Bab ruth biography
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Amazingly, in the seven-year reign of Ruth and Gehrig from 1929-1935, the Yankees won only one pennant. It was the Roaring Twenties, the Jazz Age, a time of individualism, more progressive social and sexual attitudes, and a greater emphasis on the pursuit of pleasure. It was run by the Brothers (men who had taken vows to lead religious lives) of a Catholic order of teachers.
That his nerves are steadier than those of 499 out of 500 persons. At that point, five of Ruth’s 11 career home runs had come in New York. The following year, as a pitcher and pinch-hitter, Crandall won 21 games and batted .284.
13 Robert W. Creamer, Babe: The Legend Comes To Life (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1974), 177.
14 Interviews with Allan Wood, July 22, 1995, October 30, 1995, and January 5, 1997.
The amount paid ($100,000) was astronomical, Ruth ate and drank excessively, frequented prostitutes, and had been involved in several car accidents. In mid-December, Ruth realized if he wanted to continue playing ball into his thirties, he needed to do something different. Tenney: “I agree with Frazee for he knows his business best. “And if you wanna know the truth, I cried too.”50
On the other hand, on September 24, for what was rumored to be his final home game in a Yankees uniform, only 2,000 fans showed up.
At the funeral, he wept uncontrollably.42
Babe married Claire Hodgson on April 17. Gehrig hit .545 (6-for-11) and slugged 1.727.
In January 1929, Babe’s first wife, Helen, died in a house fire in Watertown, Massachusetts. A crowd of 58,339 was there and many of them, players as well as fans, were shocked at how frail and shrunken the mighty Babe had become.
Ruth was in and out of the hospital for the next year.
He was cheered wildly in every park — for rival fans, if Ruth smacked one out of the park, it hardly seemed to matter what the final score was.
Sunday baseball became legal in New York in 1919 and the fan base changed forever. Frazee has carefully considered the Ruth angle … Boston fans undoubtedly will be up in arms but they should reserve judgment until they see how it works out.” Ed Cunningham, “Red Sox Sell Babe Ruth to Yanks for More than $100,000,” Boston Herald, January 6, 1920: 18.
16 “Babe Ruth Accepts Terms Of Yankees,” New York Times, January 7, 1920: 22.
18 Kal Wagenheim, Babe Ruth: His Life and Legend (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1974), 62.
19 Leigh Montville, The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth (New York: Doubleday, 2006), 111.
20.
Ruth also jumped into the stands to fight a fan who had called him “a big piece of cheese” (probably not a direct quote).19 While tracking a fly ball during an exhibition game in Miami, Ruth ran into a palm tree in center field and was knocked unconscious.
After a disappointing April, in which he missed time due to a strained right knee, Ruth began May with home runs in consecutive games against the Red Sox.
He went on to set a major league record for the month with 11 homers. In The Big Bam, Leigh Montville writes: “He called shots all the time. Ruth was back in the hospital 11 days later. The boy’s initial stay at St. Mary’s lasted only four weeks before his parents brought him home for the first of several attempted reconciliations; his long-term residence at St.
Mary’s actually began in 1904. Yankees Century: 100 Years of New York Yankees Baseball (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002), 99.
30 Hugh Fullerton, “Why Babe Ruth is Greatest Home Run Hitter,” Popular Science Monthly, October 1921. However, all three came at the Polo Grounds.