Babe Ruth

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Babe Ruth
Outfielder / Pitcher
Born: (1895-02-06)February 6, 1895
Baltimore, Maryland
Died: August 16, 1948(1948-08-16) (aged 53)
New York, New York
Batted: Left Threw: Left
debut
July 11, 1914, for the Boston Red Sox
Last appearance
May 30, 1935, for the Boston Braves
Career statistics
Batting average.342
Home runs714
Hits2,873
Runs batted in2,217
Win–loss record94–46
Earned run average2.28
Teams
Career highlights and awards

MLB Records

[[{{{hoflink}}}|Member of the {{{hoftype}}}]]
[[{{{hoflink}}}|Baseball Hall of Fame]]
Induction1936
Vote95.13%

George Herman "Babe" Ruth, Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was a famous baseball player during the 1910s and 1930s in Major League Baseball. He played with the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, and the Boston Braves, and hit 714 home runs in his career.[1] Only two players, Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds, have hit more. At the beginning of his career, he was a pitcher. He is widely considered the greatest baseball player of all time.

Nicknames[change | change source]

Babe Ruth has been called by many nicknames. Some of the most common are: "The Great Bambino", "The Sultan of Swat", "The Colossus of Clout", "The Titan of Terror", and "The King of Crash". While attending St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys, he was sometimes referred to by the racial epitaph "Niggerlips" as he had large facial features and was darker than most boys at the all-white reformatory.[2]

Early career[change | change source]

Ruth learned to play baseball while growing up in Baltimore, Maryland.His first Major League Baseball (MLB) team was the Boston Red Sox. Ruth began playing as a pitcher. He had some of the best pitching statistics in baseball. The Red Sox won the World Series in 1915, 1916, and 1918.

At that time, there was no designated hitter rule in the American League, where the Red Sox played, so Ruth got chances to hit as a pitcher. The team realized that he was also good at hitting. In 1918, Ruth began hitting more and pitching less. Later in his career, he became an outfielder.

Ruth was becoming a star player. However, by 1919, Red Sox owner Harry Frazee was having problems with money.[3] In 1920, the Red Sox sold Ruth to the New York Yankees for cash. Even though the Red Sox had won several World Series in the years before this, they would not win another one until 2004. Many baseball fans believed that the Red Sox had become "cursed" by trading Ruth, and called this the "Curse of the Bambino".[4] (When the Red Sox finally did win a World Series in 2004, they beat the Yankees in the American League Championship to get there.)

After the trade[change | change source]

Ruth spent most of the rest of his career with the Yankees, where he became one of the most famous players in baseball history. Ruth helped the Yankees win World Series championships in 1923, 1927, 1928, and 1932. He left the Yankees after the 1934 season and played one last season with the Boston Braves in 1935.

In 1927, Ruth hit 60 home runs, which was then a record for the most home runs in one season. The record was broken by Roger Maris in 1961 with 61 home runs.

Death[change | change source]

Ruth died of a brain tumor on August 16, 1948.[5]

Honors[change | change source]

In November 2018, Ruth posthumously received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Donald Trump.[6]

Career batting statistics[change | change source]

Season G AB R H HR RBI BB SO Avg. SLG
1914 5 10 1 2 0 2 0 4 .200 .300
1915 42 92 16 29 4 21 9 23 .315 .576
1916 67 136 18 37 3 15 10 23 .272 .419
1917 52 123 14 40 2 12 12 18 .325 .472
1918 95 317 50 95 11 66 58 58 .300 .555
1919 130 432 103 139 29 114 101 58 .322 .657
1920 142 458 158 172 54 137 150 80 .376 .849
1921 152 540 177 204 59 171 145 81 .378 .846
1922 110 406 94 128 35 99 84 80 .315 .672
1923 152 522 151 205 41 131 170 93 .393 .764
1924 153 529 143 200 46 121 142 81 .378 .739
1925 98 359 61 104 25 66 59 68 .290 .543
1926 152 495 139 184 47 150 144 76 .372 .737
1927 151 540 158 192 60 164 137 89 .356 .772
1928 154 536 163 173 54 142 137 87 .323 .709
1929 135 499 121 172 46 154 72 60 .345 .697
1930 145 518 150 186 49 153 136 61 .359 .732
1931 145 534 149 199 46 163 128 51 .373 .700
1932 133 457 120 156 41 137 130 62 .341 .661
1933 137 459 97 138 34 103 114 90 .301 .582
1934 125 365 78 105 22 84 104 63 .288 .537
1935 28 72 13 13 6 12 20 24 .181 .431
Career Statistics 2,503 8,398 2,174 2,874 714 2,217 2,062 1,330 .342 .690

He also had a .474 career on-base percentage, which is second all-time to Ted Williams' .482.

References[change | change source]

  1. "Babe Ruth Statistics and History - Baseball-Reference.com". baseball-reference.com. Retrieved July 24, 2010.
  2. "Babe Ruth Biography". Bio. A&E Television Networks, LLC. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  3. "HowStuffWorks "Babe Ruth's Sale to the New York Yankees"". entertainment.howstuffworks.com. July 27, 2007. Retrieved July 24, 2010.
  4. "Baseball Historian - Part of the Sports Historian Network". baseballhistorian.com. Retrieved July 24, 2010.
  5. "ESPN.com: Lovable Ruth was everyone's Babe". espn.go.com. Retrieved July 26, 2010.
  6. "Trump To Honor Antonin Scalia, Orrin Hatch, GOP Megadonor With Medals Of Freedom". HuffPost. November 10, 2018. Retrieved November 12, 2018.

Other websites[change | change source]