By Stephanie Beyda and Claire Suh

Babe Ruth

What You Will Learn…•His background & childhood

•His surprising adoption

•Origin of his nickname “Babe”

•His career and life

•His influence on his fans & baseball

•The end of his life

•His achievements

Background

• Born February 6th, 1895

• Born in Baltimore, Maryland

• Real name was George Herman Ruth

Childhood

• His parents had eight children

• Only his sister, Marnie, survived infancy

• Attended St. Mary’s Industrial School

High School Baseball

• Played catcher and pitcher for St. Mary’s varsity team

• At age 19, he was spotted by Jack Dunn, who signed him

Adoption

• Dunn had to adopt him in order to pass custody over

• His nickname originated from being Dunn’s “babe”

Start of Career

• Spent 5 months as an Oriole, then was sold to Boston Red Sox

• In his first World Series, he broke the record of pitches

Early Career Achievement

• His 29 2/3rds scoreless innings record remained for 43 years

• Set the major league record with 29 home runs

Statistics Further Into Career

• His team, the Boston Red Sox won the World Series in 1918

• In three seasons, he had 94 wins and 46 losses

New Ownership

• After the 1919 season, Babe was sold for $125,000 to the Yankees

• Led the Yankees to 2 pennants and 1 World Series within 2 years

Influence On Fans

• In 1920, the Yankees were the first team to attract over a million fans

• When Ruth began playing, they shared “The Polo Grounds” with the Giants

Influence On Yankee Stadium

• Yankee Stadium was built 1923

• It became known as “The House that Ruth Built”

Financial Homerun

• Made $80,000/year• A reporter realized

he was making more than the president

• He replied “Why not? I had a better year than he did.”

Start of World Series

• In game three of the World Series, Babe was batting in the 5th inning

• Pitcher Charlie Root took him to a count of two strikes & two balls

During The World Series

• Babe yelled and pointed to center field

• He hit next pitch 500 feet past stands– Set record for

longest home run ever at Wrigley Field

Hall of Fame Induction

• Most celebrated athlete of his time

• Baseball’s first great slugger

• First of six inductees for the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936

Records• Regular season

record of 714 home runs was hundreds ahead of his closest competitor

• Had a lifetime slugging average of .690%

• Had 2873 hits during his whole career

Life After Big Leagues

• Lived quietly with wife Claire

• During the fall of 1946, Ruth was diagnosed with a malignant tumor on his neck

• His health began to decline rapidly

Death • Died August 16,

1948• His jersey number 3

retired at his last appearance at Yankee Stadium on June 13, 1948

• More than 100,000 people paid their respects at the stadium

• Funeral held at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City

Babe Ruth Day• April 27, 1947

was declared Babe Ruth Day

• Declared when Ruth was diagnosed with tumor

• Organized for all baseball leagues in United States

The End

The End