Babe Ruth

Known for ActingBorn 1895-02-05Died 1948-08-16Pigtown, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

George Herman Ruth, Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948), best known as "Babe" Ruth and nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Sultan of Swat", was an American Major League baseball player from 1914–1935. Ruth originally broke into the major leagues with the Boston Red Sox as a starting pitcher, but after he was sold to the New York Yankees in 1919, he converted to a full-time right fielder and subsequently became one of the league's most prolific hitters. Ruth was a mainstay in the Yankees' lineup that won seven pennants and four World Series titles during his tenure with the team. After a short stint with the Boston Braves in 1935, Ruth retired. In 1936, Ruth became one of the first five players elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Ruth has since become regarded as one of the greatest sports heroes in American culture. He has been named the greatest baseball player in history in various surveys and rankings, and his home run hitting prowess and charismatic personality made him a larger than life figure in the "Roaring Twenties". Off the field he was famous for his charity, but also was noted for his often reckless lifestyle. Ruth is credited with changing baseball itself. The popularity of the game exploded in the 1920s, largely due to his influence. Ruth ushered in the "live-ball era", as his big swing led to escalating home run totals that not only excited fans, but helped baseball evolve from a low-scoring, speed-dominated game to a high-scoring power game. In 1998, The Sporting News ranked Ruth number one on the list of "Baseball's 100 Greatest Players". In 1999, baseball fans named Ruth to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. In 1969, he was named baseball's Greatest Player Ever in a ballot commemorating the 100th anniversary of professional baseball. In 1993, the Associated Press reported that Muhammad Ali was tied with Babe Ruth as the most recognized athletes, out of over 800 dead or alive athletes, in America. The study found that over 97% of Americans over 12 years of age identified both Ali and Ruth. According to ESPN, he was the first true American sports celebrity superstar whose fame transcended baseball. In a 1999 ESPN poll, he was ranked as the third-greatest US athlete of the century, behind Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali. Ruth was the first player to hit 60 home runs in one season (1927), setting the season record which stood until broken by Roger Maris in 1961. Ruth's lifetime total of 714 home runs at his retirement in 1935 was a record, until first surpassed by Hank Aaron in 1974. Unlike many power hitters, Ruth also hit for average: his .342 lifetime batting is tenth highest in baseball history, and in one season (1923) he hit .393, a Yankee record. His .690 career slugging percentage and 1.164 career on-base plus slugging (OPS) remain the Major League records. Ruth dominated the era in which he played. He led the league in home runs during a season twelve times, slugging percentage and OPS thirteen times each, runs scored eight times, and runs batted in (RBIs) six times. Each of those totals represents a modern record (as well as the all-time record, except for RBIs). Description above from the Wikipedia article Babe Ruth, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.Read more

Movies & web series

Race for the Record

When It Was a Game

Just Pals

Sports on the Silver Screen

Going Hollywood: The '30s

Springfield of Dreams: The Legend of Homer Simpson

Babe Comes Home

The True Story of Seabiscuit

Fancy Curves

Play Ball with Babe Ruth

Babe Ruth

The Pride of the Yankees

Slide, Babe, Slide

Speedy

The Golden Twenties

Ways to Strength and Beauty

Say Hey, Willie Mays!

The Glory of Their Times

Perfect Control

Headin' Home

Home Run on the Keys

Tokyo Giant: The Legend of Victor Starffin

Babe Ruth Footage

Reel Baseball: Baseball's Golden Era the Way Americans Witnessed It

Reel Baseball - 1899-1926

Super Stars of Sports: Baseball

The Record Breakers

Babe Ruth: The Man, the Myth, the Legend

Collecting America

Babe Ruth Story: That Ever Livin' Babe

Death of a Dream

Babe Ruth: Fence Buster

At the Ball Game

How Babe Ruth Knocks a Home Run