THE GOLF SWING OF BABE RUTH

Babe Ruth's Career Highlights

Babe Ruth's impact on American culture still commands attention. Top performers in other sports are often referred to as "The Babe Ruth of ______." He is widely regarded as one of the greatest baseball players in history. Many polls place him as the number one player of all time.

His name comes up anytime home runs are discussed, including Barry Bonds' passing Ruth's career number in 2006. Films have been made featuring Ruth, or a Ruth-like figure ("The Whammer" in The Natural, for example). TV commercials are still made which feature caricatures of Ruth.

In addition to the Yankees dynasty itself, one living monument to Ruth is Yankee Stadium. That part of the legacy will be revised in a few years: Groundbreaking for a new Yankee Stadium, replacing the adjacent structure known as "The House That Ruth Built", took place on August 16, 2006, the 58th anniversary of Ruth's death.

As a sidelight to his prominent role in changing the game to the power game, the frequency and popularity of Ruth's home runs eventually led to a rule change pertaining to those hit in sudden-death mode (bottom of the ninth or later inning).

Prior to 1931, as soon as the first necessary run to win the game scored, the play was over, and the batter was credited only with the number of bases needed to drive in the winning run. Thus, if the score was 3-2 with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, and the batter smacked an "over the fence home run", the game would end at 4-3, with the batter only allowed a double, and the runners officially stopped on 2nd and 3rd (since they weren't needed to win the game). The new rule allowed the entire play to complete, justified on the grounds that the ball was dead and that all runners could freely advance, thus granting the full allotment of HR and RBI to the batter, as we know it today.

Several players lost home runs that way, including Ruth, whose career total would have been changed to 715 if historians during the 1960s had been successful in pursuing this matter. Major League Baseball elected not to retrofit the records to the modern rules, and Ruth's total stayed at 714.

Ruth's widow, Claire, at the unveiling of a memorial plaque in Baltimore's old Memorial Stadium (1955)Another rules change that affected Ruth was the method used by umpires to judge potential home runs when the batted ball left the field near a foul pole. Before 1931, through most of Ruth's most productive years, the umpire called the play based on the ball's final resting place "when last seen". Thus, if a ball went over the fence fair, and curved behind the foul pole, it was ruled foul.

Beginning in 1931 and continuing to the present day, the rule was changed to require the umpire to judge based on the point where the ball cleared the fence. Jenkinson's book lists 78 foul balls near the foul pole in Ruth's career, claiming that at least 50 of them were likely to have been home runs under the modern rule.

Ruth's 1919 contract that sent him from Boston to New York was sold at auction for $996,000 at Sotheby's on June 10, 2005. The most valuable memorabilia item relating to Ruth was his 1923 bat which he used to hit the first home run at Yankee Stadium on April 18, 1923. Ruth's heavy Louisville Slugger solid ash wood bat sold for $1.26 million at a Sotheby's auction in December 2004, making it the second most valuable baseball memorabilia item to date, just behind the famous 1909 Honus Wagner baseball card.

Ruth regularly wintered in Florida, frequently playing golf during the off-season and while the Yankees were spring training in St. Petersburg, Florida. After retirement, he had a winter beachfront home in Treasure Island, Florida, near St. Petersburg.

Indeed, the Sultan of Swat could hit a golf ball prodigious distances. He was known to hit 300-plus yard drives in the days of primitive golf club technology -- actual wooden clubs with hickory shafts.

Despite his poor putting, Ruth could shoot in the 70s, and when he retired he sometimes played in exhibitions with celebrities and top golfers of the day, including another “Babe,” women’s golf phenom Babe Didrickson Zaharias. Information Provided By Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Career batting statistics

Career pitching statistics

Ruth was 89-46 with the Red Sox, 5-0 with the Yankees overall.

Click Here for a video of Babe Ruth's golf swing

Click Here for an excellent video of the Babe's 60th HR

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