Babe Ruth 1948 Farewell Speech

[EddieP]

Ruth had retired 13 years earlier, in 1935. In the interim, the United States fought and won World War II, helping to pull the country out of the Great Depression. President Franklin D. Roosevelt died in 1945, replaced by Harry S. Truman, who would win an upset reelection a few months after Ruth’s farewell appearances. In 1947, Jackie Robinson had broken the color barrier, although the Yankees still hadn’t signed a Black player and wouldn’t for several more years.
Even though Ruth had been out of baseball for more than a dozen years, his presence still loomed large in American society, said John Thorn, the official historian for Major League Baseball.
“He gave the manuscript to Bush, who would become a president. Well, Ruth was bigger than any president, except maybe FDR,” Thorn said, adding, “Ruth was a god.”
Ruth wore a double-breasted tan suit and white-and-tan shoes and held a cigar in his hand. He referenced the many exhibition games he had played at Yale over the years, starting when he was a dominant Boston Red Sox pitcher.
As Watergate simmered, Nixon buckled down on a sportswriting project
“I have been to New Haven many, many times over the years, but this is one of the best,” he said to raucous cheers from the crowd. When the game started, Ruth put on a cream-colored cap and watched five innings before heading home to New York. Yale thrashed Princeton, 14-2. Bush went 1 for 4 with a double.
The following Sunday, June 13, was also a rainy day, when the Yankees retired Ruth’s No. 3 and commemorated the 25th anniversary of Yankee Stadium. In addition to Ruth, the other living members of the 1923 team were there, along with stars from other Yankees squads such as Bill Dickey, Lefty Gomez and Joe Gordon. Mel Allen announced the players.