Babe Ruth Day: The Babe's Farewell Speech at Yankee Stadium, 1947

Babe Ruth Day was Sunday, April 27, 1947, when Commissioner Happy Chandler had every major league park honor Babe Ruth. At Yankee Stadium, 58,339 fans watched the 52-year-old Ruth, weakened by throat cancer, walk to a microphone and rasp out a short, unscripted thank-you. The New York Yankees then lost 1-0 to Washington.

That last part usually gets left out. It shouldn't. It's the most 1947 thing about the whole afternoon.

A Winter at French Hospital

Ruth hadn't played in almost 12 years by then, not since he left the Yankees for a sad coda in Boston. In 1946 the pain started over his left eye. He couldn't swallow right. That November he checked into French Hospital in Manhattan, and doctors found a malignant tumor at the base of his skull and in his neck. The diagnosis was nasopharyngeal carcinoma, a cancer that starts behind the nose and throat.

They operated in early January 1947. They couldn't get all of it. He didn't walk out until February 15, thinner and hoarse, and by most accounts nobody ever told him in so many words what he had. Everybody else seemed to know.

So Chandler declared April 27 Babe Ruth Day across the big leagues. The minors signed on too. The ceremony at the Stadium would be piped over the public-address systems in ballparks all over the country.

Ten Minutes at Home Plate

The ceremony ran about 10 minutes, with half a dozen speakers and one theme: kids. Cardinal Francis Spellman opened with an invocation calling Ruth a "champion of fair play and a manly leader of youth." Will Harridge, the American League president, handed him a gold-and-bronze plaque. Ford Frick, running the National League, gave him a book signed by every player in his league.

Then Chandler got up, and the Bronx booed him. Loudly. Earlier that month he'd suspended Leo Durocher for the entire 1947 season, and New York hadn't forgotten (the man threw a party for Ruth and got heckled at it, which is a special kind of talent).

A Bronx American Legion kid named Larry Cutler spoke for the youngsters: "From all of us kids, Babe, it's swell to have you back."

Ruth needed help getting to the microphone. He started coughing before he said a word, and the New York Times thought for a second he might come apart under the noise. "But once he started to talk," the paper wrote, "he was all right, still the champion."

He didn't read from anything. He just talked.

Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. You know how bad my voice sounds. Well, it feels just as bad. You know, this baseball game of ours comes up from the youth. That means the boys.

From there he talked about boys learning the game and growing up into the men who represent the clubs. Then came the line everybody remembers, although nobody seems to remember it the same way. Some transcripts have "The only real game in the world, I think, is baseball." Others put the "I think" earlier, or trail off into "the only real game, I think, in the world, baseball." I'm not going to pretend I can referee a dying man's word order. The meaning comes through in every version.

He closed by saying there'd "been so many lovely things said about me," and that he was glad he'd had the chance to thank everybody. Then he sat down.

And Then, a Ballgame

Here's where the script falls apart. Spud Chandler (no relation to the commissioner, and after that ovation he'd probably want that on the record) started for the Yankees against Washington's Sid Hudson. They traded zeroes for seven innings.

In the eighth, Hudson dumped a leadoff single into right field, moved up on Joe Grace's sacrifice, and scored on Buddy Lewis's single into short left-center. That was the game. Hudson finished the shutout, 1-0.

SABR's game account has Ruth heading home after the seventh, a few minutes before the only run crossed. He missed the loss. He'd earned that much.

What Came After

Ruth spent much of that summer on the road for American Legion junior baseball, working with the Ford Motor Company, which gave him a Lincoln to get around in. The kids talk wasn't just ceremony talk. He meant it.

The 1947 club did fine without the Babe Ruth Day win. Joe DiMaggio won the MVP, the team went 97-57, and Brooklyn fell in a seven-game World Series.

Ruth came back to the Stadium one more time, on June 13, 1948, when the club retired his No. 3 in front of 49,641 and he leaned on a bat to stay upright. That's the famous goodbye, the one with the Pulitzer photograph. He died on August 16, 1948.

People compare April 27 to Lou Gehrig's speech in 1939, and it's a fair comparison up to a point. Gehrig's speech had a shape people still quote line by line. Ruth's was a hoarse man making it up as he went, which was how he'd done most things.

Frequently Asked Questions

When was Babe Ruth Day?

Babe Ruth Day was Sunday, April 27, 1947. Commissioner Happy Chandler declared it across the major leagues, and the main ceremony took place at Yankee Stadium before a Yankees-Senators game.

What did Babe Ruth say in his 1947 speech?

Ruth opened with "You know how bad my voice sounds. Well, it feels just as bad," then spoke about the game coming "up from the youth." His best-known line calls baseball "the only real game in the world," though transcripts disagree on exactly where he put "I think." He didn't use prepared notes.

How many people attended Babe Ruth Day in 1947?

The official attendance at Yankee Stadium was 58,339. Some accounts round it to 58,000 or 60,000.

Did the Yankees win on Babe Ruth Day?

No. The Washington Senators won 1-0. Sid Hudson threw a shutout and scored the only run in the eighth inning on a Buddy Lewis single. Spud Chandler started for the Yankees.

Was Babe Ruth Day 1947 Ruth's last appearance at Yankee Stadium?

No. Ruth returned on June 13, 1948, when the Yankees retired his No. 3. He died two months later, on August 16, 1948.

He'd sounded awful, and he'd said so. It was about as honest a speech as Yankee Stadium has ever heard.