Babe Ruth Photo Collections
Babe Ruth was, by far, one of the most photographed celebrities of his time. Given his superstar status, photographers loved getting pictures of the Bambino. And Babe, enjoying the attention, was usually a willing subject. Always a sharp dresser, an entertainer and crowd pleaser, Ruth would many times put on a show for the camera, willingly delighting photographers and fans alike with a picture. Some have suggested that, between Babe’s celebrity status and the number of photographers that followed him, he was one of the very first “paparazzi targets”. With that thought in mind, imagine what it would be like for him today.
Many of the photos taken of the Babe have essentially become iconic images of baseball or Americana or both. There are those timeless images of the Babe that many baseball fans have seen, such as Babe’s classic pose as he looks up after he just hit one of his moon-shot homeruns. Another is the very popular image of Babe Ruth that was taken by Nat Fein in 1947, which shows Babe in uniform leaning on Bob Feller’s bat on the day the Yankees retired his number. That photograph actually won the 1948 Pulitzer Prize.
In this section, BRC would like to share a number of photographs with you.
- Collection 1: Images from Julia Ruth Stevens’ Personal Photos
- Collection 2: Public Domain Images of the Babe
- Collection 3: A Recap of Other Photos Found Throughout the Site
Do you have a photo of the Babe that you would like to share with BRC? We’d welcome your contributions and, once enough are received, will create a new collection. Of course, we’ll give you proper credit!
Collection 1: Images from Julia Ruth Stevens’ Personal Photo Collection
During the course of 2004 – 06, Julia Ruth Stevens, Babe’s daughter, graciously opened the pages of her personal scrapbooks to BRC. These Photos contained many photos given to the Ruth Family, by friends, acquaintances, business colleagues and even photographers themselves. Some of these images are extra shots taken by a photographer during a professional shoot, so they might look slightly similar to published photos. Other images, however, have rarely been seen by the general public.
BRC has selected more than four dozen of the photos from Mrs. Stevens’ collection for presentation here. All photos are presented with permission. (Go here for copyright info.) We welcome BRC users to enjoy this collection!
Photos from Julia Ruth Stevens personal Photos that include Babe, Julia and Claire together; pictures of Julia’s happily married parents; as well as a newspaper clipping recognizing Babe and Claire’s recent marriage in 1929.
Babe always enjoyed posing for pictures with kids more than other photos, because he loved being with children and it meant so much to them.
As much as he loved baseball, Babe had other passions as well — particularly golf, which was one of the main ways Babe remained active during the off-season. According to Julia: “Daddy absolutely loved golf. If he wasn’t so good at baseball I think he would have wanted to become a professional golfer.”
Another of Babe’s passions was hunting and fishing. These activities were Babe’s opportunity to get away from the craziness of New York. And, given Babe’s excellent eyesight, he was generally a great marksman!
Here are just some of the photos from the family collection, out of many, of Babe with other notable players of his time. Photographers were always taking photos of Babe with teammates and other players.
Babe did a number of regular and short films out in Hollywood. This mini-album contains his Hollywood “headshot” and some stills from the 1927 movie “Babe Comes Home” with Anna Q. Nilson.
As mentioned, Babe was photographed everywhere he went, doing all kinds of things. This mini-album contains a small assortment of photos of the Babe throughout his life off the field, striking a pose for the camera.
Collection 2: Public Domain Images of the Babe
We have also gathered select images from sources outside of the family’s personal collection which we thought would be good to share! All photos are provided with permission or are believed to be in the public domain. We share these photos in a non-commercial, informational manner only. ( Go here for copyright info.) We’ve organized these images into two Albums:
Collection 3: A Recap of Other Photos Found Throughout the Site
Here are links to all the other Photos found on BRC. ( Go here for copyright info.)
Images from “Babe’s Impact – Ruth Family Memorabilia Collection”:
Images from “The World’s First Celebrity Athlete: Advertisements of the Babe during his lifetime.”
Images from “Babe’s Impact – 1934 Barnstorming Trip to Japan”:
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