History Of The Roaring Twenties: Babe Ruth

The Roaring Twenties: Babe Ruth The 1920s, also known as the Roaring Twenties, were debatably the most prosperous years in American history. It was a time period of incredible economic success and the enhancement of technology. Americans had enough money to buy goods and buy the new technology that was being invented. The use of cars and radios were becoming widespread. In addition, mass urbanization was occurring in America. Cities were growing significantly and the population of people in cities increased as well. These cities were ideal locations for sports teams and radios were ideal for listening to a sports game. Also, people were wealthy and had enough free time to follow sports. The economy, the radio, and the growing cities of the

was born in Baltimore, Maryland. At a young age, Ruth was already getting into trouble for drinking and chewing tobacco. Ruth did not respect authority and his parents sent him off to a Catholic orphanage school that was meant to reform him. During his twelve year stay here, Ruth met a monk by the name of Brother Matthias and Ruth looked up to him as a father. The twelve years at this industrial school had kept Ruth out of trouble to a degree and sparked his interest in baseball. His skill attracted the attention of a man named Jack Dunn who was a coach in the Boston Red Sox organization. At the age of 19, he signed with the team and players began to call Ruth “Dunn’s new babe.” The nickname “Babe” stuck with him for the rest of his life. Babe Ruth went on to break just about every offensive record in baseball, won 7 World Series Championships, and Yankee Stadium was nicknamed “The House that Ruth Built.” He was the face of Major League Baseball, but more importantly, he represented all of America during the Roaring

Besides breaking the single season and career home run records, he shattered several other records “including most years leading a league in home runs (12); most total bases in a season (457); and highest slugging percentage for a season (.847)” (biography.com). Similarly, the American economy was at its peak during the Roaring Twenties. The stock market was higher than ever before and American people as a whole struggled with poverty less than ever before. The economy’s success mirrored the success of Babe Ruth. Moreover, he earned countless nicknames such as “The Great Bambino, The Colosus of Clout, Caliph of Clout, The Behemoth of Bust, The Sultan of Swat, and the King of Crash” (ABC-CLIO). Likewise, the time period was nicknamed the Roaring Twenties because of the roaring economy. However, Babe Ruth’s life off the field was not as perfect as his performance on the field. Even at an early age, he had a drinking, smoking, and chewing tobacco problem. In 1920, prohibition was established, but Babe Ruth was still very open about his drinking. Babe Ruth was breaking into and stealing from his parents alcohol supply at the age of 7. Ruth was open about it and admitted he had a drinking problem, but it was overshadowed by his fantastic performance on the field. Babe Ruth was so popular that no one seemed to care about these flaws in his