Biography of Babe Ruth, Home Run King

Biography of Babe Ruth, Home Run King Babe Ruth (February 6, 1895–August 16, 1948) is often referred to as the greatest baseball player who ever lived. In 22 seasons, Ruth hit a record 714 home runs. Many of his numerous records for both pitching and hitting lasted for decades. Ruth won many honors during and after his baseball career, including being named to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team and the Major League Baseball All-Time Team. In 1936, Ruth was among the first five inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Fast Facts: Babe Ruth Known For: Member of the New York Yankees who became the Home Run KingAlso Known As: George Herman Ruth Jr., Sultan of Swat, the Home Run King, Bambino, the BabeBorn: February 6, 1895 in Baltimore, MarylandParents: Katherine (Schamberger), George Herman Ruth Sr.Died: August 16, 1948 in Manhattan, New YorkPublished Works: Playing the Game: My Early Years in Baseball, The Babe Ruth Story, Babe Ruths Own Book of BaseballAwards and Honors: Monument Park  honoree (plaque at open-air museum at Yankee Stadium), Major League Baseball All-Century Team, Major League Baseball All-Time Team, Major League Baseball Hall of FameSpouses: Helen Woodford (m. 1914–1929), Claire Merritt Hodgson (m. April 17, 1929–August 16, 1948)Children: DorothyNotable Quote: â€Å"Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.† Early Years Ruth, born as George Herman Ruth Jr., and his sister Mamie were the only two of George and Kate Ruths eight children to survive childhood. Georges parents worked long hours running a bar, and so little George ran the streets of Baltimore, Maryland getting into trouble. When Ruth was 7 years old, his parents sent their incorrigible son to St. Marys Industrial School for Boys. With only a few exceptions, George lived at this reformatory school until he was 19 years old. Learns to Play Baseball It was at St. Marys that George Ruth developed into a good baseball player. Although George was a natural as soon as he stepped onto the baseball field, it was Brother Matthias, the prefect of discipline at St. Marys, who helped George fine-tune his skills. The New Babe By the time George Ruth was 19, he had drawn the eyes of minor league recruiter Jack Dunn. Jack liked the way George pitched and so he signed him to the Baltimore Orioles for $600. George was ecstatic to get paid to play the game he loved. There are several stories about how George Ruth got his nickname Babe. The most popular is that Dunn was often finding new recruits and so when George Ruth showed up at practice, another player called out, hes one of Dunnies babes, which eventually was just shortened to Babe. Jack Dunn was great at finding talented baseball players, but he was losing money. After only five months with the Orioles, Dunn sold Ruth to the Boston Red Sox on July 10, 1914. The Red Sox Although now in the major leagues, Ruth didnt get to play much in the beginning. Ruth was even sent to play for the Grays, a minor league team, for a few months. It was during this first season in Boston that Ruth met and fell in love with the young waitress Helen Woodford, who worked at a local coffee shop. The two married in October 1914. By 1915, Ruth was back with the Red Sox and pitching. Over the next few seasons, Ruths pitching went from great to extraordinary. In 1918, Ruth pitched his 29th scoreless inning in a World Series. That record stood for 43 years. Things changed in 1919 because Ruth demanded to spend more time hitting and thus less time pitching. That season, Ruth set a new record by hitting 29 home runs. The House That Ruth Built Many were surprised when it was announced in 1920 that Ruth had been traded to the New York Yankees for a whopping $125,000 (more than twice the amount ever paid for a player). Ruth was an extremely popular baseball player, and he seemed to succeed at everything on the field. In 1920, he broke his own home run record and hit an amazing 54 home