George Herman Ruth: The Great Bambino

The Great Bambino George Herman Ruth was born in Baltimore Maryland on February 6th 1895. His mother gave birth to him on the second floor of her father’s house. George is the oldest of 8 children. He was often missing from school. George was officially named a juvenile delinquent after his bouts skipping school. At a very young age George began drinking, chewing tobacco, and stealing (Berke 18).People around him were fed up with his behavior and he was sent to Catholic school. During his stint there, George made a positive out of it and made a 360 turn around. He was taken care of by Xaverian brothers from the School, St. Mary’s (Berke 19). Ruth’s baseball career began when he was attending St. Mary’s (Berke 19). In the early 1900s,
Adults, kids, and the retired all spent their time watching or playing the great game of baseball that once did not seem so interesting. George Herman Ruth is responsible for the term the grand slam. A grand slam in the game of baseball is when bases are loaded and the player at bat hits a homerun allowing your team to advance four points. Ruth had 4 grand slams in 1920, which remained a Major league high for forty years (Berke 45 – 46). The New York Yankees ended their 1920 season with a ninety-five –- fifty-nine record and finished just three games behind the AL champions the Cleveland Indians. This was the eighteenth season for the Yankees managed under the one and only Miller Huggins. The Yankees of the 1920’s were the first major league baseball team to have more than a million fans attends their game (Berke 46 –
Babe helped the New York Yankees win seven pennants and four World Series titles. The Bambino retired in 1935. Just one year later in 1936 Babe was one of the first 5 elected into the baseball hall of fame. The Bambino is credited for the popularity of the game of baseball. He helped pick the speed of the game up from a low scoring speed dominated game to a high scoring power game. Since then he has became one of the greatest sports heroes in American history. The legendary power and the charismatic personality made the bambino larger than life itself. He was famous for his charity off of the diamond but also known for his reckless lifestyle. He went on to coach after retiring from the game. August 16, 1948 cancer got the best of the Bambino and he died at the age of 53. The legend of Babe Ruth will live on forever