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Baseball Legend Babe Ruth Recalls The Greatest Christmas Gift He Ever Got From Santa Claus

Andrew Martin
4 min readDec 23, 2023

The greatest slugger in MLb history had a childhood, but not one absent some good holiday memories

For those of us who celebrate Christmas, it’s a near certainty that we still recall the best gifts we ever got with great fondness. That nostalgia is only heightened if the present was brought by Santa Claus, as the jolly old man in red somehow knowing what we wanted only enhances the holiday magic. Even the biggest and richest celebrities in the world aren’t immune from these recollections, including baseball legend Babe Ruth, who once detailed the best gift he ever received from Kris Kringle.

Ruth initially started his professional career as a pitcher, becoming a star hurler with the Boston Red Sox. As a southpaw, he had a good curveball and fastball, but as his incredible hitting ability developed, he saw increasing time playing in the field, until eventually becoming a full-time outfielder.

After knocking a big-league single-season record 29 home runs with the Red Sox in 1919, his contract was sold to the New York Yankees prior to the 1920 season. He spent the next 15 seasons in pinstripes, becoming the biggest celebrity in America, let alone baseball. His home run totals soared, changing baseball forever in the process.

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Andrew Martin
Andrew Martin

Written by Andrew Martin

Dabbler in soccer, history, investing & writing. Master’s degree in baseball history. Passionate about history, diversity, culture, sports, film and investing .

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