BABE RUTH

George Herman Ruth came out of Baltimore already built like a ballplayer who ate twice and slept once. The Red Sox put him on the mound first, and for a few summers he was a left-handed problem: eighteen and eight with a 2.44 ERA in 1915, twenty-three and twelve with a 1.75 the next year, twenty-four and thirteen with a 2.01 after that. Then the bat got too loud to leave in the dugout, New York bought the ticket, and the country learned to say Babe.

Over 2,503 games he hit .342 with 2,873 hits, 506 doubles, 136 triples, 714 home runs, 2,217 runs batted in, 2,062 walks, 123 stolen bases, and 2,174 runs scored. On-base .474. Slugging .690. A guy who walked as often as other men hoped to hit, and who hit the ball so far the outfield fences started looking temporary. With the Yankees he took October when October came — World Series summers in 1923, 1927, and 1928 among the years this card keeps — and the writers put him in Cooperstown in 1936 on the first BBWAA ballot.

He began as a pitcher who could hit. He finished as the stick every kid in the bleachers tried to copy on an empty lot. The numbers do not whisper. They carry from Boston to the Bronx, and they still do.