The Cellar - October 23rd, 2015: Babe Ruth's legend = Energizer Bunny

Babe Ruth is a Legend, not only in Baseball lore, but American Culture. Like a fictional Paul Bunyan or real George Washington, the legend keeps going like the energizer Bunny, and keeps growing with time. Ruth's stat's on the field are well documented, but the stories surrounding his life are not hard and fast, like the stats, they keep growing and morphing with each passing generation, and the internet has accelerated the process.

Jim Linderman's Blog, Dull Tool Dim Bulb helps fuel the legend's growth.
He posted this kids drawing without a source or history.

http://cellar.org/2015/biggame_jpg.jpg

One of the most famous Ruth stories is promising to hit a home run for a sick kid who could only listen to the game on the radio. So Linderman speculates...

Quote:

A young boy draws America's game in 1932. Cubs and Yanks appear on the scoreboard. The two teams played each other in the World Series in 1932 and 1938, but I am calling this undated drawing 1932 because it was the series Babe Ruth called his home run. Maybe he did it for the boy who drew this at home listening on the radio.

He adds this picture labeled "screen shot" of Ruth pointing, calling the home run shot like Minnesota Fats.

http://cellar.org/2015/Screen Shot.jpg

Ooh, goose bumps. I'm sure people will read that and if not tell their friends, the next bull session about Ruth, they'll recall it and toss it in, happy to be able to participate. Especially if one or two others say that's new to them. That's a unique thing about Ruth stories, they're rarely disputed unless actual stats are claimed, because there so many stories nobody's heard them all... nobody.

Except for one teeny tiny problem. The kids name was Johnny Sylvester who was hospitalized after a serious horse riding accident, and his father a big shot banker with the suck to request messages for his son from both teams and get it. Ruth wrote, ""I'll knock a homer for you on Wednesday", which was the fourth game of the world series. But it was the 1926 series between the Yankees and Cardinals.

In Linderman's defense, The 1948 movie, the Babe Ruth Story, lied. It portrayed this happening during the 1932 Cubs/Yankees series. It also showed Ruth(Gary Cooper) going to visit Johnny and promising TWO home runs.
Yes, Virginia, Hollywood lies sometimes... well, all the time. :lol: