1
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<i>The following is
a special presentation</i>

2
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<i>of the HBO Sports
documentary series...</i>

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Watch Online Movies and Series for FREE
www.osdb.link/lm

4
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<i>If Babe Ruth had not existed,</i>

5
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<i>it would've been
impossible to invent him.</i>

6
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<i>He was the 4th of July,
a brass band,</i>

7
00:00:32,198 --> 00:00:35,235
<i>and New Year's Eve
all rolled into one.</i>

8
00:00:38,870 --> 00:00:41,872
<i>He was bigger
in his dissipations,</i>

9
00:00:41,941 --> 00:00:43,808
<i>bigger in his volatility,</i>

10
00:00:43,877 --> 00:00:45,913
<i>bigger in his unpredictability.</i>

11
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<i>He was eccentricity
and total excellence</i>

12
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<i>wrapped up in one person.</i>

13
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<i>He made the world
more fun to be in,</i>

14
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<i>and everybody who was in his orbit
felt more alive because of Ruth.</i>

15
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<i>He's my father. He was
the only father I ever knew.</i>

16
00:01:10,970 --> 00:01:12,502
<i>He was such a lot of fun.</i>

17
00:01:12,572 --> 00:01:15,375
<i>I enjoyed every minute of it.</i>

18
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<i>He was celebrated for being
the mythical figure he was,</i>

19
00:01:22,482 --> 00:01:25,252
<i>who, at the same time,
was flesh and blood.</i>

20
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<i>And because
he was flesh and blood,</i>

21
00:01:28,420 --> 00:01:30,120
<i>he gave us that feeling</i>

22
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<i>of something larger than life</i>

23
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<i>of which we are a part.</i>

24
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<i>He would get up to the plate,</i>

25
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<i>he would kick
the dirt a little bit,</i>

26
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<i>take his stance...</i>

27
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<i>and then smile
down at the pitcher.</i>

28
00:01:52,912 --> 00:01:55,482
He'd take the bat,
and he'd point it out like that.

29
00:01:58,184 --> 00:02:02,018
<i>And you saw people
standing up, just applauding.</i>

30
00:02:02,087 --> 00:02:05,059
He hasn't done anything yet,
but there he is. They're applauding.

31
00:02:07,327 --> 00:02:08,604
<i>He swung and missed once,</i>

32
00:02:08,628 --> 00:02:10,039
<i>you know, that tremendous swing,</i>

33
00:02:10,063 --> 00:02:11,840
<i>he swung around, he's
looking up into the stands,</i>

34
00:02:11,864 --> 00:02:14,042
<i>and he was looking right at me,
as far as I was concerned.</i>

35
00:02:14,066 --> 00:02:16,837
"Just look, there's Babe Ruth
looking at me. Wow."

36
00:02:19,438 --> 00:02:21,342
<i>And what are you waiting to see?</i>

37
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"Hit a home run, Babe."

38
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Waiting for the pitch,
there was a sense

39
00:02:28,615 --> 00:02:31,048
<i>of a great coiled spring,</i>

40
00:02:31,117 --> 00:02:32,784
<i>and when he swung...</i>

41
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- Bam!
- Boom!

42
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- Boom!
- Bam! There it went.

43
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It was so frightening.
They all ducked.

44
00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:42,894
All of a sudden,
you see that ball go.

45
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Up, up, up, up, up.

46
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150 feet high
as it passed first base.

47
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And it just floated, floated,
floated and went forever.

48
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Like a homing pigeon, it would
choose direction and leave town.

49
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That ball had to travel
at least 600 feet on the fly.

50
00:03:00,946 --> 00:03:03,914
Over the fence, the parking lot,
the restaurant next door,

51
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<i>and four blocks down the street.</i>

52
00:03:08,054 --> 00:03:09,986
And then, very suddenly,

53
00:03:10,055 --> 00:03:13,324
<i>from this moment of immense
power and the ball flying out...</i>

54
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{\an8}<i>He ran
with little mincing steps...</i>

55
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thin legs,
these delicate ankles...

56
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<i>and he minced his way,
as though he were a dancer.</i>

57
00:03:27,640 --> 00:03:29,773
<i>Doffing his cap left and right,</i>

58
00:03:29,842 --> 00:03:32,143
<i>bowing and waving to everybody.</i>

59
00:03:37,783 --> 00:03:40,588
<i>And disappeared into the dugout.</i>

60
00:03:44,890 --> 00:03:48,291
<i>At Babe Ruth's massive
funeral in 1948,</i>

61
00:03:48,360 --> 00:03:51,462
<i>a puzzled drama critic
asked a sports writer</i>

62
00:03:51,531 --> 00:03:53,530
<i>"What did this man Ruth do,</i>

63
00:03:53,599 --> 00:03:56,637
<i>"what did he have
to merit this?"</i>

64
00:03:58,270 --> 00:04:01,150
<i>History tells us that Babe
Ruth was the greatest player</i>

65
00:04:01,174 --> 00:04:04,108
<i>in an era when baseball stood
alone as a national pastime.</i>

66
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<i>His talents were beyond unique,</i>

67
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<i>first, as a brilliant pitcher
with the Boston Red Sox,</i>

68
00:04:10,949 --> 00:04:13,954
<i>then a thunderous slugger
with the New York Yankees.</i>

69
00:04:16,155 --> 00:04:18,455
<i>But was it just
Ruth's astounding ability</i>

70
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<i>that allowed him
to sit among the gods?</i>

71
00:04:21,427 --> 00:04:24,732
<i>How did the Babe's life pass from
that of an ordinary human being...</i>

72
00:04:25,965 --> 00:04:28,366
<i>to star, to legend,</i>

73
00:04:28,435 --> 00:04:31,268
<i>and finally into myth?</i>

74
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<i>Ruth was far from perfect.</i>

75
00:04:35,441 --> 00:04:38,675
<i>He could be loud, and abrasive,
and impossibly immature.</i>

76
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<i>He was a perfect fit
for the times.</i>

77
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<i>A man of mighty appetites
and unrestrained desires,</i>

78
00:04:46,151 --> 00:04:50,922
<i>the Babe was a metaphor for the
big, broadening shoulders of America.</i>

79
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<i>Ruth himself once said,</i>

80
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<i>"I like to live
as big as I can."</i>

81
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<i>In an era when our country
was burgeoning with power,</i>

82
00:05:00,500 --> 00:05:02,933
<i>no one hit the ball
farther and louder</i>

83
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<i>than Babe Ruth.</i>

84
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{\an8}<i>No novelist
or Hollywood screenwriter,</i>

85
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{\an8}at the furthest extremes
of their imagination

86
00:05:12,579 --> 00:05:15,780
{\an8}would have dared invent
somebody like this.

87
00:05:18,585 --> 00:05:20,788
<i>This was science fiction.</i>

88
00:05:22,088 --> 00:05:25,223
{\an8}It's another dimension.
Exponential is the word.

89
00:05:25,292 --> 00:05:28,125
{\an8}The leap is wild and crazy,

90
00:05:28,194 --> 00:05:29,894
{\an8}<i>something Einsteinian.</i>

91
00:05:29,963 --> 00:05:32,563
{\an8}<i>You had scientists</i>

92
00:05:32,632 --> 00:05:34,364
{\an8}<i>coming and examining Ruth,</i>

93
00:05:34,433 --> 00:05:36,900
{\an8}and all kinds of strange,
bizarre articles

94
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{\an8}in the press about Ruth
having superhuman vision

95
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{\an8}or superhuman coordination.

96
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It was as though someone
had come from another planet.

97
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<i>The Babe's mammoth swing</i>

98
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<i>transformed baseball. He
practically invented the home run.</i>

99
00:05:50,250 --> 00:05:52,883
<i>In 1920, he hit 54.</i>

100
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<i>A total no other team
in the league could match.</i>

101
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<i>And he did it with an exhilarating
presence and unmatched muscle</i>

102
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<i>that had never been seen before.</i>

103
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{\an8}<i>John McGraw may have been</i>

104
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{\an8}the best inside baseball manager

105
00:06:06,632 --> 00:06:08,299
{\an8}that ever came over the Pike.

106
00:06:08,368 --> 00:06:10,667
<i>This guy was the Baltimore chop,</i>

107
00:06:10,736 --> 00:06:13,637
<i>the bunt, move the runner along,</i>

108
00:06:13,706 --> 00:06:15,639
<i>work for one run at a time.</i>

109
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<i>Ruth came along and started
breaking up ball games with one swing.</i>

110
00:06:20,246 --> 00:06:22,179
<i>There it goes!</i>

111
00:06:22,248 --> 00:06:23,713
McGraw hated him!

112
00:06:23,782 --> 00:06:26,850
<i>Here he'd been, 30 years,
managing and working for one run.</i>

113
00:06:26,919 --> 00:06:29,356
This guy wrecked the whole
afternoon with one swipe.

114
00:06:31,057 --> 00:06:33,227
<i>Pitchers were afraid of him.</i>

115
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{\an8}<i>They'd lie at night,</i>

116
00:06:36,796 --> 00:06:38,862
{\an8}knowing that the next day
they're facing Ruth,

117
00:06:38,931 --> 00:06:41,064
{\an8}and they would toss
in their sleep.

118
00:06:41,133 --> 00:06:44,401
<i>I was on first base,
and Ruth hit a home run.</i>

119
00:06:44,470 --> 00:06:47,137
<i>I ran around second,
hitting a pretty good clip,</i>

120
00:06:47,206 --> 00:06:49,840
{\an8}Art Fletcher was at third base,
saying, "Whoa! Whoa!"

121
00:06:49,909 --> 00:06:52,054
{\an8}'Cause the ball was way up
in the right-field stands.

122
00:06:52,078 --> 00:06:54,556
{\an8}I kept on going, you know,
and I came and sat down.

123
00:06:54,580 --> 00:06:56,013
<i>And when he came
into the dugout,</i>

124
00:06:56,082 --> 00:06:58,248
<i>he reached over, patted me
on top of the head and said,</i>

125
00:06:58,317 --> 00:07:00,050
"You don't need
to run like that, son,

126
00:07:00,119 --> 00:07:01,885
when the Babe hits one."

127
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<i>He was doing it
with such joy and simplicity,</i>

128
00:07:05,190 --> 00:07:07,124
<i>almost as if he didn't know
what he was doing.</i>

129
00:07:07,193 --> 00:07:08,729
<i>He just went up and did it.</i>

130
00:07:10,162 --> 00:07:12,162
<i>His hitting was
just unprecedented.</i>

131
00:07:12,231 --> 00:07:13,476
<i>No one had ever
done that before,</i>

132
00:07:13,500 --> 00:07:15,110
and that thrilled people.
It excited people.

133
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{\an8}It gave you a vicarious sense
of accomplishment

134
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{\an8}to see Ruth hit home runs.

135
00:07:18,404 --> 00:07:20,107
{\an8}It became an exciting thing.

136
00:07:21,807 --> 00:07:24,742
<i>For baseball, the timing
of Ruth's accomplishments</i>

137
00:07:24,811 --> 00:07:26,514
<i>was perfect.</i>

138
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<i>At the beginning of the decade,
a dark cloud of deceit</i>

139
00:07:32,219 --> 00:07:33,595
<i>had threatened the game.</i>

140
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<i>Accused of throwing
the 1919 World Series,</i>

141
00:07:36,555 --> 00:07:40,294
<i>several Chicago White Sox
players were tossed out of baseball.</i>

142
00:07:41,294 --> 00:07:42,960
<i>Disenchanted fans stayed away,</i>

143
00:07:43,029 --> 00:07:44,829
<i>until they were lured back</i>

144
00:07:44,898 --> 00:07:46,997
<i>by the game's two new powers.</i>

145
00:07:47,066 --> 00:07:48,610
<i>In move to clean up game,</i>

146
00:07:48,634 --> 00:07:52,402
<i>team owners in 1920 made
Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis</i>

147
00:07:52,471 --> 00:07:54,638
<i>high commissioner
of national pastime,</i>

148
00:07:54,707 --> 00:07:58,108
<i>and he brought baseball back.</i>

149
00:07:58,177 --> 00:08:00,177
<i>But Babe Ruth, too,
was a big help</i>

150
00:08:00,246 --> 00:08:01,924
<i>to the commissioner
with his spindle legs,</i>

151
00:08:01,948 --> 00:08:04,448
<i>beaming face, and booming bat.</i>

152
00:08:04,517 --> 00:08:06,561
<i>Even when the Bambino
hit a single,</i>

153
00:08:06,585 --> 00:08:10,253
<i>thousands cheered, and thousands
more fought to see him play the game.</i>

154
00:08:10,322 --> 00:08:13,857
<i>The home team is in
seventh place, going nowhere.</i>

155
00:08:13,926 --> 00:08:17,761
On a weekday afternoon, we'd
draw maybe 2,000 or 3,000 people.

156
00:08:17,830 --> 00:08:19,967
<i>The Yankees came into town.</i>

157
00:08:21,133 --> 00:08:24,235
{\an8}The crowds suddenly were
getting larger.

158
00:08:26,172 --> 00:08:29,573
<i>Every seat was full
on a hot Wednesday afternoon,</i>

159
00:08:29,642 --> 00:08:32,309
<i>and there was
only one reason for that.</i>

160
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<i>"Hey, the Babe is playing.</i>

161
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"Hey, this is somebody big,
somebody we can root for."

