What do you think?
Rate this book
Babe Ruth: Legends in Sports
In a career that spanned over thirty years, George Herman "Babe" Ruth changed the way the sport of baseball was played. He was the first true power hitter, a strong pitcher, and in the outfield made some amazing game-saving catches. His love of the sport shined through in the way he laughed while jogging around the bases, in how he kidded and horsed around with teammates, and in his overall determination to win. But there was a darker side to Babe, one that nearly ruined his career - and his life. In the end, however, Ruth managed to overcome his personal demons, recapture his health, and go on to lead his beloved Yankees to championship status. Simply put, there has never been another player like the Babe.
This comprehensive biography of one of baseball's most memorable legends also comes with photos.
This comprehensive biography of one of baseball's most memorable legends also comes with photos.
112 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2005
11 people are currently reading
44 people want to read
About the author
Matt Christopher
467 books142 followersMatt Christopher is the writer young readers turn to when they're looking for fast-paced, action-packed sports novels. He is the best-selling author of more than one hundred sports books for young readers.
Matt Christopher is America's bestselling sports writer for children, with more than 100 books and sales approaching six million copies. In 1992, Matt Christopher talked about being a children's book author.
"I became interested in writing when I was 14, a freshman in high school. I was selling magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post, Country Gentleman, and Liberty, and I would read the stories, particularly the adventure and mystery stories, and think how wonderful it would be to be able to write stories and make a living at it. I also read detective, horror, aviation, and sports stories and decided I would try writing them myself.
Determined to sell, I wrote a detective story a week for 40 weeks, finding the time to marry, work, and play baseball and basketball before I sold my first story in 1941, "The Missing Finger Points," for $50 to Detective Story magazine.
After writing and selling children's sports stories to magazines, I decided to write a baseball book for children. I was living in Syracuse, New York at the time, working at General Electric. I spoke about my idea to the branch librarian. She was immediately interested and told me that they needed sports stories badly. So I came up with my first children's book, The Lucky Baseball Bat. I submitted it to Little, Brown, and the book was published in 1954.
I'm sure that playing sandlot baseball and then semiprofessional baseball with a Class C club in the Canadian-American League influenced my writing. I had my own personal experiences, and I saw how other players reacted to plays, to teammates' and fans' remarks and innuendoes, to managers' orders, etc. All these had a great influence on my writing. My love of the game helped a lot, too, of course.
Out of all the books I've written, my favorite is The Kid Who Only Hit Homers. It's a fantasy, but the main character in it could be real. There are a lot of boys who would love to play baseball but, for some reason, cannot. The only difference between a real-life boy and Sylvester Coddmyer III is the appearance of a character named George Baruth, whom only Sylvester can see and who helps Sylvester become a good ballplayer.
I've written many short stories and books for both children and adults, and find that writing for children is really my niche. Being the eldest of nine children (seven boys and two girls), I've lived through a lot of problems many children live through, and I find these problems excellent examples to include in my books.
Sports have made it possible for me to meet many people with all sorts of life stories, on and off the field, and these are grist for this writer's mill. I'm far beyond playing age now, but I manage to go to both kids' and adult games just to keep up with them, and keep them fresh in my mind.Very few things make me happier than receiving fan letters from boys and girls who write that they had never cared for reading until they started to read my books. That is just about the ultimate in writing for children. I would never trade it for another profession."
Matt Christopher died on September 27, 1997. His legacy is now being carried on by his sons, Duane and Dale Christopher.
Matt Christopher is America's bestselling sports writer for children, with more than 100 books and sales approaching six million copies. In 1992, Matt Christopher talked about being a children's book author.
"I became interested in writing when I was 14, a freshman in high school. I was selling magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post, Country Gentleman, and Liberty, and I would read the stories, particularly the adventure and mystery stories, and think how wonderful it would be to be able to write stories and make a living at it. I also read detective, horror, aviation, and sports stories and decided I would try writing them myself.