runs in one season. The following season, he eclipsed his own mark with 59 home runs. Fans flocked to see the amazing Ruth in action. Ruth drew in so many fans that when the new Yankee Stadium was built in 1923, many called it The House That Ruth Built. In 1927, Ruth was part of the team that many consider the best baseball team in history. It was during that year that he hit 60 home runs in a season - a mark that stood for 34 years. Living the Wild Life There are nearly as many stories of Ruth off the field as there are on it. Some people described Ruth as a boy that never really grew up; while others just considered him vulgar. Ruth loved practical jokes. He frequently stayed out late, completely ignoring team curfews. He loved to drink, ate copious amounts of food, and slept with a large number of women. He often used profanities and loved to drive his car fast. More than a couple of times, Ruth crashed his car. His wild life put him at odds with many of his teammates and definitely with the teams manager. It also greatly affected his relationship with his wife Helen. Since they were Catholic, neither Ruth nor Helen believed in divorce. However, by 1925 Ruth and Helen were permanently separated, with their adopted daughter living with Helen. When Helen died in a house fire in 1929, Ruth married model Claire Merritt Hodgson, who tried to help Ruth curb some of his worst habits. Popular Stories One of the most famous stories about Ruth involves a home run and a boy in the hospital. In 1926, Ruth heard about an 11-year-old boy named Johnny Sylvester who was in the hospital after an accident. The doctors werent sure if Johnny was going to live. Ruth promised to hit a home run for Johnny. In the next game, Ruth not only hit one home run, he hit three. Johnny, upon hearing the news of Ruths home runs, started to feel better. Ruth later went to the hospital and visited Johnny in person. Another famous story about Ruth is one of the most famous stories of baseball history. During the third game of the 1932 World Series, the Yankees were in a heated competition with the Chicago Cubs. When Ruth stepped up to the plate, Cubs players heckled him and some fans even threw fruit at him. After two balls and two strikes, the incensed Ruth pointed out to center field. With the next pitch, Ruth struck the ball exactly where he had predicted in what has been termed the called shot. The story became immensely popular; however, its not exactly clear whether Ruth meant to call his shot or was just pointing at the pitcher. The 1930s The 1930s showed an aging Ruth. He was already 35 years old and although he was still playing well, younger players were playing better. What Ruth wanted to do was manage. Unfortunately for him, his wild life had caused even the most adventurous team owner to consider Ruth unsuitable to manage an entire team. In 1935, Ruth decided to switch teams and play for the Boston Braves with the hope of having a chance to be assistant manager. When that didnt work out, Ruth decided to retire. On May 25, 1935, Ruth hit his 714th career home run. Five days later, he played his last game of major league baseball. (Ruths home run record stood until broken by Hank Aaron in 1974.) Retirement and Death Ruth didnt stay idle in retirement. He traveled, played a lot of golf, went bowling, hunted, visited sick children in hospitals, and played in numerous exhibition games. In 1936, Ruth was chosen to be one of the first five inductees to the newly created Baseball Hall of Fame. In November 1946, Ruth entered a hospital after suffering a monstrous pain above his left eye for a few months. The doctors told him he had cancer. He underwent surgery but not all of it was removed. The cancer soon grew back. Ruth died on August 16, 1948, at age 53. Sources Thorn, John, and John Thorn. â€Å"Babe Ruths Autobiography, as Written in 1920.†Ã‚  Our Game, 6 Apr. 2015.â€Å"Babe Ruth.†Ã‚  Biography.com, AE Networks Television, 16 Jan. 2019.â€Å"Biography.†Ã‚  Biography | Babe Ruth.