162
00:08:37,416 --> 00:08:40,717
<i>Their beloved game
was embodied in this man,</i>

163
00:08:40,786 --> 00:08:42,386
<i>and they would
sell out the house.</i>

164
00:08:42,455 --> 00:08:44,455
<i>People wanted to see this guy.</i>

165
00:08:46,758 --> 00:08:50,827
<i>In 1923, the Yankees took
advantage of Ruth's popularity</i>

166
00:08:50,896 --> 00:08:54,134
<i>by building a brand-new
$2.5 million stadium.</i>

167
00:08:55,535 --> 00:08:57,634
<i>It held 65,000 fans,</i>

168
00:08:57,703 --> 00:09:00,437
<i>and because so many of them
were there to see the Babe,</i>

169
00:09:00,506 --> 00:09:04,374
<i>it was quickly christened
the House that Ruth built.</i>

170
00:09:04,443 --> 00:09:09,279
<i>His existence enlarges us</i>

171
00:09:09,348 --> 00:09:11,515
<i>just by looking at him,
thinking about him.</i>

172
00:09:11,584 --> 00:09:13,183
<i>It was because
you saw perfection,</i>

173
00:09:13,252 --> 00:09:16,019
<i>and it's so glorious
that it's almost painful.</i>

174
00:09:16,088 --> 00:09:17,722
<i>And when you were
at the ballpark</i>

175
00:09:17,791 --> 00:09:19,890
<i>and Babe took that big swing,</i>

176
00:09:19,959 --> 00:09:23,027
<i>and the ball didn't
fall down at the end...</i>

177
00:09:23,096 --> 00:09:25,329
{\an8}it whacked against a seat
in the bleachers...

178
00:09:25,398 --> 00:09:28,098
{\an8}you thought, "I saw this.
I was here.

179
00:09:28,167 --> 00:09:30,767
"I was in the presence
of greatness."

180
00:09:30,836 --> 00:09:33,370
<i>And to be in the presence
of greatness means</i>

181
00:09:33,439 --> 00:09:35,539
<i>that some tiny fleck of it</i>

182
00:09:35,608 --> 00:09:37,678
<i>is attached to you.</i>

183
00:09:41,647 --> 00:09:44,314
<i>The most exciting thing
in baseball</i>

184
00:09:44,383 --> 00:09:46,617
<i>was watching
Babe Ruth hit a home run.</i>

185
00:09:46,686 --> 00:09:48,920
And the second
most exciting thing

186
00:09:48,989 --> 00:09:51,655
<i>was watching
Babe Ruth strike out.</i>

187
00:09:51,724 --> 00:09:53,724
<i>One of the few quotable lines
from Lou Gehrig...</i>

188
00:09:53,793 --> 00:09:56,827
he said, "I batted after him,
and it never mattered what I did,

189
00:09:56,896 --> 00:09:59,336
"'cause they were always talking
about what he had just done,"

190
00:09:59,366 --> 00:10:01,647
<i>even if he had done nothing.</i>

191
00:10:02,368 --> 00:10:05,269
<i>More than any other athlete
during sports' golden age,</i>

192
00:10:05,338 --> 00:10:07,737
<i>Babe Ruth's appeal
ranged far beyond</i>

193
00:10:07,806 --> 00:10:10,711
<i>the man-made limits of the
great ballparks he played in.</i>

194
00:10:13,079 --> 00:10:15,446
<i>By the mid-'20s,</i>

195
00:10:15,515 --> 00:10:17,147
<i>Ruth was everywhere.</i>

196
00:10:17,216 --> 00:10:19,749
<i>Pushed along by the explosion
of tabloid journalism,</i>

197
00:10:19,818 --> 00:10:22,419
<i>he would eventually become
an inescapable part</i>

198
00:10:22,488 --> 00:10:24,299
<i>of popular American culture.</i>

199
00:10:24,323 --> 00:10:29,093
<i>In the eyes of the press,
the Babe was a dream subject.</i>

200
00:10:29,162 --> 00:10:31,228
{\an8}He was made for them...

201
00:10:31,297 --> 00:10:33,897
{\an8}just as Al Capone was
made for them

202
00:10:33,966 --> 00:10:36,499
{\an8}or Charles Lindbergh
was made for them...

203
00:10:36,568 --> 00:10:39,173
{\an8}<i>because of the way he looked
and because of what he did.</i>

204
00:10:40,473 --> 00:10:42,105
<i>When he would come to Chicago,</i>

205
00:10:42,174 --> 00:10:44,207
<i>one of the Chicago
papers just had</i>

206
00:10:44,276 --> 00:10:48,379
"Ruth in Chicago!"
with an exclamation point.

207
00:10:48,448 --> 00:10:50,847
"Ruth Home Run Wins Game."

208
00:10:50,916 --> 00:10:53,617
<i>That kind of stuff got into
every paper across the country.</i>

209
00:10:53,686 --> 00:10:56,687
<i>Every man had it
with his breakfast coffee.</i>

210
00:10:58,391 --> 00:11:00,728
<i>"'Ruth Home Run.'
Jeez, he hit another one?"</i>

211
00:11:03,295 --> 00:11:06,230
<i>The sports writers played
a crucial part of it,</i>

212
00:11:06,299 --> 00:11:07,531
<i>and the photographers,</i>

213
00:11:07,600 --> 00:11:09,178
<i>'cause he was enough of a ham.</i>

214
00:11:09,202 --> 00:11:12,002
<i>He'd lend himself
to publicity stunts.</i>

215
00:11:21,447 --> 00:11:23,192
<i>Put a beard on him,
pose him with a monkey...</i>

216
00:11:23,216 --> 00:11:24,814
<i>he was a photographer's dream.</i>

217
00:11:24,883 --> 00:11:27,551
<i>- He was a quote machine.
- He was not some remote guy.</i>

218
00:11:27,620 --> 00:11:29,887
<i>He sat, talked,
and drank beer with them,</i>

219
00:11:29,956 --> 00:11:31,856
<i>and they cherished him for that.</i>

220
00:11:31,925 --> 00:11:33,591
<i>He made their job easier.</i>

221
00:11:33,660 --> 00:11:36,831
<i>So the media
really built Babe Ruth.</i>

222
00:11:38,130 --> 00:11:40,008
Every reporter who covered Ruth

223
00:11:40,032 --> 00:11:45,235
<i>had the illusion that he was a
great friend of Ruth, personally.</i>

224
00:11:45,304 --> 00:11:48,304
<i>And so, the minute he started
to write about Ruth,</i>

225
00:11:48,373 --> 00:11:51,876
<i>he was always writing about
what he considered his friend.</i>

226
00:11:53,879 --> 00:11:56,480
And you can't forget that face.

227
00:11:56,549 --> 00:11:59,253
He had the face
of a happy catcher's mitt.

228
00:12:01,353 --> 00:12:03,955
He had a face that looked
like a horse had stepped on it.

229
00:12:04,023 --> 00:12:05,860
<i>That helped.</i>

230
00:12:10,896 --> 00:12:12,596
<i>He was as easy to recognize</i>

231
00:12:12,665 --> 00:12:14,835
<i>as the King of Siam's
white elephant.</i>

232
00:12:16,201 --> 00:12:18,302
<i>The face seemed
to fit Babe Ruth.</i>

233
00:12:18,371 --> 00:12:20,704
I can't imagine
a handsome Babe Ruth.

234
00:12:20,773 --> 00:12:22,673
{\an8}<i>Who has ever looked like him</i>

235
00:12:22,742 --> 00:12:24,741
{\an8}since Babe Ruth?

236
00:12:24,810 --> 00:12:27,144
{\an8}Try to think of somebody
who has looked like him.

237
00:12:27,213 --> 00:12:30,881
<i>It's like he was created for
this role that he was given,</i>

238
00:12:30,950 --> 00:12:33,020
<i>and he played it to the hilt.</i>

239
00:12:34,353 --> 00:12:36,686
<i>The name helped, "Babe Ruth."</i>

240
00:12:36,755 --> 00:12:38,300
I mean, gee, if his name was
Harold Thompson,

241
00:12:38,324 --> 00:12:39,902
I don't think he would've
had the same impact.

242
00:12:39,926 --> 00:12:41,659
But "Babe Ruth"?

243
00:12:41,728 --> 00:12:44,028
<i>Many Italian immigrants
in New York,</i>

244
00:12:44,097 --> 00:12:45,407
<i>instead of saying,
"How'd the Babe do?"</i>

245
00:12:45,431 --> 00:12:47,043
They'd say, "How'd the
Bambino do yesterday?"

246
00:12:47,067 --> 00:12:48,632
And so,
"Bambino" became his name.

247
00:12:48,701 --> 00:12:50,367
And the "Bam!" sound
fitted in there.

248
00:12:50,436 --> 00:12:53,574
<i>"Bam! Hits one."
Everything fit.</i>

249
00:12:54,841 --> 00:12:57,541
<i>You didn't forget him.
He was indelible.</i>

250
00:13:00,346 --> 00:13:02,725
<i>And everybody who saw him
had a story about him.</i>

251
00:13:02,749 --> 00:13:04,882
<i>Remembered something about him.
Everyplace he went,</i>

252
00:13:04,951 --> 00:13:06,671
<i>he sort of left a trail.</i>

253
00:13:07,487 --> 00:13:09,207
<i>As baseball's biggest draw,</i>

254
00:13:09,255 --> 00:13:12,056
<i>Ruth made a fortune
criss-crossing the country.</i>

255
00:13:12,125 --> 00:13:15,396
<i>No town was
too small or too far away.</i>

256
00:13:17,363 --> 00:13:19,463
<i>If the Babe's fans
couldn't get to a game,</i>

257
00:13:19,532 --> 00:13:21,368
<i>he would get to them.</i>

258
00:13:22,868 --> 00:13:25,569
Major league baseball
ended at the Mississippi River,

259
00:13:25,638 --> 00:13:27,871
where the St. Louis
Cardinals were.

260
00:13:27,940 --> 00:13:30,975
<i>Babe Ruth went
on barnstorming tours</i>

261
00:13:31,044 --> 00:13:32,364
<i>after the season.</i>

262
00:13:32,411 --> 00:13:35,649
<i>He was spreading
baseball across the country.</i>

263
00:13:40,652 --> 00:13:44,388
<i>People would be standing along
the tracks or out in the meadows,</i>

264
00:13:44,456 --> 00:13:47,658
<i>because they had heard that
Babe Ruth was on that train.</i>

265
00:13:47,727 --> 00:13:50,928
<i>They were hoping to get
a half-second glimpse of him.</i>

266
00:13:50,997 --> 00:13:53,275
He would wave at them.
He would show them his cards,

267
00:13:53,299 --> 00:13:55,266
saying, "I've got
a great hand."

268
00:13:55,335 --> 00:13:58,869
<i>And the Babe being
on the back platform,</i>

269
00:13:58,938 --> 00:14:01,638
and kids running
from all over the place

270
00:14:01,707 --> 00:14:03,774
and jumping up on the train
to get his autograph,

271
00:14:03,843 --> 00:14:06,003
<i>to touch him, to look at him.</i>

272
00:14:09,681 --> 00:14:12,182
<i>You read about them
and you heard about them,</i>

273
00:14:12,251 --> 00:14:14,952
<i>but suddenly to see
these big-league ballplayers</i>

274
00:14:15,021 --> 00:14:19,123
<i>on your local sandlots... and
you're talking about the best players,</i>

275
00:14:19,192 --> 00:14:23,193
<i>like Gehrig, Lefty Grove.</i>

276
00:14:23,262 --> 00:14:26,300
<i>There, in the middle
of it all, was Babe Ruth.</i>

277
00:14:27,433 --> 00:14:30,004
<i>Moby Dick in a goldfish bowl.</i>

278
00:14:32,138 --> 00:14:33,637
Did you ever see
one of his movies?

279
00:14:33,706 --> 00:14:37,141
<i>At the top of his chosen game,</i>

280
00:14:37,210 --> 00:14:39,009
<i>the Babe even tried acting,</i>

281
00:14:39,078 --> 00:14:42,612
<i>although his flair for the dramatic
didn't come through on-screen.</i>

282
00:14:42,681 --> 00:14:46,350
<i>Ruth's movies were far
from an artistic or financial hit,</i>

283
00:14:46,419 --> 00:14:48,899
<i>but that didn't seem
to hurt his popularity.</i>

284
00:14:50,723 --> 00:14:53,724
<i>More people knew about Ruth
than knew about the president</i>

285
00:14:53,793 --> 00:14:55,996
<i>in this country,
and a lot more cared.</i>

286
00:14:57,430 --> 00:14:59,763
<i>He transcended sport
in the sense that</i>

287
00:14:59,832 --> 00:15:02,666
<i>people who didn't care
about sport knew who he was.</i>

288
00:15:02,735 --> 00:15:06,604
<i>He went outside
the limits of sport culture.</i>

289
00:15:13,913 --> 00:15:16,880
<i>Moe Berg shared
a suite with Babe.</i>

290
00:15:16,949 --> 00:15:19,850
<i>Babe was in the bedroom
with... What shall I call it?</i>

291
00:15:19,919 --> 00:15:22,286
<i>...multiple feminine
companionship,</i>

292
00:15:22,355 --> 00:15:25,322
and the phone rang.
Moe thought it was for Babe,

293
00:15:25,391 --> 00:15:27,624
he didn't pick it up,
and Babe came in

294
00:15:27,692 --> 00:15:31,061
in some<i> deshabille... with
his pants down... and said,</i>

295
00:15:31,130 --> 00:15:33,464
"You're Babe Ruth.

296
00:15:33,532 --> 00:15:35,332
"He's Father Flanagan.

297
00:15:35,401 --> 00:15:37,972
"Tell him
you'll be right down."

298
00:15:39,005 --> 00:15:41,305
Moe...
"Hello, Father.

299
00:15:41,374 --> 00:15:44,641
"This is Babe.
I'll be right down."

