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Lightning Rods

Babe’s father had some interest in a second bar at 501 North Front Street, northeast of the downtown area. He applied for a liquor license at that location in March 191111 and is listed in the 1911 Baltimore City Directory at both 406 West Conway Street and 501 North Front Street. William E. Sipes, another brother of Martha Sipes McCotter, is listed as a bartender at 501 North Front Street in the 1911 directory. This is the only time that Ruth and Sipes are listed at the Front Street address. Perhaps his interest in this second bar with the Sipes family, was the reason that George began seeking additional money moonlighting in his old business - erecting and repairing lightning rods. Babe’s father placed newspaper advertisements under Lightning Rods stating, “Phone St. Paul 8319 – Baltimore City Lightning Rod Co., Geo. H. Ruth, Prop. 406 W. Conway Street, Baltimore, Md. Thirty Years Experience.”

Ruth’s Café

When Babe Ruth returned to Baltimore after the 1915 baseball season, he played in several amateur baseball games. During one game at Saint Mary’s Industrial School he lost a diamond ring and took out a “Lost and Found” ad in the Baltimore Sun of October 25, 1915, stating: LOST – 2½ carat DIAMOND RING. Belgian setting at St. Mary’s Industrial School Grounds. Liberal reward if returned to GEO (“BABE”) RUTH. 38 South Eutaw Street. 1

This newspaper advertisement is the earliest printed source indicating that Babe Ruth’s residence was no longer on Conway Street. He now lived on Eutaw Street above what became known as Ruth’s Café. Directly across the street from the Bromo Seltzer Tower at Eutaw and Lombard streets, Babe’s new home was in the heart of Baltimore’s wholesale and clothing manufacturing district. It was primarily a business district rather than residential. Ruth’s Cafe was definitely a step up from the saloons on Camden Street or Conway Street, although today the building houses a gentleman’s “show bar” – a polite term for a strip club. Some Babe Ruth biographers claim that he bought Ruth’s Cafe for his father using his 1915 World Series earnings.

Two surviving artifacts provide information on Ruth’s Café. First, there is a famous photograph showing Babe Ruth and his father tending bar. The bar is decorated for Christmas. A young Babe Ruth bears a striking resemblance to his father in the photo. The place has the air of prosperity. The photograph depicts a large punch bowl on the bar, a spitoon trough along the floor, and signs announcing "Oyster Raw Bar" and "Take Home a Fry."

In the upper right hand corner of the photograph, a calendar can be seen featuring an illustration of a young lady sitting on an outfield fence at a ballpark. A detail of this calendar illustration also survives. It clearly states, “Ruth’s Café 36-38 S. Eutaw Street” with a heading above the calendar “Babe Ruth’s Favorite.” In smaller letters, George H. Ruth, Sr. is identified as the proprietor and George H. (Babe) Ruth Jr. as the manager. The young lady in the illustration bears a resemblance to Helen, Babe’s young bride. After all, at the time she was “Babe Ruth’s Favorite.” The calendar provides the early name of the establishment distinguishing it from the other saloons his father owned. Another early reference to Ruth’s Café is a brief article in the Baltimore Sun of February 14, 1916 about a billiard match that took place there.

Father's Death

The last documented connection of Babe Ruth to Ruth’s Café took place during the 1918 baseball season. Babe Ruth wanted to play more often as a batter and fielder rather than a pitcher. In 1917, he had a .325 batting average. In 1918 he pitched in only 20 games, as compared to more than 40 in each of the previous two seasons, but hit 11 homeruns to lead the American League and batted .300. In the next few years he would raise the number of home runs he hit to 29 and then to more than 50 as a full time position player – an astronomical figure at this time. His desire not to pitch, resulted in conflicts with Boston’s manager Ed Barrow. Barrow was also upset that Ruth routinely violated curfews.

When the Red Sox were playing against the Senators in Washington in July 1918, Babe was granted permission to visit family in Baltimore. He was suppose to return to the club in the morning, but showed up just before game time. After Babe made an error in the first inning and struck out twice, Barrow berated him in the dugout. When Ruth threatened to punch Barrow, he was fined $500. An angry Babe Ruth left the team on July 3rd and returned to Baltimore. At Ruth’s Café, he gave impromptu interviews with the press, telling them he was leaving the Red Sox to play for a shipbuilding firm. In 1918, the United States was fighting in World War I and able bodied adults were suppose to be fighting in Europe or employed in war related industries at home. Baseball was allowed to continue, at least for awhile, but many players had either gone to war or became employed in the war effort at home.

