Just wanted to add to what you said at the end Shoeless.

In 1925 is when Babe realised that he needed to change his lifestyle, he had an interview with Joe Winkworth, and he was a changed man. He heard it all the time before that he needed to change his wild life, he heard from Miller Huggings, Brother Mattias, Ban Johnson, Kenesaw Landis, friends and family, he pretty much heard it from everybody, but never listened to them.

But then his body started to give him signs, he was sore, he was slow and he was fat. There was no barnstorming trip that year, no regular trip to Hot Springs. He was extremely out of shape, and sportwriter were saying that he was only going downhill from there.

So Ruth decided to get back into shape, he went to see Artie McGovern. Artie was very strict, he needed full commitment from Ruth, and he gave it to him. Babe changed his diet, worked out, gain extra muscles and lost 44 pounds in six weeks. He would see Artie every winter.

Babe didn't always listen, so Artie always had to trick him into things, especially when it came to sweets and pastries.

Before the 1926 season started, Ruth wrote down some goals that he wanted to achieved. Here's a few:

-To hit more then 59 home runs
-To play 154 games
-To hold his temper
-To concerve his health

Well he didn't break his record of 59 home runs in 1926, but did so in 1927, he played in 152 games, his health remained strong, and he didn't lose his temper.

Babe Ruth was a changed man after the 1925 season, the negative press that was said about him really effected him, and he changed his ways. Like Shoeless mentioned, if he never would of done this, he would of declined much sooner, and there's no way that he would of hit so many home runs, and be considered the greatest player of all time today.

Babe on Wheels, just the way he lived his life, all out, full speed ahead.
His first set of wheels outside of St. Mary's, a two wheeler, the very young Babe with the Red Sox.
He already has a reputation weaving in and out of pedestrians and cars in Bostons street.
The first accident I know of with an auto, November 1917. Attempt to pass a trolley and is sandwiched by a trolley going in the opposite direction. His new auto is a total wreck.

July 8, 1920...... Misses turn runs off road, some damage to the car.

Oct.2, 1920...........Another new roadster, collides with truck, lots of damage.

June 25, 1923... Collides with another car.

Oct.9, 1927......Collides with another car.

June 17, 1938...Collides with another car, hits wall then tree, rolls over. No injuries.
I have two other articles, unable to find at this time. Two other accidents in the 1920s-30s involving roll overs, some thrown out of car, no serious injuries.

Some of his speeding. Supposedly there were a number of times when he was stopped and set free, he would thank officers with his signature.

April 27, 1921, 25.00 fine

June 8, 1921 one day in jail, 11:30AM to 4:00 PM, paid fine and released game time at the Polo Grounds 4:40. He now complains because he now has to rush to the ball park, " keeping people late makes a speeder out of you'', his words. His uniform is delivered to the jail. He has a police escort to the stadium, speeding down NY streets to make that 4:40 game. He goes hitless in a pinch roll.

Aug. 9, 1923 50 MPH, 25.00 fine.
Jan. 2, 1924.
July, 20, 1926.
Aug. 9, 1924, 25 MPH 25.00 fine.

On that July 20, 1926 the charge was dismissed the day of the trial so Ruth did not have to appear. Hundreds of fans disappointed, no Ruth. Police chief Doland explains to the crowd," He's the greatest player in the world and he is Irish isn't he, we have to stick together", most I am sure know, Ruth was German.

On one occassion he offers to pay the fine of an elderly black man unable to post bond. The man is thankful and says he already has part of his fine, Ruth pays the other half.

I'm sure I missed some, this guy went all out, all the time. It's a wonder this guy lived as long as he did, young at 53. One comment on him by another ballplayer, "he didn't live long but he lived fast."

