Babe Ruth

Name: Babe Ruth
Released: 1998

ID	13190926
Movie Name	Babe Ruth
Release Name	Babe Ruth (1998) [WEBRip] [YTS.MX]
Year	1998
Kind	movie
Language	English
IMDB ID	166497
Format	srt

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