300
00:15:44,710 --> 00:15:47,110
<i>Later he said to Babe, "Why
couldn't you have said that?"</i>

301
00:15:47,179 --> 00:15:50,214
<i>And Babe said, "Me,
with what I was doing,</i>

302
00:15:50,283 --> 00:15:52,419
<i>"talk to a priest? Never."</i>

303
00:15:53,486 --> 00:15:55,452
<i>Ruth was a complex mix.</i>

304
00:15:55,521 --> 00:15:59,356
He was crude,
and rough, uncultured.

305
00:15:59,425 --> 00:16:00,758
<i>I was under the shower,</i>

306
00:16:00,827 --> 00:16:02,827
<i>and I had my face to the wall</i>

307
00:16:02,896 --> 00:16:04,695
<i>and the warm water
coming down on me,</i>

308
00:16:04,764 --> 00:16:06,931
<i>and I was lathering
my face, and my chest,</i>

309
00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:08,866
and under my arms with soap.

310
00:16:08,935 --> 00:16:11,836
And all of a sudden,
I felt something

311
00:16:11,905 --> 00:16:13,804
a little hotter

312
00:16:13,873 --> 00:16:17,107
than the water from the shower.

313
00:16:17,176 --> 00:16:20,177
And I turned around,
and here was Ruth

314
00:16:20,246 --> 00:16:22,112
standing outside the shower,

315
00:16:22,181 --> 00:16:24,885
using the middle
of my back for a urinal.

316
00:16:26,452 --> 00:16:28,786
<i>And he laughed, guffawed.</i>

317
00:16:28,855 --> 00:16:31,555
<i>He thought that was
real funny, you know?</i>

318
00:16:31,624 --> 00:16:34,858
<i>But at the same time,
he was a very good man.</i>

319
00:16:34,927 --> 00:16:38,262
He loved children.
He loved making people happy.

320
00:16:38,331 --> 00:16:40,011
He loved doing things for them,

321
00:16:40,065 --> 00:16:45,068
<i>far beyond what you would
expect from a man of his stature.</i>

322
00:16:45,137 --> 00:16:47,371
{\an8}When we went on road trips,
he always made certain

323
00:16:47,440 --> 00:16:49,352
{\an8}that I got to mass
on a Sunday morning.

324
00:16:49,376 --> 00:16:51,709
So we pray...

325
00:16:51,778 --> 00:16:53,222
<i>If nobody else got to mass,</i>

326
00:16:53,246 --> 00:16:55,312
<i>He made sure that
I got to mass with him.</i>

327
00:16:55,381 --> 00:16:57,381
<i>Perfect gentleman,
like a father to me.</i>

328
00:16:57,450 --> 00:17:00,017
<i>Babe Ruth could be</i>

329
00:17:00,086 --> 00:17:01,886
<i>both crude and kind.</i>

330
00:17:01,955 --> 00:17:04,054
<i>His personality was a paradox,</i>

331
00:17:04,123 --> 00:17:07,328
<i>shaped by two compelling
and conflicting forces.</i>

332
00:17:09,528 --> 00:17:13,997
<i>Early in his childhood, George Herman
Ruth learned the way of the streets,</i>

333
00:17:14,066 --> 00:17:16,801
<i>growing up an incorrigible kid
in a tough neighborhood</i>

334
00:17:16,870 --> 00:17:19,440
<i>along Baltimore's
seedy waterfront.</i>

335
00:17:20,440 --> 00:17:21,784
<i>The son of a saloon keeper,</i>

336
00:17:21,808 --> 00:17:25,209
<i>wherever Ruth went,
trouble followed.</i>

337
00:17:25,278 --> 00:17:26,278
<i>When he was a little kid,</i>

338
00:17:26,346 --> 00:17:27,811
<i>he would drink things
in the bar.</i>

339
00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:30,180
<i>He used to throw things at
the cops and at the truckers.</i>

340
00:17:30,249 --> 00:17:32,782
<i>He stole. A real
pain-in-the-neck little kid.</i>

341
00:17:32,851 --> 00:17:35,452
The kind you could admire, maybe
if you weren't in charge of him,

342
00:17:35,521 --> 00:17:37,855
but he was a real nuisance
to his parents.

343
00:17:37,924 --> 00:17:39,301
<i>When he was eight,</i>

344
00:17:39,325 --> 00:17:41,692
<i>Ruth's parents had him
committed to St. Mary's,</i>

345
00:17:41,761 --> 00:17:43,521
<i>a reform school for boys.</i>

346
00:17:43,563 --> 00:17:45,262
<i>Showered with tough love,</i>

347
00:17:45,331 --> 00:17:47,398
<i>he experienced kindness
and compassion</i>

348
00:17:47,467 --> 00:17:49,733
<i>for the first time.</i>

349
00:17:49,802 --> 00:17:52,136
<i>The resulting inner struggle
between right and wrong</i>

350
00:17:52,205 --> 00:17:54,705
<i>provided an interesting
contradiction</i>

351
00:17:54,774 --> 00:17:57,274
<i>which would define
Ruth's behavior</i>

352
00:17:57,343 --> 00:18:00,447
<i>throughout his personal
and professional life.</i>

353
00:18:01,714 --> 00:18:03,157
<i>He had grown up a bad boy,</i>

354
00:18:03,181 --> 00:18:06,517
<i>and he didn't want any of us to
go through what he went through,</i>

355
00:18:06,586 --> 00:18:09,953
<i>and he used to lecture us
along those lines.</i>

356
00:18:10,022 --> 00:18:11,888
{\an8}"Do what your mother
tells you to do,

357
00:18:11,957 --> 00:18:14,291
{\an8}"and do what your father
tells you to do."

358
00:18:14,360 --> 00:18:17,127
He'd hear a kid swearing,
and he'd yell out,

359
00:18:17,196 --> 00:18:21,035
"God damn it! Stop that
goddamn swearing over there!"

360
00:18:26,039 --> 00:18:28,005
<i>He had trouble
managing a family,</i>

361
00:18:28,074 --> 00:18:30,275
<i>didn't seem to much give
a damn about that.</i>

362
00:18:30,344 --> 00:18:32,046
<i>He was a paradox.</i>

363
00:18:33,713 --> 00:18:36,413
<i>Ruth had become
a major leaguer at 19.</i>

364
00:18:36,482 --> 00:18:39,250
<i>Just months
after he joined the Red Sox,</i>

365
00:18:39,319 --> 00:18:41,719
<i>Babe married
his first wife, Helen,</i>

366
00:18:41,788 --> 00:18:44,322
<i>herself a babe...
barely 16.</i>

367
00:18:47,627 --> 00:18:49,493
<i>It was typically impulsive,</i>

368
00:18:49,562 --> 00:18:52,132
<i>and Ruth quickly tired
of the commitment.</i>

369
00:18:53,133 --> 00:18:55,132
<i>Even after adopting a child...</i>

370
00:18:55,201 --> 00:18:57,601
<i>rumor had him fathering
by way of a maid...</i>

371
00:18:57,670 --> 00:18:59,603
<i>the Babe abandoned his family,</i>

372
00:18:59,672 --> 00:19:02,372
<i>apparently uncaring
of his actions.</i>

373
00:19:02,441 --> 00:19:04,608
<i>For a man of Ruth's background,</i>

374
00:19:04,677 --> 00:19:07,478
<i>the temptations
that fame and fortune brought</i>

375
00:19:07,547 --> 00:19:09,546
<i>were too great to ignore.</i>

376
00:19:09,615 --> 00:19:12,716
<i>If you've been a poor kid,
and he had been a poor kid,</i>

377
00:19:12,785 --> 00:19:15,319
what you want more than anything

378
00:19:15,388 --> 00:19:18,056
is more to eat, more to drink,

379
00:19:18,125 --> 00:19:19,834
more to enjoy

380
00:19:19,858 --> 00:19:22,826
than you ever had in those
times when your pleasures were

381
00:19:22,895 --> 00:19:25,996
<i>in the dribs and drabs
of an extra piece of bread</i>

382
00:19:26,065 --> 00:19:28,225
<i>or a bed next to the wall.</i>

383
00:19:28,267 --> 00:19:30,045
Here's a kid who grew up
in an orphanage

384
00:19:30,069 --> 00:19:33,170
and probably had more animal
appetites than 14 animals.

385
00:19:33,239 --> 00:19:36,340
He devoured food.
He devoured sex.

386
00:19:36,409 --> 00:19:38,442
He devoured fun.

387
00:19:38,511 --> 00:19:40,912
<i>He was always reaching out</i>

388
00:19:40,981 --> 00:19:43,947
<i>for something of enjoyment.</i>

389
00:19:44,016 --> 00:19:46,083
{\an8}Babe Ruth is the only guy

390
00:19:46,152 --> 00:19:48,255
{\an8}that ever lived up
to his reputation.

391
00:19:49,489 --> 00:19:52,722
<i>He was a monster
off the ball field.</i>

392
00:19:52,791 --> 00:19:54,792
{\an8}<i>We left the Back Bay Station</i>

393
00:19:54,861 --> 00:19:56,361
{\an8}<i>here in Boston,</i>

394
00:19:56,430 --> 00:19:58,061
{\an8}went down to New York,

395
00:19:58,130 --> 00:20:00,965
{\an8}and he got off at 125th Street,

396
00:20:01,034 --> 00:20:03,571
{\an8}and in that time...

397
00:20:04,537 --> 00:20:07,004
{\an8}I saw him drink

398
00:20:07,073 --> 00:20:08,439
{\an8}a quart of scotch.

399
00:20:08,508 --> 00:20:11,208
<i>He was perfectly okay,
wasn't drunk or anything.</i>

400
00:20:11,277 --> 00:20:14,912
<i>When he got off the train,
he was just very genial.</i>

401
00:20:16,249 --> 00:20:18,415
<i>White Sox got a great idea.</i>

402
00:20:18,484 --> 00:20:20,685
<i>They were gonna
take the Babe out.</i>

403
00:20:20,754 --> 00:20:22,887
<i>They were gonna
make a night of it.</i>

404
00:20:22,956 --> 00:20:24,558
<i>They took him out.</i>

405
00:20:31,631 --> 00:20:33,731
He gets up there,
"Here we go!"

406
00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:35,833
Told the bartender,

407
00:20:35,902 --> 00:20:37,669
"Charlie, mix me up
one of those things."

408
00:20:38,972 --> 00:20:42,306
Poured the thing in there,
the Babe lifted that up...

409
00:20:45,112 --> 00:20:47,278
He went all the way,

410
00:20:47,347 --> 00:20:50,113
<i>ice cubes included.</i>

411
00:20:50,182 --> 00:20:52,717
For Pete's sakes,
that guy's got a throat

412
00:20:52,786 --> 00:20:54,722
like a trombone.

413
00:20:56,355 --> 00:20:59,322
<i>Three minutes before the
ballgame, here comes the Babe.</i>

414
00:20:59,391 --> 00:21:02,426
<i>Miller Huggins looks
and says, "Look at him.</i>

415
00:21:02,495 --> 00:21:04,294
<i>"He ain't even been
in bed all night."</i>

416
00:21:04,363 --> 00:21:06,597
He says, "That guy's
gonna play today."

417
00:21:06,666 --> 00:21:07,965
Okay, he played.

418
00:21:08,034 --> 00:21:10,601
<i>He butchered
the White Sox, okay?</i>

419
00:21:12,405 --> 00:21:15,505
<i>The game is over,
Babe hurries up the steps</i>

420
00:21:15,574 --> 00:21:18,342
<i>to get to the White Sox
before they disappear.</i>

421
00:21:18,411 --> 00:21:20,445
<i>"Hey, where we going tonight?"</i>

422
00:21:22,082 --> 00:21:24,148
<i>Then of course, he ate</i>

423
00:21:24,217 --> 00:21:25,782
god knows how many hot dogs.

424
00:21:25,851 --> 00:21:28,885
{\an8}He had drawn me back into
the dressing room during a game,

425
00:21:28,954 --> 00:21:31,299
to get a couple of hot dogs
and a bottle of soda pop.

426
00:21:31,323 --> 00:21:34,458
<i>I'd go back two, three, four
times during a ballgame.</i>

427
00:21:34,527 --> 00:21:37,395
<i>Hot mustard,
relish, sauerkraut...</i>

428
00:21:37,464 --> 00:21:39,466
<i>he had the works.</i>

429
00:21:40,533 --> 00:21:41,999
<i>Oh good lord. Oh my.</i>

430
00:21:42,068 --> 00:21:44,401
<i>Yes, he ate. He was hungry,</i>

431
00:21:44,470 --> 00:21:46,637
<i>and he had an appetite
for everything.</i>

432
00:21:46,706 --> 00:21:48,546
He wanted to taste everything.
He chased women.

433
00:21:51,578 --> 00:21:53,410
He used to go out
with the kind of women

434
00:21:53,479 --> 00:21:55,912
everybody would like
to go out with if they could...

435
00:21:55,981 --> 00:21:58,515
<i>the chorus girls,
Broadway cuties,</i>

436
00:21:58,584 --> 00:22:00,918
<i>What Ruth liked
more than anything else</i>

437
00:22:00,987 --> 00:22:03,087
<i>was lying on his stomach</i>

438
00:22:03,156 --> 00:22:06,056
<i>and having a geisha
walk on his spine</i>

439
00:22:06,125 --> 00:22:08,337
<i>from top to bottom
and back again.</i>

440
00:22:08,361 --> 00:22:10,664
{\an8}Ruth thought that was
beyond belief.

441
00:22:11,931 --> 00:22:13,797
{\an8}I do believe the geisha
was naked at the time.

442
00:22:13,866 --> 00:22:16,266
{\an8}I don't know about Ruth.

