The
Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth
by Leigh Montville
Paperback from Anchor
Media Published: 2007-
ISBN: 0767919718
He was the Sultan of Swat. The Caliph of Clout. The Wizard of Whack.
The Bambino. And simply, to his teammates, the Big Bam. From the award-winning
author of the New York Times bestseller Ted Williams comes
the thoroughly original, definitively ambitious, and exhilaratingly colorful
biography of the largest legend ever to loom in baseball--and in the history
of organized sports.
"[Montville is] one of America's best sportswriters." --Chicago
Tribune
Babe Ruth was more than baseball's original superstar. For eighty-five
years, he has remained the sport's reigning titan. He has been named Athlete
of the Century . . . more than once. But who was this large, loud,
enigmatic man? Why is so little known about his childhood, his private
life, and his inner thoughts? In The Big Bam, Leigh Montville, whose
recent New York Times bestselling biography of Ted Williams garnered
glowing reviews and offered an exceptionally intimate look at Williams's
life, brings his trademark touch to this groundbreaking, revelatory portrait
of the Babe.
Based on newly discovered documents and interviews--including pages
from Ruth's personal scrapbooks --The Big Bam traces Ruth's life
from his bleak childhood in Baltimore to his brash entrance into professional
baseball, from Boston to New York and into the record books as the world's
most explosive slugger and cultural luminary. Montville explores every
aspect of the man, paying particular attention to the myths that have always
surrounded him. Did he really hit the "called shot" homer in the 1932 World
Series? Were his home runs really "the farthest balls ever hit" in countless
ballparks around the country? Was he really part black--making him the
first African American professional baseball superstar? And was Ruth the
high-octane, womanizing, heavy-drinking "fatso" of legend . . . or just
a boyish, rudderless quasi-orphan who did, in fact, take his training and
personal conditioning quite seriously?
At a time when modern baseball is grappling with hyper-inflated salaries,
free agency, and assorted controversies, The Big Bam brings back
the pure glory days of the game. Leigh Montville operates at the peak of
his abilities, exploring Babe Ruth in a way that intimately, and poignantly,
illuminates a most remarkable figure. |
| |
Babe:
The Legend Comes to Life
by Robert Creamer
Paperback from Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 067176070X
"I swing big, with everything I've got. I hit big or I miss
big. I like to live as big as I can." -- Babe Ruth
Babe Ruth is without a doubt the most famous character ever produced by
the sport of baseball. A legendary player, world-famous for his hitting
prowess, he transcended the sport to enter the mainstream of American life
as an authentic folk hero.
In this extraordinary biography, noted sportswriter Robert W. Creamer
reveals the complex man behind the sports legend. From Ruth's early days
in a Baltimore orphanage, to the glory days with the Yankees, to his later
years, Creamer has drawn a classic portrait of an American original. |
| |
Home
Run: The Story of Babe Ruth
by Robert Burleigh
Paperback from Sandpiper
ISBN: 0152045996
The man who made the game of
baseball, George Herman Ruth, wasn't always the Babe. Once he was a boy
playing ball on a dirt lot.
Robert Burleigh and Mike Winner have created a stunning portrait of
a legend--and of baseball's glory days."He has always had this swing. This
easy, upthrusting swing. This 'pretty' swing, not taught by any coach.
One day the Babe just swung--and it was there. It was his." Combining stirring,
poetic prose and Mike Wimmer's realistic illustrations, Home Run
conveys the feeling of excitement and awe that must have been present at
a baseball game in which the great Babe Ruth played. Robert Burleigh, who
previously collaborated with Wimmer on the award-winning Flight: The
Journey of Charles Lindbergh, writes this picture-book tribute "for
my Father--who loved the game ... for my son, Eli, to help him learn the
spirit of can-do." His great love for both shines through. Our stomachs
knot and spirits soar as Ruth steps up to the plate. Home Run softly
draws us into the story, and the illustrations, rendered in oil on canvas,
have an expansiveness and glow that lift them from the page. The gentle
tribute is enhanced by "vintage-style baseball cards" that highlight aspects
of Babe Ruth's career ("The Bambino loved driving low-slung convertibles,
donning silk shirts and coonskin coats, and downing huge meals"), allowing
Burleigh the opportunity to include important information without destroying
the perfect simplicity of the main story. A treasure for anyone with a
love of the game, Home Run is also powerfully affecting for those
new to the excitement it holds. (Click to see a sample spread. Illustration
from Home Run by Robert Burleigh, illustration © 1998 by Mike
Wimmer, reproduced by permission of Harcourt Brace & Company.) (Ages
5 and older) --Aimee Damman |
| |
Babe
Ruth Saves Baseball! (Step into Reading 3)
by Frank Murphy
Paperback from Random House Books for Young Readers
Media Published: 2005-
ISBN: 0375830480
Batter up! It's 1919 and baseball is in trouble! All across the country,
people are throwing down their bats, and giving up America's national pastime.
It's up to Babe Ruth to win back fans and save baseball! Can he do it,
or will he strike out? |
| |
Babe
Ruth: Legends in Sports (Matt Christopher Legends in Sports)
by Matt Christopher, Glenn Stout
Paperback from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 0316011134
In a career that spanned over thirty years, George Herman "Babe" Ruth
changed the way the sport of baseball was played. He was the first true
power hitter, a strong pitcher, and in the outfield made some amazing game-saving
catches. His love of the sport shined through in the way he laughed while
jogging around the bases, in how he kidded and horsed around with teammates,
and in his overall determination to win. But there was a darker side to
Babe, one that nearly ruined his career - and his life. In the end, however,
Ruth managed to overcome his personal demons, recapture his health, and
go on to lead his beloved Yankees to championship status. Simply put, there
has never been another player like the Babe.
This comprehensive
biography of one of baseball's most memorable legends also comes with photos. |
| |
Babe
Ruth and the Baseball Curse (A Stepping Stone Book(TM))
by David A. Kelly
Paperback from Random House Books for Young Readers
Media Published: 2009-
ISBN: 037585603X
Before 1918, the Boston Red Sox were unstoppable. They won World Series
after World Series, thanks in part to their charismatic pitcher-slugger
Babe Ruth. But some people on the Red Sox felt the Babe was more trouble
than he was worth, and he was traded away to one of the worst teams in
baseball, the New York Yankees. From then on, the Yankees became a golden
team. And the Red Sox? For over 80 years, they just couldn't win another
World Series. Then, in 2004, along came a scruffy, scrappy Red Sox team.
Could they break Babe Ruth's curse and win it all? |
| |
Babe
Ruth: Remembering the Bambino in Stories, Photos & Memorabilia
by Julia Ruth Stevens, Bill Gilbert
Hardcover from Stewart, Tabori & Chang
The
Bambino . . . The Sultan of Swat . . . The Colossus of Clout . . . Babe
Ruth is widely regarded as the #1 baseball player of all time. His contribution
to the sport simply can't be overstated: Largely responsible for bringing
baseball to its current level of popularity, Ruth changed the game from
a low-scoring, speed-dominated sport to the high-scoring, power-hitting
baseball we see today. Larger than life in his own time, the Babe continues
to be a legendary figure in ours.
Babe
Ruth is the ultimate book for any true baseball fan, telling the story
of his groundbreaking career as well as memorable tales from his often-colorful
life off the field. Featuring a winning line-up of rare and never-before-published
photographs, the book also includes pull-out facsimile reproductions of
memorabilia such as World Series tickets from 1916 to 1932; newspaper articles
chronicling the Babe's record-breaking achievements; the official souvenir
program from opening day at Yankee Stadium in 1923; and Babe Ruth's first
professional baseball contract.
