Ruth’s life resonates in his hometown

There was one big takeaway from author Jane Leavy’s appearance Saturday at the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum to autograph and answer questions about her latest book.

The Babe can still draw a crowd.

Leavy, the former Washington Post writer who also has authored bestselling biographies of Sandy Koufax and Mickey Mantle, certainly isn’t the first to try to dig deeper into the life of one of the most intriguing characters in the history of sports. What sets “The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created” apart from earlier attempts to identify the true essence of the man is an unprecedented look back into Ruth’s long-neglected childhood and a magnified focus on how his tremendous popularity helped birth the cult of personality in America.

The event brought out dozens of Ruth enthusiasts on a wet and gloomy afternoon to get their books signed, but also to get some more insights into what allows The Babe to still resonate with baseball fans more than a century after he made his major league debut with the Boston Red Sox.

He is, arguably, the greatest baseball player who ever lived, by virtue of the fact that he was both the greatest hitter and one of the greatest pitchers of his time. But with the help of relentless agent and promoter Christy Walsh, Ruth combined his on-field performance with his bigger-than-life persona to create the template for today’s societal obsession with celebrity.

“Babe Ruth created the modern celebSee SCHMUCK, page 5