443
00:22:16,335 --> 00:22:18,602
<i>Women looked for him,</i>

444
00:22:18,671 --> 00:22:21,605
and he used to like
to have his visitations

445
00:22:21,674 --> 00:22:24,442
<i>in the morning before ballgames.</i>

446
00:22:24,511 --> 00:22:25,776
{\an8}He was exhausted

447
00:22:25,845 --> 00:22:27,811
{\an8}and didn't really have room
in his schedule,

448
00:22:27,880 --> 00:22:30,982
{\an8}he still would allow one
into his bedroom

449
00:22:31,051 --> 00:22:32,294
{\an8}and do his duty.

450
00:22:32,318 --> 00:22:34,418
<i>Called me up one day</i>

451
00:22:34,487 --> 00:22:37,954
<i>and said, "Devens,
could I use your room?"</i>

452
00:22:38,023 --> 00:22:40,724
<i>I said, "Who's this?"
"Babe," he said.</i>

453
00:22:40,793 --> 00:22:42,763
"Why yes, sir," I said.

454
00:22:44,530 --> 00:22:47,731
<i>This guy was
the king of the world.</i>

455
00:22:47,800 --> 00:22:50,304
Imagine being Babe Ruth.

456
00:22:51,437 --> 00:22:52,840
<i>That'd be a ball, wouldn't it?</i>

457
00:22:55,841 --> 00:22:57,201
<i>There were times when even Ruth</i>

458
00:22:57,243 --> 00:22:58,776
<i>took excess to the extreme.</i>

459
00:22:58,845 --> 00:23:01,112
<i>He missed two months
of the '25 season</i>

460
00:23:01,181 --> 00:23:02,691
<i>with a mysterious illness</i>

461
00:23:02,715 --> 00:23:05,181
<i>the writers called "the
bellyache heard round the world,"</i>

462
00:23:05,250 --> 00:23:09,220
<i>although others hinted that
syphilis was the more likely cause.</i>

463
00:23:10,890 --> 00:23:13,624
<i>There was even one time his
insatiable appetite for women</i>

464
00:23:13,693 --> 00:23:16,163
<i>nearly led to his demise.</i>

465
00:23:17,263 --> 00:23:18,796
<i>He had this Latin girl</i>

466
00:23:18,865 --> 00:23:20,497
<i>in Ybor City in Tampa.</i>

467
00:23:20,566 --> 00:23:23,701
<i>He told her that
the relationship had to end,</i>

468
00:23:23,770 --> 00:23:25,647
<i>because he was going
into spring training.</i>

469
00:23:25,671 --> 00:23:29,439
<i>In reality, he had found something
that he liked somewhat better.</i>

470
00:23:29,508 --> 00:23:33,877
And this Latin girl came in the
front entrance to the dining room,

471
00:23:33,946 --> 00:23:35,290
<i>she looked
around the dining room</i>

472
00:23:35,314 --> 00:23:37,159
<i>and saw Ruth and this
other woman over there.</i>

473
00:23:37,183 --> 00:23:39,583
<i>And as she was
coming toward him,</i>

474
00:23:39,652 --> 00:23:42,019
she reached into her pocketbook,

475
00:23:42,088 --> 00:23:44,021
and she pulled out this revolver

476
00:23:44,090 --> 00:23:47,023
and kept on coming.
This woman fired...

477
00:23:47,092 --> 00:23:50,060
<i>And Lazzeri said,
"Did she hit you?"</i>

478
00:23:50,129 --> 00:23:52,463
<i>He said, "Yeah.
It didn't amount to nothing."</i>

479
00:23:52,532 --> 00:23:55,232
<i>He says,
"There it is, right there."</i>

480
00:23:55,301 --> 00:23:57,335
And he showed
the calf of his leg where

481
00:23:57,404 --> 00:23:59,169
the bullet had gone
right through,

482
00:23:59,238 --> 00:24:01,338
and the scar was there,

483
00:24:01,407 --> 00:24:05,012
<i>They laughed about it
and talked about it.</i>

484
00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:10,147
He did everything to excess...

485
00:24:10,216 --> 00:24:13,717
the bad things and all
of the good things, too.

486
00:24:13,786 --> 00:24:16,220
<i>The two sides
of Ruth's personality</i>

487
00:24:16,289 --> 00:24:17,989
<i>were markedly different,</i>

488
00:24:18,058 --> 00:24:19,657
<i>yet equally compelling.</i>

489
00:24:19,726 --> 00:24:21,925
<i>At times egotistical
and selfish,</i>

490
00:24:21,994 --> 00:24:24,528
<i>the Babe could also be
thoughtful and considerate.</i>

491
00:24:24,597 --> 00:24:27,565
<i>He was extremely generous
with his time and money,</i>

492
00:24:27,634 --> 00:24:29,354
<i>especially with kids.</i>

493
00:24:31,137 --> 00:24:33,404
<i>Ruth reveled
in the smile of a child.</i>

494
00:24:33,473 --> 00:24:35,739
<i>In their eyes he saw himself.</i>

495
00:24:35,808 --> 00:24:38,175
<i>He enjoyed the innocence
and spontaneity</i>

496
00:24:38,244 --> 00:24:40,281
<i>of adolescence.</i>

497
00:24:41,214 --> 00:24:42,724
<i>Forsaken by his parents,</i>

498
00:24:42,748 --> 00:24:45,449
<i>the Babe wanted kids to
experience the love and affection</i>

499
00:24:45,518 --> 00:24:48,685
<i>he felt he never really had.</i>

500
00:24:48,754 --> 00:24:51,755
<i>Ruth's relationship
with children was remarkable.</i>

501
00:24:51,824 --> 00:24:53,857
<i>It was genuine.</i>

502
00:24:53,926 --> 00:24:55,860
<i>He made children
feel comfortable,</i>

503
00:24:55,929 --> 00:24:57,569
<i>He made them feel happy.</i>

504
00:24:59,098 --> 00:25:00,976
<i>You see these pictures, he's
surrounded by hundreds of kids.</i>

505
00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:04,502
<i>There's always
a smiling, relaxed face,</i>

506
00:25:04,571 --> 00:25:06,147
<i>so happily in his element.</i>

507
00:25:06,171 --> 00:25:09,474
<i>And there is Ruth
with this big, happy smile,</i>

508
00:25:09,543 --> 00:25:10,941
<i>spreading his joy,</i>

509
00:25:11,010 --> 00:25:13,410
<i>and doing it with a naturalness.</i>

510
00:25:13,479 --> 00:25:15,980
<i>It was so genuine,
that it just flowed into them.</i>

511
00:25:17,584 --> 00:25:19,060
<i>Almost every weekend,</i>

512
00:25:19,084 --> 00:25:22,519
<i>Babe Ruth would come in
and help us bagging peanuts.</i>

513
00:25:22,588 --> 00:25:24,521
<i>He'd work for a couple
of hours with us</i>

514
00:25:24,590 --> 00:25:27,758
then he'd throw a $10
or a $20 bill on the table

515
00:25:27,827 --> 00:25:30,561
where we were working.
"Take care of the kids."

516
00:25:30,630 --> 00:25:32,333
<i>He'd walk out.</i>

517
00:25:33,699 --> 00:25:35,399
<i>Had to have an operation.</i>

518
00:25:35,468 --> 00:25:37,668
<i>My father, who worked
at Yankee Stadium</i>

519
00:25:37,737 --> 00:25:40,637
<i>almost all his life,
was a very hard-working man,</i>

520
00:25:40,706 --> 00:25:42,451
<i>but they didn't have
that kind of money.</i>

521
00:25:42,475 --> 00:25:45,008
{\an8}<i>Dr. Smith, he was
the head of the hospital,</i>

522
00:25:45,077 --> 00:25:47,311
{\an8}said because my name
was Mary Smith,

523
00:25:47,380 --> 00:25:50,814
{\an8}said we had to be related,
and I wouldn't have to pay.

524
00:25:50,883 --> 00:25:54,651
But I was told later from
another doctor that wasn't true.

525
00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:57,821
<i>It was paid for by the Babe,</i>

526
00:25:57,890 --> 00:26:01,225
<i>and they told me he was
a friend of my father's.</i>

527
00:26:01,294 --> 00:26:03,360
<i>I just kept looking at his face,</i>

528
00:26:03,429 --> 00:26:06,764
<i>because he had
such a beautiful smile.</i>

529
00:26:06,833 --> 00:26:09,233
<i>We had
a little orange juice stand.</i>

530
00:26:09,302 --> 00:26:12,169
<i>It was right near the golf
course. He was playing golf.</i>

531
00:26:12,238 --> 00:26:14,171
<i>He said to me
his name was Babe Ruth,</i>

532
00:26:14,240 --> 00:26:16,239
<i>and I said, "Well,
where's your candy bars?"</i>

533
00:26:16,308 --> 00:26:18,909
<i>'Cause that's all I knew,
was Babe Ruth was a candy bar.</i>

534
00:26:18,978 --> 00:26:20,456
{\an8}Well, they laughed.
They thought this was

535
00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:22,380
{\an8}real funny.
And I put my head down

536
00:26:22,449 --> 00:26:24,447
{\an8}and sorta started
to cry, I guess.

537
00:26:24,516 --> 00:26:27,063
He patted me on the head and said,
"Are you going to be here tomorrow?"

538
00:26:27,087 --> 00:26:28,385
<i>And I said, "Yes."</i>

539
00:26:28,454 --> 00:26:30,654
<i>And so he came back
the next day,</i>

540
00:26:30,723 --> 00:26:34,158
gave us a whole big box
of Baby Ruth candy bars.

541
00:26:34,227 --> 00:26:35,893
<i>He just said, "Now, little girl,</i>

542
00:26:35,962 --> 00:26:37,995
<i>"don't you forget
who I am."</i>

543
00:26:38,064 --> 00:26:40,098
<i>He had such beautiful blue eyes.</i>

544
00:26:40,167 --> 00:26:41,502
<i>They sparkled.</i>

545
00:26:44,738 --> 00:26:46,248
<i>In the roaring, raucous '20s,</i>

546
00:26:46,272 --> 00:26:49,139
<i>when America celebrated
consumption and excess,</i>

547
00:26:49,208 --> 00:26:52,309
<i>no other public figure
was worshiped like the Babe.</i>

548
00:26:52,378 --> 00:26:54,377
<i>Thanks to his friends
in the press,</i>

549
00:26:54,446 --> 00:26:57,514
<i>Ruth's repulsive behavior
was never reported,</i>

550
00:26:57,583 --> 00:27:00,351
<i>his vulgar side rarely seen.</i>

551
00:27:00,420 --> 00:27:02,119
<i>To his adoring fans,</i>

552
00:27:02,188 --> 00:27:04,555
<i>Ruth's indiscretions
were harmless.</i>

553
00:27:04,624 --> 00:27:06,791
<i>He was a humble everyman,</i>

554
00:27:06,860 --> 00:27:08,192
<i>a kindred spirit.</i>

555
00:27:08,261 --> 00:27:11,595
<i>He was loved
because people who had flaws...</i>

556
00:27:11,664 --> 00:27:15,032
<i>men and women, even children
who had flaws in their character,</i>

557
00:27:15,101 --> 00:27:16,779
knew he had flaws.

558
00:27:16,803 --> 00:27:18,436
He was one of them.

559
00:27:18,505 --> 00:27:20,007
He was not above them.

560
00:27:22,575 --> 00:27:24,642
<i>He was a spiritual force.</i>

561
00:27:24,711 --> 00:27:25,842
<i>They loved him.</i>

562
00:27:25,911 --> 00:27:27,344
<i>They liked
the feeling about him.</i>

563
00:27:27,413 --> 00:27:28,946
<i>He was a joy to be around.</i>

564
00:27:29,015 --> 00:27:31,582
He lifted things up.
He was alive.

565
00:27:34,887 --> 00:27:37,521
<i>I saw him a couple of times
with Jack Dempsey,</i>

566
00:27:37,590 --> 00:27:39,030
<i>when Jack Dempsey had
the restaurant</i>

567
00:27:39,091 --> 00:27:41,325
<i>on Broadway and 48th Street.</i>

568
00:27:41,394 --> 00:27:43,393
<i>They used to sit in the
window together and talk,</i>

569
00:27:43,462 --> 00:27:46,263
<i>and you'd have crowds, hundreds
of them looking in the window.</i>

570
00:27:46,332 --> 00:27:48,466
<i>"There's Babe Ruth!
There's Jack Dempsey!"</i>

571
00:27:51,637 --> 00:27:54,972
{\an8}<i>He relished the whole idea
of being part of the scene,</i>

572
00:27:55,041 --> 00:27:57,741
{\an8}as opposed to others
who could come in and come out,

573
00:27:57,810 --> 00:27:59,187
{\an8}and no one would
even know they were there.

574
00:27:59,211 --> 00:28:01,190
When he came into a room,
he was loud, and positive,

575
00:28:01,214 --> 00:28:02,658
and where he was
was the place to be.

576
00:28:02,682 --> 00:28:05,049
<i>A professional
barbershop quartet</i>

577
00:28:05,118 --> 00:28:07,250
<i>was singing as part
of the entertainment,</i>

578
00:28:07,319 --> 00:28:11,655
<i>and suddenly a husky and
uncertain voice joined them.</i>

579
00:28:11,724 --> 00:28:14,558
And even though
he was a lousy singer,

580
00:28:14,627 --> 00:28:16,227
everybody was very happy
that he did it.

581
00:28:18,564 --> 00:28:21,866
<i>You know how an aura exudes?</i>

582
00:28:21,935 --> 00:28:23,834
{\an8}There was a quality about Ruth

583
00:28:23,903 --> 00:28:27,037
{\an8}that just invited you in. In.

