Column: “Daddy” Ruth

by Woody

‘Daddy’ Ruth was Sultan of Sweet

George Herman “Babe” Ruth, who made his Major League Baseball debut 100 years ago this month (July 11), had more nicknames than suit pockets, including “The Bambino”, “The Sultan of Swat”, “The Colossus of Clout” and “The Wali of Wallop.”

To Julia, however, “The Home Run King” was simply “Daddy.”1-ruth

“Everywhere we went people worshiped him because he was The Famous Babe Ruth,” Julia Ruth Stevens, now 98 years old and Ruth’s lone surviving child, once told me. “I worshiped him because he was my daddy.

“We had so much fun together. Daddy couldn’t have been a better father. Being his daughter, I was the happiest girl in the world!”

Happy memories.

“Daddy always rose to the occasion, whether it was hitting the ball out of the park when he said he’d do it or making it to my (high school) graduation,” Julia recalled, the latter requiring flying home from a road trip and arriving just in time to hear her name announced. “When he made a promise, he always came through. You could count on it.”

Memories.

“One of my favorite things was when Daddy would go hunting or fishing,” Julia said. “He liked to leave the house by five, so he would get up really early and stick his head in my bedroom and ask softly, ‘Want to have breakfast with me?’

“I’d always say, ‘Absolutely!’ It was a chance to spend some special time alone with him. We’d go to the kitchen and Daddy would fix ‘The Babe Ruth Special’ – he’d brown a piece of buttered bread in a frying pan and then cut a hole in the middle of it. Then he’d put an egg in the hole and put fried boloney on top. It was his original creation and he loved it.”

“It was SUCH FUN,” Julia continued, sounding like she was talking in all capital letters. “I LOVED just talking to him. Then he’d leave on his hunting or fishing trip and I’d go back to bed to sleep a little more.”

Memories.

“Daddy gave me a wristwatch, my very first watch. We were playing on the couch and he was tickling me and I guess I threw my arm back and broke the crystal on the watch.”

Young Julia’s tears welled up but never had a chance to roll down her cheeks: “Daddy said, ‘Don’t worry about it, I’ll get you anther one.’ Daddy always showered me with love.”

Another memory.

“Daddy was very strict. Even into my 20s, I had to be home by 12 o’clock. Daddy would say, ‘There’s nothing to do after midnight.’ ”

She laughed at the irony, adding: “He very well knew that wasn’t true!”

Other things he said did ring true to Julia: “One value Daddy taught me was to be truthful. He hated it when anyone lied. ‘You can’t trust anyone after they have lied to you,’ he said and I’ve always remembered that. He also told me never to look down on anyone – he felt strongly about that.”

Memories.

“I loved to see kids smile when he gave them an autograph,” Julia shared. “He’d always sign – never turned down a kid for an autograph, or even an adult. He signed almost everything you can imagine: balls and gloves and bats and caps and shirts, ticket stubs and scraps of paper. You name it, if someone asked Daddy signed it.”

Memories.

“I remember that when Daddy came up to bat the sound of the stadium changed,” Julia recalled, and clearly, eight decades later. “A loud murmur would rise because the fans all wanted to see Daddy connect with one of his tremendous swings that would make the ball soar!”

A pause: “I saw him hit quite a few home runs.”

Longer pause: “Of course I saw Daddy strike out a lot, too!”

There were a lot of both to see: 1,330 career strikeouts and 714 homers.

“As great as Daddy was as a ballplayer, he really was just as great as a father,” Julia concluded. “I LOVED being Babe Ruth’s daughter. It was just so MUCH FUN!”

As “Daddy” he was The Babe Ruth Special indeed.

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Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com.

Check out my new memoir WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece”