Babe Ruth posing with fans 1925. He was a popular figure in the African American community because of his willingness to treat them as he would white fans, along with rumors of him being biracial.
One of the big reasons that he was kept out of the manager role despite everyone agreeing that he was the best baseball player to ever set foot on the diamond was actually because they were certain that he would bring colored baseball players onto the team. The teams were so afraid of this and the backlash that it would cost them in their fandom and their reputation throughout the rest of the league, which was pretty supremacist at the time, that they decided not to hire him based on that fact alone. There was even a managerial spot open in Cleveland when he retired, but Alva Bradley, the owner of the Cleveland Indians at the time, refused to hire him. It's not like there wasn't fresh talent in the black community, because the Negro Leagues had plenty of worthy players who would have excelled in the MLB, but they were kept out systematically until Jackie Robinson in 1947.
EDIT: Can I tell you the story of Satchel Paige? Cool.
Satchel Paige was a Negro Leagues star pitcher who pitched there for 20 years before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947. He entered the MLB at the nice young age of 41. He pitched for 5 years in the MLB, accruing 28 wins and 31 losses, which is respectable, especially if you're over 40 and not named Jamie Moyer, Phil Niekro, Nolan Ryan, or Randy Johnson. He then retired in 1953 at the taken-too-soon age of 46. That was only the beginning, though, because in 1965, when Paige was 59, he got a call from the Kansas City Athletics. They were in the basement, and wanted to bring in some fans, so they thought they might reach out to him. Paige accepted, and on September 25, he pitched 3 innings against the Boston Red Sox. He only surrendered 1 hit, a double to future Hall-of-Famer Carl Yastrzemski, and struck out opposing pitcher Bill Monbouquette. To pitch 3 innnings of one-hit ball is not bad, but to do it at 59 years old is absolutely unheard of. Paige's athleticism and knowledge of the game were not lost on anyone, and it showed when he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971.
Babe was always great to his fans -- in the mid '40s when my grandma was a teenager, my great-grandad (a cattle trader in the Chicago stockyards) had some vague third-degree business connection to Babe Ruth. On a long shot he wrote to him and asked if his daughters could meet him on their upcoming trip to NY.
He actually said yes, and invited them to his home -- if I remember the story right it was some kind of penthouse right in Manhattan. These were Midwestern girls who had grown up in the Depression so I imagine it was like a dream. My grandma is 88 and still talks about "meeting the Babe" to this day.
e: By them I meant he invited their dad too... y'all are nasty lol
e2: A few more details -- Babe had throat cancer at the time, I believe 1947, so it was only a year before he died. She said she barely recognized him, but part of that was just that he wasn't in his uniform. But due to the cancer he had trouble speaking, and he had to retire to go rest before long.
But I think that goes even farther to show what a class act he was -- dying of a painful and exhausting disease that made it difficult just to talk, but he still went out of his way to make two girls' day (and life, really!). He did chide her for being a White Sox fan rather than for the Yankees, though :)
He was pretty 'wild' -- married or not, he would have 'smokers' or wild parties that continued for more than a day, with all sorts of women, booze and cigars -- pretty much passed around equally.
He was very kind to children, having grown up in an orphanage himself.
Despite popular belief, the Baby Ruth candy bar was not named for Babe Ruth, but for the candy maker's daughter.
Babe was often drunk but could hit a baseball like no one's business and was always popular with crowds. Known for being kind and generous.
For a long time, the 'holy grail' of sports memorabilia was a baseball signed by Babe Ruth.
liljakeyplzandthnx on August 8th, 2017 at 15:22 UTC »
One of the big reasons that he was kept out of the manager role despite everyone agreeing that he was the best baseball player to ever set foot on the diamond was actually because they were certain that he would bring colored baseball players onto the team. The teams were so afraid of this and the backlash that it would cost them in their fandom and their reputation throughout the rest of the league, which was pretty supremacist at the time, that they decided not to hire him based on that fact alone. There was even a managerial spot open in Cleveland when he retired, but Alva Bradley, the owner of the Cleveland Indians at the time, refused to hire him. It's not like there wasn't fresh talent in the black community, because the Negro Leagues had plenty of worthy players who would have excelled in the MLB, but they were kept out systematically until Jackie Robinson in 1947.
EDIT: Can I tell you the story of Satchel Paige? Cool.
Satchel Paige was a Negro Leagues star pitcher who pitched there for 20 years before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947. He entered the MLB at the nice young age of 41. He pitched for 5 years in the MLB, accruing 28 wins and 31 losses, which is respectable, especially if you're over 40 and not named Jamie Moyer, Phil Niekro, Nolan Ryan, or Randy Johnson. He then retired in 1953 at the taken-too-soon age of 46. That was only the beginning, though, because in 1965, when Paige was 59, he got a call from the Kansas City Athletics. They were in the basement, and wanted to bring in some fans, so they thought they might reach out to him. Paige accepted, and on September 25, he pitched 3 innings against the Boston Red Sox. He only surrendered 1 hit, a double to future Hall-of-Famer Carl Yastrzemski, and struck out opposing pitcher Bill Monbouquette. To pitch 3 innnings of one-hit ball is not bad, but to do it at 59 years old is absolutely unheard of. Paige's athleticism and knowledge of the game were not lost on anyone, and it showed when he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971.
sadimjoiningreddit on August 8th, 2017 at 20:28 UTC »
Babe was always great to his fans -- in the mid '40s when my grandma was a teenager, my great-grandad (a cattle trader in the Chicago stockyards) had some vague third-degree business connection to Babe Ruth. On a long shot he wrote to him and asked if his daughters could meet him on their upcoming trip to NY.
He actually said yes, and invited them to his home -- if I remember the story right it was some kind of penthouse right in Manhattan. These were Midwestern girls who had grown up in the Depression so I imagine it was like a dream. My grandma is 88 and still talks about "meeting the Babe" to this day.
e: By them I meant he invited their dad too... y'all are nasty lol
e2: A few more details -- Babe had throat cancer at the time, I believe 1947, so it was only a year before he died. She said she barely recognized him, but part of that was just that he wasn't in his uniform. But due to the cancer he had trouble speaking, and he had to retire to go rest before long.
But I think that goes even farther to show what a class act he was -- dying of a painful and exhausting disease that made it difficult just to talk, but he still went out of his way to make two girls' day (and life, really!). He did chide her for being a White Sox fan rather than for the Yankees, though :)
IssaDubro on August 8th, 2017 at 20:32 UTC »
Babe Ruth was an interesting person.
He was pretty 'wild' -- married or not, he would have 'smokers' or wild parties that continued for more than a day, with all sorts of women, booze and cigars -- pretty much passed around equally.
He was very kind to children, having grown up in an orphanage himself.
Despite popular belief, the Baby Ruth candy bar was not named for Babe Ruth, but for the candy maker's daughter.
Babe was often drunk but could hit a baseball like no one's business and was always popular with crowds. Known for being kind and generous.
For a long time, the 'holy grail' of sports memorabilia was a baseball signed by Babe Ruth.