584
00:28:27,106 --> 00:28:28,605
Hey, Red.

585
00:28:28,674 --> 00:28:31,341
<i>They didn't care a whole lot
about exhibition games.</i>

586
00:28:31,410 --> 00:28:33,944
<i>By and large, you played
half a game and that's it.</i>

587
00:28:34,013 --> 00:28:36,046
<i>But the guys are complaining,</i>

588
00:28:36,115 --> 00:28:38,082
<i>saying, "Jesus Christ,
let's get out of here."</i>

589
00:28:38,151 --> 00:28:39,883
<i>The Babe said,
"You wanna get out of here?"</i>

590
00:28:39,952 --> 00:28:42,520
<i>He says, "I'll stop
the game next inning."</i>

591
00:28:42,589 --> 00:28:45,356
Next inning,
some young kid ran out

592
00:28:45,425 --> 00:28:47,025
for his autograph...

593
00:28:47,927 --> 00:28:49,560
and the Babe...

594
00:28:49,629 --> 00:28:53,163
he signs for him.
Well, another kid comes out,

595
00:28:53,232 --> 00:28:56,900
and first thing you know,
center field was filled up with kids.

596
00:28:56,969 --> 00:29:00,649
<i>That's the end of the ballgame.</i>

597
00:29:01,140 --> 00:29:04,508
Will you sign my
autograph? Why sure.

598
00:29:04,577 --> 00:29:07,711
<i>He'd stand there for an hour
and sign those autographs.</i>

599
00:29:07,780 --> 00:29:09,914
Now Gehrig, by contrast,

600
00:29:09,983 --> 00:29:11,714
and Grove, by contrast,

601
00:29:11,783 --> 00:29:15,552
they didn't want to be bothered
with people or bothered with kids,

602
00:29:15,621 --> 00:29:17,822
and they'd come out
under the same circumstances,

603
00:29:17,891 --> 00:29:19,256
and they'd wade through 'em.

604
00:29:20,759 --> 00:29:23,172
<i>The instrument they used
was a fountain pen,</i>

605
00:29:23,196 --> 00:29:26,174
<i>and fountain pens had
a tendency to leak and squirt.</i>

606
00:29:26,198 --> 00:29:29,812
<i>Splashed with ink
on his suit or on his face,</i>

607
00:29:29,836 --> 00:29:32,748
<i>he never minded.
He never complained.</i>

608
00:29:32,772 --> 00:29:34,482
<i>They would ask him,
"Why did you sit</i>

609
00:29:34,506 --> 00:29:37,007
<i>"for so many hours, Babe,
just signing autographs?"</i>

610
00:29:37,076 --> 00:29:39,944
<i>And he said, "I like to
make everybody happy."</i>

611
00:29:47,119 --> 00:29:49,553
{\an8}He happened to see me
over there in the corner,

612
00:29:49,622 --> 00:29:52,256
{\an8}and he came over and says,
"What's your kid's name?"

613
00:29:52,325 --> 00:29:54,825
He said, "Let me get you
a ball for your kid."

614
00:29:54,894 --> 00:29:57,094
And I said,
"Well, I don't have any kids.

615
00:29:57,163 --> 00:29:58,729
"In fact,
I'm not even married."

616
00:29:58,798 --> 00:30:00,497
He said,
"Well, we can fix that."

617
00:30:00,566 --> 00:30:03,100
So he took a ball,
and he wrote something on it.

618
00:30:03,169 --> 00:30:05,803
And when I looked at it,
he had on there,

619
00:30:05,872 --> 00:30:08,305
"Hello to be.
From Babe Ruth."

620
00:30:08,374 --> 00:30:10,373
He says, "When your kid
comes along,

621
00:30:10,442 --> 00:30:12,409
"tell him Babe Ruth
had something for him."

622
00:30:12,478 --> 00:30:15,950
So this now is a very treasured
possession of my daughter.

623
00:30:19,118 --> 00:30:21,385
<i>But if you took Ruth
for more than what he was,</i>

624
00:30:21,454 --> 00:30:22,894
<i>you were kidding yourself.</i>

625
00:30:22,922 --> 00:30:24,955
<i>You wouldn't walk up
to Ruth and say to him, "Babe,</i>

626
00:30:25,024 --> 00:30:27,424
<i>"what do you think
of Einstein?"</i>

627
00:30:27,493 --> 00:30:29,013
He'd probably say,
"What's he hitting?"

628
00:30:33,466 --> 00:30:34,898
<i>A friend of Ruth's sees him</i>

629
00:30:34,967 --> 00:30:36,967
<i>at the station,
and they get off the train.</i>

630
00:30:37,036 --> 00:30:40,004
{\an8}"Hey, Babe, did you hear
about Waite? Waite Hoyt?"

631
00:30:40,073 --> 00:30:41,305
{\an8}"No, what about him?"

632
00:30:41,374 --> 00:30:43,741
{\an8}He says, "He's got
a case of amnesia."

633
00:30:43,810 --> 00:30:46,109
And Babe says, "He has?

634
00:30:46,178 --> 00:30:48,983
<i>"You tell him to save me
one of those bottles."</i>

635
00:30:50,149 --> 00:30:52,148
<i>He came out to the dugout</i>

636
00:30:52,217 --> 00:30:55,385
<i>and complained to Doc Painter,
who was the trainer.</i>

637
00:30:55,454 --> 00:30:59,056
<i>He said, "Doc, my eyes feel
a little cloudy today.</i>

638
00:30:59,125 --> 00:31:01,057
<i>"My vision's
not too good anymore."</i>

639
00:31:01,126 --> 00:31:04,462
<i>Doc Payter said, "Well, why don't
you go down and get some of that...</i>

640
00:31:04,531 --> 00:31:06,796
<i>"Visine... that Eyelo."</i>

641
00:31:06,865 --> 00:31:09,899
And Babe gave his eyes
a good washing with that Eyelo,

642
00:31:09,968 --> 00:31:13,303
<i>and I think he got two for
four or three for four that day,</i>

643
00:31:13,372 --> 00:31:15,483
<i>and he attributed it
to the Eyelo.</i>

644
00:31:15,507 --> 00:31:18,375
<i>So the next day when he
came out, his eyes were all right,</i>

645
00:31:18,444 --> 00:31:20,377
<i>but he used the Eyelo again.</i>

646
00:31:20,446 --> 00:31:23,347
{\an8}<i>Lazzeri, a day or two later,
sneaked out there,</i>

647
00:31:23,416 --> 00:31:24,915
{\an8}<i>and he took the Eyelo bottle,</i>

648
00:31:24,984 --> 00:31:27,018
{\an8}and poured all the Eyelo out

649
00:31:27,087 --> 00:31:28,263
{\an8}and filled it with water,

650
00:31:28,287 --> 00:31:29,898
{\an8}and put it back in
the medicine case.

651
00:31:29,922 --> 00:31:32,856
Ruth came out
and started to use the Eyelo,

652
00:31:32,925 --> 00:31:35,526
then Lazzeri yanked it
out of his hands

653
00:31:35,595 --> 00:31:37,761
and says, "Let me have
some of that stuff."

654
00:31:37,830 --> 00:31:40,598
And when he got the Eyelo
from out of Babe's hands,

655
00:31:40,667 --> 00:31:41,799
he drank it all.

656
00:31:41,868 --> 00:31:44,335
Babe is slapping
his big ol' thighs

657
00:31:44,404 --> 00:31:45,970
and says, "Look at the dago,

658
00:31:46,039 --> 00:31:47,282
"drinking the Baby's Eyelo."

659
00:31:47,306 --> 00:31:50,274
<i>And Lazzeri got
two or three hits.</i>

660
00:31:50,343 --> 00:31:52,576
So then, Ruth, following that,

661
00:31:52,645 --> 00:31:54,645
started bathing his eyes
and drinking it, too.

662
00:31:59,919 --> 00:32:02,052
{\an8}He could never remember
anybody's name,

663
00:32:02,121 --> 00:32:04,855
{\an8}and the people he played with,
played side by side.

664
00:32:04,924 --> 00:32:07,257
He called everybody "keed."
"There's my keed."

665
00:32:07,326 --> 00:32:09,793
Keed. K-double E-D.
"Hey, keed."

666
00:32:09,862 --> 00:32:12,696
"Hiya, keed." He'd say that
to a guy who was 92 years old.

667
00:32:12,765 --> 00:32:17,201
<i>Lazzeri said, "I'm gonna have
a little fun with the Babe."</i>

668
00:32:17,270 --> 00:32:20,237
<i>So he called Myles Thomas,
who was some distance away.</i>

669
00:32:20,306 --> 00:32:23,206
<i>Now Myles was a relief
pitcher on the Yankees</i>

670
00:32:23,275 --> 00:32:26,276
<i>and had been with the Yankees
for some three or four years.</i>

671
00:32:26,345 --> 00:32:29,446
<i>He called Myles over,
and he said to Babe,</i>

672
00:32:29,515 --> 00:32:32,950
"I want to introduce
Charlie Devens,

673
00:32:33,019 --> 00:32:36,854
"who's just showed up from
Harvard and gonna be with us a while."

674
00:32:36,923 --> 00:32:38,956
Ruth stuck out
that great, big meat hand

675
00:32:39,025 --> 00:32:40,991
and said,
"Nice to see you, keed.

676
00:32:41,060 --> 00:32:42,593
<i>"Welcome to the Yankees."</i>

677
00:32:42,662 --> 00:32:46,530
<i>And Thomas had been on the
ball club for three or four years.</i>

678
00:32:46,599 --> 00:32:50,200
<i>Ruth didn't appear to know that,</i>

679
00:32:50,269 --> 00:32:52,303
<i>but he was glad
to see him nonetheless.</i>

680
00:33:07,319 --> 00:33:09,319
<i>He did what he wanted to do.</i>

681
00:33:09,388 --> 00:33:12,156
<i>If it got him in trouble,
he was always startled.</i>

682
00:33:12,225 --> 00:33:14,859
- Who's the heavyweight champion?
- Max Schmeling.

683
00:33:14,928 --> 00:33:17,198
Hey, what's the idea?

684
00:33:23,202 --> 00:33:25,172
He was totally spontaneous.

685
00:33:27,306 --> 00:33:29,940
{\an8}I was the captain
of the high school golf team.

686
00:33:30,009 --> 00:33:31,687
{\an8}So, Babe liked to play golf,

687
00:33:31,711 --> 00:33:33,889
{\an8}so he said, "Would you like
to play golf with Babe Ruth?"

688
00:33:33,913 --> 00:33:36,079
Now any kid would love
something like that.

689
00:33:36,148 --> 00:33:38,515
<i>And I helped him
on several holes,</i>

690
00:33:38,584 --> 00:33:41,589
<i>'cause we were partners.
He won maybe $50 to $100.</i>

691
00:33:42,555 --> 00:33:44,722
Next day at the high school,

692
00:33:44,791 --> 00:33:48,262
I was in class,
about 12:30 to 1:00.

693
00:33:49,562 --> 00:33:51,140
"Babe Ruth down the hallway,
looking for you

694
00:33:51,164 --> 00:33:52,541
"to go play golf
for the day."

695
00:33:52,565 --> 00:33:54,430
I said, "What?"
I couldn't believe it.

696
00:33:54,499 --> 00:33:58,402
<i>I was the most surprised kid you ever
seen when he walked into that classroom,</i>

697
00:33:58,471 --> 00:34:00,804
<i>and the principal
was right with him.</i>

698
00:34:00,873 --> 00:34:03,418
"Babe's here to take you to
the golf course. It's okay to go."

699
00:34:03,442 --> 00:34:05,643
So I jumped up
and went with him.

700
00:34:08,681 --> 00:34:11,352
<i>He never had any serious
thoughts in his head, really.</i>

701
00:34:12,552 --> 00:34:15,152
<i>But you'd have liked him.</i>

702
00:34:15,221 --> 00:34:16,957
<i>He wasn't a bad fella.</i>

703
00:34:24,597 --> 00:34:26,663
<i>Everybody has a story on Ruth,</i>

704
00:34:26,732 --> 00:34:29,199
and stories piled on
stories become legends.

705
00:34:29,268 --> 00:34:31,002
And of course,
the classic one is...

706
00:34:31,071 --> 00:34:33,004
The 1932 World Series

707
00:34:33,073 --> 00:34:36,076
<i>and the so-called called shot.</i>

708
00:34:37,077 --> 00:34:39,343
<i>Some extremely bad feelings</i>

709
00:34:39,412 --> 00:34:42,179
<i>had arisen between
the two contending teams,</i>

710
00:34:42,248 --> 00:34:44,080
<i>the Yankees
and the Chicago Cubs.</i>

711
00:34:44,149 --> 00:34:46,550
<i>And they're yelling at him
from the Cub dugout</i>

712
00:34:46,619 --> 00:34:47,952
the most obscene things,

713
00:34:48,021 --> 00:34:49,420
<i>and he's yelling back.</i>

714
00:34:49,489 --> 00:34:51,900
<i>He was riding the Chicago bench
from the batters box.</i>

715
00:34:51,924 --> 00:34:53,823
<i>And the pitcher, Charley Root,</i>

716
00:34:53,892 --> 00:34:56,326
<i>throws across strike one,
throws across strike two,</i>

717
00:34:56,395 --> 00:35:00,632
<i>and here comes
baseball's fabled moment.</i>

718
00:35:00,701 --> 00:35:02,066
He suddenly stopped...

719
00:35:02,135 --> 00:35:05,737
{\an8}<i>And I vividly heard him
yell out to Charley Root,</i>

720
00:35:05,806 --> 00:35:07,116
{\an8}"It only takes one!"

