For week 8 we talked a lot about baseball so I decided to write my blog over baseball and "The Great Bambino," "The Sultan of Swat," Babe Ruth. In my opinion Babe Ruth is probably one of the most controversial players in baseball history. When it comes to the stats he is an excellent player. Babe's records surpassed all other players of his time. What becomes an issue here is what should be taken into account when deciding if a player like babe Ruth should be considered as one of the greatest athletes of last century. Dr. Spencer mentioned in class that ESPN did a special on the 50 greatest athletes of the century and Babe Ruth came in second behind Michael Jordan. This is an issue because even though his stats are outstanding, his social life of being a drinker and being with several women was very well known. He was living the life so to speak. In fact he made more money than the President which was very uncommon at that time. Even though Babe led a reckless lifestyle, I believe that being a great athlete is strictly about how well you do on the field, not what you do off the field. I believe that Babe Ruth deserves his spot at number two on that list regardless of his lifestyle choices.
Another thing we went over in class was how radio announcers and sportswriters built up the legacies of great athletes like Babe Ruth. Sports agent were also just coming around to help the athletes build an image and establish themselves as sports heroes. Even though Babe Ruth was an athlete during this great sports writing era, I still believe that Babe would have become the ultimate national sports hero without them. His social life could have destroyed that image all on it's on but it didn't.
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One of the things I have read about Babe Ruth and other figures of that era is that people loved their heroes to have a flaw. And perhaps because Babe Ruth did not try to hide his excesses, he may have been beloved even more. Like one of the sportswriters in the video said, "he loved being Babe Ruth." Loving to be a celebrity is a rare thing in this day and age. So I can imagine that the media loved being able to write about this "larger than life" figure. He certainly would have been exciting to watch during his heyday!
ReplyDeleteHaving obviously not been around during Babe's time I can only judge based on history. However, it seems like people liked Babe because he was a "normal guy." What is ironic is that he wasn't necessarily normal because of the amount of money he made at the time. But it seemed that baseball was just something he did for fun because he enjoyed it. People saw him as charasmatic because he loved the press and the attention he received; I'm sure this helped attract the ladies. However, I agree that he should keep his number two spot because he was an incredible athlete who lives a somewhat "loose" life. But I would be willing to bet there were multiple other athletes who led a similar life to Babe and it just wasn't broadcast in the media.
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