Babe Ruth Saves Baseball! Read online

  For the two coolest Yankee fans I know: my brother-in-law and friend John Gisondi and my colleague and friend Jim Kinkead

  —F.M.

  For Viria, so passionate about her Yankees

  —R.W.

  Author acknowledgments: Thank you to Shana Corey’s magical eye as an editor. Thanks to Freddy Berowski, library associate at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, for his assistance and expertise. Babe: The Legend Comes to Life by Robert W. Creamer, The Yankees by Phil Pepe, A Yankee Century by Harvey Frommer, and Babe Ruth and the 1918 Red Sox by Allan Wood served as the best resources, among others.

  Photo credit: Photo courtesy of the Hall family.

  Text copyright © 2005 by Frank Murphy. Illustrations copyright © 2005 by Richard Walz.

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.

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  Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at randomhouse.com/teachers

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Murphy, Frank.

  Babe Ruth saves baseball! / by Frank Murphy; illustrated by Richard Walz. — 1st ed. p. cm. — (Step into reading)

  ISBN 978-0-375-83048-8 (trade)

  ISBN 0-375-93048-5 (lib. bdg.)

  1. Ruth, Babe, 1895–1948—Juvenile literature. 2. Baseball players—United States—Biography—Juvenile literature. [1. Ruth, Babe, 1895–1948. 2. Baseball players. 3. Baseball—History.] I. Walz, Richard, ill. II. Title. III. Series.

  GV865.R8M87 2005 796.357’092—dc22 2003027464

  eBook ISBN: 978-0-385-37347-0

  Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-0-375-83048-8

  STEP INTO READING, RANDOM HOUSE, and the Random House colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

  v3.1

  Dedication

  Copyright

  Title Page

  First Page

  Author’s Note

  Almost everyone knows

  something about

  George Herman Ruth.

  You probably know him as Babe—

  that was his nickname.

  Babe played for the

  New York Yankees.

  He hit hundreds of home runs.

  Most people think he

  was baseball’s greatest player.

  But do you know the best thing

  about Babe Ruth?

  He saved baseball.

  He did!

  Here’s how it happened.

  The story starts off in 1914—

  Babe Ruth’s first year

  in the major leagues.

  Baseball was America’s

  favorite sport.

  Fans read about games

  in newspapers.

  Kids collected cards

  of their favorite players.

  And people filled ballparks

  to cheer on their favorite teams.

  Baseball was Babe’s

  favorite sport, too.

  Believe it or not,

  Babe wasn’t always a Yankee.

  Babe played for

  the Boston Red Sox.

  In those days,

  Babe was a pitcher—not a hitter.

  Babe threw fast.

  Babe threw strikes.

  And he almost always won.

  Pitchers don’t play every day.

  So pitchers don’t hit that often.

  But Babe practiced hitting.

  He loved to swing the bat.

  He loved to hit the ball.

  And boy, could Babe hit!

  In 1915, Babe hit

  his first home run.

  It was against

  the New York Yankees!

  He hit it hard.

  He hit it high.

  And he hit it far.

  Fans cheered.

  They had never seen

  a home run quite like it.

  People began to wonder,

  why isn’t Babe a hitter?

  “Babe, get ready to bat more!”

  said Babe’s coach.

  Babe still had to pitch

  in some games.

  But now he got to play every day!

  In 1919, Babe hit the most

  home runs ever—29.

  In every city he played in,

  people kept track of

  Babe’s home runs.

  Babe kept track, too—

  by carving notches in his bat!

  And Babe hit at least one

  home run in every city he visited.

  No one had done that before.

  Babe became

  the king of home runs!

  In that year, something bad

  happened to baseball.

  Fans were excited

  about the World Series.

  They wanted to find out

  which team was the best—

  the Chicago White Sox

  or the Cincinnati Reds.

  But some White Sox

  players cheated.

  People all across America

  found out.

  People were shocked.

  Many fans stopped

  going to the ball fields.

  A boy saw his favorite

  White Sox player.

  “Say it ain’t so, Joe!”

  the boy cried.

  But it was so.

  People just didn’t trust

  baseball anymore.

  Baseball needed someone who

  could make fans care again.

  But who was big enough

  to save baseball?

  Babe Ruth—that’s who!

  In 1920, something good

  happened to Babe Ruth.

  Babe went to play for a new team,

  the New York Yankees.

  Babe knew that meant

  no more pitching—just hitting.

  Babe met his new teammates

  in New York City.

  “I’m Babe Ruth.

  Let’s play ball!” he said.

  People wondered,

  could Babe hit

  29 home runs again?

  “I’ll hit 50 this year,” he promised.

  “Impossible!” people said.

  The season started.

  Game after game,

  Babe clubbed home runs.

  The more Babe hit,

  the more people paid attention.

  “That Babe Ruth sure can hit!”

  they said.

  Newspaper boys

  shouted out the news.

  “Babe hits another! Yankees win!”

  And Babe was right!

  He hit a lot more than

  29 that year—he hit 54!

  “Wow! Babe Ruth really

  keeps his word!” people said.

  Babe was changing

  people’s minds about baseball.

  And Babe’s home runs

  changed baseball.

  Now every team tried

  to hit more home runs.

  Other players even tried

  to copy Babe’s swing.

  That meant more runs

  and more excitement!

  Babe loved children.

  So he did something fun for them.

  He signed hundreds of baseballs.

  Then he hid them.

  Children raced around town

  to find them!

  More and more fans

  came to watch Babe!

  People were too crowded.

  The Yankees needed m
ore seats.

  So they built a new ballpark.

  And it was big—

  just like Babe’s home runs.

  “Some ball yard!” Babe said.

  For the first time

  people called a ballpark

  something different—a stadium.

  It was named Yankee Stadium.

  But one reporter had a better idea.

  He remembered why they built it.

  So he nicknamed it

  “The House That Ruth Built.”

  On April 18, 1923,

  the gates opened.

  A marching band played music.

  The American flag was raised.

  Babe’s old team,

  the Boston Red Sox,

  came to play!

  Before the big game,

  Babe made a wish.

  Babe said he wished to hit the

  first home run in Yankee Stadium.

  Everyone waited to see

  if Babe could do it.

  The governor of New York

  threw out the first ball.

  The umpire shouted,

  “Play ball!”

  By the fourth inning,

  the Yankees were winning.

  But no one had hit

  a home run yet.

  Babe came up to bat.

  Fans held their breath.

  People listened to their radios.

  Everyone wanted to know

  if Babe’s wish would come true.

  The pitcher threw the ball.

  Babe swung with all his might.

  Whack!

  The radio announcer called out,

  “He did it! He did it!

  Babe Ruth hits the first home run

  ever at Yankee Stadium!”

  Babe jogged around the bases.

  The crowd stood and cheered.

  “Hooray for Babe!”

  “Hooray for baseball!”

  Babe crossed home plate.

  He lifted his cap and

  waved to the fans.

  Then he bowed.

  His wish had come true.

  Babe hit a total of 714 home runs

  in his career.

  He was one of the first

  players elected to the

  National Baseball Hall of Fame.

  Today people remember Babe as

  the greatest baseball player ever.

  Almost everyone knows

  something about Babe Ruth.

  But now you know the best thing

  about Babe Ruth—

  how he saved baseball.

  Author’s Note

  Babe Ruth really did care about saving baseball. He said, “I won’t be happy until we have every boy in America … between the ages of six and sixteen wearing a glove and swinging a bat.” Today millions of boys and girls play baseball—in part because of Babe!

 

 

  Frank Murphy, Babe Ruth Saves Baseball!

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