Ruth’s Grandson Throws First Pitch for Centennial of the Babe in St. Pete

Feature photo: Julia Ruth Stevens and her son Tom remembering her father’s famous “call shot” at Wrigley Field in Chicago, 1932. Courtesy of Julia Ruth Stevens Family

The year 2025 is the Centennial of Babe Ruth playing baseball in St. Petersburg. It was in 1925 that the New York Yankees relocated their spring training headquarters to Florida and St. Petersburg, and along with the deal came Babe Ruth, the world’s foremost baseball athlete. To celebrate the occasion, the Kids and Kubs Senior Softball Club and the “City Hall Stars,” led by Mayor Ken Welch, will dedicate their annual Mayor’s Game to Babe Ruth, and Ruth’s grandson, Tom Stevens, will throw out the first pitch. Stevens also plans to lend a hand to the Kids and Kubs as a player (even though at 71 he does not quite meet the Kids’ age requirement of 74). The game will be played at Northshore field on Saturday, February 8, at noon. The event is free, and the public is welcome.

Later that same day, neighborhoods on the west side (Azalea Neighborhood Association Group) will celebrate the occasion with a golfcart parade where Stevens will participate as Grand Marshal. Ruth and his family spent a lot of time in west St. Petersburg. He enjoyed staying at the Jungle Hotel (now Admiral Farragut Academy) and playing at the club’s golf course where he set club records. He also played golf with Walter Hagen at Pasadena, and signed his 1932 contract at the Rolyat Hotel, now Stetson Law School. The parade will begin at Azalea Park, wind through the former Jungle Golf Course, cross by the former Jungle Prada night club, one of Babe’s favorite hangouts, and end at the 1528 landing site of Narvaez’s Spanish explorers.

Babe Ruth was a huge presence in St. Petersburg from 1925 to 1935 when the New York Yankees and the Boston Braves held spring training in the city. Ruth played with the Yankees until 1934 and played the following year with the Braves. The Yankees trained at Crescent Lake, complete with the occasional alligator crawling out onto the field. On the Yankees’ very first day of training, Ruth had been shagging fly balls for a short time in the outfield, which bordered the lake, when he suddenly returned to the dugout. Manager Miller Huggins asked him what the problem was. Ruth replied, “I ain’t going out there anymore. There’re alligators out there.” There were also a lot of Ruth’s baseballs out there. Ruth hit so many homers into the lake that the right field was lengthened 50 feet, which was still not enough.

Ruthamania

Ruth was everywhere in St. Pete. He stayed in every major hotel – the Princess Martha, the Vinoy, the Rolyat (Taylor spelled backward), the Sunset, the Dennis, and the Jungle Club. In the early 1930s, Ruth and Lou Gehrig leased separate penthouses at the Flori-de-Leon, 130 4th Avenue NE, while the rest of the team stayed at the Don CeSar. The city was seized with “Ruthamania.” Babe Ruth look-alike contests were held and at the local derby, they named racing hounds named after him (“Flying Babe Ruth”). Ruth is reported to have bet $1,000 on a race at the derby – perhaps that was the hound he bet on. Real estate brokers exploited his name in the classified ads of the local paper: “Babe Ruth could easily knock a ball from this $2,750 lot.”

 As a promotion, Rutland Brothers Clothing Store on one occasion showered the city from the air with Baby Ruth candy bars attached to little parachutes. One of Ruth’s favorite haunts was the Gangplank Night Club at the Jungle Prado, where he and many others sipped “Bimini Tea.” It is also rumored that Ruth married Claire Hodgson at the Gangplank in a civil ceremony before the church wedding in New York in 1929, but this has never been documented.

A Passion for Golf

 In addition to his legend on the diamond, Ruth was an inveterate golfer. When asked about all the golf he played, he said that he did it to help keep his weight down. Local resident Bill Cooper remembered as a boy caddying for Ruth at the Jungle. Ruth did not play well that day and ended up smashing his club against a pine tree and saying a few “harsh words.” Bill remembered Ruth as a “big kidder.” Ruth shot close to pro level, and as one would expect, his driving was frequently world class. He once broke the world distance drive record. 

Another sports great in the city at the same time was champion golfer Walter Hagen. Despite Yankees manager Miller Huggins’ ban on playing golf as a distraction from spring training, the Babe would sneak off to the Pasadena Golf course for tee times with Hagen. (Hagen noticed that Ruth’s playing began to get sloppy around the 11th hole, about the time a baseball game ended.)  Another one of Ruth’s close golfing buddies was the cartoonist and St. Pete resident Billy De Beck, creator of Barney Google and Snuffy Smith.

As St. Petersburg Times writer Jeff Klinkenberg once wrote of the Babe, “He loved it here. He loved our weather, especially when it was sunny, when he could sneak out in the morning before practice and play golf. He loved our courses, especially the wide fairways that could contain his mighty drives. He was a lousy putter; the man didn’t know his strength and sometimes threw his club in disgust when the ball rolled past the cup. But he laughed afterward.”

