6 February: Babe Ruth

Babe Ruth, the famous Baseball player, was born on this date in 1895. 10 things you might not know about him:

1. His real name was George Herman Ruth, Jr. and he was born in Baltimore, Maryland.

2. His parents were both of German descent and as a child, he spoke German at home. He would use his heritage and celebrity clout years later when he signed a declaration published in 10 prominent newspapers denouncing Hitler.

3. Until he was in his late 30s, he thought his date of birth was 7 February 1894. He only discovered it wasn’t when he applied for a passport. This date was the birthdate of an older sibling who had died in infancy.

4. He wasn’t an orphan, but still spent much of his childhood in an orphans’ home. Some accounts say he was removed from the family home above the bar his father owned after a gunfight broke out and a neighbour told the police there had been a child present. Others say the young Ruth was too badly behaved for his father to control. Either way he ended up in St. Mary’s Industrial School for Orphans, Delinquent, Incorrigible and Wayward Boys in Baltimore. He remained there off and on until he was 19 and left to join a baseball team, Baltimore Orioles as a pitcher. The final entry of his file at the school reads, "He is going to join the Balt. Baseball Team."

5. His natural talent for baseball was nurtured at the home by one Brother Matthias who would hit makeshift balls 350 feet or more in the schoolyard. In later years, Ruth would refer to Brother Matthias as "the greatest man I've ever known."

6. His first Major League Baseball (MLB) team was the Boston Red Sox. Ruth began playing as a pitcher. At the time, there wasn’t a rule that tied players to a given role in the team, so Ruth also had the chance to play as a hitter and it became clear that was his strength. The Red Sox won the World Series in 1915, 1916, and 1918, but in 1920, the Red Sox sold Ruth to the New York Yankees, and didn’t win another World Series until 2004. Many baseball fans believed that the Red Sox had become "cursed" by trading Ruth, and called this the "Curse of the Bambino".

7. He married Helen Woodford while they were both still teenagers in 1914. They adopted a daughter, Dorothy, who it was later claimed was the result of one of Ruth’s many affairs. Helen died in January 1929 at age 31 in a fire. Three moths later, Ruth married actress and model Claire Merritt. He led such a wild lifestyle, though, that he was told, both by his managers and his doctor, to tone it down. To which Ruth said: "I'll promise to go easier on drinking and to get to bed earlier, but not for you, fifty thousand dollars, or two-hundred and fifty thousand dollars will I give up women. They're too much fun."

8. He played Golf as well as baseball. He loved golf and claimed he’d play 365 rounds in some years. His fame as a baseball player helped make golf a spectator sport in the US.

9. A few months before he died, Ruth attended a ceremony at Yale where he donated a copy of his autobiography, handing it to the then captain of Yale’s baseball team. The young man in question didn’t go on to be a famous baseball player, though. He became President of the United States instead. His name was George H. W. Bush. Bush remembers the event as a rather sombre one, because Ruth had looked so frail due to his illness.

10. Babe Ruth had 714 career home runs, a record that would not be broken for 40 years, and a .342 batting average (which no doubt means something to baseball fans!) His final home run, which occurred when he was playing for the Boston Braves against the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1935, saw the ball clear the 86-foot stands at Pittsburgh's Forbes Field, something never before seen. The ball landed four blocks from the stadium, where a young man scooped it up and rushed to get Ruth to sign it for him. That ball is now in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.