A
glorious memento of an incredible career, Babe Ruth is a fitting tribute
to one of the 20th century's towering personalities. |
| |
Babe
Ruth (Up Close)
by Wilborn Hampton
Hardcover from Viking Juvenile
ISBN: 0670063053
Babe Ruth is still regarded as perhaps the greatest baseball player
ever to step on a diamond. Born into a poor family in Baltimore, George
Herman Ruth Jr. was sent to a Catholic reform school at age seven, where
he learned how to play baseball. Initially a talented southpaw, the Babe
went on to shatter every home-run record on the books - and when fewer
games were played in a season and a heavier ball was used. In this engaging
and fast-paced biography, award-winning author Wilborn Hampton shares with
readers The Babe was also a man of big heart, temper, and appetite. |
| |
The
Year Babe Ruth Hit 104 Home Runs: Recrowning Baseball's Greatest Slugger
by Bill Jenkinson
Paperback from Carroll & Graf
In an unprecedented look at Babe
Ruth's amazing batting power, sure to inspire debate among baseball fans
of every stripe, one of the country's most respected and trusted baseball
historians reveals the amazing conclusions of more than twenty years of
research. Jenkinson takes readers through Ruth's 1921 season, in which
his pattern of battled balls would have accounted for more than 100 home
runs in today's ballparks and under today's rules. Yet, 1921 is just tip
of the iceberg, for Jenkinson's research reveals that during an era of
mammoth field dimensions Ruth hit more 450-plus-feet shots than anybody
in history, and the conclusions one can draw are mind boggling. |
| |
Babe
& Me : A Baseball Card Adventure (An Avon Camelot Book)
by Dan Gutman
(Hardcover)
Home
Run : The Story of Babe Ruth
by Robert Burleigh, Mike Wimmer (Illustrator)
"He has always had this swing. This easy, upthrusting swing. This 'pretty'
swing, not taught by any coach. One day the Babe just swung--and it was
there. It was his." Combining stirring, poetic prose and Mike Wimmer's
realistic illustrations, Home Run conveys the feeling of excitement and
awe that must have been present at a baseball game in which the great Babe
Ruth played. Robert Burleigh, who previously collaborated with Wimmer on
the award-winning Flight: The Journey of Charles Lindbergh, writes this
picture-book tribute "for my Father--who loved the game ... for my son,
Eli, to help him learn the spirit of can-do." His great love for both shines
through. Our stomachs knot and spirits soar as Ruth steps up to the plate.
Home Run softly draws us into the story, and the illustrations, rendered
in oil on canvas, have an expansiveness and glow that lift them from the
page. The gentle tribute is enhanced by "vintage-style baseball cards"
that highlight aspects of Babe Ruth's career ("The Bambino loved driving
low-slung convertibles, donning silk shirts and coonskin coats, and downing
huge meals"), allowing Burleigh the opportunity to include important information
without destroying the perfect simplicity of the main story. A treasure
for anyone with a love of the game, Home Run is also powerfully affecting
for those new to the excitement it holds. (Ages 5 and older) --Aimee Damman
(School & Library Binding)
Babe
: The Legend Comes to Life (Fireside Sports Classic)
by Robert W. Creamer
(Paperback - April 1992)
The
Babe : The Game That Ruth Built
by Lawrence S. Ritter, et al
He was a big man, and The Babe is a big book--a four-bag celebration
of the Bambino, the greatest baseball legend of them all. Lawrence S. Ritter,
author of The Glory of Their Times, the classic oral history of America's
national pastime in the first decades of the 20th century, weaves together
a workmanlike, often elegiac, narrative of Babe Ruth's life and career.
But it is the all-star collection of photos--of the Babe in action, the
Babe just hanging around being the Babe, and rare Ruth collectibles--that
sends this volume where the Babe used to send high fastballs: out of the
park. Hank Aaron, who sent a few out himself, pens a warm introduction
to the idol whose career home-run record he ultimately surpassed. Amazon.com
Hardcover - 304 pages Book & Homerun Derby CD (October
)
Total Sports; ISBN: 0965694909 |
| |
Babe
Ruth
by Kal Wagenheim
(Paperback)
The 500 Home Run Club : Baseball's 16 Greatest Home Run Hitters from
Babe Ruth to Mark McGwire
by Bob Allen, Bill Gilbert
Listed under Baseball Legends
Babe
Ruth : One of Baseball's Greatest
by Guernsey Van Riper, Seymour Fleishman (Illustrator)
(Paperback - October 1986)
Babe
Ruth's Own Book of Baseball
by George Herman Ruth, et al
(Paperback - February 1992)
The
Babe Book: Baseball's Greatest Legend Remembered
by Ernestine Gichner Miller, Ernestine Miller
(Hardcover)
When
Willard Met Babe Ruth
by Donald Hall, Barry Moser (Illustrator)
(School & Library Binding)
The
Babe & I
Terry Widener (Illustrator), David A. Adler
School & Library Binding
The
Babe in Red Stockings : An In-Depth Chronicle of Babe Ruth With the Boston
Red Sox, 1914-1919
Kerry Keene, et al
Hardcover
The
Babe Ruth Ballet School
Tim Shortt
Hardcover
Babe
Ruth Slept Here : The Baseball Landmarks of New York City
Jim Reisler
Paperback
Babe
Ruth's Own Book of Baseball
George Herman Ruth, Jerome Holtzman (Introduction)
Paperback - 301 pages (February 1992)
Univ of Nebraska Pr; ISBN: 0803289391
The
Babe Signed My Shoe
Ernie Harwell, Geoff Upward (Editor)
Paperback / Published 1995
