RUTH, BABE

born Feb. 6, 1895, Baltimore, Md., U.S. died Aug. 16, 1948, New York, N.Y. Babe Ruth. byname of George Herman Ruth one of American professional baseball's most popular figures, longtime holder of a record of 60 home runs in a major-league season (1927). (In 1961 Roger Maris of the New York Yankees hit 61 home runs, a record for the 162-game baseball season. But because Maris hit only 59 in the first 154 games of the season, Ruth's record for his 154-game season was considered by some to still stand. Both players' records were indisputably broken on Sept. 7 and 8, 1998, when Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals hit his 61st and 62nd home runs of the season. McGwire eventually hit 70 home runs that year.) Despite this, Ruth's batting feats are still the standard by which all other long-ball hitters are judged. His flamboyance reflected, and to some extent fueled, the Roaring Twenties in the United States. Born into poverty, the future Sultan of Swat first became interested in athletics while living at St. Mary's Industrial School in Baltimore. Ruth began his professional career in 1914 as a pitcher with the Baltimore minor-league team and was sold later that season to the Boston Red Sox of the American League. In two World Series with the Red Sox (1916, 1918), he set the record of which he was most proud: pitching 29 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings (broken by Edward Whitey Ford in 1961). Ruth, who won 94 big-league games while losing only 46, was the best left-handed pitcher in the American League. In 1918, however, because of his powerful hitting, he began to play the outfield in order to bat in every game. In January 1920 he was sold to the New York Yankees for $125,000 and played as an outfielder with that club through 1934. A left-handed hitter who stood 6 feet 2 inches (188 cm) and weighed 215 pounds (98 kg), Ruth broke the major-league home-run record in three consecutive years, 191921, and again with his 60 home runs in 1927in a 154-game season. Ruth led the American League in home runs for 12 years; he hit at least 50 in 4 separate seasons and at least 40 in each of 11 seasons. Ruth played 22 major-league seasons and hit a lifetime total of 714 home runs, a major-league record that remained unbroken until Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run in 1974. Other major-league lifetime records established by Ruth include 2,056 bases on balls and 2,211 runs batted in. In 10 World Series (41 games) he batted .326 and hit 15 home runs. His lifetime batting average was .342. In 1925 Ruth was fined $5,000 by Miller Huggins, the Yankees' manager, for misconduct off the ball field. In 1930 and 1931 Ruth received an annual salary of $80,000, then the all-time high. He played his last season (1935) with the Boston Braves and concluded his baseball career as a coach of the Brooklyn Dodgers (1938). His reputation for irresponsibility prevented his obtaining a major league manager's job, which he greatly desired. He was one of the first five players elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame (1936). Additional reading Biographies include Robert W. Creamer, Babe: The Legend Comes to Life (1974, reissued 1992); Kal Wagenheim, Babe Ruth: His Life and Legend (1974, reprinted 1992); and Marshall Smelser, The Life That Ruth Built (1975, reprinted 1993).