Ted Hammond - Who Was Babe Ruth?

Who Was
Babe Ruth?

For Jane OConnorJH
For Stephanie and JasonTH

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Text copyright 2012 by Joan Holub. Illustrations copyright 2012 by Ted Hammond. Cover illustration copyright 2012 by Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. Published by Penguin Workshop, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, New York. PENGUIN and PENGUIN WORKSHOP are trademarks of Penguin Books Ltd. WHO HQ & Design is a registered trademark of Penguin Random House LLC.

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2011014640

ISBN 9780448455860 (paperback)

ISBN 9781101552339 (ebook)

Version_2

He was the king of baseball in the 1920s and 30s. In fact, he broke almost every batting record in the game! But hitting home runslots of home runsmade him famous around the world.

His real name was George Herman Ruth. His family called him Little George. His fans had other names for him. The Sultan of Swat. The Big Bam. But his most famous nicknamethe one that stuckwas Babe.

The way Babe hit the ball was different and exciting. He swung with all his might and undercut it, popping the ball high and long. Fans crowded into ballparks wherever he went, hoping to see him hit another homer. He tried not to disappoint them.

Babe did everything in a big way. He took crazy chances stealing bases. He argued with umpires. He was loud and always said what he thought. Sometimes that got him into troubleand into the newspapers.

He didnt look like a superstar athlete. He had skinny legs, small feet, and was often overweight. And he didnt take good care of his health. He ate too much and liked to party. He bought fancy cars and drove too fast. He had amazing energy. He stayed up latesometimes all night. Then he would play ball the next day. Somehow hed still hit homers. But sometimes he was just too tired.

Babes teammates said he would give you the shirt off his back. That means he was really generous. He was also great to fans, especially kids. He signed more autographs than just about any player in history. He loved baseball, and fans loved him.

There have been other great baseball players before and after him, but Babe Ruth was one of a kind.

Babe Ruth was a wild little boy, always in trouble. There were many boys like him in his rough Baltimore, Maryland, neighborhood. And they all loved baseball. It was the most popular sport in America in those days.

He was born on February 6, 1895. His real name was the same as his fathers: George Herman Ruth. His family was poor, same as everyone else they knew. They lived in a noisy, dirty part of town. It was called Pigtown because pigs were brought in on trains and then herded through the streets to the slaughterhouse.

His father, Big George, owned a bar. His mother, Kate, took care of the family. Babe was the oldest of eight children. They all lived in a small apartment above the bar. Poor families couldnt afford good food or good care when they were sick. Many children died young. Only Babe and his little sister Mamie lived to adulthood.

By age six, Babe was always on the lookout for something exciting to do. He hated school, so he wouldnt go. Instead he played in the busy cobblestone streets with his friends. In Pigtown, there was lots of mischief for a boy to get into.

He and his pals stole apples from fruit stands. They played baseball in the middle of the streets or in vacant lots. Wagon drivers smacked their legs with whips and yelled at them to get out of the road. The boys fired rotten eggs back.

The boys called policemen coppers since their badges were made of copper. Coppers were Babes enemies because they were always trying to make him behave and go to school.

Baltimore was a major seaport. Ships came and went, sailing off into the Atlantic Ocean. Dock workers and sailors hung out on the streets. These were rowdy men who cursed. Babe learned to curse from them. When he should have been learning to read and write, he was chewing tobacco and smoking. He even snitched drinks of whiskey now and then from his fathers bar.

He wasnt really a bad boy. He had a good heart and was generous right from the start. But he didnt think things through. Once he stole a dollar from his dad to buy ice cream for all of his friends. Big George spanked him. Just to prove he hadnt learned a lesson, Babe did it again.

He talked back to his parents and wouldnt do anything they said. They couldnt keep him out of trouble. One day they stopped trying.

When Babe was seven years old, his father took him for a ride in a trolley car. Did Babe know where they were going? Maybe not. Big George took him to St. Marys Industrial School for Boys and left him there. It was a reform school. A place for troublemakers, runaways, and orphans. There were plenty of schools like thistwenty-nine in Baltimore alone!