Babe Ruth, elite athlete who looked ordinary

Here is Babe Ruth outside of Yankee Stadium in 1925. He doesn't have the good looks of a superstar athlete like Michael Jordan or Tom Brady. No intense eyes or handsome smile. And that's a part of his appeal. Ruth looks like your uncle or that guy at the corner deli. There weren't many outward signs of Ruth's incredible gifts. He looks mortal. And yet, his performance on the baseball diamond put him in a class of his own. So let's talk about Babe Ruth, the elite athlete who looked ordinary. George Herman Ruth was born in Baltimore, the son of German immigrant parents. He got into trouble at a young age and was sent to a state institution for orphans and delinquents at the age of seven. That's where he spent the next 12 years and learned how to play baseball. Here you see Ruth in 1912, age 17, and you'll note he's sporting a left-handed catcher's mitt, something quite uncommon in our time. Teammates said Ruth was a gifted athlete with natural instincts for any position. In 1914, he signed a contract to play professionally for the Orioles and wound up in Boston playing for the Red Sox the same year. During five full seasons in Boston, Ruth established himself as a dominant left-handed pitcher. Regrettably, there isn't much footage of Ruth on the mound, but observers said he had excellent control and an overpowering fastball. Ruth faced Walter Johnson five times in 1916 and never lost. That year, he pitched nine shutouts. That's right, nine shutouts and led the league in ERA, 1.75. Had the Sel Young Award existed, he would have won it. In the 1918 World Series, Babe Ruth pitched 29 and one-third scoreless innings, a record that stood for over 40 years. Ruth posed an unusual problem for the Red Sox. He was so good at hitting, it wasn't clear where his greatest value to the team lay, as a full-time pitcher or as a full-time hitter. To the dismay of Boston's fans, the owner of the Red Sox sold Ruth to the New York Yankees in 1920 and the Yankees went on to become synonymous with success. Let's watch Babe Ruth swing. He takes a huge step towards the pitcher, and the results were tremendous when he connected squarely. But Ruth was very off balance with swings and misses. It can look awful, and it's not something you see modern hitters do. Ruth led the American League in strikeouts five times. He swung and missed a lot of the time, but he also hit more doubles, triples, and home runs than anyone else in his era. To this day, he holds the highest lifetime slugging percentage in baseball history. And that's what made Ruth so exciting. He swung hard. Even his strikeouts thrilled fans, because he might spin around or fall down in the batter's box. Of course, Ruth had a fantastic eye and laid off bad pitches. In his career, the Babe is one of just four players with more than 2,000 walks. There isn't film footage of Ruth making a leaping catch on the outfield, or making a graceful slide into second base. In fact, images of Ruth running are actually pretty funny. Watch him grab on to second base. And yet people said Ruth was the Yankees' best bunter, and a gifted outfielder with terrific instincts. Here is Babe Ruth posing with his wife Helen and baby Dorothy in 1921. He looks very much like a regular guy with his wife and child. In fact, you might guess he was 40 years old and not 26 years old. For most of his career, he looked older than he actually was. And there are plenty of photographs where the Babe's hat is a bit off, his shirt's a bit ruffled. And that's a part of the appeal. One very lovable thing about Ruth is that he never forgot his humble origins and his rough childhood. Ruth visited orphanages his entire life, and I am unaware of a single story in which Ruth refused an autograph or mistreated a fan. The Babe made himself accessible to his legions of admirers. He loved the public, and the public loved him back. There's a short film called Just Pals, made in 1932. In it, the Babe visits an orphanage to umpire a ballgame, and then comforts a boy who gets teased for striking out. I love the scene where Ruth, in his late 30s, jumps over two picket fences and goes to comfort the crying child. Ruth teaches him the basics of hitting, and the film ends with a happy orphan hitting a home run. Ruth's reaction is priceless. I reckon that the Babe's hat is a bit off, if he took himself more seriously or had a more chiseled body. We marvel at his statistical achievements, and probably even more so because he had a common, ordinary look. Of course, there was nothing ordinary about George Herman Ruth. If you like what you saw, you can watch more shorts and lectures on this channel. Thanks for watching.