The Big Bam; The Life and Times of Babe Ruth

[10], 390 pages. Illustrations. Index. Minor wear, soiling, and sticker residue on DJ. Leigh Montville (born July 20, 1943 in New Haven, Connecticut) is a newspaper columnist who currently writes a weekly column for The Boston Globe, a sports reporter and author. He is a graduate of the University of Connecticut. Montville was a longtime print journalist as a columnist for The Boston Globe as a senior writer with Sports Illustrated. He spent 21 years at the Globe, many of them with other legendary Globe sports writers Peter Gammons, Bob Ryan, and Will McDonough. On Nov. 11, 2013, he rejoined The Globe as a part-time columnist. He has authored many books, including best-sellers such as The Big Bam, a biography of New York Yankees baseball legend Babe Ruth, and Ted Williams: The Biography of an American Hero, about the Hall of Fame left fielder for the Red Sox, which won the 2004 CASEY Award for best baseball book of the year. George Herman Ruth Jr. (February 6, 1895 ? August 16, 1948), better known as Babe Ruth, was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed The Bambino and The Sultan of Swat, he began his MLB career as a stellar left-handed pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, but achieved his greatest fame as a slugging outfielder for the New York Yankees. Ruth established many MLB batting (and some pitching) records, including career home runs (714), runs batted in (RBIs) (2,213), bases on balls (2,062), slugging percentage (.690), and on-base plus slugging (OPS) (1.164); the latter two still stand today. Ruth is regarded as one of the greatest sports heroes in American culture and is considered by many to be the greatest baseball player of all time. In 1936, Ruth was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame as one of its "first five" inaugural members. In 1914, Ruth was contracted to play minor-league baseball for the Baltimore Orioles but was soon sold to the Red Sox. By 1916, he had built a reputation as an outstanding pitcher who sometimes hit long home runs, a feat unusual for any player in the pre-1920 dead-ball era. Although Ruth twice won 23 games in a season as a pitcher and was a member of three World Series championship teams with Boston, he wanted to play every day and was allowed to convert to an outfielder. With regular playing time, he broke the MLB single-season home run record in 1919. After that season, Red Sox owner Harry Frazee controversially sold Ruth to the Yankees. In his 15 years with New York, Ruth helped the Yankees win seven American League (AL) championships and four World Series championships. His big swing led to escalating home run totals that not only drew fans to the ballpark and boosted the sport's popularity but also helped usher in the live-ball era of baseball, in which it evolved from a low-scoring game of strategy to a sport where the home run was a major factor. As part of the Yankees' vaunted "Murderer's Row" lineup of 1927, Ruth hit 60 home runs, extending his MLB single-season record. He retired in 1935. During his career, Ruth led the AL in home runs during a season twelve times. Ruth's legendary power and charismatic personality made him a larger-than-life figure in the "Roaring Twenties". During his career, he was the target of intense press and public attention for his baseball exploits and his often reckless lifestyle, which was tempered by his willingness to do good by visiting children at hospitals and orphanages. In his final years, Ruth made many public appearances, especially in support of American efforts in World War II. In 1946, he became ill with cancer, and died two years later. First Edition [stated], First Printing [stated]. …