When the Babe Came to Dallas, 1947

Babe Ruth is handed a 10-gallon Stetson hat by Dallas Mayor Jimmie Stetson (right) upon his arrival at Love Field on July 8, 1947. A joyous Claire Ruth (left) looks on. (Dallas History & Archives Division, Dallas Public Library)

 

Babe Ruth’s plane landed at Love Field in Dallas on the afternoon of Tuesday, July 8, 1947. There to greet baseball’s greatest celebrity was Dallas mayor Jimmie Temple, Harry Rubin of the American Legion, and officials of the Ford Motor Company which sponsored the Bambino’s appearance. Before Ruth was even halfway down the ramp, Temple handed him a ten-gallon Stetson hat. Ruth tossed his familiar flat, tan hat aside in favor of the Stetson, hearing the roar of the 200 fans who turned out for a glimpse of the once mighty, but now declining, Sultan of Swat. They watched him ride off in a lemon-colored Ford convertible, headed for the Baker Hotel, located at Commerce and Akard Streets in downtown Dallas.

This visit to Dallas was one of several stops Babe Ruth made around the country as a “consultant” for Ford, which promoted the American Legion Youth Baseball Program. The title didn’t mean that much, but it gave Ruth a purpose and rekindled a passion. “They call me a ‘consultant,’ but I want to tell you that I plan to work hard at this job-just as hard as my health permits,” Ruth said. “I owe everything I am to the kids. They didn’t get up there and hit for me, but they were my inspiration all the time. Now, I want to pay them back.”1

“I’ve always been for the youth of America,” Ruth promised, “and I will be till the day I die.”2

Ruth had dreamed of managing a major league club before his final season flop in 1935. But after retiring from playing, he found himself an outsider to the game he loved and helped establish as big business. He filled time golfing, making personal appearances, playing some exhibition games, and even suiting up as a wrestling referee to fill the void. “My old game does not appear to want me anymore,” Ruth lamented.3 Ford gave Ruth a new lease on life to “help the kids of America by spending the rest of my life teaching them baseball,” Ruth said.4 He knew time was not on his side. This new adventure would be his last, as it coincided with his battle with cancer which he would lose in 1948 at the age of 53.

Ruth made the most of his opportunities, talking to youth while his own body shuddered in pain. Before Dallas, Ruth made Legion stops in Syracuse and Detroit, then spent the remainder of the month at Mount Sinai Hospital. The suffering could be seen on Ruth’s face. “The eyes that once picked out home run pitches are deep pools,” observed Felix R. McKnight of the Dallas Morning News. “The bull shoulders that rocketed 714 home runs out of major league parks are bent and sloped. The massive frame is slender and stooped and the hair is grey. The voice is raspy and the slight coughs frequent. But the heart? Bigger than ever!”5

Ruth slumped into a chair at the Baker Hotel and gave an 8:30 PM press conference. He gave the predictable rant of kids having it easy compared to his day, “when we sewed two pieces of cloth together for a glove and made balls out of yarn raveled from our socks.” Ruth also complained that night baseball negatively affected young players who have to “develop a different set of eyes.”6

Ruth had a full itinerary on July 9. The City of Dallas threw a downtown morning parade in his honor and presented Ruth with a belt and silver spur to match his ten-gallon hat. Later, Ruth was the guest at an American Legion luncheon where he spoke of legacy. “When we get too old to help ourselves,” he said, “we can help others.” To the youth he advised, “The men out there are trying to do something for you. When you think you know enough to do something, too, pitch in and help the boys that come on behind you.”7 The toastmaster, Colonel Alvin Owsley, said to Ruth while posing for a picture, “It must be wonderful to be a champion, but it must be greater to be a champion of America’s youth.”8

One attendee finally received the Ruth autograph he had waited 20 years for. Father M.W. Ross, athletic director at nearby Jesuit High School, played on a youth team in New Orleans in 1927. The Bambino paid a visit. Ross sought an autograph but couldn’t find a pencil. Someone found Ross a fountain pen, but when Ruth attempted to sign, it was out of ink. Ross made sure he brought his own pen this time, and Ruth gladly signed it.9

In 1938, Schepps had purchased the Dallas Steers, a Chicago White Sox affiliate at the time. He changed the name of the team to Rebels and renamed Steer Stadium, at 1500 E. Jefferson Boulevard, to Rebel Field, and later Rebel Stadium. The park would later serve as a whistle-stop for Harry S. Truman’s re-election campaign and in 1960 provided a practice field for the expansion Dallas Cowboys of the NFL. Later known as Burnett Field, the facility was razed in 1964. Schepps later founded the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame.11

Babe Ruth Day wouldn’t be complete without him being accosted by a group of boys. It happened at the hotel and made for a front-page photo in the Dallas Morning News. The boys were Kenneth Fowler, Perry Tarver, John Nance Garner, Tommy Crittenden and his little five-year-old brother, Carlton Crittenden. Ruth inspected the muscles on young Carlton’s arm.

