Babe Ruth Revisited
Bygone
baseball: The unfamiliar, the
ususual, and the dramatic
By
C. Philip Francis
George
Herman Ruth, the Bambino or the Sultan of Swat or just Babe Ruth, was born in
Baltimore, Maryland on February 6, 1895 and died of cancer on August 16, 1948 in
New York City. He would be 105
years of age this month. It is only
proper to take a few minutes to remember the greatest baseball player of all
time.
***
Ruth’s
life is linked with three cities: Baltimore,
not only his birthplace, but the location of the St. Mary’s Industrial School
for Boys where Ruth spent twelve years of his youth; Boston where he met his
first wife and pitched six years for the Red Sox who has yet to overcome the
Curse of the Bambino; and New York where he achieved his greatest home run fame,
died, and his final resting place.
There
is one more area that is seldom mentioned when speaking of the Babe, and that is
our country to the north – Canada. In
one Canadian publication Ruth was even called
“The Canuck of Clout”, and while that may be a bit extreme, the
Bambino did have some strong connections with the Land of the Maple Leaf.
George
Ruth, Jr. began his early ears as a rowdy and delinquent boy.
He began chewing tobacco at the age of seven, and was given little
direction by his parents who had little time for their boy.
At the age of seven George was first committed to the St. Mary’s School
that was operated by the Xaverian Brothers.
Ruth developed a great respect for Brother Matthias, a large man at over
six-feet and 250 pounds, but with a quiet and calm demeanor.
He was the first to see that natural baseball talent in young George, and
was the first to teach the fundamentals of hitting and throwing to the lad.
Ruth said that his hitting came naturally, but “it was Brother Matthias
that gave me the discipline to become a good fielder as well.”
Babe Ruth always considered Brother Matthias, “the greatest man I’ve
ever known.” He was certainly the
most important and influential person in Ruth’s life, and thus impacted the
greatest player in baseball and indirectly the game itself.
Who
was this Brother in the Xaverian Order, and where did he come from?
In the August/September 1995 issue of the Canadian baseball publication Dugout,
Baseball Beyond the Boxscore, writer William Humber states, “Matthias’
Order in Ellicott City, Maryland revealed that Brother Matthias was in fact
Martin Boutlier who came from the coal mining town of Lingan, Cape Breton, Nova
Scotia where he was born in1872.” Before
1850 baseball was well established in the area, and Boutlier might well have
developed his baseball skills during the many sandlot games on Cape Breton.
Boutlier lived in the Canadian province into his teens before moving to
the United States.
Another
Canadian influence on the life of Babe Ruth was his first wife, Helen Woolford,
a hotel coffee-shop waitress who came from Nova Scotia with that “distinct
Maritime accent.” Her family
moved to Boston, and it was there when the two met.
They were married in 1914, but had separated by 1926 and Helen died in a
house fire three years later. One
Canadian man and one Canadian woman – was Ruth looking for surrogate parents?
George,
Jr. went from St. Mary’s to the Baltimore Orioles of the International League,
a minor league, and then to the Boston Red Sox in July, 1914.
He hit his first Major League home run on May 6, 1915 in New York, but
his first professional homer was in Toronto, Canada.
In
1987 a ball signed by Babe Ruth was stolen from the Canadian Baseball Hall of
Fame, and some thought it to be his first ever home run ball.
The reader may recall that Ruth began his career as a pitcher, and after
losing his second game with Boston he was send down to Providence (RI) Grays, a
Red Sox minor league team. It was
with the Grays on September 5, 1914 when Ruth hit his first professional home
run at Hanlan’s Point Stadium in Toronto.
The pitcher could also hit the ball.
A
plaque indicates the location of the home run, and although mythical aspects
have been added to that ball throughout the years, Ruth was actually a nobody at
the time. It was noted in the
September 5, 1914 Toronto Star Weekly that
the sixth-inning drive went into the right field bleachers.
The person who came up with the baseball would probably have little
interest turning the ball into a historical relic.
It is not unusual to find a saloon that claims the first Ruth home run
ball is now in sight behind the bar, and while it is not very likely – could
it really be .…..
Brother
Matthias, Helen Woodford, and Hanlan’s Point Stadium - three Canadian
connections that shaped the life of George Herman Ruth.
Prologue:
Not only did Ruth often hunt and vacation in Nova Scotia and other
Canadian areas, but who would be the first batter Babe faced in his Major League
pitching debut – Jack Graney from St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada!