Dancing with Daddy Ruth, Part 3

Is your Club or Group looking for an inspiring guest speaker or do you want to host a book signing? . . . Contact Woody today!

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1StrawberriesCoverWooden-&-Me-cover-mock-upFor a Personalized Autographed copy of STRAWBERRIES IN WINTERTIME” or “WOODEN & ME” use the PayPal link on my home page or mail a check for $25 to:

Woody Woodburn

400 Roosevelt Court

Ventura, CA 93003

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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!’ ”

Julia “sparring” with her famous daddy.

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.

Julia with a painting of the Home Run King.

“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.

Wooden & Me Kickstarter Front PhotoCheck 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” …

‘Daddy’ Ruth Tales, Part 2

Is your Club or Group looking for an inspiring guest speaker or do you want to host a book signing? . . . Contact Woody today!

* * *

1StrawberriesCoverWooden-&-Me-cover-mock-upFor a Personalized Autographed copy of STRAWBERRIES IN WINTERTIME” or “WOODEN & ME” use the PayPal link on my home page or mail a check for $25 to:

Woody Woodburn

400 Roosevelt Court

Ventura, CA 93003

*   *   *

Babe Ruth was Big Hit with Daughter

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 stories about her “Daddy.” With the Major Leagues season now underway, it seems the perfect time to share some of her tales. This is the second in a series.

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“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 graduation,” Julia Ruth Stevens told me, with marvel. “When he made a promise, he always came through. You could count on it.”

Never more so than in 1929. That was the year – on Opening Day! – Babe Ruth married his second wife, Claire Hodgson, at Saint Gregory’s Church in New York City. That day’s game was actually rained out, but the next afternoon as a wedding gift, Ruth belted a home run and while rounding third base tipped his cap and blew a kiss to his new bride.

He came through and did something far more remarkable later that year. He not only adopted Julia, but from Day 1 he always made her feel like she was as much his birth daughter as was Dorothy (born during Ruth’s first marriage to Helen Woodford).

“No daughter ever had a more caring and loving natural father than my adoptive father was to me,” shared Julia, who never knew her own birth father. It wasn’t long before Ruth further rose to the occasion to make his adopted daughter feel like a true blood relation.

“When I was a teenager I had a very serious strep throat infection,” Julia shared. “They of course didn’t have penicillin at that time and I wasn’t getting better. The doctor said I needed a blood transfusion to get me on the road to recovery. Daddy immediately wanted to be tested to see if he was compatible – and he was.

“The next thing you know, Daddy was right beside me on a gurney giving me a direct blood transfusion. From that moment on, I always felt like we were blood relatives because I had some of Daddy’s blood in me. I felt like that really made me more his real daughter than ever.”

In truth, Ruth made Julia feel like his real daughter through his daily actions.

“One of my favorite things was when Daddy would go hunting or fishing,” she recalled. “He liked to leave the house by 5 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. It was such fun. I just loved talking to 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 bologna on top. It was his original creation and he loved it.”

While she never went hunting or fishing with her famous father, Julia accompanied him plenty of other places, from annual spring training trips in Florida to a winter all-star tour in Japan to bowling alleys and the boxing gym where he taught his little girl to box.

Recalling a photograph of her playfully landing a right hook to Ruth’s jaw, Julia said, with an exclamation mark after every other word: “We always! Had so! Much fun!”

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

Wooden & Me Kickstarter Front PhotoCheck 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” …