Babe Ruth

Background Born February 6 th, 1895 in Baltimore, Maryland Died August 16, 1948 Real name was George Herman Ruth

Childhood His parents had eight children Only his sister Marnie survived infancy Was a troublemaker which resulted in his attendance at St. Mary’s Industrial School

High School Baseball Played both catcher and pitcher of St. Mary’s varsity team At age 19, he was spotted by Jack Dunn, who signed him Dunn had to adopt him in order to pass custody over His nickname originated from being Dunn’s “babe”

Start of His Career Spent 5 months as an Oriole, then was sold to Boston Red Sox In his first World Series, he broke the record of pitches His 29 2/3rds scoreless innings record remained for 43 years

Stats Further Into His Career His team, the Boston Red Sox won the World Series again in 1918 In three seasons, he had 94 wins and 46 losses Set the major league record with 29 home runs

New Ownership After the 1919 season, Babe was sold for $125,000 to the Yankees Led the Yankees to 2 pennants and 1 World Series within 2 years In 1920, the Yankees were the first team to attract over a million fans

Influence On Yankee Stadium When Ruth began playing, they shared “The Polo Grounds” with the Giants Yankee Stadium was built 1923 It became known as “The House that Ruth Built

Hitting A Homerun Financially In 1930, he was earning a salary of $80,000 per year A reporter suggested he was overpaid compared to President Hoover making $75,000 He replied “Why not? I had a better year than he did.”

Strength Emerges From Anger In game three of the World Series, Babe was batting in the 5 th inning After pitcher Charlie Root took him to a count of two strikes & two balls, he yelled and pointed to center field He hit the next pitch 500 feet past the stands, setting the record for the longest home run ever at Wrigley Field

Babe’s Records Regular season record of 714 home runs was hundreds ahead of his closest competitor Had a lifetime slugging average of.690 Babe was one of the first six inductees in the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936

Life After The Big Leagues Married and lived quietly with his wife Claire During the fall of 1946, Ruth was diagnosed with a malignant tumor on his neck His health began to decline rapidly

Death Died August 16, 1948 His jersey number 3 retired at his last appearance at Yankee Stadium June 13, 1948 More than 100,000 people paid their respects at the stadium Funeral held at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City

Babe Ruth Day April 27, 1947 was declared Babe Ruth Day Declared when Ruth was diagnosed with tumor Organized for all baseball leagues in United States

The End! Hope you enjoyed the presentation!