The 7 Books Every Pre-Med Student Should Read

The 7 Books Every Pre-Med Student Should Read SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips One of the best ways to learn about your future career is to read about it. That’s true for becoming a doctor, too! As a pre-med student, books about medicine can help you prepare for medical school, but they can also introduce you to what it really means to care for your patients. That’s why we’ve compiled a list of the seven books every pre-med student must read before they go to medical school. This list includes everything from MCAT prep books to grislybut educational!books about the darker side of medical history. We’ve also included works that introduce you to some of the social and ethical complexities of medicine, too. Not only will these books widen your perspective on the field of medicine, they’ll also help you become a better doctor. Book #1: The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine by Lindsey Fitzharris Winner of the 2018 PEN/E.O. Wilson Prize for Literary Science Writing, Fitzharris’ book takes readers into the dark world of Victorian medical science. Up until the mid-Victorian period, surgery was often tantamount to a death sentence. Doctors didn’t wash their hands or their instruments, the surgical operating theatre was open to spectators, and post-operative infection was considered a good thing! That all changed thanks to Joseph Lister, a British surgeon who pioneered the field of germ theory. Fitzharris gives readers a glimpse into the bloody history of medicine in Victorian England and traces Lister’s journey to change the field of surgical medicine. The Butchering Art is equal parts gruesome and fascinating, and we guarantee that you won’t be able to put it down. Actually, if you can’t get enough of the morbid history of medicine after reading Lindsey Fitzharris’ book, don’t worry! We also recommend Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything by Lydia Kangwhich explores the worst malpractices of medical historyand The Anatomy Murders by Lisa Rosner, which tells the story of medical body snatching and how it led to England’s first recorded serial killers. These books are guaranteed to help you understand the history of medicine better...and they might keep you up at night, too. Book #2:The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee, MD, PhD When a book wins a Pulitzer Prize, you know it’s a good read. That’s definitely the case for The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee, which provides a â€Å"biography† of cancer. Mukherjee traces the history of the disease all the way from its appearance thousands of years ago to today, and in doing so, helps readers better understand cancer as a disease. He also spends time looking at modern cancer treatment and talking about the future of cancer research, which will bring you up to speed on critical advancements in your future field. No matter what type of medicine you want to practice, cancer is the specter that haunts them all. Having a better understanding of the history and future of the disease will not only better prepare you to face it in your own medical career, but it will help you understand how to best support your patients who face such a scary diagnosis. Mukherjee’s sharp writing style makes this book a page turner that you don’t want to miss! (And once you’re done, you can watch the documentary, which was directed by none other than Ken Burns.) Book #3:Med School Uncensored by Richard Beddingfield, MD Now that we’ve given you two fascinating books about the history (and future!) of medicine, it’s time to turn to more traditional pre-med fare. That’s why we’ve chosen Med School Uncensored by Dr. Richard Beddingfield, which is an entertaining, pull-no-punches insider look at medical school. Advertised as a â€Å"good, bad, and ugly† guide to medical school, Beddingfield shares advice with readers that he wishes he knew before starting med school process himself. (He’s a cardiothoracic anesthesiologist, if you’re wondering.) Beddingfield’s book is a comprehensive guide to medical school, and he makes sure to incorporate perspectives from other doctors to give readers a comprehensive and reliable look at what it’s like to become a doctor. His goal is to demystify the process and help people better understand what they’re getting into when they decide to become a doctor. Even more importantly, Beddingfield gives you practical guidance to help you navigate every step of your med school journey. Med School Uncensored is definitely required reading for every pre-med student! If you’re looking for even more insider knowledge about the medical school experience after you finish Med School Uncensored, you can also check out Med School Confidential by Robert H. Miller and Daniel M. Bissell, MD. It also gives you a peek behind the proverbial curtain. Even though it was published more than ten years ago, Med School Confidential offers great time-tested advice about the med school process and covers everything from applying to medical schools to finding the perfect job after earning your white coat. Book #4: MCAT Complete 7-Book Subject Review 2019-2020 by Kaplan Test Prep Ah, yes...the dreaded MCAT exam. The MCAT is the test all aspiring doctors have to take before they can apply to medical school. It’s designed to be a rigorous test of your medical knowledge, and your score on the MCAT can determine whether you get into your dream school...or not. Basically, the MCAT is the medical school version of the SAT and ACT, and it’s just as