BABE IN CANADA
The most famous baseball player of his time, Babe Ruth also had a passion for fishing and hunting—especially in the Maritimes
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In November of 1940, Ruth once again travelled to New Brunswick for some big-game hunting. There are few details about the circumstances of the hunt, but what is known is that he took a dandy of a white-tailed buck sporting five points on the right antler and six on the left. That deer would go to earn second place in the whitetail category at the Boone and Crockett Club’s third annual North American Big Game Competition in 1949—a year after the famed batter died of cancer at the age of just 53. It was submitted by Ruth’s taxidermist, John Hansen.
While the buck wasn’t a giant, it was unique. So observed T. Donald Carter, assistant curator of mammals at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. “What made it unique was how the main beams almost touched,” he told the New York World-Telegram and Sun “They form a circle almost as complete as the circle the Bambino used to make of the bases in his diamond heyday.”
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In OutdoorCanada.ca’s most-clicked story of 2023, writer Craig Mitchell shared the tale of Pelee island’s rum-running past.
BABE AT BAT
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, on February 6, 1895, George Herman Ruth had his Major League Baseball debut in 1914 as a pitcher with the Boston Red Sox. He would later transition to the outfield, rising to international fame with the New York Yankees from 1920 to 1934. He ended his career in 1935 with the then Boston Braves. In all, Ruth won seven World Series, three with the Red Sox and four with the Yankees, and was a 12-time home-run leader in the American League. He is the only player in MLB history to have pitched a shut-out and batted multiple home runs during the World Series, including a pair of three-homer games.
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With 714 homeruns and 2,214 RBIs to his credit during his MLB career, Ruth was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936. Only two players have since topped his home-run record, first Hank Aaron, then Gary Bonds. The left-hander’s slugging percentage of .690 remains the league’s all-time best, however, while his batting average of .342 is now tied at eighth best of all-time. Ruth died of cancer in New York City on August. 16, 1948, at the age 53.