European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 19, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 20 a the stars and stripes sunday april 19,1992movie swats ruthian memories Joha Goodman brings babe Ruth to life in the new movie a the babes by a a calling the shot he hit in the 1932 world series. By h1llelitalie the associated press new York a before him baseball meant singles and stolen bases. After him big swings and Home run trots. To this Day every player who Aims for the bleachers pays his respects to the memory of the great babe Ruth. A the was the first real slugger and the Guy other Home run hitters could follow a says the dodgers Darryl Strawberry. A the made the biggest Impact on the game of anyone i can think a babe babe was it he a baseball a adds Reggie Jackson who hit 563 homers lifetime. A the name has just carried through to the 1990s from the 1920s. It goes to show you that the most important part of the game the most attractive and most exciting part of the game was the Home Ruth whose Story is told in the new John Goodman movie a the babe a defined the game and perhaps the country As Well his Fame such that japanese troops shouted a the hell with babe Ruth a As they attacked the allies during world War ii. Hank Aaron hit More homers lifetime and Roger Maris topped his record for one season but Rutn s numbers remain magic 60 Home runs in 1927, 714 in All. While Aaron and Maris were quiet methodical men who simply did their jobs Well Ruth was the Model for every Brash athlete who boasted he could do the impossible. He told a dying boy head hit a Home run and then delivered. He made More Money than the president of the United states and insisted he deserved it because he had a better year. He May even have pointed to the stands during the world series and hit the Ball to the exact spot. All of this appears in the film a highly romanticized account of the babes life that begins with his father leaving him at a boys school and ends with his final season As a player. Like the 1948 movie a the babe Ruth Story a dates and events Are jumbled and compressed although a the babes does acknowledge his drinking and womanizing. Goodman who has joked that he had to lose weight to play the part does resemble the actual Man the Moon shaped face and Flat nose the Broad Grin and floppy ears All set on top that ungainly looking body the Skinny legs and round belly that recalled an ice Cream Cone on drumsticks. Ruth was not Only baseball a greatest player but perhaps its most underrated. Its easy to imagine him As just another slow footed slugger lumbering around the bases and watching balls skip past him in the Field. But the babe could do everything. He was an excellent outfielder with a powerful Arm. He was an aggressive base runner who stole Home 10 times. He struck out often but could adjust his style to a particular Pitcher. Batting against a Nuckle Balter he swung mightily twice and missed both times. He then choked up slightly and connected for a towering Home run. George Herman Ruth was born in a working class neighbourhood in Baltimore in 1895, and Uvea above his fathers bar until age 7. Wild and fearless he was sent off by his parents to St. Mary a Industrial school where he would spend much of the next 12 years. He dabbled in music and shirt making and then joined the schools baseball team starting As a Catcher and becoming the Star Pitcher. Professional baseball soon came calling. In the Winter of 1914, he joined a Moor league team in Baltimore where he picked up the nickname teammates called him Quot Dunn a baby a a reference to owner Jack Dunn the Boston red sox purchased him that summer and he became part of the american leagues Best pitching staff. Tall and lean with a hard fastball and a Sharp breaking curve Ruth won 23 Sames in 1916 with nine shutouts and a eague leading 1.75 named run average. The following year he won 24 games. He also threw 2936 consecutive scoreless innings in the world series a record that held up More than 40 years. Always a Good hitter Ruth began playing in the Outfield in 1918, tying for the league High with 11 Home runs. The next year he hit a record 29 homers and soon made fans forget the Nightmare of the infamous 1919 world series when some Chicago White sox players took Money to lose. A i used to get a kick out of watching the movie tone news and seeing babe Ruth with a Bunch of kids a Mickey Mantle recalled. A the did no to mind being in the Public Eye and i always admired the Way he handled himself. He did a lot of wild things off the Field but he was really Good for the in january 1920, the Cash strapped red sox sold him to the Yankees for the then astonishing Price of $125,000. More than 70 years later the transaction still Marks the history of these two franchises Boston Hasni to won a world series since new York has won 22. Ruth a stomach swelled like the Stock prices on Wall Street and the numbers e put up remain astounding. In 