This story is taken from Bryan Hoch's Yankee Beat Newsletter. To read the full newsletter, Click here. and subscription Put it in your inbox regularly.
More than a century has passed since Babe Ruth first played in a Yankee uniform, but Sultan of Swat is as imminent as ever.
As the franchise prepares to welcome alumni and fans to attend Friends Day at Yankee Stadium this weekend, it’s clear that the man who once had continued to cast shadows on the Bronx.
In life, Ruth is a magnet. In the legacy, he is immortal.
“There's never been a person like him,” said Ruth's grandson, Tom Stevens. “And I don't think it will never.”
This heritage continues, not only in monuments and souvenirs. A new book From the baby's mouthis a collection of Ruth quotes and sarcastic thought compiled by Kelly Bennett, designed to reveal the person behind the myth – original, tenacious, and often wise.
“If there was a time to set a time for your baby, it would be in his 20s,” Stevens said.
Stevens wrote the foreword to Bennett’s book, which he said provides an opportunity to connect fans with the spirit of his grandfather.
“We just said something to the baby,” Stevens said. “Babe got his fans – we just had to bring them there. He was as important as the game, partly because he was the best.”
As Stevens explains: “Computers allow us to do all kinds of things on numbers – war, victory over replacement, OPS+. With every new parameter they develop, guess who is there first?”
In many ways, Ruth remains the basic story of the Yankees – the towering liar, the arrival of 1920 helped usher in a new stadium, a tradition of victory and a completely different age of fanaticism. He not only changed the Yankees. He changed the game.
“Scott Boras said that if he dominated today like his own time, it would be easy for him to get a billion dollars in his career,” Stevens said.
“He's done well against Walter Johnson. He faced Satchel Paige in barnstorming. He did a great job of all the pitches he faced. Ted Williams told me that Babe was the greatest hitter of all time. He didn't think anyone could compare to him.”
Indeed, Ruth's influence is still embedded in the structure of modern gaming. Home runs are currency. It is expected to be swaggering. Superstars are built not only on statistics, but on characters.
So, what does Ruth think about baseball in 2025?
“He will embrace certain aspects of the game,” Stevens said. “He will benefit from all the intrusion and innovation in nutrition and training, which is a huge advantage for baseball players today. Given some of the little black pills he is slamming, he will love a beautiful white ball every two minutes.”
What if he's here this weekend? He might hold a court on the steps of the canoe, tell stories, lol, and almost certainly surrounded by a hot dog or two.
“The Yankees are the oldest franchise in baseball and are actually all sports,” Stevens said. “It's great to be remembered in this way.”
He may have a strong opinion on the stadium clock, use in the mid-game, or the player’s whiskey before and after the game rather than the whiskey. But Ruth will recognize the core of the game – the bat against the ball, the crowd on the feet, a swing to change everything.