75 years since the death of Babe Ruth
August 16, 2023 is the 75th anniversary of Babe Ruth’s death.
George Henry Ruth, Jr. (1895-1948), affectionately known as the Bambino and the Sultan of Swat was a baseball legend, driving in 2,209 runs and compiling a .342 lifetime average.
To mark the anniversary, the AP looked into the archives for this remembrance of Ruth’s life and career.
Babe Ruth pops one up in practice at New York's Yankee Stadium ca. 1920s. A large man of large appetites, Ruth was never exactly svelte, but he was not always the overweight figure depicted later in his career. In the prime of his career he looked trim and athletic, but his fondness for hot dogs -- and just about everything else -- remains an enduring part of his legacy. (AP Photo)
Excerpt from AP obituary for Babe Ruth as it appeared in the Bristol (Va.) Herald Courier, August 17, 1948.
New York Yankees' Babe Ruth is safe at home in a game against the Washington Senators in Washington, June 25, 1925. (AP Photo)
AP compilation of Ruth’s year-by-year performance, August 1948. (AP Corporate Archives)
New York Yankees power batter Babe Ruth is seen in 1923. (AP Photo)
“He could have lived to be 150 and have tottered into Yankee stadium or down a street in any city or hamlet in the country on age-tortured legs and there always would have been quick glances, the gleam of recognition and whispered words, relayed as a smoke signal: “Babe Ruth – Babe Ruth – Babe Ruth.”
The Bambino was that kind of a guy – unique, picturesque in his misshapen bulk and vast expanse of swarthy countenance, utterly unforgettable.
He was more than a man. He was a symbol. Baseball players might come and baseball players might go. But, regardless of their achievements, none ever could supplant Ruth in the public mind as the personification of everything that was great and spectacular in the game.
Truly a veritable Paul Bunyan character in performance and with a physique to match, Ruth had that indefinable something called color. Other players might be huge, others might hit even more home runs during a season. But the Bambino had that inborn instinct to make every deed and move exciting.”
Excerpt from “Word Picture of Babe Ruth” by Whitney Martin, AP Sports Columnist, January 6, 1947
Babe Ruth, pitching ca. 1916, was the leading pitcher on the championship Boston Red Sox team until his ability at the bat forced managers to put him in the lineup full-time. Ruth pitched for the Red Sox from 1914 to 1918, pitching in the World Series in 1916 and 1918, before joining the New York Yankees, where he became the Sultan of Swat. (AP Photo)
Babe Ruth is shown taking a practice cut prior to the Yankees home opener against the Philadelphia Athletics at Yankee Stadium in New York, April 20, 1932. (AP Photo)
New York Yankees' owners, from left to right, Col. Tillinghast L'Hommedieu Huston and Jacob Ruppert appear with Babe Ruth and Gov. Nathan L. Miller of New York, Oct. 6, 1921. (AP Photo)
General John J. Pershing, left, greets Lieutenant Babe Ruth of the New York Police Reserve, May 29, 1924. (AP Photo)
Washington, D. C., Bureau, News Dispatch, May 28, 1924. AP Washington, D. C. Bureau Records. (Library of Congress)
George Herman “Babe” Ruth with his pet calf “Flossy” on his farm at Sudbury, Mass., Dec. 12, 1924. (AP Photo)
Illustration from the December, 1926 issue of the Associated Press Service Bulletin. Carl S. Brandebury, Charles W. Dunkley, W. P. Hayes, Alan J. Gould, and Brian Bell covered the series for the AP, handling and transmitting upwards of 10,000 words daily. (AP Corporate Archives)
Members of the 1928 New York Yankee outfield, from left to right are, Bob Meusel, Babe Ruth, and Earl Combs. (AP Photo)
Babe Ruth signs his latest contract for $52,000 - $23,000 less than last year's salary, March 25, 1933, in St. Petersburg, Fla. Looking on at left is Col. Jake Ruppert, president of the New York Yankees. (AP Photo)
These two famous baseball players are shown in the Yankee dugout before the beginning of the Second World Series Game between the Yankees and Cincinnate Reds on Oct. 5, 1939 in New York. Babe Ruth, the old swatsman, holds a bat in a seemingly "Rarin' to go" way while first baseman Lou Gehrig, out of action since early in the season, laughs at the whole thing. (AP Photo)
