Babe Ruth

George Herman Ruth, (b. February 6, 1895, d. August 16, 1948), better known as Babe Ruth, also commonly known by the nicknames The Bambino and The Sultan of Swat, was an American baseball player and United States national icon. He was one of the first five players elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame and he was the first player to hit over 30, 40 and 50 home runs in one season. His record of 60 home runs in the 1927 season stood for 34 years until it was broken by Roger Maris in 1961. He also was a member of the original American League All-Star team in 1933. In 1998, The Sporting News named Ruth as Number One in its list of "Baseball's 100 Greatest Players."

The Red Sox years

Ruth the pitcher

Ruth was a skillful pitcher, but the Red Sox's starting rotation was already stacked with lefties, so they initially made little use of him. With a 1-1 record, he sat on the bench for several weeks before being sent to the International League with the Providence Grays of Providence, Rhode Island. Pitching in combination with the young Carl Mays, Ruth helped the Grays win the pennant. At the end of the season, the Red Sox called him back to the majors, and Ruth would stay in the majors permanently. Shortly after the season, Ruth proposed to Helen Woodford, a waitress he met in Boston, and they were married in Baltimore on October 14, 1914.

Related Topics:
Providence Grays - Providence, Rhode Island - Carl Mays - Waitress - Baltimore - October 14 - 1914

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During spring training in 1915, Ruth secured a spot as a starter. He joined a fine pitching staff that included Rube Foster, Dutch Leonard, and a rejuvenated Smokey Joe Wood, and their pitching carried the Red Sox to the pennant. Ruth won 18 games and lost 8, and helped himself with the bat by hitting .315 and hitting his first four major league home runs. The Red Sox won the 1915 World Series, defeating the Philadelphia Phillies 4 games to 1, but because manager Bill Carrigan preferred right-handers, Ruth did not pitch and grounded out in his only at bat.

Related Topics:
Dutch Leonard - Smokey Joe Wood - 1915 World Series - Philadelphia Phillies - Bill Carrigan

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Ruth continued to improve in 1916. After a slightly shaky spring, he would make a case as the best pitcher in the American League. He went 23-12, with a 1.75 ERA and 9 shutouts, the shutout mark is still tied for the best mark for an A.L. left hander. The Red Sox offense had been weakened by the sale of Tris Speaker to the Cleveland Indians, but their strong pitching again took them to the World Series, where they met the Brooklyn Robins. In game 2 of the series, Ruth pitched a 14-inning complete game victory, helping the Red Sox to another World Series title, a 4-1 series win over the Robins. He repeated his strong performance in 1917, going 24-13, but the Red Sox could not keep pace with the Chicago White Sox and their 100 wins, and they missed out on a third straight postseason appearance.

Related Topics:
1916 - Tris Speaker - Cleveland Indians - World Series - Brooklyn Robins - 1917 - Chicago White Sox

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Emergence as a hitter

After the 1917 season, in which he hit .325, albeit with limited at bats, it was suggested teammate Harry Hooper that Ruth might be more valuable in the lineup as an everyday player. In 1918, he began playing in the outfield more and pitching less. His contemporaries thought this was ridiculous; former teammate Tris Speaker speculated the move would shorten Ruth's career, but Ruth himself wanted to hit more and pitch less. In 1918, Ruth batted .300 and led the A.L. in home runs with 11, despite having only 317 at bats, well below the total for an everyday player. He also pitched well, going 13-7 with a 2.22 ERA., and Ruth's excellence as hitter and pitcher could have him make a strong case as the best player in baseball during the 1918 season. He also led the Red Sox to another World Series, where they met the Chicago Cubs.

Related Topics:
1917 - Harry Hooper - 1918 - Tris Speaker - Chicago Cubs

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The 1918 baseball season is noted as the only time a war directly shortened the season. World War 1 dominated the news, and baseball, which escaped sacrifice in 1917, was not as fortunate in 1918. A number of ballplayers were drafted into the armed forces in 1918, and some players dropped their bats and gloves and went to work in war production facilities to escape the draft. Since he was married, Ruth was exempt from the draft. After U.S. Provost Marshal and head of the draft General Enoch Crowder implemented the governments "work or fight" order in June of 1918, baseball, qualified by the government as nonessential, was forced to end the season in the middle of August. A two-week grace period was allowed for the World Series, but the series was played in the heat of early September, the earliest the series has ever been played. The 1918 World Series would be marred by not only the specter of World War 1, but by abysmal attendance and such low revenue sharing that players threatened to strike before game 5 of the series.

Related Topics:
1918 - War - World War 1 - 1917 - Armed forces - Draft - Enoch Crowder - June - August - World Series

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In the series, Ruth the pitcher went 2-0 with a 1.06 ERA, helping the Red Sox to a 4-2 series victory over the Cubs. During the series, Ruth extended his World Series consecutive scoreless inning streak to 29 2/3 innings (a record that lasted until Whitey Ford broke it in 1961). Since the Cubs top left handers Hippo Vaughn and Lefty Tyler pitched nearly all the innings, Ruth's left hand bat was kept him from the regular lineup, and he batted just five times. The Red Sox had won their fourth World Series in seven years, and fifth overall, and Ruth had played a major part in three of series titles. From the 1903 inception of the World Series to 1918, the Boston Red Sox were the most successful franchise in major league baseball.

