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Ruth retired 74 years ago on this date
Famed Yankees slugger hung up spikes as a Brave

Seventy-four years ago today, the Sultan of Swat gave up his throne.

Babe Ruth retired on this day in 1935, a midseason move prompted by a defused swing.

At 40, Ruth had lost both his power and his pinstripes. But not his dramatic timing, even while rehearsing his exit line.

He was a Boston Brave, not a New York Yankee, but still larger than life. On May 25, he produced the only coda imaginable -- hitting the final three home runs of his career in Pittsburgh's Forbes Field.

No. 712 went into the lower deck in right field of the Pirates' expansive ballpark.

No. 713 sailed into the right-field upper deck.

No. 714 soared over the towering right-field roof -- which for six decades would remain a rarely conquered barrier, somewhat like San Francisco's McCovey Cove is now.

Ruth's farewell drive, estimated at 600 feet, was the first to ever clear that roof, although Major Leaguers had been taking aim at it for 16 years.

That is how legacies are written.

Guy Bush, the Pirates right-hander who had watched Ruth's exploits all day, made a decision he quickly came to regret. Bush's obituary in The Sporting News quoted him:

"He came up again in the ninth. I was a little mad. I told my catcher, Tommy Padden, he was not good enough to hit my fastball. I came through with a fastball for strike one. I missed with the second. The next pitch I nodded to Tommy. I was going to throw the ball past Mr. Ruth. It was on the outside corner. As he went around third, Ruth gave me the hand sign meaning 'to hell with you.' He was better than me. He was the best that ever lived. That big joker hit it clear out of the park for his third home run of the game. It was the longest homer I'd ever seen in baseball."

A week later, The Babe hung up his spikes.

He had hit .181 in that final half-season, with six home runs and 12 RBIs in 28 games and 72 at-bats.

He spent the rest of his all-too brief life as a traveling sideshow, barnstorming and dealing with the disappointment and frustration of the Yankees' refusal to give him a shot at managing.



Ruth died of throat cancer at age 53 on Aug. 16, 1948, in New York City. His body laid in state at Yankee Stadium for two days and was visited by more than 100,000 fans.


Tom Singer is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.