Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Babe Ruth & Why He Never Managed


Babe Ruth was interested in managing a club, namely the New York Yankees, after his playing career ended and there is a very big reason why that never happened, the club feared that Ruth would break the color barrier and allow and play black players on the team. This shocking story came from Babe's daughter herself, Julia Ruth Stevens, at 97 years old. Ruth Stevens was speaking with the New York Times when he told the story to the times Peter Kerasotis, SEEN HERE.

Here are a few quotes from Ruth Stevens:

"Daddy would have had blacks on his team, definitely," she said. "He really thought he deserved to manage. Daddy knew baseball. He always felt he would be a better manager than Joe McCarthy. He always talked about that." 

"Ruth also was known to frequent New York City’s Cotton Club and befriended black athletes and celebrities," Kerasotis wrote. "He once brought Bill Robinson, a tap-dancer and actor known as Bojangles, into the Yankees’ clubhouse. Robinson also was with Ruth during the 1932 World Series in Chicago, and at the game when Ruth was said to have called his home run. When Ruth died in August 1948, Robinson was an honorary pallbearer."

It's really hard to fathom now the blatant ignorance and racism that was all over the game and the country at this time, it really is. Who knows what Ruth could have done if he was a manager, but then again who really knows if this was the real reason. We will never know but either way it's a shame. Jackie Robinson would break the color barrier in 1947, a full ten years after Ruth retired and a year before Ruth passed away.


1 comment:

  1. I don't know about him being a good Manager but, one thing most fans don't know about him is...he was a damn good athlete!
    Many go by what they see in his later years, a fat man running around the bases.
    I'll bet most don't know he only hit into 1+/- DPs and none as a Yankee (I think)!

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