George Herman Ruth Jr. is easily one of America's greatest sports heroes. He is known primarily for his great exploits in baseball and secondarily as a man who would stay out late before every game and party until there was no one left to party with. There's more to the Babe Ruth story than baseball and parties. As a boy, Ruth was an average youngster who got into a little too much trouble and paid the price. As an adult, he was a husband and father who cared more about his family than he liked to show. George Ruth was a baseball hero and an alcoholic, but no one is perfect. I plan to explore the life of Babe Ruth and note the good and bad sides of America's greatest baseball hero. George Herman Ruth Jr. was born February 6, 1895, in his grandparents' house at 216 Emory St., in Baltimore's tough waterfront neighborhood. Babe Ruth's parents, Kate and George Herman Ruth, were 19 and 23 when they had their first child, George Jr. The young father made his living as a bartender at a grocery saloon near the Baltimore waterfront. Baby was not an only child. He had a sister named Mary Margaret, also known as Mamie, born in 1900. The Ruths had six more children, but none of them survived to adulthood. Shortly after Mamie's birth, her father opened his own tavern at 426 West Camden St. The family would later move into an apartment above the bar. George spent the first 7 years of his life running around the Bay Area, observing street fights and robbing merchants. It didn't take long for him to become well known to the local police. When he was 7, Kate and her husband finally decided they could no longer care for the mischievous boy and brought him to St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys. Despite crying and pleading to be taken home, his care was given to a group of strange men dressed in black robes. Although he didn't realize it at the time, it would become his home throughout his early adolescence. George was released to live with his family a few times, but one way or another he would return to St. Mary's. George has not adjusted well to his new home. Living on the streets was the life he was used to and now that there were rules to follow, he was starting to feel unhappy and regretful. Added to this pain was the knowledge that he had been abandoned by his mother and father. After two yes... middle of paper ... "Sultan of Swat". Babe Ruth finished his career with the Boston Braves in 1935, after being released by the Yankees. He signed a one-year contract with the Braves. Ruth was told he would manage the team once the year was over. Midway through the season, George found out he was just being used to draw crowds, but he still finished the season because he was under contract. Ruth dreamed of managing a major league team, but never got that chance due to her wacky reputation. In 1948, after two years of heart problems, Babe Ruth died. He died at 8:01 p.m. on August 16 at Memorial Hospital at the age of 53. If you wanted to say that George Ruth did it all his life, you could. He made a lot of money, had two great wives and two great kids, played the game he loved, partied half his life, and broke every baseball hitting record of his era. But I bet if you could ask him today if he feels like he's succeeded, he'd probably say no. He did a lot of great things on the field, but we must remember that the only way he became a star was to.