George Herman “Babe” Ruth is best known as the baseball player who broke the deadball era by hitting towering home runs in the 1920s.
Born in 1895 to George Ruth and Catherine Schamberger, Ruth’s mother was ill and his father worked long hours running his own business. That meant the young Babe frequently was out and about in Baltimore unsupervised and committing petty crimes including stealing cash from his father.
At seven years old, his parents sent him to an industrial school with the court’s approval. It was here Ruth first discovered baseball thanks to Canadian Priest Brother Matthias Boutlier and the St. Mary’s Industrial School for Boys.
Matthias mentored Ruth about life and baseball, and Ruth later said that Matthias was a father figure to him.
The Babe was called an “animal” and a “troublemaker” and did visit his family, but always returned to St Mary’s even when his Mother passed away when he was only 12.
The school taught him several skills including how to make shirts and carpentry but it was baseball where he excelled, signing with the Baltimore Orioles in 1914.
We all know what happened next: Babe Ruth went to the Red Sox, then the Yankees, where he became the most prolific slugger of his era. To baseball players around the world, the “Great Bambino” is a legend.
Here is our collection of the best Babe Ruth quotes of all time – sourced from historical records, old newspaper clippings, and interviews throughout his career.
The Best Quotes From Babe Ruth
1.) “If it wasn’t for baseball, I’d be in either the penitentiary or the cemetery.” – Babe Ruth
2.) “He taught me to read and write and he taught me the difference between right and wrong. He was the father I needed and the greatest man I’ve ever known.” – Babe Ruth on Brother Matthias Boutlier
3.) “I think I was born as a hitter the first day I ever saw him (Father Matthias) hit a baseball.” – Babe Ruth
4.) “Sometimes I pitched. Sometimes I caught, and frequently I played the outfield and infield. It was all the same to me. All I wanted was to play. I didn’t care much where.” – Babe Ruth
5.) “As soon as I got out there I felt a strange relationship with the pitcher’s mound. It was as if I’d been born out there. Pitching just felt like the most natural thing in the world. Striking out batters was easy.” – Babe Ruth
6.) “I don’t think a man can pitch in his regular turn, and play every other game at some other position, and keep that pace year after year. I can do it this season all right, and not feel it, for I am young and strong and don’t mind the work. But I wouldn’t guarantee to do it for many seasons.” – Babe Ruth
7.) “The fans would rather see me hit one homer to right than three doubles to left.” – Babe Ruth
8.) “Heroes get remembered, but legends never die.” – Babe Ruth
9.) “All ballplayers should quit when it starts to feel as if all the baselines run uphill.” – Babe Ruth
10.) “All I can tell them is pick a good one and sock it. I get back to the dugout and they ask me what it was I hit and I tell them I don’t know except it looked good.” – Babe Ruth
11.) “Baseball was, is, and always will be to me the best game in the world.” – Babe Ruth
12.) “Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.” – Babe Ruth
13.) “I have just one superstition. Whenever I hit a home run, I make certain I touch all four bases.” – Babe Ruth
14.) “It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.” – Babe Ruth
15.) “If I’d tried for them dinky singles, I could’ve batted around six hundred.” – Babe Ruth
16.) “I hope some day that some of the young fellows coming into the game will know how it feels to be picked in the Hall of Fame. I know the old boys back in there were just talking it over, some have been here long before my time. They got on it, I worked hard, and I got on it. And I hope that the coming generation, the young boys today, that they’ll work hard and also be on it.” – Babe Ruth in his Hall of Fame speech
17.) “There are 52 weeks in a year. I always wanted to make a grand a week.” – Babe Ruth after signing a 5-year contract for $52,000 per season
18.) “I swing big, with everything I’ve got. I hit big, or I miss big. I like to live as big as I can.” – Babe Ruth
19.) “I’ll promise to go easier on drinking and to get to bed earlier, but not for you, fifty thousand dollars, or two-hundred and fifty thousand dollars will I give up women. They’re too much fun.” – Babe Ruth
20.) “Do you know that some of them cried when I left the field? And if you wanna know the truth, I cried too.” – Babe Ruth after his return to Fenway Park in August of 1934
21.) “What I am, what I have, what I am going to leave behind me – all this I owe to the game of baseball.” – Babe Ruth
22.) “Love the game of baseball and baseball will love you.” – Babe Ruth
23.) “Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.” – Babe Ruth
24.) “Don’t ever forget two things I’m going to tell you. One, don’t believe everything that’s written about you. Two, don’t pick up too many checks.” – Babe Ruth
25.) “The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime.” – Babe Ruth
Is there a Babe Ruth quote we missed? Drop a comment below and let us know.
