NH Chronicle: Babe Ruth’s Grandson remembers his grandfather’s legacy

Babe Ruth’s Grandson

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CONNECTION TO THE GRANITE STATE. IT’S A WARM SUMMER NIGHT, AND SOME OF THE BEST YOUTH BALL PLAYERS IN THE STATE ARE READY TO COMPETE AT NUMBER ZERO. BLAKE FERLAND, THE SIGHTS, THE SOUND OF A GAME UNIQUELY AMERICAN WHOSE BROAD STRIPES AND BRIGHT STARS THROUGH THE PERILOUS FIGHT. BUT BEFORE THE 12 YOU REGIONAL TOURNAMENT IN ROCHESTER, THE PLAYERS AND FANS WERE GREETED BY A DESCENDANT OF BASEBALL HISTORY, KNOWLEDGEABLE BASEBALL PEOPLE OF ALL CAPACITIES. STILL CONSIDER BABE THE GREATEST TO EVER PLAY THE GAME, AND BY A CONSIDERABLE MARGIN. TOM STEVENS IS THE GRANDSON OF THE GREAT BAMBINO BABE RUTH, THE SULTAN OF SWAT, THE KING OF CRASH, THE COLOSSUS OF CLOUT, THE COLOSSUS OF CLOUT. BABE RUTH. HE SPEAKS AT BASEBALL EVENTS, KEEPING THE BABE’S LEGACY ALIVE. AND YOU MAY NOT KNOW THE FAMILY CONNECTION TO THE GRANITE STATE. I’VE ALWAYS CONSIDERED IT MY GOOD FORTUNE TO HAVE GROWN UP IN NEW HAMPSHIRE RATHER THAN NEW YORK CITY. I ATTENDED KENNETT HIGH SCHOOL AND GRADUATED FROM UNH IN 1974. GROWING UP A YANKEE FAN IN RED SOX NATION WAS NOT EASY, AND I WAS TERRIBLY CONFLICTED AS A CHILD. I KNEW HE WAS PRETTY SPECIAL, BUT AS I GREW UP, I BEGAN TO REALIZE JUST HOW SPECIAL HE WAS. TOM SHOWS US THE GALLERY WALL AT HIS FAMILY’S HOME IN THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. HE STILL SPENDS A LOT OF TIME IN NEW HAMPSHIRE. BABE CAME TO THE GRANITE STATE TO CRANMORE MOUNTAIN WHEN HE WAS INVITED TO A GOLF TOURNAMENT IN 1939. HE ASKED HIS DAUGHTER, TOM’S MOTHER, JULIA, TO COME WITH HIM. SHE’D MEET HER FIRST HUSBAND ON THE TRIP AND THEY GOT MARRIED AND HERR FIRST JOB OUT OF THE GATE LEAVING BABE’S NEST WAS THAT OF INNKEEPER CRANMORE MOUNTAIN LODGE, WHICH IS STILL IN OPERATION TODAY. HERE SHE IS CELEBRATING HER 100TH BIRTHDAY AT A VERMONT MOUNTAINEERS GAME IN 2016. SHE LATER PASSED AT THE AGE OF 102. I GOT STORIES AND ANECDOTES FROM MY MOTHER AND MY GRANDMOTHER. I NEVER MET. I NEVER MET BABE. I’M NOT OLD ENOUGH. APPEARANCES. TO THE CONTRARY, I DID NOT MEET HIM. HE DIED FOUR YEARS BEFORE I WAS BORN, 700 PLUS HOME RUNS, A 342 BATTING AVERAGE AND COUNTLESS FANS. TRULY THE FIRST SPORTS SUPERSTAR. BUT TOM ALSO SPEAKS ABOUT WHO BABE WAS TO FAMILY. THE STORY IS SHARED WITH ME BY MY MOTHER AND GRANDMOTHER WERE ABOUT BABE, THE HUSBAND AND FATHER HOWE. DURING HIS PLAYING DAYS, MY MOTHER WOULD HOLD HIS FEET WHILE HE DID SIT UPS AT NIGHT BEFORE GOING TO BED. HOW HE CARVED THE THANKSGIVING TURKEY WITH HIS OWN