The history of the New York Yankees is inextricably linked to the name George Herman “Babe” Ruth.
Ruth, who was born on February 6, 1895, played for the most famous sports team in the world for a total of 14 years. Even if you have absolutely nothing to do with the sport, everyone has probably seen the legendary Yankees logo at least once.
Before the pitcher signed his contract with the Yankees on December 26, 1919, the team, founded in 1903 as the New York Highlanders, was without a championship title or its own stadium – and facing bankruptcy in the shadow of the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants.
The relatively new owner Jacob Ruppert needed a miracle – and he got it in the form of a portly playboy with bad manners: George Herman “Babe” Ruth.
From orphanage to baseball sensation
Before joining the Yankees, Ruth was already a big baseball star. Today he is known for his home runs. In the service of the Boston Red Sox, Ruth, who rose from an orphanage in Baltimore to become an MLB sensation, was an outstanding pitcher.
In four years, he had led the Red Sox to three championship titles. He didn’t allow a point in more than 29 consecutive innings in the World Series – a record that stood for 43 years.
He also set the record for home runs in a season in 1918 (11) and 1919 (29). Ruth alone filled the stadiums and saved baseball from collapse in the wake of the “Black Sox scandal” over a deliberately lost World Series.
Red Sox owner makes biggest mistake of his life
Ruth was the reason people came to the stadium. He was loved dearly in Boston, but the owner of the Red Sox made a momentous decision.
Harry Frazee sold his greatest treasure to the Yankees for the then-obscene sum of $125,000 and a $300,000 loan on Fenway Park Stadium.
Why he did it is not 100% documented. The fact is: Ruth wanted more money. Frazee, who owned a theater in New York, was having financial problems.
Apparently he urgently needed money to be able to produce a musical for the world-famous Broadway. According to legend, it was the song “No, No, Nannette.” This probably later helped him to refinance the loan on the stadium.
Ruth as a Yankee: more home runs than complete teams
But that didn’t save Frazee from the wrath of the fans, as Ruth became an instant star in New York. The Yankees made him a full-time hitter, and in the following years he dominated opponents and hit more home runs than entire teams.
Hank Aaron only broke his record of 714 decades later – with around 4,000 more chances to hit. If you calculate the rate of at-bats per home run, Babe would have sent over 1,000 balls into the stands.
But his impact on the Yankees went far beyond home runs and four championships.
Yankees are building a stadium because of him
Ruth became a superstar beyond sports and one of the biggest celebrities in the metropolis – thanks in part to his love of New York nightlife.
Accordingly, the number of viewers exploded. Mainly because of him, Ruppert built his own stadium, where Ruth hit the first home run in 1923. That’s why Yankee Stadium, which was only replaced in 2008, was also called “The House That Ruth Built”.
His numerous – often alcohol-related – scandals also increased interest. His love of good food was also legendary. Ruth also created the Yankees jerseys, which still have the same design today. Because the “pinstripes” were intended to make Ruth appear thinner.
Above all, however, was the sporting dominance that created countless myths. Like in the 1932 World Series against the Chicago Cubs when the “Sultan of Swat” called a home run or the promised home run to a boy on his sick bed.
The stories are simply too good not to be true. Thanks to Ruth and subsequent legends such as Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle and, in modern times, Derek Jeter, the Yankees became the MLB figurehead, record champion, myth and a global brand with the “N” and “Y” so characteristically linked.
Ruth and Frazee died young
Since Ruth’s move, the “Bronx Bombers” have won 27 World Series, while the Red Sox have not won a single one – before they broke the “Curse of the Bambino” in 2004.
Incidentally, Frazee was driven by the ever-growing discontent to sell the Red Sox in 1921. Eight years later, he died of kidney failure at just 48 years old. Ultimately, he was the perfect scapegoat and at the same time the starting point of the bitterest rivalry in US sports. Even the cities of Boston and New York became universal enemies.
Babe Ruth also died very young: at the age of 53 from throat cancer, but by then he had long since become an immortal myth. His number 3 and the plaque in the new Yankee Stadium are places of pilgrimage for fans from all over the world – at every home game.
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