721
00:35:07,140 --> 00:35:09,373
{\an8}And then he elevated his arm...

722
00:35:09,442 --> 00:35:10,775
{\an8}"This one's going out!"

723
00:35:10,844 --> 00:35:13,745
{\an8}Pointing to
the center-field bleachers.

724
00:35:13,814 --> 00:35:16,913
{\an8}And by god, the next ball,

725
00:35:16,982 --> 00:35:19,816
{\an8}<i>he hit right where
he had pointed.</i>

726
00:35:19,885 --> 00:35:23,053
<i>I don't think he could've
done it in a million other times,</i>

727
00:35:23,122 --> 00:35:26,056
but he did do it, and I saw it.

728
00:35:26,125 --> 00:35:28,926
<i>I asked him. I said, "You called
that shot, didn't you, Babe?"</i>

729
00:35:28,995 --> 00:35:30,760
"Why? Don't you think I did?

730
00:35:30,829 --> 00:35:32,774
"That's where I pointed.
And that's where it went."

731
00:35:32,798 --> 00:35:35,833
<i>Others, however,
weren't so sure.</i>

732
00:35:35,902 --> 00:35:37,768
<i>In home movies of the at-bat,</i>

733
00:35:37,837 --> 00:35:40,304
<i>Ruth appears to be
gesturing at something,</i>

734
00:35:40,373 --> 00:35:42,440
<i>but at what
remains inconclusive.</i>

735
00:35:46,112 --> 00:35:47,656
<i>The next day in the papers,</i>

736
00:35:47,680 --> 00:35:50,213
<i>there was barely a mention
of Ruth's declaration,</i>

737
00:35:50,282 --> 00:35:52,649
<i>just straightforward
reporting of the home run.</i>

738
00:35:52,718 --> 00:35:55,552
<i>But as time passed,
the notion caught on,</i>

739
00:35:55,621 --> 00:35:57,455
<i>and soon took a life of its own.</i>

740
00:35:57,524 --> 00:35:59,891
<i>Newsreel accounts
unashamedly showed</i>

741
00:35:59,960 --> 00:36:01,592
<i>Ruth's gesture as fact,</i>

742
00:36:01,661 --> 00:36:05,730
<i>and Hollywood later took
the myth to epic proportions.</i>

743
00:36:05,799 --> 00:36:09,370
Don't forget Johnny!

744
00:36:13,973 --> 00:36:17,008
He pointed to the flagpole
in the center-field bleachers,

745
00:36:17,077 --> 00:36:19,977
plainly indicating
that's where he means

746
00:36:20,046 --> 00:36:22,146
to park that next pitch.

747
00:36:26,786 --> 00:36:28,719
<i>It's a harmless little myth.</i>

748
00:36:28,788 --> 00:36:31,121
{\an8}Hell, a lot of people
believe in Santa Claus.

749
00:36:31,190 --> 00:36:34,124
{\an8}Nothing wrong with it.

750
00:36:34,193 --> 00:36:37,428
<i>Babe was part
of that old American folklore</i>

751
00:36:37,497 --> 00:36:39,241
<i>of the braggarts,
the big ones...</i>

752
00:36:39,265 --> 00:36:43,634
Mike Fink, Pecos Pete,
Paul Bunyan and the blue ox.

753
00:36:43,703 --> 00:36:47,471
{\an8}<i>It doesn't matter whether
it is based in reality,</i>

754
00:36:47,540 --> 00:36:51,476
{\an8}because a thing is what it is

755
00:36:51,545 --> 00:36:53,209
{\an8}because we wish it to be.

756
00:36:53,278 --> 00:36:57,547
<i>Napoleon said once that history is
the myth that men choose to believe.</i>

757
00:36:57,616 --> 00:37:00,551
<i>Whether he actually called it,
it's irrelevant,</i>

758
00:37:00,620 --> 00:37:02,853
<i>because reality evaporates,</i>

759
00:37:02,922 --> 00:37:06,690
<i>and the myth becomes the truth.</i>

760
00:37:06,759 --> 00:37:09,893
I want you all to remember
what I said about smoking...

761
00:37:09,962 --> 00:37:12,096
it'll stunt your growth!

762
00:37:12,165 --> 00:37:14,098
Look what it did to him.

763
00:37:15,601 --> 00:37:18,403
<i>A great deal
of the Ruth legend is just...</i>

764
00:37:18,472 --> 00:37:20,137
<i>well, legend,</i>

765
00:37:20,206 --> 00:37:22,239
<i>half-truths that became myth.</i>

766
00:37:22,308 --> 00:37:24,541
<i>Ruth frequently
visited hospitals,</i>

767
00:37:24,610 --> 00:37:27,556
<i>so his home-run promise to a
dying kid might have been true.</i>

768
00:37:27,580 --> 00:37:30,881
<i>But he couldn't possibly
have taken a dog to the hospital</i>

769
00:37:30,950 --> 00:37:32,694
<i>in uniform before a game.</i>

770
00:37:32,718 --> 00:37:35,285
<i>Could he?
Where's your operating room?</i>

771
00:37:35,354 --> 00:37:36,994
Why over there,
but you can't go in there.

772
00:37:37,022 --> 00:37:39,994
Get your best doctors in there
in a hurry. I've got a sick dog.

773
00:37:42,595 --> 00:37:44,561
<i>I think he's
a tremendous mythic figure,</i>

774
00:37:44,630 --> 00:37:47,364
<i>but I think the history is
as big or bigger than the myth.</i>

775
00:37:47,433 --> 00:37:49,700
<i>The myth diminishes
what he really was.</i>

776
00:37:49,769 --> 00:37:51,401
<i>And establishes
a sort of false Ruth.</i>

777
00:37:51,470 --> 00:37:53,003
<i>It's big,
but it's not the truth,</i>

778
00:37:53,072 --> 00:37:55,005
<i>and I think the truth is
bigger than the myth.</i>

779
00:37:55,074 --> 00:37:57,874
<i>The true Ruth
started out as a pitcher.</i>

780
00:37:57,943 --> 00:38:01,579
<i>Maybe the best left-hander
in Boston Red Sox history.</i>

781
00:38:01,648 --> 00:38:03,347
<i>In just five seasons,</i>

782
00:38:03,416 --> 00:38:05,649
<i>the Babe won close to 90 games</i>

783
00:38:05,718 --> 00:38:07,918
<i>and helped the Sox
win the World Series</i>

784
00:38:07,987 --> 00:38:10,320
<i>in 1916 and again in 1918</i>

785
00:38:10,389 --> 00:38:14,591
<i>by throwing 29 consecutive
scoreless innings.</i>

786
00:38:14,660 --> 00:38:17,294
<i>He was on his way to the
hall of fame as a pitcher</i>

787
00:38:17,363 --> 00:38:21,202
<i>until he picked up his bat
and rewrote the record book.</i>

788
00:38:23,502 --> 00:38:26,504
<i>For the last six weeks
of the 1918 season,</i>

789
00:38:26,573 --> 00:38:28,639
<i>he pitched one day,</i>

790
00:38:28,708 --> 00:38:31,241
<i>then played the outfield
the next three days,</i>

791
00:38:31,310 --> 00:38:34,878
<i>then pitched again, then played
the outfield for the rest of the season.</i>

792
00:38:34,947 --> 00:38:36,947
<i>So here's a man pitching
and playing the outfield,</i>

793
00:38:37,016 --> 00:38:39,216
<i>playing every day and hitting
at the same time.</i>

794
00:38:39,252 --> 00:38:41,692
<i>It's one of the most extraordinary
things in baseball history.</i>

795
00:38:43,055 --> 00:38:46,256
<i>Ruth's trade from Boston to
the New York Yankees in 1920</i>

796
00:38:46,325 --> 00:38:49,693
<i>was the catalyst for sports'
most renowned dynasty.</i>

797
00:38:49,762 --> 00:38:51,173
<i>For the next nine seasons,</i>

798
00:38:51,197 --> 00:38:53,798
<i>the Yanks played
in six World Series,</i>

799
00:38:53,867 --> 00:38:56,666
<i>winning three, including 1927,</i>

800
00:38:56,735 --> 00:39:01,075
<i>with Ruth the cornerstone of
one of history's greatest teams.</i>

801
00:39:02,441 --> 00:39:04,008
<i>The Yankee's
hard-hitting quartet...</i>

802
00:39:04,077 --> 00:39:08,749
<i>Lou Gehrig, Combs,
Lazzeri and Babe Ruth.</i>

803
00:39:10,415 --> 00:39:13,187
<i>He was a fabulous,
beautifully-coordinated athlete.</i>

804
00:39:17,490 --> 00:39:19,356
They all look at him,
and they call him fat.

805
00:39:19,425 --> 00:39:21,328
He stole home!

806
00:39:22,428 --> 00:39:24,094
He was fast, he had a good arm.

807
00:39:24,163 --> 00:39:26,831
<i>There was nothing
about baseball he couldn't do.</i>

808
00:39:31,170 --> 00:39:33,838
<i>You know about his year in 1921?</i>

809
00:39:33,907 --> 00:39:36,607
<i>.378, hit 59 home runs,</i>

810
00:39:36,676 --> 00:39:39,310
<i>scored 178 runs,</i>

811
00:39:39,379 --> 00:39:41,912
<i>drove in 171 runs,</i>

812
00:39:41,981 --> 00:39:44,716
got over 40 doubles, 16 triples,

813
00:39:44,785 --> 00:39:46,751
stole 16 bases.

814
00:39:46,820 --> 00:39:48,186
<i>That was Babe Ruth.</i>

815
00:39:48,255 --> 00:39:50,287
Babe Ruth batting.

816
00:39:50,356 --> 00:39:51,822
Wow! There goes one
into right field.

817
00:39:51,891 --> 00:39:54,658
{\an8}He had six of the most
extraordinary seasons,

818
00:39:54,727 --> 00:39:56,594
{\an8}from 1926 to 1932,

819
00:39:56,663 --> 00:39:58,696
{\an8}that any ballplayer
has ever had.

820
00:39:58,765 --> 00:40:01,532
<i>He averaged over 50 home runs
a year for six years.</i>

821
00:40:01,601 --> 00:40:04,335
<i>It's so hard to imagine.
He was so far ahead,</i>

822
00:40:04,404 --> 00:40:06,637
<i>and hit twice
as many as the others.</i>

823
00:40:06,706 --> 00:40:10,074
56 homers, 58 homers,

824
00:40:10,143 --> 00:40:12,243
<i>60 homers.</i>

825
00:40:13,880 --> 00:40:16,847
<i>Slugging average is .690.</i>

826
00:40:16,916 --> 00:40:20,350
<i>You believe that?
Most of the Hall-of-Famers,</i>

827
00:40:20,419 --> 00:40:22,653
<i>they're very happy with .500.</i>

828
00:40:22,722 --> 00:40:25,123
He's .690.

829
00:40:29,095 --> 00:40:32,363
{\an8}People swim faster
than Johnny Weissmuller,

830
00:40:32,432 --> 00:40:35,299
{\an8}people run faster
than Paavo Nurmi,

831
00:40:35,368 --> 00:40:39,069
{\an8}<i>but to hit 60 home runs
and bat .340?</i>

832
00:40:39,138 --> 00:40:42,376
<i>The things that he did
are still remarkable.</i>

833
00:40:44,076 --> 00:40:46,811
<i>Nobody's ever come close
to what he's done on the field.</i>

834
00:40:46,880 --> 00:40:49,213
<i>Name me one other guy</i>

835
00:40:49,282 --> 00:40:51,682
<i>who had as many records</i>

836
00:40:51,751 --> 00:40:54,451
<i>that could be broken?
He set them all!</i>

837
00:40:54,520 --> 00:40:56,688
<i>Lifetime average over .340,</i>

838
00:40:56,757 --> 00:40:59,557
<i>714 home runs.</i>

839
00:40:59,626 --> 00:41:01,328
There was a lot of myth...

840
00:41:02,562 --> 00:41:04,665
but there was a hell
of a lot of mister, too.

841
00:41:08,301 --> 00:41:10,534
<i>- Daddy loved
- The Lone Ranger,</i>

842
00:41:10,603 --> 00:41:12,770
<i>and I loved to listen
to that with him.</i>

843
00:41:12,839 --> 00:41:14,738
<i>We'd always cheer him on.</i>

844
00:41:14,807 --> 00:41:16,877
<i>We always had a wonderful time.</i>

845
00:41:20,280 --> 00:41:22,779
{\an8}He was a marvelous dancer,

846
00:41:22,848 --> 00:41:26,783
{\an8}had perfect timing, and
he taught me how to dance.

847
00:41:26,852 --> 00:41:29,757
And I loved dancing with Daddy.