important. Here’s the deal: the MCAT exam can make or break an aspiring doctor. That’s why we’ve chosen the beefiest MCAT prep book series out there to get you on the right track. We can’t emphasize it enough: studying for the MCAT early and often is critical to your success. This study set gives you many of the tools you need to get ready for the MCAT, including hundreds of practice questions, illustrations to help you visualize key concepts, and practice tests to help you get to know the test format long before exam day. And since this series is published by Kaplan, you can rest assured that you’re getting the most up-to-date exam advice, too! Book #5: Being Mortal by Atul Gawande If you haven’t heard of Atul Gawande, you’re missing out: he’s a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, teaches at Harvard Medical School, and is a New York Times best-selling author. Basically, he’s a rockstar. All of his books about medicineincluding The Checklist Manifesto and Complicationsare worth reading, but for our money, Being Mortal is the book that no pre-med student should miss. And the critics agree: not only was Being Mortal voted one of the best books of 2017 by...well, basically everyone, it also spent a staggering 85 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. So like we said, it’s definitely a book that’s worth your time. Being Mortal deals with one of the hardest aspects of medicine: end-of-life care. It can be hard for doctors, whose job it is to fight off death every day, to realize when it’s best to stop treating the illness and start giving palliative care. Gawande explores how the American medical system deals with aging and the inevitable illness that comes with it, and he argues that medical treatment should focus on how patients want to live rather than just extending life, especially in terminal circumstances. As a pre-med student, you’re going to school to become a doctor and save lives. But Gawande’s book shows young, aspiring doctors that their job is about more than preserving lifeit’s about giving quality of life, too. Being Mortal will transform the way you think about dying, and it will definitely change the way you practice medicine. Book #6: Ask Me About My Uterus by Abby Norman Abby Norman had her whole life ahead of her: as a bright young student, she had just started attending Sarah Lawrence College. But everything ground to a halt when she woke up one day in excruciating abdominal pain. Ask Me About My Uterus is Abby’s memoir about her eight-year journey from the onset of her illness to getting a firm diagnosis. This book gives readers a patient’s perspective on the medical system, especially when it comes to treating women. Norman explains that doctors rarely take women’s pain seriously: in fact, when women report being in pain, they are more likely to be prescribed sedatives than pain killers than men who complain of similar symptoms. As she walks through her experience, she also researches the history of medicine and exposes how often it’s biased against women. As a future doctor, it’s important for you to understand how medicine, even as it works to help and heal, isn’t immune from prejudice. The only way to combat this is for up-and-coming doctors (like you!) to understand how the current medical system falls short. And that’s why we picked Norman’s book for our list. Not only will Ask Me About My Uterus help you better understand what it’s like to be a patient with a chronic, undiagnosed illness, it will also open your eyes to the gender biases of the medical field. Book #7: Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth Okay, okay. This book isn’t technically about medicine. Instead, Grit is a book about how passion and perseverance, rather than raw talent or achievement, is the key to long-term success. More importantly, Grit teaches readers how to push through challenges and setbacks to reach your goals. So why have we decided to give Duckworth’s book a place on our list? It’s simple: medical school is hard. (And that’s an understatement!) There’s no coasting through classes, and most students will find themselves struggling at some point. This can be really hard for medical students, are often ambitious and high achieving. And that’s a good thing! But you also need to learn how to push through adversity and hardship if you’re going to make it in medical school. In her book, Duckworth shows readers how to cultivate perseverancewhat she calls â€Å"grit†which is what allows people to handle adversity and learn from their mistakes. She also gives helpful tips for developing tenacity, and how to use failure as a springboard toward your goals. By developing a little more grit, you’ll be better prepared to tackle any obstacle med school throws your way! What’s Next? Now that you’ve got these books under your belt, take some time learning more about what it means to be â€Å"pre-med,† and what that means for getting into medical school. If you’re still in high school, there’s plenty you can do to get yourself ready for the road ahead. Here’s an article that breaks down the most important things you can do to prepare yourself for medical school before you ever start college! Did you know that where you get your undergraduate degree can affect your chances at getting into the medical school of your dreams? If you’re applying to college, it’s important to consider which schools offer the best pre-med programs. These recommendations are based solely on our knowledge and experience. If you purchase an item through one of our links, PrepScholar may receive a commission.