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Wednesday, November 19, 2003
About the Babe

Quotes about Babe Ruth

"I don't know. I never see him. I room with a suitcase."
--By Ping Bodie when asked what it was like to room with the Babe, quoted in "Baseball:The Early Years"

"To understand him you had to understand this: he wasn't human."
--By teammate Joe Dugan

"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."
--Guy Bush of the Pittsburgh Pirates on giving up Ruth's last home run (it was the first to clear the rightfield grandstand at Forbes Field and some estimated the distance at 600 feet.) Quoted in Bush's "Sporting News" obituary after his death.

"It was impossible to watch him at bat without experiencing an emotion. I have seen hundreds of ballplayers at the plate, and none of them managed to convey the message of impending doom to a pitcher that Babe Ruth did with the cock of his head, the position of his legs and the little gentle waving of the bat, feathered in his two big paws."
--Paul Gallico on Ruth in the "New York Daily News"

"He was the most uninhibited human being I have ever known. He just did things."
--John Drebinger on Babe Ruth, quoted by Robert Creamer in "Babe"

"It wasn't that he hit more home runs than anybody else, he hit them better, higher, farther, with more theatrical timing and a more flamboyant flourish. Nobody could strike out like Babe Ruth. Nobody circled the bases with the same pigeon-toed, mincing majesty."
--Red Smith, quoted in "Grand Slams and Fumbles" by Peter Beilenson

"Ruth made a grave mistake when he gave up pitching. Working once a week, he might have lasted a long time and become a great star."
--Tris Speaker on Babe Ruth's future, 1921

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