The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth by Leigh Montville: Book Review

The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth by Leigh Montville

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


In the mid-1990’s while on an extended vacation to New York City one of the places I made the pilgrimage to was the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. The HOF is an amazing place to be sure but the stand out moment and the memory that has stuck with to this day was when I weaved my way through the museum to Babe Ruth’s display or should I say room.

I’m a confirmed Non-Yankee Fan but the instant I walked into the room with Ruth’s memorabilia my mouth fell open in awe and goose bumps covered my entire body. The room by its self is very impressive, the single room that is devoted to him is larger than any of the others for any other player in the HOF and deservedly so.

You quickly begin to see why when you begin to look at the amazing statistics he piled up in his 22 year Major League career. Most people know about his home run records but few know the whole story statistically about Ruth.

You take one look at the photos, the uniforms, the video’s, the testimonials, the newspaper clippings and of course his records and you begin to see why he was called the greatest athlete in the history of  baseball and some would say of any sport.

That day I acquired a new found respect for him. No other player in the history of baseball will ever reach the level of complete domination that he accomplished. He owned baseball like Henry Ford owned Ford Motor Company except Ruth owned General Motors and all the other car companies combined.

This book gives you all the facts that are known of his life from beginning to end. Once he became the King of Baseball all of the excesses in his personal life made some people hold him in contempt. Most forgive him for those indiscretions though because he was just a happy go lucky likable man child that could accomplish unheard of feats on a baseball diamond.

I came away with several thoughts after finishing the book. One was had Ruth had the good sense to take better care of himself physically he would have set records that would have never ever been broken. The other is I’m an even bigger fan and admirer of him now than I was 20 years ago.

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