20's sports heroes

There were many sports heroes in the 20's. But, Babe Ruth was definately the most famous of all. He did many things that have changed the world of sports today.

Babe Ruth

On February 6, 1895, George Hermon Ruth was born, a child who would one day change not only America's baseball, but America itself.

Babe Ruth was one of the greatest players of all time. He is well known for his homeruns and power hitting. But, that is not where he got his start. For six seasons, Babe was a pitcher with the Boston Red Sox. He was incredible! During those six seasons, the "Babe's" record was 89-46. He also set a record for the most scoreless innings in world series play. At the time, Ruth was probably the best pitcher in the major leagues, but his hitting kept getting better. Eventually, Ruth improved so much at hitting, the Red Sox made him an all-time outfielder so that he could bat every game. Well, the Red Sox obviously made a good choice because in 1919 Ruth hit 29 homeruns, a new homerun record. Then, in 1920, Babe went to the New York Yankees. Ruth then hit 54 homeruns, which became the new record. Almost every year after that, the "Babe" just kept getting better and better. In 1921, he hit an amazing 59 homers. But, his best year of all was definately 1927. That year, Ruth hit 60 homeruns, a record that would stand until 1961 when Roger Maris broke it.

But, Babe Ruth wasn't all about hitting homeruns with the New York Yankees. In 1923 he had a batting average of .393, won the MVP Award (most valuable player) and led the Yankees to their first world series win. Over his whole career, Ruth played in ten World Series. But, the one he was probably best known for, was in 1932. The Yankees were playing the Cubs in the World Series. In the fifth inning of game three, Babe Ruth came to the plate. He then pointed his bat his to the right-center-field bleachers. Then, on the very next pitch, Babe hit a homerun to the exact same spot he had pointed to. Today, people say the "Salton of Swat" (Ruth's nickname) was calling his shot. The Yankees swept the series 4-0.

In 1935, Babe Ruth retired from baseball. At that time, he was known as the greatest player. Some people would also say that today. Ruth was entered into the National Babseball Hall of Fame in 1936, only one year after he retired! That's just more proof that Babe Ruth was one of the greatest babseball players ever.

Babe Ruth was definately one of the greatest sports players America has ever seen. I'm sure the people of the 1920's greatly enjoyed seeing this amazing athlete play the game of baseball, America's favorite pastime!