The Babe

The Babe

The Babe
Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 3 to 5
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	3.71

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		endure, nurture, teaching, teens, birth, adult, beginning, pitching, professional, nights, presents, however, business, name, improve, meant
	content words:		George Herman Ruth, Babe Ruth, Industrial School, Herman Ruth, Brother Matthias, Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Jack Dunn, Since George, Red Sox

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The Babe
By Jane Runyon

¹     His name at birth was George Herman Ruth, Jr. He was born on February 6, 1895, in Baltimore, Maryland. As an adult, he became known as one of the most famous baseball players in the history of the game. Then he was known as Babe. Babe Ruth had everything. He had money. He had fame. He had the talent needed to be a baseball star. No one could have known on that day in February of 1895 just how famous that baby would become.

²     George and his sister, Mamie, were the only two children of the eight born to their parents to live more than a year. His parents worked in bars. They eventually saved up enough money to buy their own bar in Baltimore. It took a lot of work to keep the business going. Most of their nights had to be spent at the bar. That meant that they slept most days. They had very little time to spend with their children. That meant that young George was left on his own.

³     George roamed the waterfront and got himself into a lot of trouble at a very young age. By the time he was just seven, his father had had enough of him. George, Sr. took the young boy to St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys. This school took in orphans. It was also used as a reform school for boys in trouble with the law. George, Sr. handed George, Jr. over to the Catholic brothers who ran the school. He signed papers giving custody of the boy to the school. From that day on, George, Jr. saw very little of his family. They didn't visit him. They didn't write him letters. They didn't buy him presents for his birthday. George Herman Ruth, Jr. had no family except for the brothers at the school and other boys who were placed there.

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