The Sultan of Swat

It's February 6th, the birthdate of the man, without whom, we would not love and celebrate baseball. George Herman Ruth, sounds like a lawyer's name, maybe that of a captain of industry.
Thankfully, he didn't spend his professional life in a court house or executive suite. His home was on the diamond, wearing a uniform, with one glove, one bat and the youthful enthusiasm befitting his nickname.
He came along at the right moment, emerging as baseball's greatest star as the game from the ugliness of the Black Sox scandal. He turned a struggling New York team that had never won a pennant into the game's dominant franchise.
As the author Jane Leavy says so well in her book The Big Fella, he was the first true sports celebrity. And he's still one: last night at the annual Thurman Munson Awards dinner, there was a fundraising a charity auction, with several deluxe framed prints of the Babe up for bids -- including a very cool photo of Ruth with Ted Williams,
Babe Ruth wasn't just the game changer. He was and remains the Game Itself.

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