The owner of the Red Sox threatened a law suit against the shipbuilding firm, and within a few days the conflict ended with Ruth returning to the team. But, Babe Ruth returned to Baltimore and Ruth’s Café one more time at the end of August under more tragic circumstances. On the night of August 24, 1918, Babe’s father was killed in a fight outside of Ruth’s Cafe. Babe Ruth and his wife, Helen, came back to Baltimore for the wake and the burial that took place at Loudon Park Cemetery on August 28th.

The death of George H. Ruth, Sr. involved a dispute between brothers-in-law. George’s second wife, Martha had several siblings including a sister, Nellie, and two brothers Benjamin and William Sipes. In August 1918, Nellie’s husband, Oliver S. Beefelt, was accused of abducting a sixteen year old girl and taking her to Ohio. On August 24th, Benjamin visited his sister Nellie who was staying at 36-38 South Eutaw Street, and later he had a heated argument with his brother-in-law, Oliver Beefelt, at Ruth’s Café. At some point, Babe Ruth’s father became involved in the altercation. Outside of the bar, Babe’s father struck Benjamin Sipes knocking him to the ground, and then he kicked him. Sipes was able to get up and hit Ruth, causing him to lose his balance, and fall from the curb striking his head on the pavement. Ruth was taken to nearby University Hospital and died of his injury. Although Sipes was initially arrested for his role in the death of his brother-in-law, he was not convicted of any crime.

Most accounts of this tragic incident emphasize that the argument concerned Oliver Beefelt’s alleged abduction of a sixteen year old girl, but Ruth assaulted his other brother-in-law, Benjamin Sipes, not Beefelt. Newspaper articles from early 1918 and other historical documents, provide additional information that may explain why the fight took place between Ruth and Sipes. Benjamin Sipes’ World War I draft registration card lists 38 S. Eutaw Street as his home address and states he was employed as a blacksmith at Mount Clare. He was also moonlighting for his brother-in-law tending bar at Ruth’s Café. On the night of January 10, 1918, Benjamin Sipes was arrested at the bar and charged with selling dope to a soldier from Fort Meade.8 The charges were dropped when the alleged drug was analyzed and found to be a compound of sugar, starch and salicylic acid, not morphine.9 Considering the legal problems that Babe’s father had with earlier bars, the actions of Benjamin Sipes endangered Ruth’s livelihood. After the arrest, it is likely that Babe’s father forbade Sipes to tend bar and possibly never to step foot again in his establishment. When he saw Sipes in his bar on August 24th, he probably became incensed. His violent outburst toward Benjamin Sipes ironically resulted in Ruth’s death.

Attending his father’s funeral, Babe Ruth openly wept. It was the first time his cousin, John Ruth, III, saw Babe cry. After his father’s death, Babe Ruth’s association with his hometown for the most part ended. His sister would soon marry. Eventually she settled in Hagerstown with her husband (seventy-five miles west of Baltimore) and raised a family. Babe’s mother and father were no longer alive. His stepmother, Martha Sipes McCotter Ruth, who was only a few years older than Babe, inherited $4,000 from her husband’s estate. She soon married George Strohmann, the former bartender at Ruth’s Café and earlier bars on Conway Street. At least she waited after Babe’s father died to hook up with the bartender.

Babe would play an occasional exhibition game in Baltimore or visit St. Mary’s Industrial School, but after 1918 Baltimore would be in Babe Ruth’s past. Despite his father’s death, he would lead the Red Sox to another World Series victory in 1918 during a short season impacted by the war. The war ended in November 1918, and Babe continued to play for the Red Sox for one more year. After the 1919 season his relationship with the team soured, and he was sold to the New York Yankees. Ruth turned that franchise into a powerhouse. No longer a pitcher (except for rare occasions) his home run hitting ability made Babe Ruth the best known and best paid baseball player of his time and changed the nature of our national pastime.