How important was Babe Ruth to the Yankees? Very important. Ruth did not always travel by train with the team. He would drive his own car to the next city. Gamblers would often spread rumors in the city Ruth was to play in. They would claim he had been seriously injured in an auto accident, news traveled slow then, the story was hard to disprove. The reasoning, if it was true thjat Ruth had been hurt he of course would not be able to play in the game. The reason, to get people to bet against the Yanks believing no Ruth. The gamblers than bet with the Yanks, bigger pay off. Now Ruth appears, odds in gamblers favor.

I'm going to talk about the 1927 season of Babe Ruth, I personally believe it was his best season, but it also can be argued that he had a better one before 1927.

In 1927 a lot of people consider that Yankees team one of the best, they were dangerous from the leadoff hitter to the ninth player. Huggins changed the lineup a bit that season, he had Ruth hitting third, then Gehrig hitting fourth to protect him.

One thing that I really enjoyed about that season is the battle to hit the most home runs between Ruth and Gehrig, it pretty much went on till September. But in September the race was pretty much over. On September 6, the Babe was seven games back from his 1921 pace, he had 22 games left to hit 13 home runs.

But then Ruth went on a tear, he hit one against the Browns, two against the Indians, two against the White Sox, two against the Tigers, one against the A's. then came the last series of the year against the Senators, he had three games left to hit three home runs. During the first game he hit two home runs, one of them was a grand slam, he almost hit four home runs during that game, but only finished with two. He hit a triple and a long fly ball that was caught at the fence.

The next day he came up to plate in the eight inning facing Tom Zachary, the score was tied 2-2, Ruth on a 1-1 count hit the ball in the right field bleachers for number 60. He finally hit number 60. That was his 17th home run in the month of September, a record that still stands today.

One of my favorite quotes of Babe Ruth was said after he hit his 60th home run of the season.

"Let see some son of **** match that"

What a season, 60 home runs, 154 runs batted in, .356 batting average, .772 slugging percentage.

To start about a little on Ruth here's some career stats
Career OPS+ 201
Career EqA .363
Career WARP3 227.8
Career Win Shares 758


He dominates in every category with the exception of Barry Bonds. As to his defense, from the ages of 25-32 he was an amazing right fielder racking up 113 fielding runs above the average RF (so about eleven wins better than the average RF over that period of time). One quote that IMO does Ruth more justice than anything was this:

"In the matter of runs, Cobb was a retailer and Ruth was a wholesaler"

-Fred Leib.

I'll try to dig up some more stuff

I would like to discuss about the suppose called home run in the 1932 against the Cubs in the World Series.

It was game three of the 1932 World Series, the Yankees won the first two games, then moved the series to Chicago. He hit his first home run of the game in the first inning, against Charlie Root, it was a three run home run. In the first couple of innings Ruth was having words with a few people in the Cubs dugout, and then with the fans in the stands, they kept yelling at him because he was to slow to reach line drive balls hit to him, they threw lemons at him. Then came in the fifth inning, the score was tied 4-4, nobody on base, the players on the bench for the Cubs kept yelling at Ruth, the loudest of them all was pitcher Guy Bush. Then Ruth pointed at Bush as to say it's only one strike, then Bush took it a step further in went onto the grass and started to yell even more at Ruth. Another strike was thrown to Ruth, then Ruth pointed out two fingers stating that it's only two strikes. Then this is where it gets confusing. He then supposely pointed to dead center-field meaning that he's going to drive the ball there, then Root threw the next pitch and Ruth didn't miss it, he hit a home run in dead center-field, like he supposely said he would do. It was supposely one of the longest home runs ever hit out of Wrigley Field. When Ruth was rounding the bases he kept laughing and laughing. T

Then the next hitter was Gehrig and has the storm settled down he hit a home run himself. The Yankees won that series in four games. Gehrig was named the most valuable player of the series. But the talk of the series was Babe Ruth and that suppose called shot in game three of the series.

Till this day they've reviewed the play over and over, and Ruth told the story different so many times that they don't really know what happened. But in my personal opinion he did call that home run, because he was confident and he did it before, but never actually pointed. Just stated that he would hit one out.