During the 1930 season, Ruth and his second wife, Claire, arrived in St. Pete in January. He played golf with former governor and presidential candidate Al Smith, who was vacationing in Florida. He was judge at a heavyweight fight, giving the decision to Big Jeff Carroll over Bert Finch, a St. Petersburg fireman. He went quail shooting and shot a rattlesnake dead in the head when it poised to strike. That season saw Ruth make $80,000. The deal was made with Yankees owner Colonel Jake Ruppert at the Princess Martha Hotel. $80,000 was $5,000 more than President Hoover made at the time. There is a story (probably untrue) about Ruth being asked if he should really be making more than the President of the United States. He replied, “Well, I had a better year than he did.”

In 1932, Ruth took a $5,000 pay cut. Ruth’s $80,000 salary was out of place in the depths of the Great Depression. His new reduced salary was also contracted in St. Petersburg, this time at the Rolyat Hotel. He and Ruppert signed the new contract in front of a wishing well. Ruth and Claire then tossed coins in the well for luck. Babe wished for a Yankee pennant; Claire for two more $75,000 contracts; Colonel Rupert asked for the money in the wishing well. Ruth then tossed in an extra silver half dollar. “There goes some of this year’s contract,” he said.

A Soft Spot for Kids

Abandoned by his family as a small child, Ruth always had a soft spot for kids. From the day Ruth set foot in St. Pete, he was exceptionally generous. In March 1925, a mom and dad were killed in an accident on the new Gandy Bridge. Babe led a campaign to financially help their orphaned children through appearances at theaters and other locations. 

As a little girl St. Petersburg native Ardith Rutland remembered selling orange juice and peanut butter sandwiches on a fairway at the Belleview Biltmore’s golf course. Up comes the Babe. 

“What’s your name, Mister?” 

“I’m Babe Ruth.” 

Ardith considered that for a minute and then said, “If you’re Babe Ruth, where’s your candy bars?” The next day, the Babe presented her with a Baby Ruth candy bar. Ardith said, “Just one! My uncle brings me two!” Not to be outdone, the following day the Babe brought her a whole box. Ardith remembered him as a Santa Claus–like person dressed in what she called “shorts” (knickers). Ruth himself had nothing to do with Baby Ruth candy bars, other than to unsuccessfully sue the manufacturer for exploiting his name.

 As a kid, Mike Mastry made a business out of Babe Ruth autographed baseballs. Before the games, he would bike over to Kress dime store and buy a dozen baseballs for a quarter each. Then he would ride back to Waterfront Park and wait for his chance to approach Ruth for autographs. “He signed my baseballs, and after the game I’d sell them for a dollar each. That was a fortune back then. I thought I was rich.” 

 Lois Laughner Sullivan remembered that her first husband, Paul Laughner, had fond memories of the Babe from his youth. As a kid, Paul knew Ruth well. Ruth frequently visited the Vinoy Hotel, built in 1925 by Paul’s father, Aymer Vinoy Laughner. Ruth loved to play with Paul and other children, often getting down on his knees to do so. On another occasion, Ruth was driving back from playing golf at Pasadena Golf and Country Club when he spotted a group of kids playing baseball in a sandlot. He couldn’t resist giving the kids a thrill and had the driver stop. He pitched to each boy, allowing an easy hit. That way, he said, it would give them something to pass on to their grandchildren – that they each got a hit off the Babe.

Greatness Off the Field

Ruth worked tirelessly for local charitable causes. He visited hospitals, raised funds for civic projects, and made endless appearances at fundraising events for organizations such as the Kids-n-Kubs and the Woman’s Club. He spoke and coached at the new St. Petersburg High School, which opened in 1926. In 1928, he helped lead an American Legion fund drive to establish Crippled Children’s Hospital (now Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital). “I really feel it more a privilege than a duty to do what little I can to help keep up the good work that is being done here by the [American] Legion and the citizens of St. Petersburg,” he said. 

In 1930, he helped raise funds to pay the interest on the YMCA building. Although no longer used as a YMCA, the building remains as a designated local landmark. His support was pivotal for the success of such an ambitious project in the depths of the Depression. After he retired, he championed help for veterans, sold war bonds, and was recognized for his efforts by being made an honorary commandant of the Florida Military Academy (formerly the Rolyat Hotel).

Ruth’s humanitarianism of course reached far beyond St. Petersburg. He did much to cross the color-line in baseball. It is likely that had he become a manager he would have pushed to include Black athletes on his team years before Jackie Robinson signed with the Dodgers. He was also a signer of the famous 1942 Christmas Declaration condemning Nazi atrocities against the Jews and advocating the overthrow of the Nazi regime.  

