Historical Figure, Babe Ruth

Babe Ruth, whose birth name is George Herman Ruth, was history’s first sports superstar. He originally could have been the greatest left-handed pitcher, but instead became the greatest hitter in history. He led the Red Sox to victory in two World Series, but was traded soon after to the Yankees in 1918. He was making $80,000 a year, which is more than the President at that time who was only making $75,000. Because of Babe Ruth the Yankees were the first team to have a million fans into their stadium.

At one point, he held the record for most home runs in a season at 60 home runs right up until 1961. In total he has hit 714 home runs in the entirety of his career. Supposedly, there was a curse placed on the Red Sox after they traded away Babe Ruth. They didn’t win the World Series for an extremely long time. Until recently, in 2004, when they won the World Series. However, the Yankees made it to, and won the World Series a multitude of times.

Ruth was only 19 when Jack Dunn, the owner of the Baltimore Orioles of the International League, decided to sign him to his first professional contract. But in order so complete the contract Dunn had to adopt him in order to get in out of school. This started his nickname Dunn’s “baby”. His nickname seemed to stick and changed slightly to the famous one we all know, Babe, followed be his last name Ruth. Thus the name Babe Ruth was created.

-Amber Vrolyk