Related Topics:
Whitey Ford - 1961 - Hippo Vaughn - 1903 - Boston Red Sox

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By 1919, Ruth was basically a fulltime outfielder, pitching in only 17 of the 130 games in which he appeared. He set his first single-season home run record that year, hitting 29 home runs, breaking the previous record of 27 set by Ned Williamson in 1884, in addition to batting .322 and driving in 114 runs. News of his batting feats spread rapidly, and wherever he played large crowds turned out to see him. As his fame spread, so did his waistline. Since his time as an Oriole, teammates had marveled at Ruth's capacity for food, and by 1919 his physique had changed from the tall athletic frame to more of a rotund shape, although Ruth's weight would have wide flucuations until the mid-1920's. Beneath his barrel shaped body, his powerful muscular legs seemed strangely thin, but he was still a capable base-runner and outfielder. His contemporary Ty Cobb, noted for his cruel bench jockeying of Ruth, would later remark that Ruth "ran okay for a fat man."

Related Topics:
1919 - Ned Williamson - 1884 - Ty Cobb

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Growing problems

Despite his success on the field, Ruth had started to become a headache for the Red Sox. In July of 1918, Ruth ignored a sign from manager Ed Barrow during an at bat that led to a heated verbal spat when Ruth reached the dugout, and Barrow fined Ruth $500 when Ruth threatened to punch him in the nose. Ruth threw a tantrum and quit the team for a few days, and it was reported he had signed a new contract with the Chester Shipyards, a Pennsylvania based pro team. It was also during the 1918 season that he started to refuse his pitching turns in the starting rotation, often citing injuries that Barrow though would question. By this time, Ruth considered himself an everyday outfielder and had no more desire to pitch. "I'll win more games playing everyday in the outfield than I will pitching every fourth day," Ruth remarked. After his 1918 season, Ruth had the leverage of knowing he had become baseball's biggest star, and before the 1919 season, he was blunt with the Red Sox--he wanted play everyday and not to pitch at all. Initially Barrow and the Red Sox acquiesced, but injuries to the Red Sox pitching staff in 1919 forced a balking Ruth back into the rotation for spot starts.

Related Topics:
July - 1918 - Ed Barrow - Nose - Pennsylvania - 1919

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There were also Ruth's off the field indiscretions. His late nights of partying and boozing were further sources of irritation to the franchise, and he had numerous fights with Barrow over curfew violations. Eventually Ruth was forced to write Barrow notes on what time he came in each night (notes Barrow never further verified). He signed a new 3-year contract in 1919 for $10,000 a year, but at the end of the 1919 season he was demanding $20,000 a year, and he threatened to sit out the 1920 season if he did not receive a new contract. Ruth's demand for more money after his 1919 season was justified, but he also needed more money to finance his high level spending on fast automobiles, fine clothes and entertaining his many women "friends." Red Sox owner Harry Frazee commented, "If Ruth doesn't want to work for the Red Sox, we can work out an advantageous trade." To some people, Ruth had become an enfant terrible, although after his 1919 season, it seemed almost inconceivable that anyone would seriously recommend trading him.

Related Topics:
Curfew - 1919 - 1920 - Automobile - Clothes - Harry Frazee

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Sold to New York

Despite the box office appeal of Ruth, the Red Sox were in a perilous financial position. After he took over the club in 1916, Red Sox owner Harry Frazee paid large salaries to attract the best players (some even accused him of trying to buy the pennant). But due to World War I, the Red Sox attendance, as in every other major league city, fell off badly in 1917 and 1918. Revenue was down, and the financial failure of the 1918 World Series did not help Frazee either. Frazee, whose true passion was the theater, owned his own theaters and financed his own shows, but recently his shows were also losing money. Having overextended himself financially, Frazee was desperate for cash, and his players were his only source of money. When the Red Sox championship run from 1912 to 1918 ended with a crash-the 1919 team finished 66-71, Frazee began selling off his best players. He sold many of these players to the New York Yankees, until then, a perennial losing club. Ruth had a record setting season in 1919, and he made it clear he wanted his salary doubled. Knowing he could never meet Ruth's salary demands, and coupled with the other problems Frazee believed Ruth brought, Frazee worked out a deal with Yankees owner Jacob Ruppert. For a sum of $125,000 and a loan of more than $300,000 (secured on Fenway Park itself), Frazee sold Ruth to the Yankees on January 3.

Related Topics:
1916 - Harry Frazee - World War I - 1917 - 1918 - 1918 World Series - Theater - 1912 - New York Yankees - 1919 - Jacob Ruppert - Fenway Park - January 3

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There was an uneasiness in the Boston sports world just after the sale was announced, although a number of sportswriters supported the sale. On January 5, 1920, Frazee faced the press and answered his critics with calmness and assuredness. He justified his actions with these comments:

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"It would be impossible to start next season with Ruth and have a smooth-working machine. Ruth had become simply impossible, and the Boston club could no longer put up with his eccentricities. I think the Yankees are taking a gamble. While Ruth is undoubtedly the greatest hitter the game has ever seen, he is likewise

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one of the most selfish and inconsiderate men ever to put on a baseball uniform."

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The trading of Ruth sent the Red Sox franchise into a downward spiral. From 1920 to 1934, Ruth's tenure as a Yankee, the Boston Red Sox were the worst team in the American League. During this span they finished last 10 times, never finished above 5th place, and they had no winning season until 1935. After they sold Ruth, the Red Sox struggles to win even a single World Series until 2004, contrasted with the Yankees overwhelming success, led to a superstition that was dubbed the "Curse of the Bambino."

Related Topics:
1920 - 1934 - American League - 2004 - Curse of the Bambino

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