. In fact, his career would last only three seasons beyond this symbolic moment. He never was able to break into major league coaching but that is a small footnote to the mammoth career and to the legend of Babe Ruth.