The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth

This book shows that all the caricatures of Ruth pale next to the real thing. He was the first superstar, bigger than anyone around today, even Michael Jordan. I strongly recommend the book, even for non-sports fans. Ruth's story makes an interesting contrast to today's pampered athletes. It's interesting too that the Babe's womanizing, drinking, and gambling was kept out of the press by the sports writers who followed him. It was certainly a different era.

Serendipity is the art of finding something meaningful amid looking for something else; or at least, that is how I define it. It happened last week while perusing the Atlanta airport books. I was in the mood for Flannery O’Connor, a native Georgian, when I ran across his face. Who? None other than, "the Sultan of Swat, The Caliph of Clout, The Wizard of Whack, the Rajah of Rap, the Wazir of Wham, the Mammoth of Maul, the Maharajah of Mash, the Bambino. The Bam. The Big Bam." Yes, staring me in the face was The Big Bam by Leigh Montville.

Skipping down the concourse and plopping into a seat next to hubby, I smile as I reveal my manly book. Ah, I can see in his eyes, he is impressed with my decision. He then tells me he has tickets to show more watch the Yankees at Yankee Stadium while in New York. He wants to see a game in the "House that Ruth Built" before they move across the street.

"Babe Ruth played for the Yankees and they built a stadium for him?"

Yes, yes. Laugh away. It is a good thing this book called out to me! I obviously know nothing of the game of baseball. Maybe Babe’s ghost placed it in my ignorant hands to keep me from further embarrassing myself.

The Babe’s early life is a mystery and author Montville calls it the fog. The book opens with father, George Herman Ruth, escorting his seven year old son to St. Mary’s Industrial School for Boys. The school housed orphans, truants, and delinquents; for some reason, a place Mr. Ruth thought better than his home above the family bar. Reasons are in the fog.

It is at school Ruth learned how to pitch, hit, and field a baseball. At the age of 18, a scout for the Baltimore Orioles, Jack Dunn, stopped in for a look-see. He noticed as the large boy came to bat, "the right fielder moved so far back that he left the playing field, crossed a path, and stood in the next field, where another game was taking place." Next thing, the ball careened over the same fielder’s head.

In the early 1900s, a home run was seen as a fluke, as unexpected as an ace in golf. The book states, "The balls were not made for home runs...scuffed up, roughed up, spit upon, and used for as many as 100 pitches in a game. The bats, heavy and thick through the handle, were not made for home runs. The mind was not made for home runs." Here, standing in front of Jack Dunn, was a miracle.

For what ever reason, I’m glad I finally met Babe Ruth. Montville summed it up nicely, "He will be crude and rude and kind and approachable, sometimes all in the same ten minutes, and it all will be fine. He will be credited with miracles. Fine." show less

Leigh Montville's The Big Bam is an exhaustively researched book on the life and times of Babe Ruth. Even for the non-sports fan, this book reads like the best of fiction, with a huge personality at its center and a fascinating exploration of how that personality influenced a generation of post war Americans. Entertaining and informative, Montville never shirks from probing into the faults and flaws of this iconic athlete. The book's triumph is in its evocation of supreme glory fading away with time, age, and illness. A milestone biography of a fascinating and elusive personality.

In this biography of Babe Ruth we get a bit more of his life outside of baseball. It appears he would always swing for the fences whether on the field, or in his late night escapades. Babe was someone who had a tough time letting go oh his fading greatness. Playing the game a little longer than he should have but still loving the game. Babe wanted to become a manager which never happened.

Every once in awhile I enjoy a sports biography. Babe Ruth is, by far, one of the most interesting, larger than life sports figures. Born at the tale end of the 19th century, abandoned to a boy's orphanage, he was in the right place at the right time engaged in the right sport to change the nature of the game and to ultimately take the second class NY Yankees and turn them into the greatest baseball team that ever played.

I enjoyed this quite a bit. I haven't read any other biographies on Babe Ruth, and haven't read a ton of sports biographies so I have little to compare it to. But, it does compare favorably with biographies I have read on other public figures. It's an easy read and flows well! Helps if you are already a baseball fan, but non-fans may enjoy it too.

Pretty interesting and thorough biography of Babe Ruth, very readable.