Episode 16

George Herman "Babe" Ruth was born in Baltimore in 1895. He was one of eight children, but only he and one sister survived childhood. His parents both had to work, and his father kept a saloon. He had little supervision and grew up skipping school, hanging out in his dad's saloon, and generally getting into trouble. This was all before he was seven. At seven his parents accepted they could not rein him in, so they put him in St. Mary's Industrial School. There he was taught baseball and the Catholic faith by the Xaverian Brothers, especially Brother Matthias Boutlier, who also taught him baseball. In 1913 the St. Mary's team played a travel ball game at Mount St. Mary's College in Emmitsburg, Maryland, where he was spotted by big leaguers.

He signed to the minor league Baltimore Orioles in February 1914, but by July he had been picked up by the Boston Red Sox. With the Red Sox he established himself as one of the most dominant pitchers of the day, but in his seven years with the Red Sox he and the team realized he had even greater potential as a hitter, so they moved him to first base and then to the outfield so his bat could be in the lineup every day. He was sold to the Yankees in 1919 (yes, due to Broadway debts, but no, not for No, No Nanette). In New York he became The Babe of legend. To this day he holds or is in the top 15 of nearly every offensive category, as well as a number of pitching categories. He is widely regarded as the greatest baseball player ever.

But his off-field antics and lifestyle were nearly as notable as his on-field accomplishments. He got married in 1914. His wife, Helen, was also Catholic and she tried to help him live a good stable life. But he was incapable of controlling his appetites. He lived life hard and fast — women, booze, and partying were too tempting for him to resist. Helen died tragically in a fire in 1929, and Ruth married again in just three months — though he was no more faithful to his second wife, Claire.

But Ruth never forgot what the Xaverian Brothers had done for him, nor what his Catholic faith meant. He gave generously to charity, organized barnstorming tours for charity, helped raise money to rebuild St. Mary's Industrial after it suffered a devastating fire, played sandlot baseball with neighborhood kids, and spent many hours signing every baseball, hat, and scorecard offered him, no matter what. 

He retired in 1935 which allowed him to spend even more time raising money for charity until throat cancer took his life in 1948. He died with the Sacraments, and with a Miraculous Medal — sent to him by a seventh grader who said the whole class was praying for him — pinned to his pajamas.

The Babe lay in state in the rotunda of Yankee Stadium for two days before Francis Cardinal Spellman offered his requiem Mass in St. Patrick's Cathedral. More than 100,000 stood in the rain to line the route to Gate of Heaven Cemetery. .

Books

• The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created
• The American Catholic Almanac

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