On This Date in Sports August 17, 1948: Good Bye Babe

Babe Ruth lies in state at Yankee Stadium. The slugger who helped turn the New York Yankees into the most famous team in baseball while setting new home run records died on August 16th at 53 after a long battle with cancer. Over two days, over 100,000 fans would file past Babe’s open casket to say goodbye at the “House Babe Ruth Built.”

There was no more prominent name in baseball than Babe Ruth. The man was born George Herman Ruth in Baltimore on February 6, 1895. Ruth had a troubled life and was sent to live at St. Mary’s Reform School. There he played baseball and caught the attention of scouts in baseball. At the age of 19, he signed with the Baltimore Orioles of the International League. A few months later, he was sold to the Boston Red Sox.

Upon arriving in the majors, Babe Ruth established himself as one of the top pitchers in the American League, helping Boston win three World Series in four seasons as he set a record of 29 and two-thirds consecutive scoreless innings in the Fall Classic. Eventually, Babe Ruth began to make people take notice of his bat, as he became the top home run hitter in baseball. This led to him becoming an outfielder.

Before the 1920 season, Babe Ruth was sold to the New York Yankees by Red Sox Owner Harry Frazee, who was looking to finance a Broadway Play. With the Yankees, the Babe became the most significant sports star in the world, as he established new home run records, highlighted by his 60 home runs in 1927. After his first three years with the Yankees, the team was able to move out of the Polo Grounds into a stadium of their own, which soon became the envy of baseball.

As he collected more home runs, The Bambino earned the name the “Sultan of Swat.” Even in his ladder years, Babe Ruth was bigger than life, as h called his shot in the 1932 World Series against the Chicago Cubs. A year later, Ruth hit the first Home Run in the history of the All-Star Game. Shortly after hitting his 700th career home run, Ruth was released by the Yankees as he approached the age of 40 and was no longer able to run around the bases.

Babe Ruth had wanted to manage the Yankees but only received an offer to manage the Yankees' top farm team, the Newark Bears. Instead of retiring, Babe Ruth signed with the Boston Braves as a player-coach and had one more great day, hitting three home runs in a game on May 25, 1935, against the Pittsburgh Pirates before retiring five days later. Ruth never got a chance to manage and only briefly returned to the game as a coach with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1938.