Born George Herman Ruth and nicknamed “The Bambino,” Babe Ruth was born in February 1895.

In 1914, he started off playing minor-league baseball for the Baltimore Orioles but was soon sold to the Boston Red Sox in the major leagues. His career spanned over 22 seasons from 1914 to 1935, during which time he also played for the New York Yankees.

Babe Ruth started off his career as a left-hand pitcher before moving to the outfield positions. He’s most well-remembered as a left-handed batter and home run king, including a career total of 714. He also amassed an impressive number of batting records, some of which still stand today in 2021.

One of his best-known feats was the famous and often debated “called shot” during game three of the World Series against the Chicago Cubs in 1932. Babe Ruth came in to bat in the fifth inning, pointed to center field, and then proceeded to hit a home run to that exact position. Babe Ruth was n American sports culture icon and considered one of the greatest baseball players of all time. He was part of the first group of five players inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

After his retirement in 1935, Ruth hoped to get into team management. However, it’s suggested that his constant drinking, womanizing, and unruly temperament counted against him, and he was unable to follow this career path. Instead, Ruth ended up playing a lot of golf and a few exhibition baseball games. He also made public appearances, especially in support of the troops during the war effort.

Babe Ruth married young to Helen, a waitress he met in 1914. They adopted a little girl, Dorothy, in 1921. Ruth and Helen divorced in 1925, citing his infidelity as the main reason. In 1929, he married his second wife, actress and model Claire, and adopted her daughter Julia from a previous marriage.

After a cancer diagnosis in 1946, Ruth died in his sleep in August of 1948 at 51 years of age. In 1949, the New York Yankees unveiled a memorial outside of Yankee Stadium in his honor. And in 2018, then President Trump awarded him posthumously the Presidential Medal of Freedom.