848
00:41:31,924 --> 00:41:34,024
<i>- Julia Ruth became
- Babe's daughter</i>

849
00:41:34,093 --> 00:41:37,194
<i>after Ruth married
her mother, Claire, in 1929,</i>

850
00:41:37,263 --> 00:41:39,463
<i>the year
the stock market crashed.</i>

851
00:41:39,532 --> 00:41:43,033
<i>By most accounts, Babe handled
marriage the second time around</i>

852
00:41:43,102 --> 00:41:45,201
<i>much better than the first.</i>

853
00:41:45,270 --> 00:41:47,405
<i>But just when his family
life seemed settled,</i>

854
00:41:47,474 --> 00:41:50,041
<i>his baseball life
started to come apart.</i>

855
00:41:53,913 --> 00:41:56,913
<i>At first, the crash of '29
and the resulting depression</i>

856
00:41:56,982 --> 00:42:00,283
<i>had little effect on Ruth
or the money he was paid.</i>

857
00:42:00,352 --> 00:42:03,754
<i>His enormous checks, which
were often 10 times greater</i>

858
00:42:03,823 --> 00:42:05,188
<i>than any of his contemporaries,</i>

859
00:42:05,257 --> 00:42:08,629
<i>had reached $80,000 in 1931.</i>

860
00:42:11,564 --> 00:42:15,699
<i>But at the same time the country began
to sink deeper into economic despair,</i>

861
00:42:15,768 --> 00:42:18,688
<i>Ruth's skills began to erode...</i>

862
00:42:20,039 --> 00:42:22,172
<i>giving Yankee owner
Jacob Ruppert</i>

863
00:42:22,241 --> 00:42:25,880
<i>good reason to cut his salary
and eventually cut him.</i>

864
00:42:27,813 --> 00:42:30,614
<i>After 20 productive
major league seasons,</i>

865
00:42:30,683 --> 00:42:33,016
<i>the Yanks no longer needed Ruth.</i>

866
00:42:33,085 --> 00:42:35,386
<i>The team that had
been his for so long</i>

867
00:42:35,455 --> 00:42:37,454
<i>now centered around Lou Gehrig.</i>

868
00:42:37,523 --> 00:42:41,091
<i>Ruth was playing his last year
with the Yankees in Boston.</i>

869
00:42:41,160 --> 00:42:44,095
The ball went between his
legs and went to the wall.

870
00:42:44,164 --> 00:42:48,232
<i>The fans in Boston
booed him unmercifully,</i>

871
00:42:48,301 --> 00:42:50,501
<i>and it made me sick.</i>

872
00:42:52,271 --> 00:42:56,407
<i>Even Ruth in his decline,
it was monumental.</i>

873
00:42:56,476 --> 00:42:58,920
<i>Players would stop
during pre-game workout</i>

874
00:42:58,944 --> 00:43:01,945
<i>and watch him struggling in
the field, running after a fly ball.</i>

875
00:43:02,014 --> 00:43:04,114
<i>Trying to bend over
and pick up a ground ball.</i>

876
00:43:04,183 --> 00:43:05,961
<i>They couldn't believe
what they were seeing.</i>

877
00:43:05,985 --> 00:43:09,220
<i>The great statue
beginning to crack</i>

878
00:43:09,289 --> 00:43:11,088
<i>and topple.</i>

879
00:43:11,157 --> 00:43:13,027
<i>The god turning human.</i>

880
00:43:15,928 --> 00:43:19,063
<i>Colonel Ruppert sent him
a contract for a dollar a year.</i>

881
00:43:19,132 --> 00:43:23,771
<i>And gave him
his unconditional release.</i>

882
00:43:30,076 --> 00:43:31,776
<i>I can't go on forever,</i>

883
00:43:31,845 --> 00:43:33,577
but you can bet your sweet life

884
00:43:33,646 --> 00:43:35,979
that I won't play until I drop,

885
00:43:36,048 --> 00:43:38,449
but I'll play until
I damn near drop.

886
00:43:38,518 --> 00:43:39,816
Thank you.

887
00:43:39,885 --> 00:43:43,454
<i>In 1935, Ruth took
his diminishing skills</i>

888
00:43:43,523 --> 00:43:44,888
<i>to the Boston Braves.</i>

889
00:43:44,957 --> 00:43:47,725
<i>Ever the showman,
he defiantly hit three homers</i>

890
00:43:47,794 --> 00:43:49,238
<i>in one of his final games.</i>

891
00:43:49,262 --> 00:43:52,196
<i>But at age 40,
the Babe retired as a player</i>

892
00:43:52,265 --> 00:43:54,531
<i>and spent three years
away from the game.</i>

893
00:43:54,600 --> 00:43:57,501
Feels good to be back
in this uniform.

894
00:43:57,570 --> 00:44:00,250
That "Dodgers" looks pretty good
on the front of you, don't it, boy?

895
00:44:02,074 --> 00:44:04,942
<i>In 1938, Ruth happily
returned to New York</i>

896
00:44:05,011 --> 00:44:07,515
<i>as a coach
for the Brooklyn Dodgers.</i>

897
00:44:08,982 --> 00:44:10,413
Oh!

898
00:44:10,482 --> 00:44:12,549
<i>The Babe had been led to believe</i>

899
00:44:12,618 --> 00:44:14,684
<i>the Dodgers would
one day let him manage.</i>

900
00:44:14,753 --> 00:44:18,726
<i>In reality, the struggling franchise
had signed Ruth as a gate attraction.</i>

901
00:44:19,692 --> 00:44:21,225
<i>Fans did come to see Ruth,</i>

902
00:44:21,294 --> 00:44:23,527
<i>but the novelty soon wore off.</i>

903
00:44:23,596 --> 00:44:27,031
<i>The Babe was let go,
and the promise never kept.</i>

904
00:44:30,036 --> 00:44:31,536
<i>They never had any intentions</i>

905
00:44:31,605 --> 00:44:33,236
<i>of making him a manager.</i>

906
00:44:33,305 --> 00:44:35,706
<i>They just wanted him
for his name.</i>

907
00:44:35,775 --> 00:44:38,709
<i>It was almost
like they lied to him.</i>

908
00:44:38,778 --> 00:44:42,113
<i>He'd come home
and he'd ask mother,</i>

909
00:44:42,182 --> 00:44:43,751
<i>"Anybody call today?"</i>

910
00:44:44,817 --> 00:44:47,518
<i>Of course, nobody ever did.</i>

911
00:44:47,587 --> 00:44:49,899
<i>And all he wanted to do
was just be in baseball.</i>

912
00:44:49,923 --> 00:44:51,856
<i>He wanted
to be a part of baseball,</i>

913
00:44:51,925 --> 00:44:53,824
<i>because it was a part of him.</i>

914
00:44:53,893 --> 00:44:55,659
He was so disappointed.

915
00:44:55,728 --> 00:44:58,628
<i>He almost went
into a depression.</i>

916
00:44:58,697 --> 00:45:00,197
<i>They used to say about him,</i>

917
00:45:00,266 --> 00:45:01,610
<i>"How could he ever manage a team</i>

918
00:45:01,634 --> 00:45:03,634
<i>"when he never learned
to manage himself?"</i>

919
00:45:03,703 --> 00:45:06,137
{\an8}So, in his post-baseball years,

920
00:45:06,206 --> 00:45:08,071
{\an8}whenever he went
to Yankee Stadium,

921
00:45:08,140 --> 00:45:11,342
<i>it was always my impression, when
I sat close enough to look at him,</i>

922
00:45:11,411 --> 00:45:13,371
<i>that he was very morose and sad.</i>

923
00:45:13,412 --> 00:45:15,613
<i>He would sit there,
hunched over,</i>

924
00:45:15,682 --> 00:45:16,947
<i>staring at the action.</i>

925
00:45:17,016 --> 00:45:18,648
<i>You got the feeling about him</i>

926
00:45:18,717 --> 00:45:22,987
<i>that he had been involuntarily
removed from his real environment.</i>

927
00:45:24,490 --> 00:45:26,757
<i>The Yankees never
came calling either,</i>

928
00:45:26,826 --> 00:45:29,126
<i>so Ruth went on doing
what he did best...</i>

929
00:45:29,195 --> 00:45:31,729
<i>playing the role of the Babe.</i>

930
00:45:37,369 --> 00:45:40,905
<i>Occasionally, he would return
to the stage he once dominated,</i>

931
00:45:40,974 --> 00:45:43,206
<i>happy to display his old form.</i>

932
00:45:43,275 --> 00:45:46,777
<i>Although the significance of his
homers had now greatly diminished,</i>

933
00:45:46,846 --> 00:45:49,416
<i>Ruth still managed
to thrill his fans.</i>

934
00:45:50,850 --> 00:45:52,650
<i>Even after he'd
been out of baseball</i>

935
00:45:52,719 --> 00:45:55,019
<i>for eight or 10 years,</i>

936
00:45:55,088 --> 00:45:56,653
<i>he still attracted crowds.</i>

937
00:45:56,722 --> 00:46:00,391
<i>He'd go over to the training
camp and talk with the fellows.</i>

938
00:46:12,138 --> 00:46:14,705
<i>People still asked him
for his autograph.</i>

939
00:46:14,774 --> 00:46:18,008
<i>They were still showing their
love and appreciation for him,</i>

940
00:46:18,077 --> 00:46:20,711
<i>even though he wasn't
playing baseball anymore.</i>

941
00:46:25,718 --> 00:46:28,518
<i>But by 1946,</i>

942
00:46:28,587 --> 00:46:30,453
<i>it was becoming
increasingly clear</i>

943
00:46:30,522 --> 00:46:33,490
<i>there was something
seriously wrong with the Babe.</i>

944
00:46:36,529 --> 00:46:37,828
<i>I was in New Hampshire,</i>

945
00:46:37,897 --> 00:46:40,397
<i>and there was a picture
of him in the paper.</i>

946
00:46:40,466 --> 00:46:42,733
I called Mother,
I said, "Mother,

947
00:46:42,802 --> 00:46:45,970
"what on earth is
the matter with Daddy?"

948
00:46:46,039 --> 00:46:48,038
I said,
"He looks terrible."

949
00:46:48,107 --> 00:46:49,840
<i>"I really don't know," she said.</i>

950
00:46:49,909 --> 00:46:52,710
<i>"He has
these terrible headaches."</i>

951
00:46:56,983 --> 00:47:00,350
<i>That winter, Ruth had
a throat operation,</i>

952
00:47:00,419 --> 00:47:02,656
<i>and the prognosis was grim.</i>

953
00:47:03,990 --> 00:47:05,590
<i>Although he wasn't told
of his condition,</i>

954
00:47:05,658 --> 00:47:08,158
<i>the Babe had cancer.</i>

955
00:47:08,227 --> 00:47:10,205
<i>They kept the fact that
he had terminal cancer</i>

956
00:47:10,229 --> 00:47:13,033
<i>away from him, 'cause they
thought he would jump out a window.</i>

957
00:47:15,668 --> 00:47:18,369
<i>- He couldn't eat.
- He couldn't swallow.</i>

958
00:47:18,438 --> 00:47:20,904
<i>Of course he was
losing weight like crazy.</i>

959
00:47:20,973 --> 00:47:23,641
<i>He just didn't look like Daddy.</i>

960
00:47:23,710 --> 00:47:25,609
{\an8}He would sit in the chair,

961
00:47:25,678 --> 00:47:29,617
{\an8}by the hour, and look out
over the Hudson River.

962
00:47:30,817 --> 00:47:32,649
<i>His spirits were very good.</i>

963
00:47:32,718 --> 00:47:34,918
<i>He felt that he was
gonna beat this thing,</i>

964
00:47:34,987 --> 00:47:38,922
<i>but the fact that he had the
scar tissue up around his neck</i>

965
00:47:38,991 --> 00:47:41,762
made it very difficult
for him to talk.

966
00:47:42,896 --> 00:47:45,128
<i>On April 27th, 1947,</i>

967
00:47:45,197 --> 00:47:47,397
<i>baseball celebrated
Ruth's accomplishments</i>

968
00:47:47,466 --> 00:47:50,634
<i>with a day in his name
at every major league ballpark.</i>

969
00:47:50,703 --> 00:47:53,971
<i>Ruth himself attended the
ceremony at Yankee Stadium.</i>

970
00:47:55,542 --> 00:47:57,052
{\an8}I knew how sick he was,

971
00:47:57,076 --> 00:47:59,176
{\an8}and I guess that's the reason
I didn't go in.

972
00:47:59,245 --> 00:48:00,745
<i>And I just stood outside.</i>

973
00:48:03,850 --> 00:48:06,049
<i>He started to speak...</i>

974
00:48:06,118 --> 00:48:08,719
Thank you very much,
ladies and gentlemen.

975
00:48:08,788 --> 00:48:12,122
You know how bad
my voice sounds.

976
00:48:12,191 --> 00:48:15,359
Well, it feels just as bad.

977
00:48:15,428 --> 00:48:18,095
You know this
baseball game of ours...

978
00:48:18,164 --> 00:48:20,431
<i>They turned up that loudspeaker</i>

979
00:48:20,500 --> 00:48:23,100
<i>so everybody outside,</i>

980
00:48:23,169 --> 00:48:25,336
<i>blocks around, could hear him.</i>

981
00:48:25,405 --> 00:48:27,838
<i>The train up on the platform,</i>

982
00:48:27,907 --> 00:48:31,008
<i>people... they just
stopped in their tracks,</i>

983
00:48:31,077 --> 00:48:33,578
<i>listening to this great man.</i>

984
00:48:33,647 --> 00:48:36,113
And after you're a boy

985
00:48:36,182 --> 00:48:39,083
and grew up
to know how to play ball,

986
00:48:39,152 --> 00:48:41,251
then you come

987
00:48:41,320 --> 00:48:44,889
to the boys you see representing

988
00:48:44,958 --> 00:48:47,458
themselves today

989
00:48:47,527 --> 00:48:49,861
in your national pastime.

990
00:48:49,930 --> 00:48:53,231
The only real game,

991
00:48:53,300 --> 00:48:56,267
I think,
in the world... baseball.

992
00:48:56,336 --> 00:48:59,203
There's been
so many lovely things

993
00:48:59,272 --> 00:49:01,539
said about me,

994
00:49:01,608 --> 00:49:03,474
and I'm glad

995
00:49:03,543 --> 00:49:06,077
that I've had the opportunity

996
00:49:06,146 --> 00:49:08,545
to thank everybody.

997
00:49:08,614 --> 00:49:11,115
Thank you.

