George Herman Ruth

George Herman Ruth was born on February 6, 1895 in Baltimore, Maryland. He was considered one of the greatest athletes of our time. He was a boisterous, charismatic and “Bigger than Life” personality. He possessed all the trappings of a legend. Most would call him “The Babe” and people would know exactly who they were referring to.

Babe Ruth had a rough childhood compared to most. His mother was very ill and died of tuberculosis when Ruth was still a teen. What’s worse, at the age of seven, his own father put him in a reformatory school for boys and signed custody over to the catholic missionaries who ran the school. He stayed there for twelve years and would only visit his family on special occasions.

Joe Engel discovered George in 1911 during a college game. It was after this discovery that George became the “babe”. Players would see how good he was and would always say there goes “Jack’s newest babe”. The name stuck and has been ever since. Ruth pitched for the Boston Red Sox in 1914 until 1919, when he was sold to the New York Yankees. He played most of his years with the Yankees before retiring.

When his career ended in 1935 his home run record was 714 after 21 years of playing the game. Unlike many power hitters, Ruth also hit for average: his .342 lifetime batting is tenth highest in baseball history, and in one season (1923) he hit .393, a Yankee record. His .690 career slugging percentage and 1.164 career on-base plus slugging (OPS) remain the major league records.

In 1927, he was the first player to hit 60 home runs in one season. A record that stayed for 39 years until Roger Maris broke it in 1961. Babe Ruth died in 1948, he was 53 years old. He was elected into the Baseball Hall Of Fame in 1936.