Early in the 1935 season it was painfully obvious that The Babe – George Herman Ruth, Jr. – was done as a ballplayer. The Yankees knew it when they gave him his unconditional release in February, just a few weeks after his 40th birthday.Ruth dearly wanted to manage the Yankees, and he loudly moaned about it during the 1934 season. While New York owner Col. Jacob Ruppert may have let The Babe believe he would one day manage the team it was never going to happen. First, the Yankees had Joe McCarthy, one of the greatest managers of all time, and secondly Ruth had often proven to be a big kid himself with no sense of self-discipline.
Ruppert even scoffed at the idea of putting Ruth in charge of the team, once saying, “Why, the big ape can’t manage himself.”
Ruppert offered Babe the chance to manage the Yankees’ top minor league team in Newark, but Ruth turned it down. He felt that after all he had done for baseball – he is credited for saving the sport after 1919 Chicago Black Sox scandal – he had earned a shot at managing in the big leagues.
Washington Senators owner Clark Griffith offered Babe a job, but the pay was less than half of what Ruth asked for. Connie Mack was thinking of retiring and having The Babe replace him with the Philadelphia A’s, but had second thoughts after seeing Babe disrupt the clubhouse during a Japanese tour.
Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey thought about hiring Ruth, but General Manager Eddie Collins talked him out of it.
That left Emil Fuchs of the Boston Braves. He offered Ruth $25,000 and a percentage of the profits as player, vice president and assistant manager.
The titles were on paper only, and Ruth soon realized that he was not going to be promoted to manager. He was a gate attraction only – a hobbled, overweight, flickering shadow of what he once was.
The opening day of the 1935 season began well enough, with The Babe hitting a home-run off Hall of Famer Carl Hubbell to help the Braves win.
But Boston soon slipped back into its losing ways and, 28 games into the season, was in last place by 11 games! Ruth was struggling, with only 3 homers and five runs batted in. Once he realized he wouldn’t get to manage, he decided to quit. With only 3 hits in his last 44 at-bats, Babe told the Braves he was through; but the team asked him to hang in there a bit, due to long road trip coming up and several cities already having planned celebrations for Ruth. (Bigger crowds meant more money for the team.)
The stage was set.
The Making of The Babe
George Herman Ruth Jr. was a beloved sports hero, a living legend – and one of the most famous men in the world. During World War II Japanese soldiers tried to antagonize American troops by shouting slurs against Ruth.
Ruth was such a star that even one nickname wasn’t enough; he was variously known as “The Bambino,” “The King of Clout,” “Jidge” and “The Sultan of Swat.”
But, mostly, he was The Babe.
As a child, he lived in an apartment over a family-owned saloon. He later said that he began sneaking beer when his father wasn’t looking. At age seven the incorrigible youth was sent to reform school and he spent most of the next 12 years there – he learned to be a shirtmaker and carpenter. And, he learned to play baseball.
Even at the height of his fame, Babe never forgot the kids; he would visit orphanages, schools and hospitals – often secretly – to bring cheer to the kids.
Ruth became a stand-out pitcher at St. Mary’s. One day, when he was laughing at the team’s unsuccessful pitcher, he was told to go see if he could do any better. He could.
He was so good that he was soon signed to play for the Baltimore Orioles, then a top minor league team. It was here where the older players started calling him “Babe.”
The Babe began his march to glory, not in the batter’s box, but on the mound. He joined the Red Sox on July 11, 1914 and won his first game that day. He lost his next start and thereafter was seldom used. In his rookie year, Ruth was 2-1 for Boston – though 23-8 combined for his minor league totals in Baltimore and Providence.
Boston didn’t plan to use Ruth as a regular starter in 1915, but poor pitching from some established stars opened the door for him. He finished the year 18-8. As a hitter, he batted .315 and hit four homeruns (league leader, Braggo Roth, hit 7!)
With his long homers gaining attention – home-runs were rare and most were inside-the-park – Ruth emerged as a top pitcher. He won 23 games in 1916 – including beating Hall of Famer Walter Johnson in four out of five match-ups. His earned run average (ERA) was a league-leading 1.75 and his nine shutouts topped the A.L – and would be a league record for lefthanders until 1978!
Won pitched 14 innings to win game 2 of the World Series, still the longest complete game victory in Series history.
Babe won 24 games in 1917, his last year as a steady pitcher. Though he still frequently pitched in 1918 and 1919 the Red Sox finally seemed to recognize his prowess as a hitter. He led the league, in 1918, with 11 homers and set a single season record (29) the next, breaking Ned Williamson’s 1884 mark.
That’s Boston’s fabled Curse of the Bambino began. The Red Sox sold Ruth to the Yankees.
The Sultan of Swat
In 1920 Ruth obliterated baseball’s single season homerun record, whacking 54 – becoming the first player ever to hit 30, 40 and 50 in a season. In fact, Ruth, alone, hit more home-runs than every team except the Pirates!
The next year he clubbed 59 more – becoming baseball’s all-time home-run king, by passing the 138 career homer mark set by Roger Connor in 1897!
Ruth’s legend would continue to grow, with an incredible 60 homers in 1927, a “called” home-run in the 1932 World Series and he would retire with career records for homers, runs batted in and slugging percentage.
But even as legends live on forever, the man behind it must fade away.
By May, 1935, The Babe was all but gone. He was batting .153 – nearly 100 pounds below his weight. It had been along ride since he hit his first homer off of Jack Warhop in 1915.
Last Hurrah for a Legend
May 25 will mark 80 years since The Babe’s final heroics on a diamond. It was a Saturday afternoon game at Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field. The Braves would lose 11-7, but no one was talking about that after the game.
In the first inning Ruth slugged a 2-run homer off Red Lucas. In the 3rd he hit an even longer home-run off of reliever Guy Bush, and added an RBI single in the 5th.
In the 7th, Babe hit a monster clout off Bush – the 714th and last home-run of his storied career. Newspaper accounts claimed the ball travelled 600 feet – and scorched the earth when it landed.
Legend has it that Ruth walked away from the game then, as his wife urged. But The Babe had given his word to the Braves to stay for the entire road trip. He came up to bat 13 more times without a hit.
The Sultan of Swat retired on June 2, 1935.
But it was the week before that comes to mind when baseball fans recall how The Babe said goodbye.