Babe Ruth

1991 Words4 Pages

Babe Ruth was a reckless, abandoned child who became America's biggest hero. Babe Ruth's parents did not have the time to take care of him, but little did George Ruth Sr. know that when he was shipping his son off to boarding school, he was pushing one of America's greatest idols out of his life (http://www.baberuth.com). Ruth never received strict parenting until he attended St. Mary's where he began to straighten out. After he became a main stream ball player he began to attract the attention of many fans with the frequency of his homeruns. Ruth hit his prime just after a time of crisis for professional baseball (http://www.baberuth.com). Now Babe is still praised for his accomplishments and for his contribution to the game of baseball and life of Americans. Ruth became America's greatest hero because he gave Americans hope in times of scandal and hardship, he reignited excitement in baseball, and he embodied the American Dream, where anyone can work his way from humble beginnings to great success.

Babe Ruth did not have an ideal or even average American childhood. George Herman Ruth, Jr. was born on February 6, 1895 on the second story of his grandmother's house on in Baltimore, Maryland. Ruth did not have a happy childhood. Ruth fended for himself most of his childhood while his parents worked in their saloon (http://www.baberuth.com, 1). Mr. and Mrs. Ruth had seven children after Ruth but only one survived, his sister Mary Margaret. By the time Ruth was five he was a very rebellious child, he skipped school, stole, drank, and, participated in many adult behaviors. Looking back on these days Ruth told Fred Lieb, "I learned early to drink beer, wine, whiskey, and I think I was about five when I first chewed tobacco. There was a lot of cussin' in Pop's saloon, so I learned a lot of swear words, some really bad ones" (http://fsweb.wm.edu, 1). When Ruth was seven his father sent him to St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys, and signed custody over to the Xaverian Brothers, a Catholic order of Jesuit missionaries who ran St. Mary's. Ruth did not like the strict atmosphere at St. Mary's. Jackie Stelle quotes Ruth in his biography, "it was like a prison to me. St. Mary's had a stone wall that surrounded us, and guards that were always on duty" (http://www.

More about Babe Ruth

Open Document