Babe Ruth Born in Baltimore

On February 6, 1895, George Herman Ruth Jr. was born in Baltimore, Maryland. His parents ran a saloon on the waterfront, and by age seven he had been sent to St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys, a reformatory and orphanage run by Xaverian Brothers. Brother Matthias Boutlier introduced him to baseball there. Ruth would spend the next twelve years at St. Mary's, leaving in 1914 to sign with the Baltimore Orioles of the International League.

He reached the majors that same year with the Boston Red Sox, first as a left-handed pitcher. He won 89 games in six seasons, including 23 in 1916 and 24 in 1917. He posted a 0.87 ERA in World Series play. He was one of the best pitchers in the American League before the Red Sox began moving him to the outfield to take advantage of his bat.

Sold to the New York Yankees in January 1920, Ruth hit 54 home runs that first season in pinstripes, more than any entire team in the American League had hit the previous year. He redefined what a baseball player could do at the plate. Over 22 major league seasons, he hit 714 home runs, drove in 2,217 runs, and compiled a .342 batting average with a .690 slugging percentage that remains the highest in history.

Ruth was among the five inaugural inductees elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936. He died on August 16, 1948, at age 53. His body lay in state at Yankee Stadium, where more than 100,000 people came to pay their respects over two days.