Deadspin: babe ruth

Wasn't Babe Ruth A DH?

Dashiell Bennett — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 09:45:44 EDT

MLB Productions has unearthed the only known footage of Babe Ruth actually playing defense in the outfield. He sitting on a barstool and talking to a hooker, but he's still in right field! [NYTimes]

The Babe Always Used Protection

Rick Chandler — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 13:15:47 EST

It was moving day for the Yankee Stadium monuments on Tuesday. Sadly, during the short drive to the new stadium, the Mickey Mantle monument was arrested for DUI. [New York Daily News]

Saying Goodbye To The Original Billy Ball

Rick Chandler — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 09:30:25 EST

Bill Werber, oldest living major leaguer and teammate of Babe Ruth, passes away at age 100. [Newsday]

Babe Ruth's Teammate Speaks: 100-Year-Old Bill Werber

Clay Travis — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:15:19 EDT

And Bill Werber brings some strong trash talk. Specifically he refers to current players as "a grubby-looking bunch of caterwaulers." A caterwauler? According to dictionary.com that's the sound a cat makes when it's in heat. So, yeah, I can see that. Werber tells stories about playing cards against Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig on the train. And he even gives some advice Babe Ruth shared with him after Ruth hit a homerun. Per NBC,

"I said to myself, 'Well, I'll show these Yankees how I can run,'" Werber said. "So I ran around second base at high speed – I knew it was a home run – and I ran around third base, and when Babe came in, he patted me on the head and he said, 'You don't need to run fast like that when The Babe hits one.'"

The Babe and his teammates will never die. At least not yet.

Babe's Old Teammate No Fan of "Grubby" Ballplayers [MSNBC]

You Can Own Babe Ruth's Hair

Will Leitch — Wed, 28 May 2008 11:10:45 EDT

We don't know about you, but we've grown tired of your traditional baseball cards, with their stats and biographical details and pithy anecdotes. We would like our baseball cards to include actual human hair, so that we might clone our favorite players and raise them as pets. Is there any way that could be possible? Yes!

Yep, you can have Babe Ruth's hair. Thanks, Upper Deck!

Upper Deck Hair Cut Signatures cards will include a strand of hair along with a cut autograph for some of the biggest names in American history — baseball players like Babe Ruth, presidents like Abe Lincoln and other key individuals.

I'm not sure if I like this trend out of either company, but there's no doubting that these cards are going to be very, very valuable because of their scarcity, novelty and, at the same time, their significance.

We don't understand how they got the hair, and we don't want to know. (Or, for that matter, what part of the body it's from.) We're not sure this is a natural evolution for collectors, or the end of them.

Upper Deck To Release Cards Containing Hair [Sports By Brooks]

The always indulgent Page Six breaks a story...

sussman — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 16:40:00 EDT

The always indulgent Page Six breaks a story that happened 80 years ago about Babe Ruth's penchant for whorehouse visits. I wonder if that's where he learned how to call his shot. [NY Post]

If ESPN Had Been Around Forever ...

Leitch — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 15:15:12 EDT

JoeSportsFan asks a question we've been curious about ourselves: What would happen if ESPN, the way it exists today, covered historic events? Could we handle Skip Bayless opining on Ty Cobb? How about the Babe's "called shot?"

But if one of the Yankees called his shot during one of those games... I think Bristol would actually burn down. I can't imagine what John Kruk would say on Baseball Tonight later that evening , but I'd like to think it'd be a bunch of sweaty, mulleted gibberish and he would follow it up by eating a hot dog.

Well, there's certainly nothing with THAT.

5 Things I'm Glad Happened Before The Modern ESPN Era [Joe Sports Fan]