George Herman Ruth Jr. is by far one of the greatest heroes of American sports. He is known primarily for his great exploits in baseball and secondarily as a man who stayed out late before every game and partied until there was no one left to party with. There's a lot more to Babe Ruth's story than just baseball and partying. As a boy, Ruth was a normal young man who got into a little too much trouble and paid the price. As an adult he was a husband and father who cared about his family more than he liked to show. George Ruth was a baseball hero and an alcoholic, but no one is perfect. I plan to explore the life of Babe Ruth and note the positives and negatives of baseball's greatest American hero. George Herman Ruth Jr. was born on February 6, 1895 in his grandparents' home at 216 Emory St., in Baltimore's tough waterfront section. Babe Ruth's parents, Kate and George Herman Ruth, were 19 and 23 when they had their first child, George Jr. The young father made a living as a bartender at a grocery store-saloon near Baltimore's waterfront. Babe wasn't an only child. He had a sister named Mary Margaret, also known as Mamie, born in 1900. The Ruths had six other children, but none of them survived to adulthood. Soon after Mamie was born, her father opened his own tavern at 426 West Camden St. The family would later move into an apartment above the bar. George spent the first 7 years of his life running around the Bay Area, watching street fights and stealing from store owners. It didn't take long before he was well known to the local police. When he was 7, Kate and her husband finally decided they could no longer care for the mischievous boy and took him to St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys. Although he cried and begged to be taken home, his custody was handed over to a group of strange men dressed in black robes. Although he didn't realize it at the time, this would become his home throughout his young adolescence. George was released to live with his family on occasion, but one way or another he would return to St. Mary's. George did not adapt well to his new home. Living on the streets was the life he was used to and now that there were rules to follow he was starting to feel unhappy and regretful. Adding to that pain was the realization that he had been abandoned by his mother and father. After two yeses... half of the paper... "Sultan of Swat". Babe Ruth finished his career with the Boston Braves in 1935, after being released by the Yankees. He signed a one-year contract with the Braves. Ruth was told he would manage the team at the end of the year. Midway through the season George discovered that he was only used to attracting audiences, but he finished the season anyway because he was under contract. Ruth dreamed of coaching a major league team, but never got that chance due to his wild reputation. In 1948, after two years of heart problems, Babe Ruth died. He died at 8.01pm on August 16 at Memorial Hospital at the age of 53. If you wanted to say that George Ruth got away with it all his life, you could. He made a lot of money, had two beautiful wives and two beautiful children, played the game he loved, partied half his life, and broke every baseball record of his time. But I bet if you could ask him today if he feels he's made it, he'd probably say no. He did so many great things on the field, but you have to remember that the only way he became a star was by losing something every child needs: their parents. George Ruth had it all and was every kid's idol, but it wasn't easy.