Determined to sell, I wrote a detective story a week for 40 weeks, finding the time to marry, work, and play baseball and basketball before I sold my first story in 1941, "The Missing Finger Points," for $50 to Detective Story magazine.
After writing and selling children's sports stories to magazines, I decided to write a baseball book for children. I was living in Syracuse, New York at the time, working at General Electric. I spoke about my idea to the branch librarian. She was immediately interested and told me that they needed sports stories badly. So I came up with my first children's book, The Lucky Baseball Bat. I submitted it to Little, Brown, and the book was published in 1954.
I'm sure that playing sandlot baseball and then semiprofessional baseball with a Class C club in the Canadian-American League influenced my writing. I had my own personal experiences, and I saw how other players reacted to plays, to teammates' and fans' remarks and innuendoes, to managers' orders, etc. All these had a great influence on my writing. My love of the game helped a lot, too, of course.
Out of all the books I've written, my favorite is The Kid Who Only Hit Homers. It's a fantasy, but the main character in it could be real. There are a lot of boys who would love to play baseball but, for some reason, cannot. The only difference between a real-life boy and Sylvester Coddmyer III is the appearance of a character named George Baruth, whom only Sylvester can see and who helps Sylvester become a good ballplayer.
I've written many short stories and books for both children and adults, and find that writing for children is really my niche. Being the eldest of nine children (seven boys and two girls), I've lived through a lot of problems many children live through, and I find these problems excellent examples to include in my books.
Sports have made it possible for me to meet many people with all sorts of life stories, on and off the field, and these are grist for this writer's mill. I'm far beyond playing age now, but I manage to go to both kids' and adult games just to keep up with them, and keep them fresh in my mind.Very few things make me happier than receiving fan letters from boys and girls who write that they had never cared for reading until they started to read my books. That is just about the ultimate in writing for children. I would never trade it for another profession."
Matt Christopher died on September 27, 1997. His legacy is now being carried on by his sons, Duane and Dale Christopher.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 31, 2025
2.5 stars
short review for busy readers:
A middle grade book about one of baseball's greatest and most famous players. Focused largely on his career, his home run scores, positions and games played, and which teams he played for.
in detail:
As befitting a book for young readers, the focus initially is on Ruth's difficult childhood to create rapport. But after he starts playing professional ball, the narrative shifts to being far more about his career, which teams he played for, some specific games, and his batting averages.
Disappointingly little detail is given about his off-field life as an adult -- although his battle with his weight is often referred to.
I understand completely that Ruth lived a highly chaotic life, a lot of which isn't "suitable material" for children, but I'd have liked to have heard more about the climate on the different teams, his relationship with the press and his fans, about his two wives, his farm and a few more anecdotes.
In short, fewer Hall of Fame statistics, more of the man himself.
But then, this is clearly a book aimed at boys who follow current baseball, so perhaps what games were played where over 100 years ago, the placement of fences in stadiums, and how many home runs were scored when are what would interest them most.
Read for the I SPY challenge 2025
short review for busy readers:
A middle grade book about one of baseball's greatest and most famous players. Focused largely on his career, his home run scores, positions and games played, and which teams he played for.
in detail:
As befitting a book for young readers, the focus initially is on Ruth's difficult childhood to create rapport. But after he starts playing professional ball, the narrative shifts to being far more about his career, which teams he played for, some specific games, and his batting averages.
Disappointingly little detail is given about his off-field life as an adult -- although his battle with his weight is often referred to.
I understand completely that Ruth lived a highly chaotic life, a lot of which isn't "suitable material" for children, but I'd have liked to have heard more about the climate on the different teams, his relationship with the press and his fans, about his two wives, his farm and a few more anecdotes.
In short, fewer Hall of Fame statistics, more of the man himself.
But then, this is clearly a book aimed at boys who follow current baseball, so perhaps what games were played where over 100 years ago, the placement of fences in stadiums, and how many home runs were scored when are what would interest them most.
