Quote:
Originally Posted by Snapolit1
If Babe Ruth signed a million balls, guys not named Babe Ruth signed about 500,000 Babe Ruth balls.
Would be interesting to know what Babe was really like. In my experience, guys who drink as heavily as he reportedly did generally are a little difficult to be around fulltime and sustain relationships with. And combined with his huge ego, Babe was no doubt a difficult guy, despite all the rosy stories about how "fun" and generous he was. I suspect Babe fell somewhere on the spectrum near Jackie Gleason.
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I was lucky to have known many players who played with and against Ruth. Not one of them mentioned him being difficult at all. In fact, they were all in admiration, if not full-on awe of him. Your theory has great validity and had to be true at times, but it was never confirmed by the first-hand sources I knew. He treated all of them with the storied kindness and generosity that you'd think was a bit exaggerated. I'll take them at their word. If any of them ever felt mistreated or slighted by Ruth, it would have undoubtedly come up in conversation. I'm sure that a lot of the difficulties you envision were reserved more for higher-ups than other players--especially younger, lesser players. As we know, Ruth had a soft spot for underdogs. Through the combination of his ego and performance, Ruth had the enviably unique position of not having to worry about any young upstart taking his job until his final season as a Yankee. He could afford to be nice. (Even during 1925, I surmise that his ego gave him the assurance that things would blow over, as they did.)
The vast majority of the players I knew were younger than Ruth and came along after the phenomenon and legend was already well established. Naturally, this type of player would be in awe of him. Simultaneously, if Ruth burst their bubble of what they thought he would be before meeting him, they'd have piped up. None ever did. Only good things. I even befriended a couple of guys who were more Ruth's age and didn't hold him in such an exalted light. They still spoke of the same qualities in Ruth, but with less reverence, as they hadn't grown up dreaming of being Babe Ruth!