"Sultan of Swat," "Behemoth of Bust," and the "Great Bambino" Even if you don’t know a lick of sports, you know who Babe Ruth was. Perhaps the greatest baseball player of all time lived such an outrageous life. TMZ would have their own dedicated “Babe” channel if he were around today.
Ruth number remain incredible even today but the stories are even better. thecolumbusdispatch
From drinking whiskey and smoking before the age of 10 to endlessly carousing to the point a roommate said, “I don’t room with Ruth, I room with his suitcase,” the Babe lived hard. Ruth’s legendary play led to an encyclopedia of incredible numbers but for this article, we’ll focus on the lesser-known tales of the man who preferred being called “The Big Fellow.”
You couldn't do 10% of Ruth did and get away with it today.
A Raucous Childhood
To understand the life of Babe Ruth, you have to look back to his childhood. He grew up living above one of his father’s saloons, which informs his behavior for most of his life. Before the age of eight (!), he had already taken to drinking beer and chewing tobacco. One of his biographers called him “one of the great natural misbehavers of all time.”
He also enjoyed wandering around dockyards while taunting local police. From his perspective, “Looking back on my boyhood, I honestly don’t remember being aware of the difference between right and wrong.” He grew so incorrigible that his parents actually sent him to St. Mary’s Industrial School for Orphans, Delinquent, Incorrigible and Wayward Boys in Baltimore.
Ruth was actually pretty fleet of foot for a portly fellow. baseballhalloffame
A Mean Streak
Sending Ruth to what amounted to a juvenile hall made waves throughout history. That’s where he fell in love with baseball despite graduating as a “qualified shirt maker.” You can’t really blame the Babe for his wild behavior.
Not only did he grow up above a bar, but he came from a long line of hotheads. His father actually died from a head injury he sustained while fighting one of his own family members! Ruth even signed his first major league contract while living at St. Mary’s, who had full guardianship.
He stole home plate an astonishing 10 times in his career.
Good Times
Obviously, Ruth made his mark on Major League Baseball but even more interesting were some of the sordid off-field stories. As teammate Waite Hoyt remembered, “No matter what the town, the beer would be iced and the bottles would fill the bathtub.”
When frustrated managers would attempt to curtail his more damaging behaviors with diets and sauna time, Ruth would momentarily agree. Of course, eventually, he returned to his favorite vices: alcohol and women. He famously told one manager, “I’ll promise to go easier on drinking and to get to bed earlier, but not for you, fifty thousand dollars, or two-hundred and fifty thousand dollars will I give up women. They’re too much fun.”
Nat Fein won the Pulitzer Prize for this photo of the aged Ruth standing at home plate.
A Man Of His Era
Ruth had so much fun but remembering people’s names became too much of a burden. To make things easier, men who were older were dubbed “doc” while those younger became “kid.” For women, he doled out names like “sweety,” “baby,” or “honey. His wife became “the missus” or “the wife.”
Rumors had it, the Sultan Of Swat, when not due to bat in an inning, would sneak out of a side door at Comiskey Park and hustle the 150 or so feet to a nearby bar. There, he’d quickly wolf down a hot dog and drain a beer or three! To keep from overheating amid all his excesses, the Babe would put some cabbage in his hat to keep him cool.
Ruth getting a much deserved curtain call.
Don’t Mess With The Bambino
Like his father, Ruth was no stranger to altercations. In one especially ornery month, the Babe got suspended three times for three separate runs-ins with the same umpire, Bill Dinneen. In one of those exchanges, he called him “one of the vilest names known.”
In another incident with a different ump, Ruth actually punched the offending official after arguing balls and strike over the very first batter of the game! Amazingly, his replacement came in and pitched a no-hitter the rest of the game.
His pitcher to all-time slugger still beggars belief to this day. thoughtco
Knowing His Worth
Teammate Joe Dugan once said of the Babe, “To understand him you had to understand this: He wasn’t human.” Any perusal of his gaudy numbers quickly backed that up and Ruth was well-aware of his value. Before his famous trade to the Yankees, Ruth held out for $10,000 in 1919 and then again the next year, stating he was worth at least twice what he just held out for the year before. Of course, he was absolutely right! Adjusted for inflation that comes out to just $161,157, which is about $400,000 less than the major league minimum today.
Legendary Mouth As Well
When playing for the Yankees a few years later, he again held out for $85,000 for three years. That just so happened to far outstrip the salary of then-President Herbert Hoover. When asked why he thought he deserved more than the Commander-in-Chief, it led to the amazing double-barreled reply, “The President gets a four-year contract. I’m only asking for three.” Along with “I had a better year than he did.”