Read for the I SPY challenge 2025
October 15, 2013
this book is about this man who is a legendary baseball player in 1900's. well, people still thinks that he is the best baseball player even now. he was famous because of the home runs he had hit, and the pitch. he had scored many pionts. he made his team win. he was also a valueble player but his behavior has took him down. he caused many problem and had a very sad life since little.
Read
March 13, 2011I like this book so far because it tells about his child hood and how hard it was and how he behaved.
HE WAS THE MOST FAMOUS BASEBALL PLAYERS FOR THE YANKEES
HE WAS THE MOST FAMOUS BASEBALL PLAYERS FOR THE YANKEES
December 16, 2011
This book was fun to read I found a lot of information about Babe that you cannot find in other books. It looks short but, it packed with info. THIS IS A MUST READ
July 27, 2016
The podlings and I enjoyed reading about Babe Ruth and contemplating what we can learn from his life, both positive and negative aspects.
May 24, 2024
A lot of good detail and I discovered Babe was an sshole
December 5, 2012
The book that I choose to read was Legends in Sports: Babe Ruth. This book was written by Matt Christopher. I think that the reason Matt wrote this book was to give readers an idea of Babe Ruth’s full career, not just his glory days. This book is in 3rd person and there are some parts where Babe Ruth says. Lots of this book is an overview of Babe Ruth’s life as a child, growing up, and the young adult life, with some stories of games thrown in. Matt also includes stats of single seasons, and his life time stats. The style of this book is autobiography because it’s about someone’s life, but that person did not write it.
The theme of this book is things may look bleak sometimes, but you have to push through it and keep perusing your dream. When Babe was a boy, he had problems behaving correctly. So eventually his father got fed up with it and sent him to a school for boys that were supposed to help young boys at any age learn to better behave in public. Babe ended up in that school until he was 21 when he was allowed to leave. Babe had been sent there when he was only 8 and left at the age of 10 because he was acting better than ever, but after one year of being out of the school. He started acting up again and he was sent back at the age of 11. He didn’t go 10 years without seeing his family. They were allowed to see him on his birthday, Christmas, Easter and, New Years. He started school at 7:15am and it ended at 5:00pm.
The style of this book is exposition because it has lots of information about the life of Babe Ruth. The style of this book is very helpful to someone who likes baseball and likes Babe Ruth, but doesn’t really know the full life behind him. Such as his troublesome childhood, to the young adult partying years, to the old clam Babe Ruth that most people knew and loved. I didn’t know that Babe was a trouble maker as a child or had problems partying when he first got into the big leagues.
In my opinion, this book was 8 out of 10 because there were some parts of the book that it was really boring, but when it got boring it was only a few pages and then it would get interesting again. I’m not really a big reader and I don’t like to read longer books so this short book was very easy for me to read and the pages weren’t long and the type was big. I related to this book because it’s about baseball and I play baseball a lot. What I like most about this book was that it spent a lot of time talking about the younger years of Babe Ruth and gave the reader more information on him rather than just tell the reader about his baseball career. I learned that Babe Ruth was a catcher for a short time and he moved to a pitcher and also toward the end of his career, play left field. The one thing that I disliked about this book was that the middle of the book was boring and kind of repetitive. I recommend this book to anyone who loves baseball and is interested in Babe Ruth or baseballs older heroes.
The theme of this book is things may look bleak sometimes, but you have to push through it and keep perusing your dream. When Babe was a boy, he had problems behaving correctly. So eventually his father got fed up with it and sent him to a school for boys that were supposed to help young boys at any age learn to better behave in public. Babe ended up in that school until he was 21 when he was allowed to leave. Babe had been sent there when he was only 8 and left at the age of 10 because he was acting better than ever, but after one year of being out of the school. He started acting up again and he was sent back at the age of 11. He didn’t go 10 years without seeing his family. They were allowed to see him on his birthday, Christmas, Easter and, New Years. He started school at 7:15am and it ended at 5:00pm.
