By: Kieran Holley

Today marks 68 years since the loss of a baseball legend, Babe Ruth.  

The Broadcaster takes a look back at the life of this towering giant of early 20th century sports on the 68th anniversary of his death in 1948.

Early Life

George Herman “Babe” Ruth was one of the most historic baseball players in U.S. history. Ruth was born about February 6th, 1895 in Baltimore, Maryland. According to Sports Illustrated, Ruth’s parents were not sure when exactly he was born, “The birth certificate with that date was for an unnamed male child in the Ruth family.”

Before all the fame and glory, Ruth was sent to St. Mary’s Industrial School for Boys, where he learned to play baseball.

A Life in Baseball

In 1914, Ruth signed to play baseball for the Baltimore Orioles, which was a minor league team at the time. Shortly after signing with the Orioles, he got called up to play with for the Boston Red Socks. Ruth originally was a pitcher for the Socks, but wanted more playing time and decided to switch to the outfield.

Ruth was sold to the New York Yankees for $100,000 on January 5th, 1920.

He was a notorious hitter. By the time he was 32, Ruth had hit 60 homeruns in the 1927 season for the Yankees. He started his pitching career with the Yankees in 1914, where he pitched four games.

Farther into his career, Ruth got more pitching time, leading the Yankees to many World Series.

Off the Field

Babe Ruth was a larger than life figure on the field, but off the field, he courted controversy. The most shocking thing about The Sultan of Swat, is that when he was 19 years old, he married Helen Woodford, a 16 year old coffee shop worker according to Sports Illustrated.  Babe and Helen adopted a daughter in 1921, named Dorothy.

Ruth was also known for his diet. He lived on beer and hotdogs according to Bleacher Report. “The fact that this man was able to live 53 years on nothing but hot dogs and beer is nothing short of a medical miracle.” Ruth also would play baseball under the influence of alcohol.

According to Herbert von Vitamin in a Bleacher Report interview, “Imagine what kind of numbers he would’ve been able to put up had he not been blacked-out drunk for 95 percent of his at-bats.”

Final Years

Ruth was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936. He had retired from baseball one year before. Ruth had 714 home runs in his 22 years of baseball, which wasn’t broken until 1974 by Hank  Aaron who hit 715 home runs in a single season.

Less than 10 years after The Sultan of Swat was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, he passed away on August 16, 1948 from throat cancer. According to History.com, Ruth’s body sat at the main entrance at Yankee stadium so people could pay their respects.

“Never let the fear of striking out get in your way,” said Ruth.