Babe Ruth as cultural symbol Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Babe Ruth as cultural symbol - Essay Example In this sense, Babe has remained synonymous to baseball and stories about baseball will never be complete without mentioning his name. It is therefore undisputed that Babe becomes a cultural symbol with regard to baseball game. As a cultural symbol, it is important to develop a concept so that it can be understood why Babe is termed such. It is important to look at some of the journals that have tried to account for Babe’s life chronologically, his achievements in the baseball and the kind of attributes that made him to be a renowned baseball player. Babe Ruth formerly known as George Herman Ruth, Jr lived in the period of 1895 and 1948 (Addona 16), during his life; he acquired the nicknames Bambino and later got another one ‘sultan of Swat’. The baseball player from America was involved in almost 22-seasons in the all-prestigious Major League Baseball in the US where he was privileged to be part of three teams between 1914 and 1935 (Addona 18). With his brillianc e in the game, Babe was able to set records in the game that took subsequent players years to break. Known for his talent in the play, babe was able to perform beyond the expectation of many, in this regard, it is important to enumerate some of the performances Babe was able to realize during his time. In the home runs he was able to record 714, which has since been surpassed, in the runs batted in, he was able to record 2,213, which equally has since been broken. He also made sterling performances in the slugging percentage and on- base plus slugging with 690 and 1,164 respectively (Caser 22). These contributions by Babe in the game directly contributed to his fame in during the time when liking of baseball was fast fading. Babe was instrumental in reviving support that was fast dwindling for the game and streamlined the support to life once again. It can also not go unnoticed that Babe’s first team was Boston Red Sox, here he played the position of a starting pitcher but fo llowing his release to New York Yankees he changed his position to play right fielder full time (Tootle 18). He maintained good play in this position that saw him emerge as one of the prolific and dependable players in the team where he stood out as one of the talented and committed payers to bring change in the team as well as in the game. It is arguable that because of his participation in the team, they were able to clinch seven titles in pennants as well as four titles in the World Series. Babe also had an experience with the Boston Braves shortly before retiring and becoming one of the first players considered in an election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame (Caser 25). From the records set by Babe, it is clear the he made immense contribution into the game. Through the records set by him in the initial times, it was possible for the later generations to strive and reach his standards; this can be seen as a form of inspiration to others. Some of them will be cited in this p aper for the purposes of corroborating the statements, babe was the first of all players to in a season hit a target of 60 in home runs and that was in 1927. This mark stood to be the record for as long as up to 1961 when another player Roger Maris eclipsed it with 61 in a season-one point ahead of what babe recorded (Levin 27). That is 34 long years before the record was broken. In his lifetime in the game, he also recorded about 174 home runs; this record also