SPECIAL FLAIR, OR HOW HE WOULD PAINSTAKINGLY DRAPE ICICLES ON THE CHRISTMAS TREE ONE BY ONE, ALL BY HIMSELF LATE INTO THE NIGHT. TOM ALSO REMEMBERS BABE CARING FOR KIDS, NOT ONLY BUYING HOT DOGS AND SIGNING AUTOGRAPHS FOR THOSE AT THE BALLPARK, BUT DRESSING UP AS SANTA FOR THOSE WITH POLIO AND VISITING SICK KIDS AT THE HOSPITAL. PICTURED HERE GIVING THEM COPIES OF HIS BOOK. I SEE ONE FOR YOU. THANK YOU BABE. AND THERE’S ONE FOR YOU. THANK YOU BABE. NOW YOU ALL GOT A BOOK WE KNOW ABOUT THE THE HOSPITAL VISITS AND THE ORPHANAGES AND THINGS. AND WHAT WE PROBABLY KNOW ABOUT A THIRD OF THEM, BECAUSE MOST OF THEM, AT HIS INSISTENCE, THEY WEREN’T ADVERTISED OR PROMOTED REALLY, IN ANY WAY. THE FAMILY, PRIMARILY TOM’S SON, RUNS A WEBSITE CALLED BABE RUTH CENTRAL, FILLED WITH MORE THAN JUST STATS, BUT STORIES, PHOTOS, INTERVIEWS AND MORE. AND TOM IS ALWAYS LEARNING SOMETHING NEW. I READ A PAPER RECENTLY BY AN ONCOLOGIST WHO WAS AT SLOAN-KETTERING CANCER HOSPITAL IN IN NEW YORK, WHICH OF COURSE IS WHERE BABE WAS INTERRED. AND HE SAID THAT THE GREATEST THING THAT BABE RUTH EVER DID FOR HUMANITY HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH BASEBALL. BABE VOLUNTEERED TO BE AMONG THE FIRST PEOPLE TO UNDERGO A RADICAL NEW CANCER TREATMENT INVOLVING CHEMOTHERAPY AND RADIATION. WELL, YOU KNOW, IT DIDN’T DO HIM ANY GOOD, BUT WHAT THEY LEARNED HELPED THEM TO PUT TOGETHER A FORMAL APPROACH TO TREATING CANCER, WHICH WE KNOW WE NOW KNOW. I MEAN, CHEMO A AND RADIATION IS THE STANDARD. TOM WROTE THE FOREWORD FOR THIS NEW BOOK, OUT OF THE MOUTH OF BABE, WITH WORDS OF WISDOM FROM HIS GRANDFATHER AND WORDS SPOKEN ABOUT HIM. BABE RUTH NEEDED EVERY INCH OF THAT BIG CHEST OF HIS TO PROTECT THE WORLD’S LARGEST HEART. I NEVER SAW A MAN WITH MORE HEART, AND YOU COULD INTERPRET THAT AS MEANING BOTH COURAGE ON THE FIELD AND CONSIDERATION FOR OTHERS. MY FAMILY HAS BENEFITED SO GREATLY FROM BEING RELATED TO BABE, BUT IT’S NOT. IT’S ENRICHED OUR LIFE EXPERIENCE SO MUCH. BUT WHEN I SAY ENRICH, I DON’T. I DON’T MEAN MONETARILY. IT’S IT’S ESSENTIALLY HIS LEGACY AND THE OPENING PITCH WOULD BE BY PARKER DANDROW AND THAT LEGACY CONTINUES. PARKER IS TOM’S GRANDSON. THE BEST WAY TO PERPETUATE A LEGACY, I THINK, IS YOU’VE GOT TO INTRODUCE THE LITTLE ONES REALLY, REALLY COOL. AND IT’S REALLY AWESOME TO BE ABLE TO LIKE. REPRESENT SUCH AN SUCH AN IMPORTANT PERSON AND SUCH A GOOD PERSON, TOO. YOU DID A GOOD JOB, BUDDY. WELL DONE. AS RELEVANT AS BABE STILL IS TODAY TO TO BASEBALL THAT AS LONG AS THERE’S BASEBALL, THEN I THINK THERE’S GOING TO BE THERE’S GOING TO BE BABE RUTH.