The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth (50 page)

Lou Gehrig (L) and the Babe played many barnstorming games in many towns. Some were in the West.

The Babe stands near the segregated section at an exhibition game on the trip north from spring training. Racial questions and insults dogged him throughout his career.

Connie Mack (R) had been thinking about signing Babe as manager on the trip to Japan, but by Hawaii had decided against the idea.

Program for the Japan trip by the all-Americans.

Aboard the
Empress of Japan
. Claire, Babe, and Julia begin their around-the-world trip in 1934.

The Babe in Paris. He was disappointed to find that American kids in France knew little about baseball.

The uniform looks strange. The Colonel has gotten his wish, the Babe out of his hair. The Babe has not gotten his wish.

The Babe whispers information to one of his “ghostwriters.” This was one of his lucrative sidelines, put together by manager Christy Walsh.

The Babe coaching third for the Brooklyn Dodgers, 1938. Riding the elephant.

Early immortals, 1939, Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, N.Y. (L–R) Back row: Honus Wagner, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Tris Speaker, Nap Lajoie, George Sisler, Walter Johnson. Front row: Eddie Collins, George Herman Ruth, Connie Mack, Cy Young.

Babe Ruth Day, April 27, 1947. The similarities to Lou Gehrig’s farewell eight years earlier were in the Babe’s mind.

Filming for
Pride of the Yankees
, 1942. The Babe lost weight in a hurry for the film, sending him to the hospital.

Final appearance (1). The occasion was the 25th anniversary of Yankee Stadium on June 13, 1948. The number 3 of the first man ever to hit a home run in the stadium was retired. Two months later he was dead.