1920, he hit 54 Home runs More than any player in the league and More than any team As Well. He followed with 59 homers 16 triples and 44 doubles in 1921, driving in 171 runs and scoring 177. In 1923, he batted .393 and walked 170 times. There had been nothing like it before and writers described him As if he were a Freak from the travelling circus. He was the Sultan of swat the wondrous Galloper the Caliph of crash the Masto Donic mauler. If nicknames Are the measure of a players greatness the babe was surely King of them All. He peaked in 1927 with his magical 60 Home runs a Milestone in some ways As Silty As adding another floor to the Empire state building. It was after All his own record he was beating and the Home run meant nothing to the Pennant race the Yankees won 110 games that year and had Long clinched the title when the babe launched his historic shot. But the record captured the spirit of the Man and sums up Why he mattered to so Many people. He did it because he said he could. He raised the stakes himself and met them living by his own motto a i swing big with everything in be got. I hit big or i miss a a that a one of the special things about playing at Yankee stadium a said the Yankees Don Mattingly. A a it a the same Field the same clubhouse and the same dugout that babe Ruth used. Its one of the things you think about when you put on a Yankee crude and stubborn loud and uninhibited he could also be his own worst enemy. He fought with managers and umpires. He was suspended in 1922 for playing during the off season after the commissioner warned him not to. He missed several weeks of the 1925 season after collapsing during Spring training an incident known As Quot the Bellyache heard a round the the Field he also swung for the fences. He loved steaks and booze fast cars and of course Beautiful women. Stories about his appetites sexual and gastronomic kept old timers talking for years. A lord he ate too much a his red sox teammate Harry Hooper recalled. A a he a Stop along the Road when we were travelling and order a half dozen hot dogs and As Many bottles of soda pop stuff them in one after the other give a few big belches and Roar a of boys lets j n there was also the time he brought a woman Back to his hotel and spent the night with her enjoying a Good Cigar Between rounds. When his Roommate asked him the next Day How Many times they had made love the babe pointed to a Well filled ashtray and replied a count the a we used to have a clubhouse Guy named Pete Sheehy and me and Whitey Ford and the Guys would sit around and have Beers and listen to babe Ruth stories a Mantle said. A the was kind of like our idol too. I would have loved to have played on the same team As him just to see what he was really Ruth continued to Star for the Yankees through the 1920s and enjoyed his last great moment during the 1932 world series when he hit a Home run no one knows if he predicted or not. The Yankees were playing the Chicago cubs and feelings were hard on both sides. Cubs fans spat on both the babe and his wife and threw Lemons from the stands. The players cursed at him from the dugout. When Ruth came up to Bat in the fifth inning of game 3, he took a called strike and raised one Finger. Two pitches later he took another stake and raised two angers. He then hit a tremendous Homer deep into the bleachers in Center Field laughing to himself As he ran Down the first base line. Ruth Calls shot As he puts Homer no. 2 in Side pocket was the headline of the new York world Telegram. But did he Call it Many say the raised fingers merely reflected How Many strikes were on him. When the babe was asked if he really pointed to the bleachers he shrugged Ana said a a it a in the papers Isnit it the Universal pictures movie leaves no doubt that he predicted the Homer after that it was All downhill. Ruth in his late 30s and increasingly injury prone tailed Oft badly the next two years his feud with manager Joe Mccarthy pushing him to quit the Yankees. He signed with the Boston braves in the Winter of 1935, batted just .181, and left for Good in june. Unable to convince any major league owner he deserved a shot at managing Ruth spent his remaining years golfing Hunting and appearing at exhibition James. He died aug. 16,1948, a two year it out with cancer sapping much of the july from his body and turning his Brown Tair White. For four Days Ruth a death kept him on the front Page of the new York times first his body Lay in state at Yankee stadium with vendors pushing hot dogs outside and weeping fans lining up As if to say Farewell to a departed head of state. The funeral followed. A procession moved up fifth Avenue and stopped at St. Patrick a Cathedral. It was raining that Day but More than 100,000 people stood outside bareheaded and silent. Among the pallbearers were two former Yankees. When one told the other head give anything to have a Beer his old teammate observed the babe would have liked one too
