The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Ohio man known for playing ‘The Babe’ dies
Willis ‘Buster the Babe’ Gardner was 83
Willis “Buster” Gardner, the Oberlin truck mechanic who found a second career as the reincarnation of baseball legend Babe Ruth, has died. He was 83.
For years, Gardner towed and repaired trucks for the former Dunlap’s Garage Inc., a mainstay of Elyria’s business community.
He also became a celebrity among baseball enthusiasts, not for his play, but for his looks. At age 53, Gardner became “Buster the Babe,” a nearly identical twin of New York Yankees slugger George Herman “Babe” Ruth.
For 28 years, Gardner visited Cooperstown, N.Y., for the annual induction ceremony for the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
He met Ruth’s granddaughter, Linda Tosetti, and they became friends.
Their meeting on the streets of Cooperstown became a pattern for baseball fans over the years.
“That’s the way he was: Everybody would stop him on the street and take a picture with him,” said his son, George Gardner of Amherst.
The resemblance was so close, Buster Gardner was represented by Curtis Management Co., which controlled use of Ruth’s image.
He would sign photos as
Buster the Babe.
Usually in baseball season, he and his wife, Cecile, would travel across the country to events where fans would want to meet the Bambino. Sports Illustrated, the Baltimore Sun and other news outlets wrote profiles of him.
Buster Gardner met baseball greats such as Pete Rose, Yogi Berra, Phil Rizzuto, George Steinbrenner, Whitey Ford, Don Larson, Bob Feller and Joe Torre, along with the comedian Billy Crystal and former New York Mayor Rudy Gulliani.
He attended New York’s Subway Series as a guest of the owners of the Mets when that team played the Yankees, George Gardner said.
Buster Gardner had his own New York Yankees baseball uniforms, and once said he learned Ruth’s poses from baseball cards.
He was a local celebrity, too, making appearances at community festivals and charity events.
The family became sports fans because of their patriarch’s connections, said his grandson, Kyle Hayes, of Wellington.
And the family had fun, Hayes added.
“That was one thing in school, growing up — you know, my grandpa’s Babe Ruth,” Hayes said.
As a teen, he accompanied his grandparents on a trip to Cooperstown, where the family were treated like baseball royalty with limo rides, free food and admission
to movies.
“We lived like celebrities there,” Hayes said. “They said anything for Buster the Babe’s family. It was awesome.”
Before he became Buster the Babe, Gardner was a self-taught welder and mechanic, well traveled in Ohio and neighboring states for his work in the trucking industry, George Gardner said.
Dunlap’s Garage had service contracts with area shipping companies and would send mechanics out to wherever trucks broke down.
As a youth, George Gardner said he rode with his father on late-night towing calls around Elyria.
When he was old enough, Hayes continued that practice.
Father figure
Buster Gardner became a father figure as much as a grandfather.
He was generous and kind and sometimes would mistakenly call his grandson George, a habit from service calls years before, Hayes said.
“Definitely a lot of memories to appreciate,” Hayes said. “I got to spend a lot of time with him and my uncle, and I’ll never forget anything.”
Buster Gardner retired from towing about five years ago, his son said.
Hayes said the family members insisted Buster Gardner slow down due to his age and health, but his grandfather’s desire never waned.
“I know it hurt him a lot, but we weren’t trying to make him feel bad; we were just looking out for what was best for him,” Hayes said. “Being out in the middle of the summer and walking up and down the streets, he wanted to do what he did best, which was go out and for everybody to see him and be amazed how much he looked like Babe Ruth.”
In the last three years, the family worked their way through loss, George Gardner said.
The elder Gardners lost their daughter, Rita Pritt, in 2019, and George Gardner’s wife, Debra, died last year.
In November 2020, Buster Gardner spent 24 days hospitalized with the coronavirus.
He recovered, and the family had no history of cancer, so everyone was shocked when a July 24 CT scan showed his pancreas was black, George Gardner said.
Buster Gardner had follow-up medical appointments, but his health declined quickly, his son said. He died Aug. 10.
Along with his wife and son, Buster Gardner is survived by his daughters, Renea Gardner and Ronda Trigg, nine grandchildren, three great-grandchildren and his siblings.