The "called Shot" story will never die, keeps coming back.
I don't claim to have the most knowledge or the answer to this one but I spent years and many hours trying to come up with a conclusive answer.

Studied a video of that actual at bat that was shown on FOX TV some time in the mid 1990s and did tape it. It was taken by Matt Kandle on a 16mm home movie camera and dug out of the attic by his grandson kirk Kandle.

It depicts Babe at bat and after taking the first strike the Cub bench gets all over him. It shows his reaction, clearly angry he points at the Cubs with dagger like thrusts, very animated.

The second called strike, more taunts from the bench, again Ruth makes repeated thrusts at the Cub bench, yelling back at them.

You can clearly see his reactions but the view just before the home run is obstructed as Ruth turns his body, no way to tell if he pointed or not, but he did point in that direction and I will cover this later, from two of the Cubs.

He then raises one finger, no doubt what he meant and backed up by Cub catcher gabby Hartnett, his message to the Cubs, "I have one left, I'm still alive." Cub catcher Hartnett's own words, " Babe looked to the CUb bench and said, " I still have one."

Then it happened a long drive, the longest ever at Wrigley, the ball striking a ticket booth beyond the flag pole. The booth is only a few feet away from the intersection of Sheffield and Waveland Avenue, a few more feet and the ball would have been hit into the street.
Earlier I said you can't see him point but in the words of one who should know he did point but not at the bleachers. Charlie Root Cub pitcher said that Ruth did point at him. Cub infielder Jurges said the same, he did point but was pointing at the pitcher. So those who were there and said he did point were not lying, they did see him point and obvious if he points at the pitcher it could be mistaken for a point at the CF bleachers.
Ruth at times said he did point and other times said he did not. I don't think he ever used the words, predicted a home run but what he had done was more than enough.
It was the battle of the wills, Babe against the Cub bench and almost 50,000 fans, mostly Cub fans really getting on him, especially after the second strike. Even the greatest of hitters are at a distinct disadvantage when two strikes down. He won the battle and being Babe Ruth any home run was not enough, it was a monster shot. This was his second home run and he almost had a 3 homer game, in another at bat he pinned Kiki Cuyler against the fence in deep right center to pull down his drive.

What were the Cub' saying to him. Billy Jurges Cub infielder, " they were calling him washed up, fat slob and other names I can't use." But he was The Babe supreme confidence, giving it right back to us even with two strikes."
Jurges then goes on," he raised two fingers, then one finger and then he hit it out of sight."

So, the answer is, we still don't know. My opinion, he did not predict a home run and I'm doubting he pointed at the bleachers, but the outcome was more than enough. An aging star, taunted by his opponents, fires back verbally and then finishes the job, leaving no doubt, he still has it. Then as he circles the bases has comments for all the infielders and as he nears the Cub bench makes pushing motions telling them to sit down, not needed after the home run the Cubs who were on the steps all sit back.

Too bad there was no TV back then, one of the most dramatic events in World Series history. Imagine those seated close enough to hear the Cub's and Ruth's words and then seeing how it all ended.

I consider myself pretty knowledgable when it comes to Babe Ruth, but one thing that I need to learn more about Ruth's relationship with Lou Gehrig. Now one of the reasons why I don't know much of it is because I always hear different sides of the story. Sometimes I hear that they didn't get along off the field, but they did on the playing field, other times I hear that they didn't get along at all, because of Ruth behavior, and another story I heard is that Gehrig's mother told Lou to stay away from Ruth, or something of that nature.

Care to explain me the real story Shoeless.

Really a shame that these two late in their careers distanced themselves from each other. I do find some comfort in the fact that the reason ( if true) for the split was not directly the fault of either.

