About book The Big Bam: The Life And Times Of Babe Ruth (2006)
This is a riveting biography of the life of Babe Ruth, the Sultan of Swat, the Big Bam (one nom de guerre that I had never heard before). The author uses notes from a series of researchers, a number of whom wrote their own biographies of Babe Ruth. Hence, he appears to have a rich vein of material from which to mine nuggets on the life of Babe Ruth. The focus of the book (page 5): "This book is an attempt to tell the story again for the Sports Center generation. . . . The approach is not so much to tear down the myths that grew around George Herman Ruth as to explain how and why they developed in the time in which he lived." One metaphor used throughout the volume is "fog," representing those portions of Ruth's life where there is simply little information available. Much of his early childhood is enveloped in the fog. The story of how he moved from "St. Mary's Industrial School for Orphans, Delinquent, Incorrigible, and Wayward Boys to the Baltimore Orioles emerges from the fog and makes for good reading. The book traces Ruth's rise from such humble and inauspicious beginnings to the minor leagues to the Boston Red Sox, where he became a great pitcher and promising hitter, to his purchase by the New York Yankees. The chapters recording his career speak of high points--and low points--and the awesome statistics that he compiled. More interesting, though, is the depiction of his very flawed life. He may have had ADHD, if Montville is correct, but that is of no great moment. The point is that he had a hard time disciplining himself. Only after a wretched year and an as yet to be diagnosed malady that cost him a whole year did he begin to take care of himself. The book does a nice job of recalling his career, his run in with his managers, his up and down relationships with teammates (the retelling of his ties to Lou Gehrig are quite interesting), his off field excesses (whether with food, drink, or women), his almost childlike behavior (the authors equated him to a 15 year old boy), his running through his salary. It also tells the tale of his attempting to take control of his life (with his second wide playing a key role, although their time together was hardly idyllic). The book concludes with Ruth's almost pathetic effort to become a manager while major league owners used and abused him in the process. A nice biography indeed. Montville sometimes appears to venture into terra incognita where the evidentiary bases of his reflections are open to question (e.g., the ADHD diagnosis). But his is a candid biography, showing Ruth off--warts and accomplishments alike.
He was a hero to millions and known by an assortment of names: The Sultan of Swat, The Colossus of Clout, The Great Bambino, and on and on and on. Fans called him The Babe, but his teammates called him The Bam. He is legendary for his ability to smash home runs, setting a record that stood until only recently (and many will argue that it still stands), and nearly every one was "the longest ball ever hit" in that park. Legend has it that near the end of his career he even had the arrogance to point to the center field stands and then send the ball there on the very next pitch - "The Called Shot." He started out as a pitcher, and a good one, too, but hitting the ball was what brought the crowds to the stadium. You could even say he singlehandedly changed the game. He had a talent for baseball and boundless energy that few have ever matched. Unfortunately, that energy earned him plenty of trouble off the field. His off hours were usually spent drinking excessively and carousing all night long. That didn't stop him from turning in another great performance at the ballpark the next day, but it ruined his marriage and chances of coaching after his career was finished. He was hard enough to handle as a player and owners didn't want to deal with him as a manager. He was a lousy father and a worse husband, never having seen a good example of either on account of being left to an orphanage at a young age. All those years of privation and meagerness came busting out in a headlong rush once he had money, and the money usually followed just as fast. Leigh Montville has done a great job of putting together the life and times of George Herman Ruth. He's done extensive research but doesn't try to fill in the unknown gaps - the fog - where little or nothing is known. He presents the facts and stories and legends and lets the reader decide. He's not here to "tear down the myths" either, but to tell the "Sportscenter generation" the story of one of the greatest baseball players ever, even if it isn't always the prettiest story to tell. And that's what is so entertaining about this book; it's partly hero-worship that shows us the hero was part-man, too. The pedestal he stands on may be a little wobbly, but he's still there.
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***Finished*** The book indeed picked up around page 170 (of 400+ pages). I can't figure out why it took so long to heat up - there wasn't a lot of information about Ruth's formative years, so maybe that's it. Or, perhaps I just liked reading about the glory years of Ruth alongside Gehrig and hearing about what baseball was like in the Great Depression. The most frustrating part of this biography was the lack of, well, biographical info. Ruth rarely talked about his past, his family life, etc. Regardless, I really enjoyed the book, and learned even more about why folks say he's the great baseball player to ever play the game. Refreshing to read in "the steroid era"I read Montville's Ted Williams biography, and thoroughly enjoyed it. The Big Bam is a little less engaging thus far, but I am sure it will pick up. Montville claims to have written this book to tell Babe's story to "the Sportscenter generation", but I am having a bit of a time connecting with his voice. Regardless, I am anxious to finish this!
—Emily
Riveting. If Ruth wasn't bigger than life, he certainly was bigger than baseball. It's strange, because he was a regular guy, loaded with vices and LOUD about them. The writer's back then didn't look to destroy him as they would today. Rather they wrote their stories with the sordid details missing, and the readers were left to fill in the blanks. The readers did so, and the Babe's life became a tapestry of myth, legend, and fact.And by the way, for all the Tiger Woods, Micheal Jordan, and other superstar "innovators" of the world, they all take a back seat to Babe Ruth. NOBODY did what he did before he did it. He completely changed the way a sport was played. More later.Okay...just finished it. The ending was quite sad (what a shocker). People took advantage of the Babe. But, on to my quiz for posterity...1) How did people take advantage of the Babe?Let me count the ways. First of all, as were all ballplayers at the time, he was bound to his team. No free agency. No "seeing what the market will bear." The owner offered you X, you countered with Y, maybe settled in between, but if you realized what a dog X was to begin with, you would, well do nothing about it because you couldn't.Enough with the generalities. Ruth demanded the biggest salaries of his day. $10K a year; $30K a year; $50K a year. At his peak, $125K a year. That translates to about the salary of a third-rate shortstop salary in today's dollars. Call it a couple million (ARod makes $30 million a year).I mentioned the sad ending. All Babe wanted to do when he retired was manage a team. No team in their right mind would hire him in that capacity. The argument always was, "If you can't even manage yourself, how can you manage a team?" Quite true. Ruth was a mess. More on that later. Anyhoo, finally the Boston Braves offer him a position where he has a chance to manage, stock options, and a vice-president moniker. Can any of you see through those smokescreens? Of course, the Babe accepted and the owner promptly reneged on all of it. He was hired to "ride the elephant". He was an attraction. Nothing more.2) What do you mean...More later. Baby crying.
—Peter
Good choice if you need a concise bio on the Babe. An easy and unobtrusive read, The Big Bam is compact and streamlined, covering Babe Ruth's entire life in as much detail as the casual baseball fan needs.Granted, I don't feel like I really know the man. Biography buffs will want something that digs deeper into his personal life. I know it's hard to come by, but detail on his childhood is scant here. And overall, this treads upon generally known Babe lore: womanizing, food and drink binges, turning the home run into the most important aspect of baseball. Rabid baseball fans will desire more in depth analysis of his career. Being an all-encompassing bio means this doesn't delve too deep into season by season stats much beyond record-breaking totals and such.For those with little-to-no knowledge of the man, this is the book for you! Going in, I knew the name, the legend, some of the stories, but I'd never read a bio on him, never researched him on Wikipedia or any website, so I finally got the well-rounded biography of the Babe that I was looking for.
—Jason Koivu
