(Ruth’s former teammate and co-slugger Lou Gehrig is buried next door at Kensico Cemetery.) Some arrive by tour bus. Thousands of fans visit the Ruth site every year, according to an article written by Spencer Fordin for mlb.com. The Ruths share space at Gate of Heaven with, among others, actor Jimmy Cagney, manager Billy Martin, writer Herman Melville, and mobster Dutch Schultz. Ruth’s second wife, Claire, who died in 1976, is buried next to her former husband (His first wife, Helen, died in a fire in 1929.) The grave site is marked by a tall, sandblasted image of Christ with his arm on a young boy. About 6,000 people met the Babe’s casket. Patrick’s Cathedral and headed north to the Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, N.Y., in Westchester County. “I could sure use a beer,” the ex-ballplayer said. One former Yankee supposedly turned to Ruth’s old teammate Waite Hoyt. 16, Ruth said to the great Philadelphia A’s manager Connie Mack, “the termites have got me.”įamily and friends filled St Patrick’s Cathedral for Ruth’s funeral mass on Aug. The photograph that Nat Fein took of Ruth from behind won a Pulitzer Prize.Ĭancer did in the Babe.
He spoke to the crowd of 58,339 in a low, gravely voice and thanked all the fans for their applause through the years. He made his final appearance at Yankee Stadium on June 13, 1948. They were something special.” Ruth said of himself, “If I’d just tried for them dinky singles, I’d have hit. Dizzy Dean said, “No one hits home runs the way Babe Ruth did. He slugged his 714th homer on May 25, 1935, as a member of the Boston Braves. (Ruth topped the circuit in homers twice while doing double duty with the Red Sox.) He hit 59 in 1921 and topped that by smashing 60 in 1927. He led the American League in home runs 10 times. The Babe pitched in just five games as a Yankee. An excellent pitcher was on his way to being a legendary hitter. Boston sold Ruth’s contract to the Yankees in December 1919. Ruth compiled a 94-46 won-loss mark but complained that he wanted to play every day. The Boston Red Sox signed him as a burly left-handed pitched in 1914.
He punctuated the Roaring ‘20s.īorn in Baltimore, Ruth grew up rough and tumble. Ruth suffered in 1925 from a bellyache “heard round the world.” Or, did he battle something more sinister? (“Syphilis,” some whispered.) He ate, drank, and wanted nothing more than to be merry. “He called a shot in the World Series!” some insisted… “No, he didn’t!” many cried. In 1920, the Bambino blasted 54 home runs, more than any one team in the American League hit that year. “Babe Hits 60 th Home Run of Season.” “Sultan of Swat Slams No. “I like to live as big as I can.” He made headlines. I roomed with his suitcase.” (This quote is attributed to most of Ruth’s roommates over the years.)įans knew him as the Babe, the Big Bam, the Wizard of Wham, the Colossus of Clout, the Prince of Pounders, the Rajah of Rap, the Maharajah of Mash and more. Did the Babe ever stay still in life? One of his New York Yankee teammates, Ping Bodie, said, “I didn’t room with Babe Ruth. The site of a forever-still Ruth probably struck many of them odd. Babe Ruth, dead at age 53, lay in state at Yankee Stadium, the house he built.įans, former teammates, dignitaries and assorted drinking buddies paid their respects to America’s greatest and grandest athlete on Aug.
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