Supposedly Lou's mom was critical of Babe's wife Claire and how she treated Babe's adopted daughter Dorothy and Claire's daughter Julia. Lou's mom thought Claire favored Julia over Dorothy, true or not word got back to Babe. Supposedly Babe told Lou he thought Lou's mom was wrong and should butt out. That started the fall out. This is what I meant earlier, it was not directly the doing of either of the two men. Women got involved, Lou's mom and Claire faced off, the men had to take sides.
Would Lou not stand behind his mom, what about Babe, naturally he backs his wife and the two men part ways. Happy to see Babe give Lou that big hug on his day, Lou's farewell speech.

No doubt before the two women got into the act these two, though completely different in nature were very close. You can't fake their feelings for each other, Lou at times going with the Babe to visit sick children, orphanages, exhibition games. Also over the years Babe always speaking of what Lou meant to the Yanks and Lou praising Babe.

Just too bad how a spat between the woman in their lives formed that wedge between the two men.

His pl;aying career was nothing short of legendary - 714 homers, .342 batting average, over 2,000 walks, runs batted in and runs scored. He would strike out, though not as much as one with his HUGE swing would do because he had a natural gift for putting the barrel end of the bat on the ball. He was also feared, pitchers opting to walk him rather than face him. Absolutely a terror when he was healthy and with a bat in his hands.

His 94 wins as a pitcher, to go along with an ERA of 2.28 is amazing. While he threw very, very hard,. he chose to let hitters pound the ball in the ground rather than going for the strikeout. He could have easily won 400 games had he stuck in the role.

His personal life is the stuff legends are made of. He loved children, he loved to eat, and he loved beer, and made all of these things known. Instead of hating him for it, the American public openly embraced it.

He was the ultimate womanizer this side of Jack John and Jack Dempsey. Flocks of women, orgies, you name it, he did it... unabashedly. The people loved him for it

Nothing short of tragic. He wanted to be a manager, and was well loved by the players, but upper management never gave him a chance because of his personal life (or so it was). Too bad, I felt he could have been something great as manager.

Very sad. Cancer runs in my family, I will be shocked if I myself don't get it down the road.

As much as he loved his wife, and he did, all those women were tempting and he gave in... and it hurt the marriage because of it.

As a child who lived in basically an orphanage, it made sense he'd contribute and visit those who were orphaned. Great man, big heart he had.

See "His Playing career)

Completely unlike any other youth I can remember. Chewing tobacco and drinking by the age of 7? 7?!!! This man really was something special!
Quitters. They gave up too quickly on him.

He had great speed for a big man and had a cannon arm.

That's pretty much it for me on the Babe.

Though I still believe Wille Mays to be the finest player in history, but it's all good.

I'd like to discuss about one day in the season of 1924, it was July 13th and the Yankees were playing the Tigers. Twice when Ruth came up to the plate he got brushed back by pitches. Then Meusel came to the plate, and it seemed like Ruth saw Cobb give the signal to the Tigers pitcher to hit Meusel, and luck what have it he did, so Meusel wasn't to happy about so he decided to throw his bat towards the pitching mound and then went after the Tigers pitcher.

The benches emptied and Cobb went running towards the mound from center field and Ruth came out running from the dugout, they met eachother in the process, Ruth was yelling at Cobb because he thought he told his pitcher to hit Meusel, Huggins had to hold Ruth back. Then after everything settled down, Meusel started to argue with another player from the Tigers, so benches cleared again, but then the fans got involved, many of them jumped onto the field and started fighting, the fans still left in the stands starting destroying seats and such and throwed it all on the playing field. The game was never finished after the melee. The Yankees were declared 9-0 winners due to a forfeit by the Tigers.

The funny thing is that there was only 18,000 fans at that game, both of these teams faces eachother the next game, the Yankees won 6-2. During that day Ruth also announced a 50$ award to anyone who returns his glove. I wonder if anyone ever did?

With this being said, just imagine two of the greatest players of all time going at it, one his big, strong, then you have Cobb who has a big temper, and has a lot of fight into him. It would be something great to see. But in the long run, I'm glad it didnt.