Babe Ruth

  • 2 × All-Star (1933, 1934)
  • 7 × World Series champion (1915, 1916, 1918, 1923, 1927, 1928, 1932)
  • Major League Baseball All- Century Team
  • In his honor, the number 3 with the New York Yankees will not be awarded

George Herman "Babe" Ruth, Jr. ( born February 6, 1895, Georg Hermann Ehrhardt Ruth in Baltimore, Maryland; † August 16, 1948 in New York City, New York) was an American baseball player of German origin. He is considered one of the greatest baseball player in the history of this sport.

His athletic career lasted from 1914 to 1935, and he managed to become one of the national heroes of the United States. He was one of the first five players who were elected in 1936 in the Baseball Hall of Fame. His 714- home run record should exist for 39 years until it was broken by Hank Aaron in 1974. He was the first player, who managed to hit 60 home runs in one season (1927 ). This record was 34 years, until he was surpassed in 1961 by Roger Maris.

Descent

His paternal ancestor George Ruth came from the village Oberalben near Kusel in today's Rhineland-Palatinate, and emigrated in the 18th century in the then British North America; he went to Baltimore in Maryland, the only Catholic- friendly of the colonies. " Babes" maternal grandfather, Pius Schamberger, was an immigrant from Germany, who as an independent upholsterer had a small workshop in Baltimore. His parents Kate Ruth and George Herman Ruth Sr. operated a restaurant in Baltimore. They had eight children, of whom but six have died as infants; except " Babe" only survived his sister Mary. George Jr. spoke German at home.

Life

He was born in Baltimore, barely went to school, but played ball in the street or was with his grandfather in the workshop. His parents had to do with the restaurant always up late in the evening and had so little time to properly take care of him. He quickly became a petty criminal, causing him to eight years in the reformatory St. Mary's Industrial School For Boys, where Brother Matthias, a Roman Catholic priest, the largest model for Ruth was and his excess energies on baseball concentrated.

He played in school teams as a left-handed pitcher ( pitcher ), where he noticed the owner and manager of the Baltimore Orioles, a professional team from the lower leagues. This obliged the 19 -year-old. Its also childish and precocious nature brought Ruth to the team quickly nicknamed "Babe" a. His first professional game on April 22, 1914, a 6-0 victory over the Buffalo Bisons. The team had a very successful season athletic, but financial problems, which is why they sold Ruth to the Boston Red Sox, a major league team. He played the rest of the season for the Providence Grays, a team the Red Sox connected the lower leagues. This won with Ruth's help their league championship, which then permanently Ruth played in the top league. In October 1914, he married the waitress Helen Woodford, whom he had met in Boston. Helen died, now estranged from Babe Ruth in 1929 in a fire in Watertown, Massachusetts. On April 17, 1929 Babe Ruth married the actress and model Claire Merritt Hodgson and adopted their daughter, Julia.

The very next year, 1915, the Red Sox won the World Series, with Ruth but not throwing in the playoffs and his only impact was a corner. In 1916 he established himself as a clear best scorer of the league with 23 wins ( nine of them " zero " ) and only 12 losses. The World Series was won again, this time Ruth threw. In 1917, the Red Sox could not keep up with the outstanding Chicago White Sox; during this season but showed that Ruth increasingly at bat showed excellent performance, very unusual for a bowler. In 1918 they won the World Series again. By the year 1919, Ruth turned gradually to a role as an outfielder to, because he could be so in every game ( pitcher must always pause between games for some time to regenerate their limbs ). Such a change was considered outrageous and many believed that this would shorten his career strong. Added to this was that he had vigorously gained weight ( the size of his meals was legendary ), and so the rather plump and at the same time thin-legged figure had reached, with whom he is usually connected. Strangely, prevented him everything but not from moving further and further enhance athletic.

Beginning of 1920 had the Red Sox, who had spent financially due to high player salaries in 1919, Ruth sell for $ 125,000 to the New York Yankees, who had not yet made its mark particularly until then. This is one of the biggest mistakes of baseball history; the Red Sox have then regained only in 2004, a World Series, 86 years after their last title. The long untitled time was on the so-called Curse of the Bambino ( Bambino another nickname Ruth's ) returned. In the Boston area there was the way the myth, the Red Sox would have to place at Fenway Park during the summer solstice at midnight just above home plate ( the last time that must be reached for point gain) burn the old contract by which they Ruth had at that time sold to the Yankees; only then they could be exempt from the curse because of the Ruth - sale and once again become champion. Whether one has done in 2004, is not known.

In his first year with the New York Yankees (1920 ) Babe Ruth improved his own home run record, which he had erected the previous year. He hit 54 home runs amazing. With this value, he nearly doubled his 29 homers obtained from the previous season. When Babe Ruth came to the NY Yankees, this is a game with the then New York Giants baseball club shared (now San Francisco Giants ). Within a short time Babes performances were at bat a veritable synonym for the entire baseball sport in Major League and also the Yankees a figurehead of the city of New York.

Soon after, the Yankees had a very considerable number of spectators and correspondingly high revenue, which allowed them to build their own Yankee Stadium, which opened in 1923. This famous stadium was also nicknamed "The House That Ruth Built", since among fans clearly it was clear that it would never have been possible without an exception like "The Babe", to realize this project in such a short time. We Also Ruth scored on opening another home run. This season, the Yankees won their first World Series, and thus put the foundation for many more titles and excellent playful performances, not least the " killer team " from 1927, which dominated their opponents at will and to this day is considered the best performance of the season a team.

Ruth was until 1933 the head man of the Yankees. 1934 sank his achievements then due to age relatively quickly and the end of the season it was clear that he would not play for the Yankees. In 1935, he played two more months for the Boston Braves ( today's Atlanta Braves ), but after an explosive start his performance fell even faster than last year, so that the end of May he retired from active sports. In 1936 he was one of the first five players who was incorporated into the Baseball Hall of Fame, the Hall of Fame Major Leagues newly established. His last job in professional baseball was a position as assistant coach with the Brooklyn Dodgers (now the Los Angeles Dodgers ) in 1938, but he gave up again after half a year; then he retired into private life.

Babe Ruth died on August 16, 1948 of throat cancer. His coffin was then laid out two days in Yankee Stadium, where some 77,000 people paid him their last respects. The funeral mass was held at St. Patrick 's Cathedral. Approximately 75,000 people attended the funeral. He was buried at the Gate of Heaven Cemetery.

Babe Ruth Award

The Babe Ruth Award was an award from the Association of Journalists Baseball Writers Association of America, which awarded him the 1949 to 2002 at what he sees as the best player of the World Series and was named in memory of the deceased after him.

Trivia

The "Baby Ruth " candy bar in 1920 was brought by the Curtiss Candy Company of Chicago on the market. The phonetic similarity with the names of the popular baseball player was probably intended, officially, however, the 1904 deceased daughter of U.S. President Grover Cleveland was specified as namesake. He managed the Curtiss Candy Company even in court to force a rival company from the competition, the rights to the name of George Herman Ruth had secured, but then allowed provided that none of its products with it. The Baby Ruth candy bar is now produced by Nestlé, which has taken over the Curtiss Candy Company in 1990.

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