Babe Ruth’s arrival as a Yankee was called "Late News" in a three-paragraph story — under the headline “Ruth Sold to Yankees and Signs Contract” — on Page 1 of the Jan. 8, 1920, issue of The Sporting News. The following week, TSN went deep on the deal that would change not just the baseball landscape but also American pop culture. By the time commissioner A.B. "Happy" Chandler announced that April 27, 1947, would be Babe Ruth Day around the majors, Ruth had become much more than just a record-shattering slugger. He was a phenomenon. Here are TSN bookends — sandwiched around four World Series titles, a stadium that he "built," a 60-homer season and a famed hug of stricken former teammate Lou Gehrig — to the Babe Ruth Era in New York.
The Sporting News, January 15, 1920
Hug Is Kind of Boss to Handle the Babe
Give Ruth That Right Field Wall to Aim Home Runs At and He'll Keep in a Good Humor
NEW YORK, N.Y., Jan. 12 — The big news of the week in this town was the big news of the year, not only here out wherever baseball is known — the purchase of Babe Ruth by the Yankees at a price said to have been $120,000. It was known last summer that the Yankees had made a definite and very attractive for the home run king, but nothing came of it and the matter apparently was allowed to lapse by both the New York and Boston Clubs. The sudden announcement of the consummation of the deal, therefore, came as rather a surprise to local fandom. It was joyfully received, as might be expected, for it means that the Yankees have been greatly strengthened, despite the pessimistic views of sundry scribes who seem to fear that Ruth will disrupt the morale of the Yankees, as he is alleged to have destroyed the esprit de corps of the Red Sox.
This talk about the great hitter being a drag on, rather than an asset to, a ball club is inspired by the attitude which certain Boston newspapers have taken on the deal. Last summer when Ruth was slamming the ball out of the lot with startling regularity, he was lauded by the scribes who are now seeking to belittle him. He was "Our Own Babe" in Boston in those days, and never was there a hint of the dissension on the club being traceable to him. Now that he has been sold, he is being branded as a trouble maker, and a braggart whom Miller Huggins will find exceedingly difficult to handle. Wonder if these scribes, who have experienced such a sudden change of heart, ever heard the fable of the fox and the grapes?
Sure Hug Can Manage Him
As matter of fact, Ruth is quite likely to behave as well as could be desired under the level-headed leadership of Miller Huggins. He is just an overgrown boy and his whims are many, but Bill Carrigan, who played a big part in the development of the burly swatsmith, never had a great deal of trouble keeping him in line, and Huggins no doubt will manage him with ease.
TSN Archives: Babe Ruth homers in Yankee Stadium opening (April 26, 1923)
New York fans already have begun to ask themselves whether the big fellow will shatter the home run record that he set last season when he swings into action on the Polo Grounds. Ruth hits 'em hard to all fields but he is largely a right-field hitter and the right-field wing of the Polo Grounds will make an excellent target for him to shoot at. He already has hit numerous balls into the seats at the Harlem stadium, and with a chance to aim at it in 77 games a season, he ought to register a large number of "direct hits."
As this is written, Huggins and Ruth still are on the Coast, though the Yankee leader will be back East in a few days and it is reported that Babe soon will head for this city. The business-like manner in which Huggins wound up the deal so far as the player himself was concerned speaks well for the diplomacy of the mite manager. When the culmination of the deal became known, Ruth’s "business manager," who has gained some publicity, if nothing else, as a result of his connection with the famous hitter, declared to the world that Babe would play nowhere but in Boston. The receipt of this bit of alleged news in New York caused some speculation on the part of the Yankee adherents, but their doubts were dispelled by a telegram from Huggins in which the Yankee leader imparted the information that Ruth was not only willing but glad to play in New York.
Reasons For Liking New York
As far as that goes, why wouldn't Babe be glad to play here? The average ball player would rather wear the uniform of a New York team than that of any other and for very good reasons. One of these reasons is that New York fans, as a rule, are not as fickle as those in most towns and do not forget in a day or a week or even a year the earlier exploits of fading athletes. Ruth says he is glad to play here. Well, we are glad, mighty glad, to have him and we aren't afraid that he'll wreck the Yankees. He's been a great ball player for the Red Sox and he'll be great one here, no doubt, despite the amusing tales now being sent out from Boston.
The Ruth deal, which was a two- or three-day wonder, even in this busy town, was productive of one of the few pieces of news given out here during the past week. The Yankees did go through the formality of naming Jacksonville as the site for their training camp this spring. Business Manager Harry Sparrow is now in Jacksonville, paving the way for the coming of the Yanks and Robins. The Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce is making elaborate plans for the reception of both clubs and arrangements have been made for them to play a number of games in that city before setting forth on the Northward journey at the conclusion of the training period. — Joe Vila
The Sporting News, May 7, 1947
Babe’s Shoulders Squared by Thunderous Reception
By Shirley Povich of The Washington Post
NEW YORK, N. Y. — They helped the Babe up the three steps of the Yankee Stadium dugout, a friend at each arm gently applying the lift the sick man seemed to need. But as he neared the microphones at home plate, he shrugged them off and seemed to square the shoulders that had powered 714 major league home runs.
It was Babe Ruth Day at Yankee Stadium, and the House That Ruth Built was tenanted now by 58,339 come to pay him honor. Now there were the cheers as the Babe made his way onto the field, but five minutes before a church quiet had reigned over the outdoor pews as Francis Cardinal Spellman delivered the invocation from home plate.
In his camel's-hair coat and camel's-hair cap that has been his favorite attire, the Babe stood by for the introduction, but it was taking too long. Now his shoulders were hunched and drooping again, and he was coughing into his closed fist, and you could see he was not a well man if you had never been aware that the state of his health had been of national concern for weeks.
And then the Babe spoke into the microphones, and he mustered a broad smile beneath his broad nose, and what you heard was a husky croaking that bordered on a whisper, and he was saying, "Thank you very much . . ." and his voice trailed off into a nothingness, and you knew it was an effort for him to speak.
But the Babe was battling it out. Now he was virtually snuggling his face against the mike as if it were something to be taken into his confidence and he was saying, "I thank heaven we have had baseball in this world . . . the kids . . . our national pastime."
TSN Archives: Gehrig’s Death Shocks All in Game (June 5, 1941)
Your thinking flipped back to July 4, 1939, when the Babe stood on the same ground, a well man then, and wound an affectionate arm around the shoulders of his pal, Lou Gehrig, who was a sick man. The gusty, booming-voiced Ruth of that day was going down the line for a friend, smiling through his own concern for the ailing Gehrig. And now he was standing there hurting from the ravages of his own illness, and the people were moved, and in prayerful mood.
You remembered that at the Gehrig Day it was that way, too, and your eyes were moist then and you had noted that even the photographers, those single-purpose guys with scarcely a thought for other than a picture, were wet-eyed, too. And you thought, "Oh, brother, when you see a photographer cry, it's real."
The Babe had said "Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen . . . You know how bad my voice sounds. Well, it feels just as bad . . ." But he was smiling when he said it, though he wasn't fooling anybody.
And when he was finished, he stood erect again, and waved a salute from his head. They didn't try to help him off the field. He seemed to need none, and it made you feel better.
Babe Ruth, 53, died Aug. 16, 1948, in New York.