The style of this book is exposition because it has lots of information about the life of Babe Ruth. The style of this book is very helpful to someone who likes baseball and likes Babe Ruth, but doesn’t really know the full life behind him. Such as his troublesome childhood, to the young adult partying years, to the old clam Babe Ruth that most people knew and loved. I didn’t know that Babe was a trouble maker as a child or had problems partying when he first got into the big leagues.
In my opinion, this book was 8 out of 10 because there were some parts of the book that it was really boring, but when it got boring it was only a few pages and then it would get interesting again. I’m not really a big reader and I don’t like to read longer books so this short book was very easy for me to read and the pages weren’t long and the type was big. I related to this book because it’s about baseball and I play baseball a lot. What I like most about this book was that it spent a lot of time talking about the younger years of Babe Ruth and gave the reader more information on him rather than just tell the reader about his baseball career. I learned that Babe Ruth was a catcher for a short time and he moved to a pitcher and also toward the end of his career, play left field. The one thing that I disliked about this book was that the middle of the book was boring and kind of repetitive. I recommend this book to anyone who loves baseball and is interested in Babe Ruth or baseballs older heroes.
February 17, 2014
Babe Ruth: Legends in Sports by Matt Christopher is a biography about one of baseball's greatest players, George "Babe" Ruth. Babe Ruth was born to German Americans in 1895 and was a less than stellar young boy. He would skip school and use tobacco products and get into fights. Eventually, his parents sent him to St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys in his hometown of Baltimore, MD. At St. Mary's George was kept busy by having a strict, regimented schedule of church, school, chores and some free time to read and play sports. It is here when George (and the other boys at St. Mary's) realized he had a strong arm for baseball and was the best hitter at school. Scouts began to take notice of George too. When George turned 19, he left Baltimore and St. Mary's for Fayetteville, North Carolina to start spring training with the Baltimore Orioles and his first contract. It was at spring training where his teammates gave him the nickname, "Babe". Throughout the book, readers get a great understanding of where Babe's career in baseball took him as well as the difficulties he encountered.
One aspect of the book that I think children will really enjoy is how relatable the author makes Babe's childhood seem. The author explains how Babe would skip school, get into fights and use tobacco products and then how he completely changed his life around. Most children have a memory in which they can relate to Babe's struggles as a student (although probably not the same struggles). The book brings a very famous and recognizable figure and turns him into someone the children can relate to and even admire.
I would recommend this book as a read aloud for 3rd and maybe 4th graders and as an independent reading book for 4th and 5th graders. This book may be more interesting to males in the classroom but, as a female, I enjoyed it too. This is a great book to tie into a lesson with a book report or even an activity where children pretend to be news anchors and have to report on someone's life and career.
One aspect of the book that I think children will really enjoy is how relatable the author makes Babe's childhood seem. The author explains how Babe would skip school, get into fights and use tobacco products and then how he completely changed his life around. Most children have a memory in which they can relate to Babe's struggles as a student (although probably not the same struggles). The book brings a very famous and recognizable figure and turns him into someone the children can relate to and even admire.
I would recommend this book as a read aloud for 3rd and maybe 4th graders and as an independent reading book for 4th and 5th graders. This book may be more interesting to males in the classroom but, as a female, I enjoyed it too. This is a great book to tie into a lesson with a book report or even an activity where children pretend to be news anchors and have to report on someone's life and career.
August 21, 2012
Great chapter where the Babe calls his shot. The boy can't get enough.
September 3, 2012
It was a pretty good book that while I read I got some cool information but not a lot of detail.
January 25, 2016
I thought I knew all there was to know about the Babe, but I was wrong. I enjoyed listening to the discussions of the lit. circle with this book. If you are a baseball fan, this is a must read@
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews