Your Cart is Empty
The world of sports is not foreign to big stars acting up, but we think Babe Ruth deserves to be on the Hall of Fame of the most unruly big sports stars of the century. Read on to find out why.
It is well known that Babe Ruth attended St. Mary’s Industrial School for Orphans, Delinquent, Incorrigible and Wayward Boys in Baltimore, but it’s not because he was an orphan. His parents were both alive, but he was sent because he caused so much trouble they couldn’t handle him anymore.
Babe recounted in his adult years that he spent much of his boyhood skipping school, wandering the streets, and drinking beer when his father wasn’t looking.
A really good thing came out of it, though, as it was in this orphanage school that Babe fell in love with baseball.
“Looking back on my boyhood, I honestly don’t remember being aware of the difference between right and wrong,” Ruth wrote in his autobiography.
The Babe didn’t shy from getting *too many* babes in bed - despite his marriage to his first wife. Married or not, he liked to get the game on. At one party, he was said to have gotten on top of a piano and screamed “OK, girls, anyone who does not want to get f***ed now can leave!” 👀 There is no info as to how that played out.
And he apparently liked prostitutes… as he was said to have slept with every single prostitute in a St. Louis brothel. Maybe that’s why syphilis made him miss part of the season with "The Bellyache Heard 'Round The World” in 1952.
Ruth’s affinity for breaking the rules still lived on and showed behind the wheel. On June 8, 1921, Ruth was arrested as he was caught speeding in Manhattan. He had to spend the rest of the day in jail, and just forty-five minutes before his game, he was released, wore his Yankee uniform, and got a ride to catch the game in time.
The Babe was also famous for his temper and a big ego. In 1917, umpire Brick Owens pissed him off enough for him to punch the poor umpire behind his left ear. This, of course, led to him being banned from the field for the rest of the game and a $100 fine.
The author seemed to have been thrilled the public spectacle caused by Ruth.
On April 2, 1931, the unthinkable happened: Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig - two of the most fearsome hitters in the entire baseball history - were struck out by a 17-year-old Jackie Mitchell, a minor league pitcher.
Here’s what happened:
Joe Engel, a scout in Major League Baseball and a promoter and team owner in the minor leagues, decided to include Jackie Mitchell in his roster mainly as a publicity stunt.
Jackie Mitchell started playing baseball as a kid when the major league pitcher “Dazzy” Vance, her neighbor, taught her how to throw a “drop ball,” now commonly known a sinker. This type of pitch is hard to master and hit - add the fact that she was lefthanded.
While there are speculations that the game was rigged, it’s widely debated and the fact still stands today that a young female struck out the two biggest stars of the “Murderer’s Row”. Well, she sure does hit like a girl!
The Babe and Gehrig with Jackie Mitchell.
Aside from being struck out by a girl, Ruth and Gehrig apparently shared another thing - Eleanor Gehrig, Lou’s wife.
Here’s the scoop:
Before her marriage to Lou, Eleanor had been particularly friendly with the Babe. And knowing him, Ruth rarely had platonic relationships with women. It’s also said that in 1934, during a trip to Japan, Gehrig caught Eleanor half drunk in Babe’s cabin on the ship. The two didn’t speak for years.
Maybe one of Ruth’s biggest regret is not being able to manage a team. After his retirement, Ruth expressed interest in managing a team but was declined maybe because team owners worried that his excessive lifestyle and poor behavior during his playing years will be a bad influence on young players.
