Babe Ruth

Nearing forty years old, Ruth's skills rapidly diminished after 1933 and he began to angle for the Yankee manager's job. However, the Yankee front office wanted no part of Ruth as a manager. After the Yankees gave him his unconditional release prior to the 1935 season, he signed on with the Boston Braves of the National League in hopes of managing in 1936. It did not take long for Ruth to become disillusioned with his new team. He played only 28 games that year and called it quits, knowing he would never manage the Braves.

Over the next seven years, Ruth played in exhibition games and made public appearances while he waited for the call to manage a team. It was a call that never came, though in June 1938 he signed a contract to serve as a coach for the Brooklyn Dodgers for the remainder of the season.

In late 1946 Ruth entered the hospital to have a malignant tumor removed from around his left carotid artery. The operation was only partially successful. April 27, 1947 was declared Babe Ruth Day throughout the major leagues; Ruth himself appeared at Yankee Stadium. On June 13, 1948, a frail Ruth, leaning on a bat for support, made his final public appearance for the twenty-fifth anniversary celebration of the opening of Yankee Stadium. Ruth wore his uniform one last time, and his number three was retired that day. Ruth died of cancer on August 16, 1948.

No other player in the history of baseball affected how the game was played like Babe Ruth did. His prodigious power literally changed baseball from an "inside" little game of scratching for one or two runs to an "outside" game of power; eventually every team sought to sign men who could drive the ball over the fence. With a team's ability to suddenly score two, three, or even four runs at a time came a shift in strategy that continues to this day. In 1936, Babe Ruth was one of the first six players to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. His career statistics read: 714 home runs, 2213 RBIs, a .342 batting average and a .690 slugging percentage. As a pitcher his record was 94 wins, 46 losses and a 2.28 ERA. Among his posthumous honors, Babe Ruth was named to the Major League All-Century Team, Associated Press Athlete of the Century, and The Sporting News Greatest Player of All-Time.