Breaking Babe Ruth

Rather than as a Falstaffian figure of limited intellect, Edmund Wehrle reveals Babe Ruth as an ambitious, independent operator, one not afraid to challenge baseball’s draconian labor system. To the baseball establishment, Ruth’s immense popularity represented opportunity, but his rebelliousness and potential to overturn the status quo presented a threat. After a decades-long campaign waged by baseball to contain and discredit him, the Babe, frustrated and struggling with injuries and illness, grew more acquiescent, but the image of Ruth that baseball perpetuated still informs how many people remember Babe Ruth to this day. This new perspective, approaching Ruth more seriously and placing his life in fuller context, is long overdue.

Before 1918, the Boston Red Sox were unstoppable. They won World Series after World Series, thanks in part to their charismatic pitcher-slugger Babe Ruth. But some people on the Red Sox felt the Babe was more trouble than he was worth, and he was traded away to one of the worst teams in baseball, the New York Yankees. From then on, the Yankees became a golden team. And the Red Sox? For over 80 years, they just couldn’t win another World Series. Then, in 2004, along came a scruffy, scrappy Red Sox team. Could they break Babe Ruth’s curse and win it all?

A poetic account of the legendary Babe Ruth as he prepares to make a home run.

Seven-year-old George "Babe" Ruth (who would grow up to become a baseball legend) steals a dollar from his father's saloon to treat his friends to ice cream. Includes timeline.

Discover the life of Babe Ruth—a story about making it to the top for kids ages 6 to 9 George Herman Ruth Jr., more commonly known as Babe Ruth, was one of the greatest American baseball players of all time. Before he was a sports hero, Babe was a poor kid who loved playing baseball but often got into trouble. His life changed when he went away to boarding school and he was discovered by the minor leagues. The rest is history! Explore how Babe went from being a young boy growing up in Baltimore to a record-breaking baseball player and sports hero with this biography for kids. Independent reading—This Babe Ruth biography is broken down into short chapters and simple language so kids 6 to 9 can read and learn on their own. Critical thinking—Kids will learn the Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How of Babe's life, find definitions of new words, discussion questions, and more. A lasting legacy—Find out how Babe Ruth changed the game of baseball for future generations—and became more than just a great baseball player. How will Babe's determination inspire you? Discover activists, artists, athletes, and more from across history with the rest of the Story Of series, including famous figures like: Jackie Robinson, Neil Armstrong, Amelia Earhart, the Wright Brothers, and Jane Goodall.

In an unprecedented look at Babe Ruth's amazing batting power, sure to inspire debate among baseball fans of every stripe, one of the country's most respected and trusted baseball historians reveals the amazing conclusions of more than twenty years of research. Jenkinson takes readers through Ruth's 1921 season, in which his pattern of battled balls would have accounted for more than 100 home runs in today's ballparks and under today's rules. Yet, 1921 is just tip of the iceberg, for Jenkinson's research reveals that during an era of mammoth field dimensions Ruth hit more 450-plus-feet shots than anybody in history, and the conclusions one can draw are mind boggling.

They called him the Babe. The Bambino. The Sultan of Swat. And finally they called him a legend. But the greatest baseball player who ever lived was also a flesh-and-blood man, the freest spirit ever to give managers gray hairs. This is the story of the game he played and the life he lived to the hilt—told as only he could tell it. Here are the golden moments on the diamond and the unforgettable times off of it. Here are the highs, the lows, the friendships, the feuds, and the loves—in a book filled with the plain-speaking, hard-hitting style of the man who came to symbolize America's favorite game.

As America's pasttime was still reeling from the Black Sox scandal of 1919, Red Sox player Babe Ruth was traded to the New York Yankees for $125,000. Who could have known that this business transaction would turn the 1920 season into a magical one and send Ruth's celebrity into the stratosphere? Babe Ruth captures that era, before Ruth joined the pantheon of sports gods.

First serialized in 1920, the Sultan of Swat's breezy account of his early life is rich with recollections of his childhood, his transition from pitcher to outfielder, and the blockbuster trade that sent him from the Red Sox to the Yankees. This original edition features new notes and photographs plus an Introduction by sports historian Paul Dickson.