Babe: The Legend Comes to Life

This is a comprehensive book on our favorite early 20th century player from Baltimore. 50 years after his death he remains possibly the greatest, and no doubt the most famous, player to have ever entered the major leagues. This book can best be described as warts and all. It starts with his rough childhood in an orphanage - which was basically a reform school - and how the Babe just excelled and became a natural player and hitter. It goes on and chronicles his rowdy life on and off the field, his indulgences and his mishaps until his premature death. He was not a man of moderation or a person that was able to pace his life. He was the opposite of say the current but now retired " Iron Man" Cal Ripken also from near Baltimore but a person famous for moderation. "The Babe"would often show up with a hangover and little sleep for a game. Then he would stuff himself with hotdogs during a game and still knock the ball out of the park. He was a fascinating person, bigger than life, and every baseball fan must buy or borrow and read this book.

Although I suspect that most people who will read this book already know how BIG Babe Ruth really was to Americans, I wish those who do NOT realize his profound inlfluence on modern culture would take the time to check this out. Creamer has fashioned an extraordinarily readable, concise yet fully detailed biography of this great ball player. There is enough journalism here to satisfy those seeking accuracy, enough analysis for those interested in perspective, and enough elegant writing to please pretty much everybody else. Beginning at the beginning, and ending, abruptly, at the end, Ruth's life is presented within a vivid portrayal of early 20th century America. His tenacity, exuberance, lust for life is all here, including many unflattering incidents. Warts and all. If I had to single out the best things about this book, I'd have to start with how Creamer places Ruth's achievements into context. Staggering and astonishing are the two words I keep coming up with. Winning the Home Run Crown is one thing. Winning it over and over again for nearly two decades is another. Setting a home run record is one thing. Doubling the record is entirely another thing. It took forty years for Maris to break Ruth's record by one. When Ruth broke the record the first time, in 1919, he broke the old record by three or four, hitting 29. The next year, 1920, he hit 54. He averaged 40 a year for SEVENTEEN years. Before Babe, the all-time home run king hit 136 homers. Ruth passed that in his first few seasons as a full-time (non-pitching) player. Every homer he hit after that extended it...when he hit 700, only 2 other players were in the 300's. And don't get me started on his pitching. Wait till you read about how good he was. I had always known he was a pretty good pitcher...I didn't know he was THIS good. The name Babe Ruth is synonymous with "legend", and there are hundreds of legendary tales surrounding his exploits. Creamer sorts of fact from fiction, and most of time, the fact is the legend. For example, the "called shot" may or may not have happened. The events that we are certain that occurred during that game are still amazing. Plus, I prefer to believe that he hit a ball so hard that it went between a pitcher's legs AND over the center fielder's head. I just love that mental image. There is a lot of sadness in Ruth's life, from his relative abandonment as a child, to his inability to become a big league manager, to his vitality-robbing cancer...his life had ups and downs like only true epic characters can have. The book also gets Ruth's media domination right. At least it feels right. I wasn't there. Most of us weren't. But baseball was the only entertainment for the majority of the country, along with those relatively recent upstarts, radio and film...there is nothing today that really compares. There is really no one person whose personality captivated a country like his did. And it sounds like he loved every second of it. After reading thi

This superb biography by Robert Creamer describes the life of Babe Ruth (1895-1948) from early boyhood on through to his untimely death from cancer. As the author shows, George Herman Ruth was the rowdy son of a Baltimore saloon-keeper, a young man that spent years in reform school. Gifted with incredible baseball talent, the Babe joined the Red Sox in 1914 and was soon the top left-handed pitcher in the American League. As the author shows, Ruth's prodigious batting eventually led him from the mound to everyday status as an outfielder. After Boston's owner foolishly dealt him to the Yankees prior to the 1920 season, Ruth exploded onto the scene in the nation's largest city by hitting 54 homers - more than any other team in the league. Creamer shows us how media attention, radio, movies, and Ruth's love of the spotlight helped to make him into a national icon. The author also spares little in showing the Babe's flaws; his rowdy volatility and his self-indulgent night life and skirt chasing. But we also see how the Babe loved kids and could be very warm and engaging. Readers might also enjoy Creamer's biography on Casey Stengel and his narrative of baseball in 1941 (BASEBALL AND OTHER MATTERS). This is an excellent biography by a talented writer.

the book starts out saying that some people may find some things in it boring , and that you could skip those parts , so i immediatly thought " this must be a bad book " . this book is written very good , and doesent miss anything , it includes every detail of his life , his feelings and his quotes . after you start reading this book , you wont want to put it down . all the information is well put and very informative about life back in the early 1920's and before . it goes from when he was in a boarding school to his life as a yankee. great book!

Of the 200+ baseball books I've read, "Babe: The Legend Comes to Life" is my favorite. Creamer wrote the book while some of the old-timers were still alive, and this makes his story come to life. If you want to learn about Babe Ruth, this is the definitive book to read.