Two old teammates were reunited and found themselves on the opposite side of the baseball fence in Brooklyn, June 19, 1938. Babe Ruth came back to the diamond wars as a coach for the Brooklyn Dodgers and with Tony Lazzeri, a coach for the Chicago Cubs, as their teams engaged in a doubleheader. The Dodgers won the first game 6-2. Ruth and Lazzeri were Yankee players once upon a time. (AP Photo)
At age 40 with his eye on the right field stands, Babe Ruth taps the plate (upper left); a miss for strike one (upper right); a terrific cut at the ball (lower left) and another miss; strike three and out (lower right) without swinging, April 24, 1935. (AP Photo)
Babe Ruth, far right, acts as referee in the International Four Ball Tournament on opening day in Miami, Fla., March 9, 1936. Walter Hagen, left, and Johnny Farrell, second from left, lost their opening match to Willie MacFarlane, third from left, and Willie Kline, putting. (AP Photo)
Babe Ruth dropped his golf sticks and Mayor Fiorello La Guardia took off his coat. Result, you see them choosing sides for the ball game that opened a new playground in the Queens borough of New York, July 26, 1935. The mayor pitched and the Babe popped the first fly on the new diamond. (AP Photo)
Babe Ruth is shown in his New York City apartment, Nov. 4, 1930, reading to Dorothy, 9, left, and Julia, 14, his two new legally adopted children. “Being a father is great stuff,” says Babe Ruth. Between fixing dolls and reading to them from the funny papers, the Babe sees his time well occupied until next spring. (AP Photo)
AP story as it appeared in the Buffalo Evening News, March 1, 1935.
Babe Ruth with his daughter, Julia, center, and wife Mrs. Claire Ruth, pose for a photo before leaving New York, Feb. 9, 1933, for the Palms and golf courses in Florida. (AP Photo)
Babe Ruth and his wife Claire smile as they board a train in Grand Central Station, in New York, Feb. 5, 1942 for Hollywood, where the Babe will play himself in the picture "The Pride of the Yankees," based on the Life of Lou Gehrig. (AP Photo/Anthony Camerano)
Babe Ruth, left, and Joe DiMaggio, right, shake hands as they meet for the first time on Jan. 24, 1938 at a sports banquet in New York City. Bill Corum, center, New York sports writer, introduced the former New York Yankees player, the Babe, and DiMaggio, the 1937 Yankees home-run champion. (AP Photo)
"Picture Story of Babe Ruth: Five Strips Illustrated by Artist Hank Barrow." AP Newsfeatures, Aug. 12, 1948. (AP Corporate Archives)
New York Yankees' players stand in the dugout at Yankee Stadium, in New York, in silent tribute after announcement of Babe Ruth's death, Aug.16, 1948. (AP Photo/Ron Howard)
A segment of the hustling and bustling crowd along Lexington Ave. in New York City, becomes stilled as spectators pay their respects as Babe Ruth's body is taken from a funeral home to a hearse for journey to Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, Aug. 17, 1948. (AP Photo/John Lindsay)
Men, women, and children file past the casket containing the body of Babe Ruth as it lies in state in the rotunda of Yankee Stadium in New York. Aug. 18, 1948. During its 85-and-a-half years, Yankee Stadium saw more momentous events than any other place the game has been played. (AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler)
Bill Robinson, the dancing Bojangles of the stage and movies and a long time New York Yankees fan, pays his last respects to Babe Ruth at Yankee Stadium. Robinson was the last of an estimated more than 50,000 who filed past the casket on Aug. 17, 1948 in New York. (AP Photo)
“There’ll never be another quite like him, this mountainous, apparently unwieldy man whose every move, strangely enough, was a picture never forgotten.”
Excerpt from “Word Picture of Babe Ruth” by Whitney Martin, AP Sports Columnist, January 6, 1947
Home run king Babe Ruth, wearing his famed number 3 uniform, bows as he acknowledges the cheers of thousands of fans who saw the no. 3 retired permanently by the Yankees during the June 13, 1948 observance of the 25th anniversary of the opening of Yankee Stadium in New York. (AP Photo/Harry Harris)
Text Excerpts
The Associated Press obituary for Babe Ruth, printed in Bristol, Va. Herald Courier, August 17, 1948.
The Associated Press article, "Mrs. Ruth Goes With Babe To Keep His Baseball Diet”, printed in The Buffalo Evening News, March 1, 1935.
Text and photo curation by Francesca Pitaro