Longest Home Run

Upon retirement, Ruth held 56 records for the Yankees, and many for the majors. Heled both the American League and National League in slugging percentage (SLG) and on base plus slugging (OPS) 13 times, home runs 12 times, and walks 11 times. He stole 123 bases and stole home 10 times. Additionally, he led in runs scored eight times, RBIs five times, and slugged at least .700 in nine seasons. In 1918 and 1919 he twice hit 10 home runs as a batter and made 30 strikeouts as a pitcher. That record stood for the next 100 years, until in 2018 when Angels’ pitcher Shohei Ohtani matched him. Additionally, he prided himself for his 29 2/3 shutout innings in a World Series, later to be surpassed by Whitey Ford in 1961. To this day there is no player in modern baseball who’s beat the Babe’s Single Season Runs Scored record of 177, or Extra-Base Hits (XBH) record of 119; Career on Base Plus Slugging (OPS) record of 1.164; or his Total Base (TB) record of 457, set in 1921.

But it was on March 25, 1934, that Ruth hit his long-forgotten record-breaking home run at Waterfront Park, now the site of Al Lang Field. The best account of the event found to date comes from the Boston Herald, written by Burt Whitman under the partial headline, “Ruth Lashes Out 6th Circuit Clout.” 

It was an exhibition game between the Yankees and the Boston Braves. The weather was hot – ninety degrees in the shade. Ruth’s first threat was in the third inning when he hit one of his famous high-altitude balls. But Ruth was back again in the fifth inning. “The crowd of 1200 got the customary home run treat from Babe Ruth. He socked a [Huck] Betts pitch 10,000 leagues to right field…far over the canvas and almost into the West Coast Inn, where the Braves live between games. It was George’s sixth of the season.” Beyond this account the details get fuzzy.  Some old timers are quoted in the press as seeing the ball bounce on the front porch of the hotel. One said it was the second balcony of the hotel. “Once hit a ball onto the second balcony of the West Coast Inn. Must have traveled 500 feet. Man, how it shook up the people sitting on the porch.” 

 The 500-foot recollection was an understatement. While it is debatable whether the ball hit short of the hotel and then bounced to it, or actually hit a balcony, it has been established that the ball traveled a measured 624 feet plus some inches. The distance was surveyed and verified by the George F. Young engineering company in 2008. According to Tim Reid of the Committee to Commemorate Babe Ruth, this is believed to be the longest hit ever off major league pitching.  Reid, an engineer, estimated the actual distance in the air as no less than 610 feet. Bill Jenkinson, baseball historian and author of Baseball’s Ultimate Power: Ranking the All-Time Great Distance Home Run Hitters (2010), stated in a communication to the author, “Babe Ruth’s ‘West Coast Inn Home Run’ on March 25, 1934, likely ranks as the longest drive ever hit against Major League pitching. It flew far beyond 500 feet and may have reached the forbidden distance of 600 feet. For many years, I have steadfastly believed that no human being could hit a baseball 600 feet, but, based upon new research on this blow, I admit I was probably mistaken.” 

After 1934, Ruth joined the Boston Braves. Maybe at least a part of the decision-making that went into bringing Ruth on at the age of 40, aside from his world-famous reputation, was the West Coast Inn homer. Ruth later bought a winter beachfront home in Treasure Island and, when he was sick with oral cancer and making a last hurrah tour in 1948, he returned to the site of St. Pete’s downtown Waterfront Park Stadium. Asked what his greatest accomplishment there was, he replied, “The day I hit the [expletive] ball against that [expletive] hotel!”

The Ninth Inning

Ruth, the Yankees, and his teammates, including such stars as Lou Gehrig and Tony Lazerri, brought fame to St. Petersburg and served as a major force in attracting tourists. St. Pete was prominent in national newspapers and newsreels every day during spring training. As Mayor Lang reflected, “The Yankees with Babe Ruth and their stars meant millions to this town.” City council member Elon (E.C) Robison said, “The greatest single factor in St. Petersburg’s becoming a city of really major proportions has been baseball.”

But what of Ruth himself? Baseball writer Red Smith once wrote, “The man was a boy, simple, artless, genuine, and unabashed. This explains his rapport with children, whom he met as intellectual equals.” Tommy Holmes, a major league player and later baseball writer, stated, “Some 20 years ago, I stopped talking about the Babe for the simple reason that I realized that those who had never seen him didn’t believe me.” Babe loved St. Petersburg and fully embraced its lifestyle, and he greatly magnified the city’s association with sports, outdoor leisure, and just plain fun. He significantly contributed to its sense of place. It is right that Babe Ruth’s centennial debut in St. Petersburg be honored.

Will Michaels is a former director of the St. Petersburg Museum of History and the author of The Making of St. Petersburg and The Hidden History of St. Petersburg. This article is a composite of chapters about Ruth from his books. Contact wmichaels2222@gmail.com or 727-420-9195.