During his 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (1914-1935), Babe Ruth, the “Bambino” and “Sultan of Swat,” becomes baseball’s most famous player and an American cultural icon.
Ruth is born in Baltimore in 1895 and, as an unruly child of 7, is put in the St. Mary’s Industrial School for Boys where he is mentored by a baseball-playing Xavierian priest. His skill as a left-handed pitcher gets him a minor league position with the Baltimore Orioles in 1914.
Once in the major leagues, Ruth pitches for the Boston Red Sox for four years. He is traded to the Yankees where he becomes a slugging star outfielder. His home runs are the longest ever recorded. Ruth leads the Yankees to four World Series titles.
His off-field antics, including drinking and womanizing, make the working class rags-to-riches star even more attractive to his devotees. He is one of five original members in the Hall of Fame, and 75,000 attend his funeral in New York City.
