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The grandson of a slave, Jack Roosevelt Robinson was born on January 31, 1919, in Cairo, Georgia; he was the youngest of five children. Jackie grew up very poor, but little did he know that his athletic ability would open the doors for his future. After his father deserted the family when Jackie was six months old, his mother, Mallie Robinson, moved the family to California in search of work. California also subjected blacks to segregation at that time, but to less of a degree than in the Deep South. The young Jackie defused his anger over this prejudice by immersing himself in sports. He displayed extraordinary athletic skills in high school, excelling at football, basketball, baseball, and track. After helping Pasadena Junior College

Henry Louis Gehrig mainly known as Lou Gehrig is one of the best baseball players to ever step on the diamond. He played all 17 of his seasons for the New York Yankees, and wore the number 4. As a child Gehrig suffered very repeating occurrences of epileptic seizures. His childhood illness would eventually come back later in his life to play a huge factor of his early retirement.

Ruth's slugging percentages in 1920 and 1921 were .847 and .846. Neither figure has ever been approached. In fact, a slugging percentage higher than .704 has been achieved only 20 times, eight by Ruth. In 1923, hitting .393, he was named the league’s Most Valuable Player, and capped off the year by ushering the Yankees to their first World Series Championship. He also led the American League in home runs from 1919-1924, and again from 1926-1931.

Mary’s Ruth befriended one of the catholic monks that helped run the school, Brother Matthias. Matthias was the father figure and role model to Ruth that he never was able to get from his biological father. Babe Ruth’s biography put it this way, “Brother Matthias, one of the monks at St. Mary’s, took an instant liking to George Jr. and became a positive role model and father-like figure to George Jr. while at St. Mary’s. Brother Matthias also happened to help George Jr. refine his baseball skills, working tirelessly with him”. Ruth was so good that he caught the attention of Baltimore Orioles owner Jack Dunn. Jack came to watch Ruth play and within the hour Jack was more than ready to sign Ruth to a contract. Unfortunately, laws at the time prohibited the signing of a contract without the consent of a legal guardian. Biography.com wrote, “Only 19, the law at the time stated that Ruth had to have a legal guardian sign his baseball contract in order for him to play professionally. As a result, Dunn became Ruth's legal guardian”. Ruth went through the grueling legal process and it took a fairly good toll on Ruth. It often distracted or bothered him that his own parents wouldn’t sign the contract. Eventually, Dunn became Ruth’s guardian and signed the contract. When Ruth came to spring training at the age of twenty, the players called him “Jack’s newest Babe” and the name stuck. This marked the end of a long process to make it to his

His main position was pitcher, but he also played as an outfielder. Babe started his baseball career in Baltimore, playing for the Orioles. He also played for other teams, such as: The Boston Braves, New York Yankees, and the Boston Red Sox. Babe Ruth hit about 2,873 hits and 714 of those hits were homeruns. Ruth’s first homerun was hit in 1933 at the All Star game in Chicago’s Comiskey Park. Throughout Ruth’s baseball career, he has received many awards. From 1933- 1934 he was on the American All Star League Team. In 1936, he was placed in the national baseball hall of fame.

games, even though he didn't play much Babe Ruth had staggering power behind the plate,

George Herman Ruth, better known as Babe Ruth, is an American baseball hero due to his successes that have allowed him to become a household name even after his passing. His great legacy lives on, but for those not alive during his reign over baseball, it is sometimes hard to grasp the Babe’s true life story, which is where film comes into play. In the several films about Babe Ruth, many differentiating perspectives about his life are introduced. In The Babe Ruth Story (1948) and The Babe (1992), we are shown two very different versions of the ‘Great Bambino’. With the help of Ardolino’s analysis of the deification and deconstruction of Ruth in Reel Baseball, it is easy to see the similarities and differences between the two Hollywood Babes. Ardolino states that, “In fact, these movies are dialectically related: the first is an attempt to sacralize Ruth’s checkered life, and the latter is an attempt to replace the hagiography with a Dickensian psychodrama of a bumbling Bacchus who belches, farts, indulges his appetites, is haunted by his past, explodes irrationally when he is called ‘incorrigible’ and never gains any measure of self-control” (115-16). Ardolino’s chapter thoroughly discussed the portrayals of Babe Ruth as a character, which brings to light the similarities and differences portrayed in both Hollywood films. After screening the Hollywood films, we move to screen the documentary about Ruth, a blatant deification, which treats his life story much differently.

Although there were many greats in the 1920s, without a doubt, George "Babe" Ruth was the first and most famous out of all the heroes presented in this time. Ruth changed the whole game of baseball. Ruth was traded to the Yankees from the Red Sox on January 3, 1920 for $125,000. This was more than double the highest price paid for a player. The country had just come out of war, and the basic morale was low. Sports however, lightened the spirits

