On June 13th, 1948, Babe made his final appearance in Yankee Stadium. Ruth was dying of cancer and his voice and throat were ravaged by surgery. Part of the intent was to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of Yankee Stadium, the other purpose was to retire Babe Ruth’s number 3.
Part of that day, Ruth’s teammates from the 1923 team played a two inning exhibition game against veterans from other years. Sadly, the Babe could only be a spectator that day.
One of the most famous pictures of the Babe is Ruth standing at home plate addressing a crowd of over 40,000 – leaning on a bat for a support (a bat that interestingly enough belonged to Hall of Fame pitcher, Bob Feller. In fact photographer Nat Fein received a Pulitzer Prize of this image of the Babe:
Nat Fein’s “Babe Bows Out”
