Babe Ruth

(1895-1948) The crowd that jammed Chicago's Wrigley Field booed when the big man with the barrel-shaped body and pipestem legs came up to bat. It was the third game of the 1932 World Series between the Chicago Cubs and the New York Yankees. The score was 4-4 in the fifth inning. Cub pitcher Charlie Root threw one strike, then another. Grinning, the batter stepped back and seemed to point to the distant center-field bleachers. Root pitched, …

…the unhappy Ruth laid down his bat for the last time. He ended his career in baseball as a coach for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1938. In 1947 Ruth, who had always loved children, took a position with the Ford Motor Company to help with its Legion junior baseball program. He died of throat cancer in New York City on Aug. 16, 1948, with one dream unfulfilled: his reputation for irresponsibility blocked his wish to manage a big-league team.