April 1927: Baseball player Babe Ruth (George Herman Ruth, 1895 - 1948) taking a swipe at an enormous ball. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)
Happy National Babe Ruth Day! Today honors one of baseball’s greatest players of all-time and the inspiration for the greatest sports movie of all time, The Sandlot. So, yeah, it’s kind of a big deal.
Why is Babe Ruth Day held today? Excellent question, glad you asked.
On April 27, 1947, Babe Ruth attended Yankee Stadium for (surprise, surprise) Babe Ruth Day. As it turned out, this would be the second-to-last time Ruth would ever visit Yankee Stadium. In 1946, the Great Bambino was diagnosed with throat cancer. He died on August 16, 1948.
On this day in 1947, the Sultan of Swat returned to “The House that Ruth Built” to be honored. Football may technically be this country’s most popular sport these days, but Ruth was a titan of the nation’s past time and is well deserving of his very own day on the calendar.
What, you’re too much of a millennial to show respect to the greats? Let’s take a second to properly appreciate Ruth’s accomplishments.
After 22 years in the major leagues, Ruth finished his career with a batter average of .342 (10th all-time) with 714 home runs (3rd, but let’s not count the cheaters), 2214 RBIs (2nd) and 2,873 total hits (44th). How about some newfangled advanced metrics for ya? Ruth ranks 1st in Wins Above Replacement (183.7), 1st in Wins Above Replacement Position Players (163.1) and 1st in Offensive Wins Above Replacement (155.1). Dude raked.
So Happy Babe Ruth Day ladies and gentlemen. Now let’s celebrate by laughing at these hilarious memes and watching this great clip from The Sandlot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3-kQ-ODQzI
