The Babe’s Final Personal Appearance

In his last personal appearance, Babe Ruth visited Iowa two months before his death to help promote the Junior American Legion Baseball program. Ruth was on tour working for the Ford Motor Company to promote youth baseball.

Ruth flew directly into Sioux City, Iowa, from St. Louis on June 20, 1948. He was accompanied by his wife, Claire, and his publicity man, Clint Mahlke. Ruth had made an appearance at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis the previous day on behalf of Ford. Ruth was greeted in Sioux City by John Hart, president of Spencer (Iowa) Baseball Inc. Hart was the owner of the local Ford dealership and manager of the Spencer semipro baseball club as well as the man who arranged the Babe’s appearance.

On the day Ruth flew to Iowa, he’d been suffering from cancer for two years. The sight of an ailing Babe came as a surprise to those who saw him. “It was a shock at first, seeing the gaunt shrunken giant emerge from the plane and walk with that shambling gait to the terminal building at the Sioux City airport,” wrote Bill Bryson in the Des Moines Register. “… Now he’s a tired old man, a man who has been critically ill and who has undergone two delicate neck operations that has left his voice a coarse whisper.”1

Although Bryson lamented Ruth’s illness, he also recognized The Babe as he had been. “Yet he retains that zest, that lust for life, which, with his home runs, made him the most widely known and the best loved individual in the ranks of working sportsmen. The dull glaze of his eyes would give way to a sparkle when anyone mentioned his home run records or, particularly, his early-day pitching that includes an unsurpassed streak of 29 consecutive World Series scoreless innings.”

With a Highway Patrol escort, Ruth traveled the 90 miles to Spencer, where the following day there would be a daytime doubleheader of local Junior Legion teams followed by an evening doubleheader which was the playoff of the daytime winners. Ruth was scheduled to appear during the games and would present the championship trophy, which he would personally autograph.

But mother nature did not cooperate, and the afternoon games were rained out. They were rescheduled for that evening with the finals of the tournament the following day. The field was dried out by burning 400 gallons of gasoline. Ruth appeared about 7:45 P.M., arriving on the field in an open car that drove past the stands to a huge ovation. Ruth gave a brief speech to the crowd. He told the estimated crowd of 3,000 to 4,000, “The young players of today are the stars of tomorrow,” then thanked those in attendance and retired from the speaker’s rostrum.2

The next day Ruth flew to Minneapolis, where he held a press conference at the Radisson hotel which was arranged by Ford Motor Company. It was a unique press conference as it was conducted by 11-year-old Johnny Ross of Minneapolis with the regular newspaper reporters looking on. Joe Hendrickson of the Minneapolis Star and Tribune reported that Johnny was Minneapolis’s biggest sports enthusiast even though an illness had deprived him of his eyesight. Although Johnny’s questions were basically of the softball variety, Hendrickson reported that “the coldest sportswriter in the business would have had difficulty holding his pencil and pad with a firm grip.” The following questions relate the flavor of the interview:

Johnny: How are you, Babe?

Babe: I don’t feel so good. I have a very bad throat and my head aches.

Johnny: Who’s your favorite ball team?

Babe: I think I’ll have to stick with the Yanks. They’ll win the American League pennant.

Johnny: I know they say the time you called your homer was your biggest thrill, but was it?

Babe: Johnny, I think the time I pitched 29 consecutive innings without giving up a run.

Johnny: Would you sooner pitch or play the outfield?

Babe: I’d like to be in there every day. That’s how much I like to play.3

Hendrickson went on to write, “I must report that the greatest home run hitter of all time was not feeling very good. The rainy weather had irritated his throat, forcing Ruth to speak with a whisper from his chest.”

Ruth terminated the interview when Johnny seemed to search for another question by saying, “I think both of us are out of words, Johnny.” The Babe posed for pictures, then retired to his room.

Ruth canceled his scheduled appearance in Minneapolis and returned the next day to New York, where he would spend the last weeks of his life in the hospital.

STEVE SMITH is a retired CPA who has been a SABR member since 2000. His primary passion is researching the baseball history of his hometown, Keokuk, Iowa. He spends his winters in Englewood, Florida, near the Tampa Bay Rays spring training site in Port Charlotte.

 

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Ralph Christian for providing much of the research on which this article is based.