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Part 3: Golf, Bowling, Dancing with Daddy Ruth

           Julia Ruth Stevens, Babe Ruth’s last surviving child, passed away on March 9 at age 102. A decade past, I interviewed Stevens – more accurately, had the great joy of listening to wonderful stories about her “Daddy.” With the Major League season underway, it seems the perfect time to share some of her tales. This is the third in a series of four.

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“I’d go everywhere with Daddy,” Julia Ruth Stevens recounted, noting that the movies were an exception because Ruth was afraid it might hurt his eyesight.

“But we did go to pro football and college games. People would let him watch the game, but at halftime they’d come over and ask for autographs. He’d take me to hockey games. We had great times! I even had fun walking 18 holes on the golf course with him. And we used to go bowling. He taught me and I got pretty good; he was very good – broke 200 quite often.”

Babe Ruth being a “Sultan of Strikes and Spares” isn’t surprising, but this is: “Daddy was a wonderful dancer. He had perfect rhythm. He couldn’t sing, but, oh, how he could dance.

“I remember once, we started dancing and I was leading,” Julia continued, giggling at the memory. “He said, ‘That’s not how you do it – I’ll lead!’ ”

Another memory: “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 fall: “Daddy said, ‘Don’t worry about it, I’ll get you anther one.’ Daddy always showered me with love.”

It was a routine occurrence to have famous ballplayers and musicians at the Ruth household – first on 88th Street and then one block up on 89th Street overlooking the Hudson River in a grand 14-room apartment shared by Babe and wife Claire, Julia and Dorothy, two uncles and a grandmother.

“He loved having people in for dinner, especially ballplayers. That was just normal for me,” Julia recalled.

Normal also was a midnight curfew: “Daddy was very strict. Even into my twenties, I had to be home by twelve o’clock. Daddy would say, ‘There’s nothing to do after midnight.’ ”

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

Other things Ruth 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 – after all, look where he’d come from. He felt strongly about that.”

Recalling her frequent trips to Yankee Stadium, Julia said: “I loved seeing him tip his cap to the fans. I remember that when Daddy came up to bat the sound of the stadium changed – 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.

“I really appreciate what he accomplished a lot more now,” Julia said, “than I did when I was living with him because I thought of him as Daddy. My goodness we had a wonderful relationship.”

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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 memoir WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and my essay collection “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” …

• Personalized signed copies are available at WoodyWoodburn.com