Babe Ruth

The greatest slugger of all-time, the Sultan of Swat, the Great Bambino. To the schoolboys he was a mythical figure, a Paul Bunyan. The older folks remember him as an aging sick man, a big, enormously heavy man who occasionally visited the baseball park and was immediately the center of attraction. The name, of course, is Babe Ruth. Those who were fortunate enough to see him play may not remember the year was 1927 when George Herman Ruth hit 60 home runs, but they know there will never be a slugger like him.

Babe Ruth lived his life in the same colossal manner in which he hit home runs. He was a simple, great-hearted, man of lusty appetites who was loved not only by the kids of his day but by his fellow players, writers who reported his deeds in the press, and thousands of men and women in the stands. Ruth lived on a lavish scale, gargantuan scale. He could get into more trouble, curse louder and more profanely, drink, smoke, eat, and enjoy himself more, than any other athlete of his time. Few ever resented what this large hulk of a man did. That was Babe he could do everything wrong, he could live up to the hilt, knock around in such a manner that would kill an ordinary man and go on,

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The punishment didn’t restore public confidence in the game. People call Yankee Stadium “The House That Ruth Built” but Ruth was more to his team than just a glamorous attraction. day after day, busting down fences with those powerful home run balls. In his first season with the Yanks Babe was spraying home runs all over the outer banks of the field. The bribe takers were barred from baseball.

You could say Babe Ruth paved the way for some of the athletes of today’s world. Ty Cobb could do all that and there were other grates that could as well. He pleased the crowds, and the crowds loved him. For 22 years he gave the fans every nickel of their money’s worth. If homeruns were what the public wanted it was what they would get. The home run totals have risen from then on in. Baseball could survive many things, but it couldn’t withstand public skepticism, cynicism, or indifference. Even when he struck out,

the Sultan of Swat did it with such enormous gusto and anger that it was a wonderful thing to watch. The way Ruth carried himself on the field, flagging his hat at fans and yelling back at them when they would criticize inflamed the way athletes display their motions while on the playing field.

Approximate Word count = 849
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

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