Babe Ruth: A Sweet Surprise

2382 Words10 Pages
Babe Ruth: A Sweet Surprise Babe Ruth emerged as a baseball hero at the time when American needed it the most. Ruth brought hope for the game and interest when the league began to crumble after the devastating news that eight White Sox players had fixed the 1919 World Series game. He was the savior of the game of baseball and a legend on the field. Although Ruth is still considered a hero today, his image has been heightened. He is now portrayed as a mythical, godly person to those who didn’t live during Ruth’s existence. Yet, Ruth was a normal child born February 6, 1895 in Baltimore, Maryland. Ruth had a tough childhood living in a rough neighborhood with a dysfunctional family. Babe’s mother, Katie, died in 1912 and Ruth ‘s…show more content…
On October 1, 1932 at Wrigley Field in Chicago, the Cubs and the Yankees faced off in game three of the World Series. During this game, the Cubs players and the fans were taunting and yelling things toward Babe the entire game. During the fifth inning of the game, Babe had two strikes against him and the crowd was going wild, yelling things toward Babe (legends 1). Ruth stepped up to the plate for the next pitch and steps out of the box apparently gesturing toward center field. The next pitch, Ruth hits a home run right down center field. Thus, the legendary story of Ruth’s called shot was born. Some believe he was simply pointing at the Cub’s dugout, while others believe that Ruth actually was calling his shot (Legends 2). Ruth himself told the story to be true, and nobody could doubt the word of the pure man…show more content…
Media at this time was quick to embellish stories of the Babe and make him to be a pure and amazing hero. While, Ruth did have his flaws, media chose to protect society from those truths. Babe Ruth was married the Helen since 1914 and had adopted a baby girl with her in 1922 (Gale Resource 2). Yet, Ruth was pulled into temptation when he began to have an affair with Claire Hodgson who was married (Montville 180). Tragically, in 1929, Helen was killed in afire and Ruth married Claire soon after (Gale Resource 2). Ruth was involved in the scandal, yet it was never publicized, or shown to the public. In today’s society it would have been all over the headlines making Ruth out to be a horrible

More about Babe Ruth: A Sweet Surprise

Open Document