“Gee, fellow,” Ruth bellowed, “that muscle is just the size of the handle on my old bat!”

Carlton’s eyes bulged, wrote McNight.

“I’ll betcha’ play baseball too—don’t you?” Ruth asked.

Second base, Carlton told him.

“Good boy, good boy.”12

Almost 60 years later, Kevin Sherrington of the Dallas Morning News caught up with Carlton. He didn’t have many memories of that day other than the family stories told to him. His mom read about Ruth being at the Baker Hotel and drove Carlton and Tommy from their home in Detroit, Texas, 120-something miles to Dallas. They saw the Bambino passing in the hallway and a reporter asked if they would like to meet Ruth. Carlton didn’t know what was going on, but looking at the picture 60 years later acknowledged the moment.

“That’s my one claim to fame,” he told Sherrington.13

Crittenden was one of the last boys to chat with Babe Ruth. Ruth wasn’t a slugging, robust athlete anymore, but a declining, cancer-ridden man from Baltimore. The great sportswriter Grantland Rice reflected on Ruth’s last years and thought they were his greatest. “It is the story of a man who is much greater nearing the trail’s end of glory,” Rice eloquently wrote, “than he ever was when hitting his 714 home runs and giving a vast nation the greatest thrills that sport has ever known.” Rice added that Ruth was “broken but not beaten, a relic of the king that he was, he is an even greater man today.” Nothing could stop Ruth from visiting a sick kid or “a broken or blind human being. He seems to feel they belong to him—and he belongs to them.” Rice saw Ruth as a “better man” who did not fear the grave but whose “only thought has been that he will travel the few remaining miles for the betterment of the kids…those who might need help and inspiration as he once needed such help so badly.”14

The City of Dallas, and particularly a few young lucky ballplayers, were the beneficiaries of that inspiration for one day in July of 1947. As McKnight summarized, “Yes, a pretty important piece of America was in town Wednesday.”15

BOB LeMOINE is a high school librarian, teacher, adjunct professor, and union president who would rather just be working in baseball. He has written dozens of SABR bios and game articles, co-edited two SABR nineteenth-century related books, and even wrote his own book: When the Babe Went Back to Boston Babe Ruth, Judge Fuchs and the Hapless Braves of 1935 (McFarland, 2023). He lives in New Hampshire, but to impress people will often say “the Boston area.”

 

Author’s Note

For more on Babe Ruth’s final season of 1935 and his life’s final journey, see the author’s book: When the Babe Went Back to Boston: Babe Ruth, Judge Fuchs and the Hapless Braves of 1935 (McFarland, 2023).

 

Sources

Cohen, Alan, “Babe Ruth’s Final Legacy to the Kids.” The Babe, Bill Nowlin and Glen Sparks, eds. (Phoenix, Arizona: SABR, 2019). Retrieved January 11, 2025. https://sabr.org/journal/article/babe-ruths-final-legacy-to-the-kids/.

Wilonsky, Robert, “For Sale: A Rare Photo Taken on ‘Babe Ruth Day in Dallas’ at Rebel Stadium on July 10, 1947. Dallas Observer, May 23, 2011. Retrieved January 9, 2025. https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/for-sale-a-rare-photo-taken-on-babe-ruth-day-in-dallas-at-rebel-stadium-on-july-10-1947-7135649.

 

Notes

1. Joseph M. Sheehan, “Ford Co. Signs Ruth to Life Post As Consultant in Legion Baseball,” The New York Times, April 8, 1947: 37.

2. Hy Turkin, “Ruth Signed by Legion to Aid Young Players,” New York Daily News, April 8, 1947: 49.

3. Associated Press, “Babe Ruth Says Mat Jobs Taken Since Baseball ‘Does Not Want Me,’” Hartford Courant, April 3, 1945: 14.

4. Turkin.

5. Felix R. McKnight, “Babe Ruth Greets Texas Boys,” Dallas Morning News, July 10, 1947: 1.

6. Bill McClanahan, “Start Young, Play Often, Babe Says,” Dallas Morning News, July 9, 1947: 14.

7. Associated Press, “Ruth Urges Youths to Help Others,” Abilene Reporter-News, July 10, 1947: 4.

8. McKnight.

9. Associated Press, “After 20 Years Fan Gets Ruth’s Autograph,” Wichita Daily Times, July 10, 1947: 11.

10. Mike Haikin, “Babe Ruth’s Appearance Thrills Fans,” Dallas Morning News, July 10, 1947: 5.

11. Frank Jackson, “The History of Burnett Field: Dallas’ Minor League Baseball Home,” Texas State Historical Association. March 24, 2021. Retrieved January 11, 2025. https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/burnett-field.

12. McKnight.

13. Kevin Sherrington, “‘My Claim to Fame’—Nearly 60 Years Ago, Ruth Made a Boy’s Day,” Dallas Morning News, March 11, 2007: 2c.

14. Grantland Rice, “Rice Calls Ruth Greater Than Ever, Forgetting Own Pain to Cheer Others,” Boston Globe, March 24, 1948: 18.

15. McKnight.