Babe Ruth was born Feb. 6, 1895, and would have turned 124 years old Wednesday.
The “Great Bambino,” as Ruth was so often referred to, is widely considered the greatest baseball player of all time. (RELATED: Flashback: That Time George H.W. Bush Met Babe Ruth While Playing Baseball At Yale)
Ask for somebody’s “Mount Rushmore” of American sports icons, and Ruth will almost certainly on there. If he’s not, then he sure should be. While some will argue for Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Mickey Mantle or others as the baseball GOAT (Greatest of All Time), simply no player had the impact on the sport that Ruth had.
The beer-guzzling, hot-dog eating, womanizing superstar was a man of his time—for good and bad. He set almost every baseball record in the book, many of which still stand.
Though he passed in 1948 at the young age of 53, “The Babe” still roars, his impact on American sports and culture permanently established in the American conscience.