Baseball legend Babe Ruth loved fishing and hunting in Canada. This is the long-forgotten story of those adventures

When it comes to baseball, perhaps no player is more associated with America’s favourite pastime than legendary slugger George Herman “Babe” Ruth. In the eyes of many sports-crazed Americans, Babe Ruth was not just a home-run king, he was practically a god among men. Still today, many consider the Sultan of Swat to be the greatest ball player of all time, pointing to the famed southpaw’s batting career with the New York Yankees during the 1920s and ’30s. Knocking balls out of the park wasn’t the Great Bambino’s only passion, however.

A man of simple pleasures despite his immense fame, influence and wealth, Ruth enjoyed eating, drinking, gambling, golfing, the company of women and, more than anything, escaping to the great outdoors whenever he could. If he wasn’t near a baseball diamond, in fact, Ruth was likely on one of his many hunting and fishing adventures: alligators in the Florida Everglades, waterfowl in California, whitetails in the U.S. Midwest, bluefin tuna off Massachusetts, quail in the southern states and, more often than not, big-game hunting and salmon fishing in the remote wilds of Eastern Canada.

Here’s a sampling of just a few of the Great Bambino’s Maritime escapades, tales gleaned from the countless newspaper articles, magazine features, books, online archives and more that have documented his illustrious baseball career—and life beyond the batter’s box.