Member-only story
How Baseball Star Babe Ruth Stopped Teammates Who Bullied A Boy And Stole His Pants
The New York Yankees legend once put some of his teammates in their place after they treated a young fan horribly
Slugger Babe Ruth established himself with a professional baseball career of nearly unfathomable success a century ago, yet still remains a standard of professional athletes today. It wasn’t just what he accomplished on the field, but his larger than life personality off it, that made him such a titan of sports. He was also known for his fondness of children, including one incident where he saved a boy who was being bullied by the Bambino’s big-league teammates and had his pants stolen by them.
Ruth broke into his professional career as a pitcher, becoming a star hurler with the Boston Red Sox. As a lefty, he had a good curveball and fastball, but as his incredible hitting ability was discovered, he saw increasing time in the field, until eventually he became a full-time outfielder.
After he smashed a single-season record 29 home runs with the Red Sox in 1919, he was sold to the New York Yankees prior to the 1920 season, and spent the next 15 seasons with them. He became the biggest star in America, let alone baseball. His home run totals soared, changing baseball forever.
Ruth played from 1914–1935, setting numerous records and creating excitement everywhere. The press loved him and fans loved him more. He led the American League in home runs in all but one year between 1923–1931 on his way to career totals of a .342 batting average, 714 home runs and 2,214 RBIs. This was on top of his pitching record of 94–46 with a 2.28 ERA. He played in 10 World Series, starring on seven title winners In 1936, he became a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame’s first class.
Ruth was the subject of many incredible stories during his life, but few were as unusual as one recounted by an anonymous, but prominent Detroit resident, who related in a letter that appeared in the August 2, 1941 issue of the Detroit Evening Times how the great slugger once saved him when he was a boy after some of the baseball great’s New York teammates were bullying him and had stole his pants.
He recalled:
