What to Know About Baseball Legend Babe Ruth’s Death, 78 Years Later

NEED TO KNOW

• MLB legend Babe Ruth died on Aug. 16, 1948
• His wake at Yankee Stadium drew an estimated 100,000 mourners to pay their respects
• Fans still visit Ruth’s gravesite, leaving gifts like baseballs and memorabilia to honor his legacy

It’s been 78 years since baseball legend Babe Ruth’s death, but his legend lives on today in books, films and his immeasurable influence on sports.

The seven-time World Series champion was a trailblazer in baseball, setting records that held for decades, becoming part of the inaugural class of the Baseball Hall of Fame and inspiring one of the famous sports “curses” of all time.

Ruth, who was born George Herman Ruth Jr., died on Aug. 16, 1948. Decades later, he was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2018, when he was recognized both for his baseball career and his charity work with the Babe Ruth Foundation.

Off the field, Ruth — who was married twice and had two daughters — was also known for his large personality.

“I swing big, with everything I’ve got; I hit big or I miss big,’’ the baseball legend once said, per The New York Times. ‘‘I like to live as big as I can.’’

Here’s what to know about Babe Ruth’s death and his legacy.

How did Babe Ruth die?

Ruth died of pneumonia, per PBS. The outlet noted that his autopsy revealed metastatic cancer originating from the nose and throat.

The athlete had a rare cancer known as nasopharyngeal cancer, which affects the tissue that connects the back of the nose to the back of the mouth, per Cleveland Clinic.

He had been diagnosed in 1946, 11 years after he retired from baseball, per History.com.

When did Babe Ruth die?

Ruth died on Aug. 16, 1948.

Where did Babe Ruth die?

Ruth died at Memorial Hospital, now known as Memorial-Sloan Kettering Hospital, in New York City.

How old was Babe Ruth when he died?

Ruth was 53 when he died.

How did the public react to Babe Ruth’s death?

Ruth was beloved throughout the country, but in New York, he was a living legend. When word spread locally that Ruth was hospitalized, concerned fans swarmed not only the hospital, but other places that might be sources of information.

A few days before his death, The New York Times reported on Aug. 12, 1948, that “several hundred messages were received at the hospital” throughout the day and late into the night.

The outlet also mentioned that hundreds of young people from the neighborhood “swarmed in small groups into the hospital’s lobby, forsaking playgrounds and street baseball games, to ask: ‘How’s the Babe feelin’?’ ”

The next day, The New York Times reported that in the two days since word of Ruth’s “critical condition” had spread, the hospital had received more than 10,000 messages and telegrams for the athlete.

After his death on Aug. 16, Ruth had a two-day wake at Yankee Stadium. An estimated 100,000 mourners visited “The House that Ruth Built” to pay their respects and see him in his open casket, per LIFEMagazine.

His funeral was held on Aug. 19, 1948, at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in N.Y.C., according to The New York Times. Per the publication, 6,000 people attended and occupied “the pews and every foot of standing space,” while 75,000 people stood outside in the rain to pay their respects. Another 100,000 people lined the 30-mile route to his burial site at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, N.Y.

In September 2008, Ruth’s granddaughter Linda Ruth Tosetti spoke to The New York Timesand recalled how her mom, Dorothy Ruth Pirone, described the scene outside St. Patrick’s on the day of his funeral.

“You could hear a pin drop,” Linda recalled her mom telling her. “The people in the rain were just standing there, in silence, and there were people lined up all the way on each side of the road to Hawthorne to the cemetery.”

What legacy did Babe Ruth leave behind?

Ruth remains one of the most influential baseball players of all time, and his legacy is remembered by athletes and fans alike.

In August 1998, Gate of Heaven Cemetery superintendent James Ford told The New York Times that Ruth’s resting spot was the most-visited grave at the cemetery.

“Babe Ruth’s name resonates. He had a uniqueness that’s hard to describe,” Ford told the outlet.

Years later, The New York Times reported in October 2018 that as of then, his gravesite was still being visited daily by fans, who would leave gifts like baseballs, memorabilia and the hot dogs Ruth famously loved.

Meanwhile, his own memorabilia still holds value. In 2024, a Yankees jersey worn by Ruth in the 1932 World Series sold at auction for $24.12 million, making it the most valuable piece of sports memorabilia in history.

The baseball legend also continues to be remembered through an annual holiday, Babe Ruth Day, which takes place every April 27, per CBS News. He also has his own exhibit in the National Baseball Hall of Fame, called Babe Ruth: His Life and Legend.

In addition to the countless athletes who have been chasing Ruth’s legacy and records for generations, he also inspired a generational “curse” — at least among Boston Red Sox fans.

Ruth made his MLB debut with the Red Sox, and helped the team to three World Series championships. But in 1920, the team sold Ruth to their rivals, the New York Yankees. Not only did it intensify the rivalry between the teams that survives today, but it created what baseball fans refer to as “The Curse of the Bambino.”

Ruth led the Yankees to four World Series wins, but the Red Sox wouldn’t win another championship for over eight decades.

In 2004, the first time the Sox had a serious chance at the World Series in decades, both teams’ fans regularly visited Ruth’s gravesite for luck, per The New York Times. The Red Sox did finally break the curse that year, but the rivalry remains as fervent as ever.

Outside of baseball, Ruth was also a pioneer in cancer treatment, being one of the first patients to receive a combination of chemotherapy and radiation, according to PBS.

“I realized that if anything was learned about that type of treatment, whether good or bad, it would be of use in the future to the medical profession and maybe to a lot of people with my same trouble,” Ruth wrote in his 1948 memoir The Babe, per PBS.

Over the years, Ruth’s professional and personal life has inspired numerous works of art. Four biographies were published in 1974 alone, and several more have been released in the years since. On the big screen, John Goodman played him in the 1992 biopic The Babe.

Read the original article on People