Babe Ruth to receive Presidential Medal of Freedom
Babe Ruth will posthumously receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom on November 16, becoming the 12th baseball player to be so honored.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom, along with the Congressional Gold Medal, is the highest civilian award of the United States. The Congressional Gold Medal is bestowed by the U.S. Congress, while the Presidential Medal of Freedom is the domain of the sitting U.S. President.
The honor recognizes those who have made “an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.” It was established by President John F. Kennedy in 1963, as a successor to the honor first awarded by Harry S. Truman. Truman awarded the Medal of Freedom to honor civilian service during World War II.
On November 16, baseball legend Babe Ruth will be the latest person associated with baseball to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Ruth, also known as the Great Bambino, the Sultan of Swat and the Colossus of Clout, among other nicknames, was larger than life in the Roaring Twenties. He and boxer Jack Dempsey dominated the decade as the two biggest stars of the sports world. Perhaps I should say human stars because racehorse Man O’War was a sports legend in his own right during that time.
Babe Ruth changed baseball. Before Ruth, the league leader in home runs rarely hit more than a dozen in a season. Baseball was a game of bunts, steals and hit-and-runs. Small ball ruled the day. The single-season home run record in the AL was 16 before Ruth came along and hit 29 dingers in 1919. The next year, he hit 54. In 1927, he hit 60, a single-season mark that stood until 1961.
He came along at just the right time. Baseball was reeling from the 1919 Black Sox scandal that resulted in eight players being banned from the game for intentionally losing the World Series. Ruth was with the Boston Red Sox at the time, gradually shifting from being a pitcher to a full-time outfielder.
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In December of 1919, he was sold to the New York Yankees for $125,000. Before Ruth arrived, the Yankees were second-class citizens in New York. They shared a ballpark with the New York Giants of the National League and it was the Giants who were the more successful franchise, with a higher attendance.
In 1919, the year before Ruth became a Yankee, the team attracted 619,164 fans to the Polo Grounds, which they shared with the Giants. In 1920, Ruth’s first year with the team, they drew 1,289,422 fans. Their attendance nearly doubled. They would go on to draw more than one million fans in eight of the next nine seasons. The one year they didn’t draw more than a million fans was 1925, when Ruth missed one-third of the season with “The Bellyache Heard ‘Round the World.”
Ruth’s arrival changed the trajectory of the Yankees franchise, which had not had much success since its inaugural season in 1903 (as the New York Highlanders). They had never made it to the World Series and regularly finished in the bottom half of the standings. Ruth changed all that. With him on board, the Yankees went to the World Series seven times in the next 13 seasons, winning it four times.
The winning would continue long after Ruth retired. In the 45 years from 1920 to 1964, the Yankees went to the World Series 29 times and won 20 times. He was the spark that lit the fire and made the Yankees one of the most successful franchises in all of sports.
In the process of dominating baseball, Ruth transcended the sport and became a cultural icon. In that regard, he’ll fit right in with the 12 other men associated with baseball who were previously honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Basketball has five honorees and football has four, including Roger Staubach and Alan Page, who are part of Ruth’s class this year.
The first baseball player to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom was Moe Berg, in 1945, from President Harry S. Truman. This was actually the predecessor to the award established by President Kennedy. Truman’s award was established to honor civilian service during World War II. Berg was honored because of his service in the war after his MLB career was over. He declined the award but it was accepted on his behalf posthumously.
Moe Berg has been called “the strangest man ever to play baseball.” He was allegedly a master of 12 languages. In a time when few major league players were highly educated, Berg was a Princeton graduate. New York Times columnist John Kieran said Berg was “the most scholarly athlete I ever knew.” His story is really quite incredible, unlike any other player in the history of the game.
The other baseball players to be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom are more well-known than Berg. In 1977, President Gerald Ford presented the award to Joe DiMaggio, the former New York Yankees outfielder known for his 56-game hitting streak and brief marriage to Marilyn Monroe.
In 1984, Ronald Reagan posthumously honored Jackie Robinson, the man who broke the modern color barrier. George H.W. Bush chose Ted Williams for the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1991, which was 50 years after the Splendid Splinter hit .406. He remains the last man to ever hit .400 in a season.
George W. Bush honored four baseball players with the Presidential Medal of Freedom: Hank Aaron (2002), Roberto Clemente, posthumously (2003), Frank Robinson (2005) and Buck O’Neil (2006).
O’Neil was honored for his playing career in the Negro Leagues and his role as baseball ambassador for many years after. If you want to read a tremendous book about a tremendous man, read The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O’Neil’s America, by Joe Posnanski. The Negro League Museum in Kansas City celebrated what would have been O’Neil’s 107th birthday over the weekend.
President Barack Obama honored five legendary baseball players: Stan Musial (2011), Ernie Banks (2013), Yogi Berra, posthumously (2015) and Willie Mays (2015). He also honored longtime announcer Vin Scully in 2016, the last person associated with baseball to be honored before the Babe gets the award this year. Ruth didn’t have the reserved dignity of DiMaggio or Scully and wasn’t the humanitarian that Robinson and Clemente were, but he was definitely a cultural icon.
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Babe Ruth being recognized respects the change he brought to the game of baseball.