With the way the author, Bryson describes George Ruth’s upbringing and the tough hand that Babe was dealt with at such an early age, it seems as if he painted a fairy tale with happily ever after at the end. To read and to try and grasp what Babe Ruth was able to achieve, it is the most unbelievable underdog story that I have ever read. While I was reading, I had the feeling that Bill Bryson believed that George Ruth was a good person and even coming from such a rough city such as Baltimore. He even disagreed with what babe said in his autobiography. In the book, Bryson says “The opening sentence of Ruth’s autobiography is, “I was a bad kid.” Which is no more than partly true” (Bryson 107). By just the second sentence in the second paragraph, it is clear that Bryson thought, even since Ruth’s childhood, he is a good kid who was stuck behind the 8-ball. Coming from an impoverished family, having almost all of his siblings die, losing both his father and mother who were “distracted” anyway. His mother slowly dying of tuberculosis and his father single-handedly running their saloon during all of his waking hours just so they could have money to survive (Bryson 107). While reading this initial background on Babe Ruth, I didn’t know just how rough he had it. I assumed like most of the athletes in today’s world, his family was able to pay for him to have baseball lessons and training with some of the best trainers that money can buy. Knowing that Babe Ruth was the epitome of an

Baseball has always been America's national pastime. In the early and all the way into the mid 50's, baseball was America and America was baseball. The only thing lacking in the great game was the absence of African American players and the presence of an all white sport. America still wasn't friendly or accepted the African American race and many still held great prejudice towards them. All this would change when the general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Branch Rickey decided he was going to sign a Negro player. Jackie Robinson was that player and Jackie Robinson changed the game, America, and history. By looking specifically at his childhood adversity, college life and the hardships he encountered by becoming the first black player in

After completing school, George Jr. signed with the Baltimore Orioles (then a minor league team) in 1914. George Jr. earned the nickname Babe from his teammates while he was in Baltimore. Later in 1914, Babe Ruth was sold to the Boston Red Sox. While playing with the Red Sox, Babe was a pitcher. Ruth’s pitching record was 94-46 (.671 pct) with a 2.28 ERA. In 1920, Red Sox owner Harry Frazee sold Babe Ruth for $125,000 to finance a production called No, No Nanette. After Ruth was sold the Red Sox went on a eighty-six year drought of winning a World Series finally ending in 2004. In New York, Babe started as the Yankees’ right fielder instead of pitching. In his first season with the Yankees, Babe hit fifty-four total home runs that year which was a record at that point. A year later Ruth broke his record with fifty-four home runs. That same year Ruth hit his first World Series home run. Later on October 6, 1926, Ruth was the first player to hit three home runs in a single World Series

Many people consider Babe as the greatest to play the game. The records Babe Ruth set is a testament to how amazing of a player he really was. While playing for the Red Sox in 1919, Babe set the single season record for home runs at 29(biography). In the next season, now with the New York Yankees, Ruth close to doubled his single season home run record to 54(biography). Following the 54 home run season Ruth set the outstanding record of 59 home runs(biography). It only took Ruth 10 seasons to become one of the greatest home run hitters anyone has ever seen. Ruth’s success on the baseball diamond made him a household name; so much so, that the new Yankee Stadium (built in 1923) was dubbed "the house that Ruth built"(biography). When everyone thought that Babe was incredible at setting the total home runs to 59, Ruth outdid himself again to set godly mark of 60 homeruns in one season during the 1927 season(biography). Unsurprisingly, this record stood for an amazing 34 years. No one had ever seen a player as great as what Babe Ruth was during the 1920s. During the 1920s, Ruth broke practically all of the slugging records. These include most years leading a league in home runs (12); most total bases in a season (457); and highest slugging percentage for a season (.847) (biography). Based on his prestigious baseball career, Babe Ruth was one of the most influential athletes during the

The story of Jackie Robinson has become one of America's most iconic and inspiring stories. Since 1947, American history has portrayed Jackie Robinson as a hero, and he has been idolized as a role model to the African American baseball community. It is an unarguable fact that he was the first to tear down the color barriers within professional baseball. The topic of Robinson’s role in integration has long been a point of discussion amongst baseball historians. Researchers have accumulated thousands of accredited documents and interviews with friends and team mates such as short stop, Pee Wee Reese, and team owner, Branch Rickey. However, few journalists have asked why Robinson was selected and what was Branch

In 1914, Babe Ruth made a major debut for the Boston Red Sox. Babe Ruth pitched in 4 out of 5 games in the 1914 baseball season. In 1916, The Red Sox won the World Series. In 1918, instead of being the pitcher, Babe Ruth played in the outfield. In the World Series of 1918, Babe Ruth pitched in Game 1. In Game 4, he pitched eight innings. In just six games, The Red Sox won the World Series. In 1919, Babe Ruth wanted a raise in his salary. Frazee, the owner of The Red Sox refused to raise it. Babe Ruth had to be

Since the abolition of slavery in the USA in 1883 and through the first half of the 20th Century, African Americans had been in a constant struggle to try and gain an equal footing in society. Like many aspects of American life, black sportsmen were segregated, and no African American had played professional baseball since 1884. For this reason, the integration of Jackie Robinson to the Brooklyn Dodgers as the first African American to play Major League baseball in the modern era had a grand impact on the entire country. From the moment that Dodgers owner, Branch Rickey decided that Robinson would break the colour lone, the history of sport and the history of African Americans would not be the same again. The importance of his integration and the effect it had on civil rights can be looked at in many different ways. It had great effect on the African American community, instilling pride and belief once again in the American Dream for many who had once thought it impossible. It also had significant importance for civil rights groups, and brought about a figure who would fight his peoples quest for equal rights until the day he died. It was a significant risk taken by both Rickey and Robinson, professionally and personally. But it was a risk that both in the short term for African American sport, and in the long run for African American civil rights, was ultimately well worth taking.