Babe Ruth is a name which is instantly familiar to people around the world; even those who are not baseball fans and those far too young to actually remember the Sultan of Swat know his name and are familiar with the House That Ruth Built. Among younger Major League players, one of Babe’s superstitions has taken hold. As Babe said “whenever I hit a home run, I always make sure I touch all four bases”. Babe Ruth was larger than life in every sense of the word and he remains deeply rooted in the popular imagination – for there may be another like him.

George Herman Ruth Jr. was born in 1895 in Baltimore, MD, the son of George H. Ruth Sr. and Kate Schamberger-Ruth. One of two surviving children of eight (the other was his sister Mamie), Babe Ruth has a tough childhood, often being left to care for himself. At the tender age of seven, he was sent to the St. Mary’s Industrial School for Boys, which he recalls more as a reformatory than a school. Deprived of parental guidance except on occasions, Ruth quickly earned a reputation among the nuns at the school as an incorrigible.

The Babe never like rules, especially regimented rules and was not good at adapting to what was correct-he had his own way, a uniqueness that would follow him to baseball. Perhaps the biggest thing Ruth learned to love at St. Mary’s would be his fondness for children; as an adult, he was charitably involved with them as much as he could be. George Jr. shined with talent at a young age and played numerous positions at St. Mary’s, often, however, he excelled in catching and pitching. When Babe reached nineteen, Jack Dunn, the manager and owner of the then Baltimore Orioles which was a Boston Red Sox minor league team, was awed at Babe’s talent and signed him right away. Once Jack signed him, he was dubbed by his teammates as “Jack’s newest babe.” From then on, he would be forever known as simply “Babe.”

It was not long before Ruth’s contract was purchased by the Boston Red Sox, where he would spend the next six years both as a catcher and in the outfield. Ruth became immensely popular with fans for his flair on and off the diamond. With the Red Sox, Ruth played his first World Series in 1916. Ruth pitched a still intact record of 14 innings. In fact, Ruth achieved a record setting 29 2/3 innings with no hits as a pitcher in World Series games alone! This record would last for 43 years. In 1919, an ill-advised trade saw Babe Ruth traded to the New York Yankees (ill-advised for the Red Sox anyway, a triumph for the Yankees). This began the “Curse of the Bambino”; the Red Sox would not win another World Series until 2004!

With Ruth on the team, the Yankees would win 4 World Series and 7 American League Pennants. Ruth hit an amazing 54 home runs in 1920 alone. Babe Ruth proved to be just as popular with the fans in New York as he had been in Boston and became a celebrity. The Yankees stadium, built in 1923 soon came to be known as “The House That Ruth Built”. Fittingly enough, Ruth hit three home runs on opening day and later that year, the World Series title. Ruth would separate from his wife of 11 years, Helen Woodford in 1925, with whom he had adopted a daughter, Dorothy. It was not until Helen dies in 1929 that he would marry his companion, the model Claire Hodgson. His first at bat that year, he hit a home run out of the park, which he dedicated to Hodgson.

The achievement that Babe Ruth will be remembered for more than any other is hi s60 home runs in 1927 – this record was finally broken by Roger Maris in 1961. This record continues to be disputed, since Ruth hit his 60 home runs in 154 games as opposed to Maris’ 162 games and 61 home runs. Regardless, there is no dispute about Ruth’s .690 batting average, something which has not been equaled since. This is why Babe Ruth is also known as the Great Bambino and the Sultan of Swat.

Of just as much import was the home run scored by Babe Ruth in the 3rd game of the 1932 World Series against the Chicago Cubs. Legend has it that Ruth said that he would hit a home run over the center stands in memory of Dugout Dora, a stray cat Ruth would feed every time he played at Wrigley Field. Ruth pointed and hit a home run right where he had pointed; it was one of the longest home runs ever hit out of Wrigley Field.

When Babe did not get his desired Yankee manager position in 1935, he left the Yankees and signed with the Brave’s as not only a player but also their first base coach accepting the promise of their manager position the following year. With his manager outlook grim, Babe hit three home runs in one of his final games against the Pittsburgh Pirates, where only a meager 10,000 fans saw him tip his hat at that last home run-his 714th. Still, with Babe’s 8,399 at-bats, 2,211 RBI’s and a career 2.28 ERA as a lefty pitcher, The Babe remains a true hero in the hearts and fans of baseball everywhere.