998
00:49:17,523 --> 00:49:19,724
<i>Even when he was so sick,</i>

999
00:49:19,793 --> 00:49:22,492
<i>he still wanted
to be part of baseball.</i>

1000
00:49:22,561 --> 00:49:24,795
<i>He took a job
at the Ford Motor Company,</i>

1001
00:49:24,864 --> 00:49:27,067
<i>traveling
for the American Legion.</i>

1002
00:49:28,435 --> 00:49:30,234
{\an8}He made personal appearances.

1003
00:49:30,303 --> 00:49:33,704
{\an8}the first year, '47,
he made 15 appearances.

1004
00:49:33,773 --> 00:49:36,240
<i>When I saw him
get off the airplane,</i>

1005
00:49:36,309 --> 00:49:38,542
<i>I was shocked.
He came out puffing...</i>

1006
00:49:38,611 --> 00:49:40,544
<i>breathing hard.</i>

1007
00:49:40,613 --> 00:49:42,379
<i>His color didn't look good.</i>

1008
00:49:42,448 --> 00:49:44,381
<i>There he was with this white cap</i>

1009
00:49:44,450 --> 00:49:47,221
<i>and the white and black
wingtip shoes.</i>

1010
00:49:48,421 --> 00:49:50,032
<i>Then we went back
to the ballpark.</i>

1011
00:49:50,056 --> 00:49:53,724
<i>There was
like 15,000 people there,</i>

1012
00:49:53,793 --> 00:49:56,727
<i>most of them kids. It was a
different man that appeared.</i>

1013
00:49:56,796 --> 00:49:59,099
<i>Here he was, smiling.</i>

1014
00:50:00,733 --> 00:50:02,767
<i>I think he was happier
at the ballpark</i>

1015
00:50:02,836 --> 00:50:04,079
<i>than he was anywhere else.</i>

1016
00:50:04,103 --> 00:50:05,836
{\an8}<i>He didn't feel that good,
but the strength</i>

1017
00:50:05,905 --> 00:50:07,605
{\an8}<i>of being
around those young people</i>

1018
00:50:07,674 --> 00:50:10,908
{\an8}that he was working with
and imparting knowledge to them,

1019
00:50:10,977 --> 00:50:12,954
{\an8}I really think
gave him strength.

1020
00:50:12,978 --> 00:50:15,279
<i>He just seemed to gather
strength from it.</i>

1021
00:50:15,348 --> 00:50:18,382
<i>He really was crazy about
kids, and you could see it.</i>

1022
00:50:18,451 --> 00:50:20,217
As sick as he was
and as weak as he was,

1023
00:50:20,286 --> 00:50:21,952
he wanted to be with those kids.

1024
00:50:27,626 --> 00:50:30,094
<i>Babe was a very sick man.</i>

1025
00:50:30,163 --> 00:50:32,897
<i>We had a child in town</i>

1026
00:50:32,966 --> 00:50:34,965
<i>that was dying of cancer.</i>

1027
00:50:35,034 --> 00:50:37,802
{\an8}Who comes out in the yard,
but the Babe,

1028
00:50:37,871 --> 00:50:41,138
{\an8}and he spends time
talking to all of us.

1029
00:50:41,207 --> 00:50:42,873
<i>"I got something for you.</i>

1030
00:50:42,942 --> 00:50:45,175
<i>"Here. You look
like you can catch.</i>

1031
00:50:45,244 --> 00:50:48,346
<i>"There's a ball."
His attitude,</i>

1032
00:50:48,415 --> 00:50:51,215
<i>knowing that he was
close to death,</i>

1033
00:50:51,284 --> 00:50:54,352
and us knowing
that our friend was dying

1034
00:50:54,421 --> 00:50:55,965
<i>and not understanding...</i>

1035
00:50:55,989 --> 00:50:58,158
<i>it was just so wonderful.</i>

1036
00:50:59,325 --> 00:51:01,325
- How you doing, Babe?
- Pretty good.

1037
00:51:03,062 --> 00:51:04,382
<i>His health failing,</i>

1038
00:51:04,431 --> 00:51:06,196
<i>his glory days behind,</i>

1039
00:51:06,265 --> 00:51:08,966
<i>Ruth continued to make
public appearances.</i>

1040
00:51:09,035 --> 00:51:11,501
<i>On June 13th, 1948,</i>

1041
00:51:11,570 --> 00:51:13,738
<i>he helped celebrate
the 25th anniversary</i>

1042
00:51:13,807 --> 00:51:15,083
<i>of Yankee Stadium,</i>

1043
00:51:15,107 --> 00:51:18,512
<i>and wore his uniform
for the final time.</i>

1044
00:51:19,679 --> 00:51:20,889
<i>I was there when he made</i>

1045
00:51:20,913 --> 00:51:23,217
<i>his last appearance
in Yankee Stadium.</i>

1046
00:51:24,783 --> 00:51:27,985
<i>Even though by that time
he was wasted away,</i>

1047
00:51:28,054 --> 00:51:30,287
<i>somehow on that day,</i>

1048
00:51:30,356 --> 00:51:32,823
<i>he filled the uniform,</i>

1049
00:51:32,892 --> 00:51:37,094
<i>to be, once more,
for some last gasp,</i>

1050
00:51:37,163 --> 00:51:40,197
<i>a heroic figure.
You had just this moment,</i>

1051
00:51:40,266 --> 00:51:42,386
<i>which you tried
to hold and keep.</i>

1052
00:51:43,869 --> 00:51:45,736
<i>I worked for the</i> Herald Tribune,

1053
00:51:45,805 --> 00:51:48,475
<i>and I did
mostly human interest pictures.</i>

1054
00:51:49,976 --> 00:51:53,143
{\an8}I think it was terrible to know
that all of this ovation

1055
00:51:53,212 --> 00:51:55,846
{\an8}comes to him and he knows,
down deep in his heart,

1056
00:51:55,915 --> 00:51:58,319
{\an8}<i>that he isn't long
for this world.</i>

1057
00:52:00,687 --> 00:52:03,020
They lined 'em up there
in the front...

1058
00:52:03,089 --> 00:52:05,356
all the photographers
were in the front.

1059
00:52:05,425 --> 00:52:06,745
<i>I went around the back.</i>

1060
00:52:06,792 --> 00:52:10,761
<i>The thing that steered me
was the #3 being retired.</i>

1061
00:52:10,830 --> 00:52:13,664
<i>#3 is out.
The Babe bows out.</i>

1062
00:52:13,733 --> 00:52:15,031
<i>I said, "It's unnatural."</i>

1063
00:52:15,100 --> 00:52:17,768
<i>I knew I had something there.</i>

1064
00:52:36,689 --> 00:52:38,200
<i>Later that summer,</i>

1065
00:52:38,224 --> 00:52:40,657
<i>Ruth's health took
a serious turn for the worse.</i>

1066
00:52:40,726 --> 00:52:43,961
♪ ♪<i>In July, he entered</i>
<i>the hospital once more,</i>

1067
00:52:44,030 --> 00:52:47,968
<i>and this time he was made
aware of what he was facing.</i>

1068
00:52:49,435 --> 00:52:51,868
<i>When he went
into the Sloan Kettering,</i>

1069
00:52:51,937 --> 00:52:55,138
<i>he saw that it was for cancer
and allied diseases,</i>

1070
00:52:55,207 --> 00:52:58,576
and he said,
"Have I got cancer?"

1071
00:52:58,645 --> 00:53:00,314
They never told him.

1072
00:53:01,580 --> 00:53:04,015
<i>If anything could've saved him,</i>

1073
00:53:04,084 --> 00:53:06,387
<i>believe me,
the prayers would have.</i>

1074
00:53:11,825 --> 00:53:14,695
<i>They'd stand
outside the hospital.</i>

1075
00:53:15,895 --> 00:53:17,995
<i>Once in a while,
he'd go to the window,</i>

1076
00:53:18,064 --> 00:53:19,930
<i>look out, and wave.</i>

1077
00:53:19,999 --> 00:53:22,599
<i>He knew that he had
all their best wishes</i>

1078
00:53:22,668 --> 00:53:25,272
<i>and that they were
pulling for him.</i>

1079
00:53:28,741 --> 00:53:31,074
{\an8}<i>Here was somebody
who had been through</i>

1080
00:53:31,143 --> 00:53:34,779
{\an8}an awful lot of pain, discomfort

1081
00:53:34,848 --> 00:53:36,413
{\an8}for over a two-year period.

1082
00:53:36,482 --> 00:53:40,183
<i>He'd had enough of it.
"I'm tired of all this now."</i>

1083
00:53:40,252 --> 00:53:44,454
<i>He was very quiet. He awaited
the end in a dignified way,</i>

1084
00:53:44,523 --> 00:53:48,025
<i>but it was just a terrible
thing for him to realize</i>

1085
00:53:48,094 --> 00:53:50,614
<i>what had happened
to his joy of living.</i>

1086
00:53:52,832 --> 00:53:54,164
<i>We interrupt this program</i>

1087
00:53:54,233 --> 00:53:55,699
<i>to bring you a special bulletin.</i>

1088
00:53:55,768 --> 00:53:58,869
<i>New York. Babe Ruth,
the all-time baseball great,</i>

1089
00:53:58,938 --> 00:54:01,906
<i>just died in Memorial
Hospital of cancer.</i>

1090
00:54:03,542 --> 00:54:06,677
<i>Ruth's casket was brought
to Yankee Stadium,</i>

1091
00:54:06,746 --> 00:54:11,348
<i>a spectacle in death as in life.</i>

1092
00:54:11,417 --> 00:54:16,319
<i>The Babe had come to rest
where his legend had begun.</i>

1093
00:54:16,388 --> 00:54:20,391
<i>The people who came to get
their last look at him,</i>

1094
00:54:20,460 --> 00:54:23,094
just absolutely was staggering.

1095
00:54:23,163 --> 00:54:24,865
It amazed me.

1096
00:54:27,599 --> 00:54:29,766
<i>We went up
to the Bronx on the subway,</i>

1097
00:54:29,835 --> 00:54:33,437
<i>and there were people from
every race, every neighborhood.</i>

1098
00:54:33,506 --> 00:54:35,372
<i>The line moved very quickly,</i>

1099
00:54:35,441 --> 00:54:37,908
<i>and looking down at his face,
he looked exhausted.</i>

1100
00:54:50,189 --> 00:54:52,555
<i>And out past where he was lying</i>

1101
00:54:52,624 --> 00:54:55,292
<i>was the field. You could
smell the odor of it...</i>

1102
00:54:55,361 --> 00:54:59,867
the sort of loamy, hot earth
of August in New York.

1103
00:55:02,501 --> 00:55:05,269
<i>I walked in there
to see his memorial,</i>

1104
00:55:05,338 --> 00:55:07,504
and the hair just stood up
on the back on my neck

1105
00:55:07,573 --> 00:55:10,007
and stood up on my arms,

1106
00:55:10,076 --> 00:55:14,315
because I had finally gotten
to see where Babe hit 'em all.

1107
00:55:17,283 --> 00:55:19,850
<i>I remember being ushered
up to the casket.</i>

1108
00:55:19,919 --> 00:55:21,585
<i>Imagine.
There was Babe Ruth.</i>

1109
00:55:21,654 --> 00:55:24,354
{\an8}<i>I was handed a ball.
I had looked at the ball,</i>

1110
00:55:24,423 --> 00:55:27,892
{\an8}and some sensitive person
had written on this ball

1111
00:55:27,961 --> 00:55:29,638
{\an8}"Safe at home."

1112
00:55:29,662 --> 00:55:32,030
<i>I put the ball
right next to his hand,</i>

1113
00:55:32,099 --> 00:55:34,498
<i>and I thought, "Wow.</i>

1114
00:55:34,567 --> 00:55:37,705
<i>"Here he is. He's home.
He's where he belongs."</i>

1115
00:55:42,242 --> 00:55:44,308
<i>His passing was an event</i>

1116
00:55:44,377 --> 00:55:47,311
<i>in the lives of many people,
because he represented so much</i>

1117
00:55:47,380 --> 00:55:49,650
<i>and he took so much with him.</i>

1118
00:55:57,123 --> 00:55:59,256
<i>There never was
a character like that,</i>

1119
00:55:59,325 --> 00:56:01,395
<i>and there never was
gonna be one again.</i>

1120
00:56:05,231 --> 00:56:06,931
<i>But in many ways,</i>

1121
00:56:07,000 --> 00:56:08,999
<i>he's never left the game.</i>

1122
00:56:09,068 --> 00:56:12,903
<i>The standards that he set,
the legends that he created,</i>

1123
00:56:12,972 --> 00:56:15,409
<i>are still very much with us.</i>

1124
00:56:16,642 --> 00:56:18,776
<i>Babe Ruth will never be gone.</i>

1125
00:56:18,845 --> 00:56:21,012
<i>He's still here.</i>

1126
00:56:21,081 --> 00:56:23,150
<i>He's always here.</i>

1127
00:56:27,320 --> 00:56:29,253
<i>He was a living man</i>

1128
00:56:29,322 --> 00:56:32,089
<i>who became a mythic god,</i>

1129
00:56:32,158 --> 00:56:34,562
<i>and nothing can change that.</i>

1130
00:56:39,632 --> 00:56:43,968
<i>He will be a symbol of baseball</i>

1131
00:56:44,037 --> 00:56:46,073
<i>as long as baseball is played.</i>

1132
00:57:01,420 --> 00:57:03,186
<i>To me, the Babe's still alive.</i>

1133
00:57:03,255 --> 00:57:06,323
<i>He truly is like Shakespeare.</i>

1134
00:57:06,392 --> 00:57:08,529
<i>He'll never die.</i>

1135
00:58:58,838 --> 00:59:01,842
{\an8}<i>This has
been a presentation of...</i>

1135
00:59:02,305 --> 01:00:02,281
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