Description
0626----1925 BABE RUTH ST VINCENT'S HOSPITAL RECOVERING PHOTO/CLIP
Original clipping from The New York Times (Rotogravure Sports Section), 1925,
featuring Babe Ruth still convalescing at St Vincent's Hospital, causing him to
miss the beginning of the 1925 season. Shown here posing with two young BB
fans.
The caption that accompanies the clipping was not attached, but found it online
and will send along as a photocopy.
Here is little info on Ruth's ailments before the 1925 season.
""Ruth had kept up his efforts to stay in shape in 1923 and 1924, but by early
1925 weighed nearly 260 pounds (120 kg). His annual visit to Hot Springs,
Arkansas, where he exercised and took saunas early in the year, did him no good
as he spent much of the time carousing in the resort town. He became ill while
there, and relapsed during spring training. Ruth collapsed in Asheville, North
Carolina, as the team journeyed north. He was put on a train for New York, where
he was briefly hospitalized.[121] A rumor circulated that he had died, prompting
British newspapers to print a premature obituary.[122] In New York, Ruth
collapsed again and was found unconscious in his hotel bathroom. He was taken to
a hospital where he had multiple convulsions.[123] After sportswriter W. O.
McGeehan wrote that Ruth's illness was due to binging on hot dogs and soda pop
before a game, it became known as "the bellyache heard 'round the
world".[124] However, the exact cause of his ailment has never been confirmed
and remains a mystery.[125] Glenn Stout, in his history of the Yankees, writes
that the Ruth legend is "still one of the most sheltered in sports"; he suggests
that alcohol was at the root of Ruth's illness, pointing to the fact that Ruth
remained six weeks at St. Vincent's Hospital but was allowed to leave, under
supervision, for workouts with the team for part of that time. He concludes that
the hospitalization was behavior-related.[126] Playing just 98 games, Ruth had
his worst season as a Yankee; he finished with a .290 average and 25 home
runs.""
Vg condition -- clipping measures 6-1/4 x 4
Part of a large collection of clips from the 1925 issues of the NY Times.
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