Hero's: Babe and the Babe

6/26/20    Michael Easterling

Isn’t she pretty?

Every baby girl hears this.

One wonders if little Mildred ever heard it.

Hannah Didrikson called her Babe and put fussy dresses on her,

and she probably loved dolls and tea parties, at first.

But as she grew she put them away and

started to play boy games better than the boys,

running and jumping better,

throwing and catching better

hitting the ball better and farther

She got stronger and stronger,

her body grew lean and lithe,

she had freckles, thin lips and a jut jaw.

She was handsome.

The boys didn’t want to date her or take her to the Prom but

she would be the first chosen on their teams.

Then as she entered competitive sports the magic began to happen.

She excelled in everything, 

becoming the best female basketball player in world,

the best baseball player, the best at track and field

and ultimately the best golfer.

She was on the American AAU Championship team,

played professional baseball, male and female,

won gold and silver medals at the Olympics

and won 80 amateur and professional golf championships.

Had she been born in the mountains, 

she probably would have been a champion at skiing;

at the ocean, at surfing or volley ball ;

in Canada, at ice skating;

in Kenya, in the marathon; 

in SouthAmerica or Europe, in soccer. 

in Australia, in swimming.

Being a’ giant’ herself she finally married a giant,

a 300 lb professional wrestler, George Zaharias.

But a  few years later her true nature came out

as she fell  in love with another female golfer Betty Dodd

who she lived with the rest of her life.

One likes to think Betty often said

“ You are the Prettiest thing I’ve ever seen.”

Then she met an opponent she couldn’t beat, cancer.

which devastated her taking away

her magnificent strength and coordination.

But she had one more great statement to make 

before her death at age 42.

With a huge crowd following,

her caddy carrying her clubs

and the Babe carrying a colostomy bag

she won the U S open Golf Championship.

Grantland Rice described her as

“flawless,

“complete mental and physical coordination,”

“unbelievable.”

Will there ever be anyone else  like The Babe?

And there was never anything normal like George Herman Babe Ruth.

Nothing normal about his boyhood, out of ten children, only he and his sister survived,

drinking beer and whiskey, chewing tobacco at his father’s bar

when he was only eight,

left to roam the Baltimore streets and waterfront.

Declared a delinquent and incorrigible, unable to write or read, 

he was sent to St. Mary’s School for Boys, 

an Industrial/Reform School for orphans and wayward boys.

He was loud and outspoken, bigger and tougher than the others, 

the biggest kid in every picture.

Had a bigger head, an old face, large facial features, dark skin, 

his neck and shoulders were oversized, his arms overlong.

But he had a big heart,  always protecting the smaller boys.

Fate smiled on him when Brother Matthias 

took him under his wing, was tough on him, 

taught him how to make shirts and to do carpentry

But the greatest things he ever did for Babe 

was to love him

and to hand him a baseball ball and bat.

Babe could throw the ball harder, hit the ball farther than

anyone at his school, in Baltimore,

and ultimately in the USA and the whole world.

He always ran sort of funny.

A writer once wrote that his body was like

“a piano propped on toothpicks.”

But what did it matter?

He joined the minor leagues as a pitcher at 17,

moved on to the Boston Red Sox at 18

becoming their best pitcher

and most powerful hitter.

Veteran players  teased him calling him Big Baboon

but not for long. 

He won two World Series games for the red Sox in 1916.          .

Then a match was made in heaven

when Babe was sold to the NY Yankees becoming

a member of the greatest baseball team in history.

He never exercised except once to lose 75 pounds.

He trained on hot dogs, soda pop and  beer.

He had a lavish life-style, was a gambler and womanizer.

But here is his legacy:  

in his career he hit 714 home-runs, 60 in one season

in the era of the ‘dead ball;’

had 2373 hits and 2213 RBIs;

accumulated the best all time career hitting percentage .690 percent; (still stands).

was on 7 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP teams.

He had a career 2.28 percentage as a pitcher.

He called his home-runs,

He lumbered around the bases,

He ate way too much and drank too much,

He gave away his money

and quietly visited children in hospitals.

He was called Babe, the Big Baboon, the Sultan of Swat, the Great Bambino.

He was unique, never normal.

Will there ever be anyone like Babe Ruth?