Top Ten Things You Might Not Have Known About Babe Ruth

By Palash Ghosh | February 02 2011 2:44 PM

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Babe Ruth’s birthday is coming up this Sunday (he was born in 1895 in Baltimore). He was not only the greatest all-around baseball player in history, the Bambino was also one of the most unforgettable pop-culture figures in U.S. history. Here’s a list of items you might not have known about this American icon: Many of his Yankee teammates didn’t call him ‘Babe’ – they called him ‘Jidge’ a derivation of his real first name ‘George.’

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Before he became a slugger for the Yankees, he was the finest left-handed pitcher in the American League for the Boston Red Sox. He even set a record for pitching the most consecutive scoreless innings in the World Series (until broken by Yankee Whitey Ford in the early 1960s).

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Babe Ruth and his illustrious teammate Lou Gehrig did not speak to each other for years, allegedly because Babe’s wife had criticized Lou’s mother. Gehrig died tragically in 1941 at the age of 38.

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Babe and Lou Gehrig often spoke to each other in fluent German. Both were sons of German immigrants.

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One of Babe’s biggest fans was Joseph Kennedy, patriarch of the famous Massachusetts clan.

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Despite their well-chronicled feud and rivalry, Babe actually became good friends with Ty Cobb and they shared a passion for golf. Cobb died in 1961.

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Babe ended up bitter at the Yankees because they refused to name him manager of the team. No other team would give him the opportunity either, although the Brooklyn Dodgers gave him a spot a first base coach in 1938.

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Babe’s first wife, the former Helen Woodford, died in a tragic fire in Watertown, Mass. in 1929.

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When Babe went to England and met King George he reportedly addressed him as “Hiya, King!” (Babe was notorious for not remembering peoples’ names) Others claim this incident occured with King Edward instead, or perhaps it never even happened at all!

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When Babe Ruth was criticized for earning more money than the President of the U.S. during the worst days of the Great Depression, he casually quipped that he had a “better year” than the president.