Babe Ruth, the famous baseball player who ever lived, he was born as George Herman Ruth Jr., and his sister Mamie were the only two of George and Kate Ruth’s eight children to survive childhood. George’s parents worked long hours running a bar and so little George ran the streets of Baltimore, Maryland getting into trouble.
By the time George Ruth was 19, he had drawn the eyes of minor league recruiter Jack Dunn. Jack liked the way George pitched and so signed him to the Baltimore Orioles for $600. George was ecstatic to get paid to play the game he loved.
By 1915, Babe Ruth was back with the Red Sox and pitching. Over the next few seasons, Babe Ruth’s pitching went from great to extraordinary. In 1918, Babe Ruth pitched his 29th scoreless inning in a World Series.
That record stood for 43 years. Babe Ruth was an extremely popular baseball player. He just seemed to succeed at everything on the baseball field. In 1920, he broke his own home run record and hit an amazing 54 home runs in one season.
In the 1928 World Series, Ruth batted .625 and hit three home runs! In 1932, the Yankees beat the Chicago Cubs four games to none. The 1932 series, however, will forever be remembered for one of the most legendary events in sports history.
In game 3 of the series at Chicago’s Wrigley Field, Babe Ruth allegedly pointed to the centre field bleachers as a declaration of where he would hit the next pitch. Amidst the screaming fans, and taunting gestures of the Cubs player, Ruth deposited the pitch in the centre field bleachers some 440 feet away.
The home run, perhaps the most celebrated in baseball history, became known as Babe Ruth’s Called Shot. Today, experts are in disagreement as to whether Ruth actually called his home run, or, was simply pointing at the pitcher.
The 1934 season was his last as a Yankee. He signed with the Boston Braves in 1935 and played less than half the season. He hit his last home run at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh on May 25, 1935.
It was his 714th home run. Today, Babe Ruth is third on baseball’s all-time home run list. Ruth’s career was perhaps the greatest in baseball history.
In 1936, he was one of the first five players inducted into the Baseball Hall-of-Fame. Babe Ruth married Helen Woodford on Oct. 17, 1914. Babe and Helen adopted a baby girl named Dorothy in 1921.
Ruth became ill in 1946 after doctors discovered he had a malignant tumour in his neck. While in the hospital, Ruth lost 80 pounds from the radiation therapy. With Ruth still ailing, he was treated with a new medicine called teropterin (which eventually led to the creation of methorexate, which is used to treat cancer).
It wasn’t until after Ruth’s death that it was discovered he was suffering from nasopharyngeal carcinoma, a rare tumour that’s located in the back of the nose.