The Only real game

 

The Only real game

     This one is from a recording of the sad farewell Babe Ruth made at Yankee Stadium August 17, 1948 with throat cancer striking out the Sultan of Swat. Timo, Greg and I used it to describe our love for baseball as "the only real game." John F. Sheehy described seeing the Babe play and described him as "he could run like a deer" despite his corpulent frame. Ruth is one of the few baseball heroes we forgave for wearing the pinstripes. We also admired the fact that the bambino ate twelve hot dogs and washed them down with eight sodas between games of a double-header. That he was rushed to the hospital with crippling indigestion is not proven but sounds great. Greg and I liked to use the term "frankfurter sandwich" when we indulged in a nice dog at home or at Bear Cove. We also knew and taught our children that under no circumstances would you ever put catsup on a hot dog.

"Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen.

You know how bad my voice sounds -- well it feels just as bad.

You know this baseball game of ours comes up from the youth. That means the boys.

And after you're a boy and grow up to know how to play ball, then you come to the boys you see representing themselves today in your national pastime, the only real game -- I think -- in the world, baseball.

As a rule, some people think if you give them a football, or a baseball, or something like that -- naturally they're athletes right away.

But you can't do that in baseball.

You've gotta start from way down [at] the bottom, when you're six or seven years of age. You can't wait until you're fifteen or sixteen. You gotta let it grow up with you. And if you're successful, and you try hard enough, you're bound to come out on top -- just like these boys have come to the top now. There's been so many lovely things said about me, and I'm glad that I've had the opportunity to thank everybody.

Thank you."