14 things everyone should know about Yankees legend Babe Ruth

Babe Ruth is probably the best hitter in baseball history. He was a world-famous American legend and helped build the New York Yankees into an iconic brand. He liked to have a good time and made baseball fun. Simply put, we can never have too much Babe Ruth in our lives. Here are 14 notes that everyone who loves baseball should know about The Babe.

Ruth was born and raised in Baltimore, lived for a while on the land that would one day become Camden Yards and went to an all-boys Catholic school for kids who were trouble. He didn’t move away until he was signed to play professional baseball. As much as The Babe belongs to New York, it’s fair to say Baltimore molded the man he became.

Ruth was signed by the Orioles (then in the International League), although he never played in the big leagues with them, as they sold him to the Red Sox in July 1914. Why does this matter? Because in the Orioles’ minor-league system, as legend has it, someone called Ruth 'Babe' instead of George, his given name, and it stuck.

A double at Fenway Park on Oct. 2, 1914. Ruth also started that game on the mound and earned the victory.

Probably because it was pre-Yankees, and everything Ruth is famously known for happened in New York. But look at these ERAs from 1915-1919: 2.44, 1.75, 2.01, 2.22, 2.97. Ruth never threw fewer than 133 1/3 innings in those seasons and reached as high as 326 1/3 in 1917 (35 complete games!). He also has the record for most innings in a single postseason game with 14, which he did against the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1916 World Series. And to think he was so good at hitting that it didn’t make sense for him to remain a pitcher.

Ruth was part of the Yankees’ first four championships – 1923, 1927, 1928, 1932 – but because the 'Curse of the Bambino' is so famous, it’s easy to overlook what he achieved with the Red Sox. But Ruth won three titles with Boston (1915, 1916, 1918). The seven rings ties Ruth with Mickey Mantle, among others, and puts him seventh all time among players.

Ruth made $10,000 in 1919 with the Red Sox and then argued after the season he was worth twice that. Instead of going through another holdout, Boston owner Harry Frazee decided to sell Ruth as he was still facing debt from buying the team. What is $10,000 in 2015 money? About $124, 239. Yep, the Red Sox ditched perhaps the greatest hitter of all time for less than a quarter of today’s minimum MLB salary. That has to be the most short-sighted front-office move ever.

It’s no secret Ruth liked to party. His affairs were well documented, his mink coats were legendary. There were even rumors once that he was ill with a sexually transmitted disease (that was not confirmed). This line, from former teammates Ping Bodie and Jimmie Reese, says it best: “I don’t room with Ruth -- I room with his suitcase.”

Baseball took a hit with gambling scandals in the 1910s – highlighted by the Black Sox scandal of 1919 – but Ruth shifted that focus when he joined the Yankees in 1920 and became a mega-star. New York drew more than one million fans for the first time in baseball history, and an original American icon was born.

Ruth was a difficult guy to manage. In a game at the Polo Grounds, he lost a ball in the sun in left field and declared he’d never play in the sun again. So going forward, he switched between right and left based on how the ballpark was situated in relation to the sun’s position in the sky, and the Yankees had to accommodate his wishes. Can you imagine anyone doing that today?

In 1923 Ruth tried out a different kind of bat, one that was built from four pieces of wood glued together rather than just one whole piece of lumber. He reportedly hit .457 with 18 home runs in 53 games with the bat before baseball banned it and said all bats must be made from one piece of wood only. Guess that was before cork and steroids became things.

Ruth won only one MVP award in his career (1923) because the rules prevented repeat winners until the Baseball Writers Association of America began handling voting in 1931. In case you were wondering, Ruth led the AL in wins above replacement 10 different times. If a steady voting body was in place, he would have won several more. But of course, it’s not like the BWAA killed it with its award and Hall of Fame selections over the years.

The Babe ran into a cement wall in Washington one time, knocking himself out cold for five minutes. When he woke up, he not only remained in the game and went 3-for-3, but he then played in the night game of a double-header! Concussions? What are those?

Ruth pitched a few more times after joining the Yankees but then shut it down for nine years. He returned to the mound for the last regular-season game of the 1930 season, throwing a complete game against the Red Sox. It was so much fun, apparently, that Ruth came back to the mound in 1933 to face Boston again – and threw another complete game. Brilliance.

Ruth wanted to be a manager after he retired, but the opportunities didn’t develop for him. His lifestyle always caused friction with the Yankees, and Ruth was seen as an amazing talent that couldn’t be corralled. Upon hearing of Ruth’s managerial aspirations, Yankees GM Ed Barrow said, 'How can he manage other men when he can’t even manage himself?' Yeah, Ed, but still. It’s The Babe, and at least that team would have played loose.