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“Babe Ruth Day” Photo Gallery
Click on any image below to see photos in full size and to start Photo Gallery:
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- The 1923 World Series Champion Yankees
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- Autographed baseball from many of the players in attendance at Babe Ruth Day, April 27, 1947
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- Babe and Claire Ruth, Babe Ruth Day, April 27, 1947
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- Babe Ruth Day, April 27, 1947. Cardinal Spellman and baseball commissioner Happy Chandler are seen in the background.
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- Buck Harris, and Babe Ruth, Babe Ruth Day, April 27, 1947
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- Babe Ruth Day, June 13, 1948. MC is Mel Allen
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- Babe Ruth Day, June 13, 1948. Iconic photo by Nat Fein
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- The Babe sits in front of his old locker
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- Babe Ruth, Mark Koenig, Bill Dickey
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- Babe Ruth Day, June 13, 1948
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- Babe Ruth Day, June 13, 1948
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- Babe Ruth, Mark Koenig, Bill Dickey
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- An ailing Babe Ruh sits in the Yankee dugout.
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- Babe Ruth Day, June 13, 1948
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- Babe Ruth Day, June 13, 1948
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- Babae Ruth with teammates Leo Durocher
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- Bill Dickey with Babe Ruth and actor Harry Harvey, who played Joe McCarthy in Pride of the Yankees.
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- Babe Ruth day, June 13, 1948
Twenty-Five Year Reunion of the 1923 World Series Champion Yankees!
I admit it…I’m a sucker for Old-Timers photos! And here’s a real good one.
It was taken over 71 years ago, June 13, 1948, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the opening of Yankee Stadium, which, of course, later became known as “the House That Ruth Built” In addition, it was also “Babe Ruth Day,” with a special reunion of the 1923 Yankees, the first Yankee team to win the World Series. An ailing Babe Ruth is in the center of the top row. As part of the day’s festivities, the players participated in a two-inning “Old-Timers” game. Wouldn’t that have been fun to watch!
See how many of the Yankees you can pick out before looking at the player identifications below.
The Bronx Bombers opened Yankee Stadium on April 18, 1923, with a 4-1 victory over the Red Sox. Babe Ruth christened the new stadium with a home run. After a 7-2 victory over the Philadelphia Athletics on May 5 to regain first place, the Yankees never looked back, going 98-54 (.645) and finishing 16 games ahead of the Tigers. In the World Series, they beat their cross-town rivals, John McGraw’s New York Giants, four games to two.
Babe Ruth Day, June 13, 1948
The Bambino had quite a year in 1923. His .393 batting average set a Yankee record, although it wasn’t good enough for the batting title. He finished second to Harry Heilmann’s .403. On the way to winning the American League MVP award, Babe led the league in all the following categories, some of which are “off-the-charts”: Home runs (41), RBIs (130), Runs (151), On-base percentage (.545), Slugging average (.764), Total Bases (399), Walks (170), OPS (1.309), and OPS+ (239). He even threw in 17 stolen bases.
Here’s a few excerpts from newspaper accounts about the historic day, June 13, 1948:
“June 13, 1948, was a special day in Yankees’ history, as the club celebrated the 25th anniversary of Yankee Stadium. Among the highlights was a reunion of the 1923 Yankees team – the first team to play in Yankee Stadium, and the first Yankee team to win the World Series. Most importantly, the June 13, 1948 occasion featured “Babe Ruth Day” with a special ceremony during which the Yankees formally retired a dying Babe Ruth’s uniform #3 and sent it to Cooperstown. During the ceremony, an emotional crowd of 49,641 fans sang ‘Auld Lang Syne’ to the Babe.”
“The historic day marked the great Bambino’s final appearance in a Yankees uniform and at Yankee Stadium. He passed away just two months later on August 16th. Nat Fein’s famous Pulitizer Prize-winning photo, titled “The Babe Bows Out,” was taken on this day.”
An earlier “Babe Ruth Day” was held on April 27, 1947. That was the occasion in which a raspy-voiced Babe Ruth in civilian attire addressed the silenced crowd. Some scenes from that day are also included in the photo gallery.
Player Identifications:
Top Row, L-R: Hinkey Haines, Waite Hoyt*, George Pipgras, “Bullet” Joe Bush, Oscar Roettger, Babe Ruth*, “Jumpin'”Joe Dugan, Bob Meusel, Wally Pipp, Elmer Smith. Front Row, L-R: “Sad” Sam Jones, Wally Schang, Carl Mays, Whitey Witt, Fred Hofman, Mike McNally
*Hall of Fame. Lou Gehrig was a rookie on the 1923 Yankees, appearing in 13 games. Besides Babe Ruth and Waite Hoyt, other Hall-of Famers on the roster included Gehrig and Herb Pennock, plus manager Miller Huggins.
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Gary Livacari
Photo Credits: All from Google search; and from Getty Images / Mark Rucker / The LIFE Picture Collection (see link below)
Information: Excerpts edited from article on Babe Ruth Day
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Gary, I too am a historian of this great game. Although I still watch and follow the Yankees, my heart is in it’s rich history. I have a small library of books in “my” room to prove it. It is very easy to find and read stories on all the stars but I think it would be very interesting to read about the lives and rise to the majors on some of the “regular” fairly known players of the past. Do you know of any such books?
Bill
Hi Bill- Thanks for your comment. I’m a Cub fan, but I’m like you. My heart is much more in the old days of baseball. If I may, here’s one suggestion you might find helpful; I just so happen to have a series of essays going about baseball’s lesser-known players. I’ve been writing these over the past few years. Just go the list of categories and scroll down to “Forgotten Stars.” That’ll bring up essays on about 35 players. I’m actually planning on putting these together into a book later this year. Other good categories to look through are “We’re Contacted By a Relative of a Former Player,” and “Bill Gutman Posts.” There’s a bunch of essays on overlooked players in these categories too. -Gary
been a yankee fan since 1947,also.been an ardent collector of cards and photos for the last 35 yrs. number is about 5000+, certain pre 1950 players, cards and photos are hard to obtain so i improvise and get from the team photos. any suggestions from you will help thanks buddy gamble