Year: 1949
Award: Pulitzer
Prize for Photography
Photographer: Nathaniel
Fein of the Herald Tribune
Photograph: “Babe
Ruth Bows Out”
Comments:
George Herman Ruth, Jr (1895-1948), best known
as "Babe" Ruth and
nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Sultan of Swat", was an American baseball player
who spent 22 seasons in Major League Baseball, playing for three teams
(1914–1935). Known for his hitting brilliance, Ruth is credited with changing
baseball itself. The popularity of the game exploded in the 1920s, largely due
to his influence. Ruth ushered in the “live-ball era”, as his big swing led to
escalating home run totals that not only excited fans, but helped baseball
evolve from a low-scoring, speed-dominated game to a high-scoring power game.
He has since become regarded as one of the greatest sports heroes in American
culture. Ruth's legendary power and
charismatic personality made him a larger than life figure in the “Roaring
Twenties” and he is now regarded as the first true American sports celebrity
superstar whose fame transcended baseball.
Off the field he was famous for his charity, but also was noted for his
often reckless lifestyle. Ruth has been
named the greatest baseball player of all time in various surveys and rankings.
Following
his retirement in 1935 he attempted coaching but without success. He assisted with the American legions youth
baseball program and appeared on radio, both as a guest and as host of his own
shows.
From 1946
he was in poor health. Cancer treatments
failed to eradicate the cancers from which he was suffering. In ill health with throat cancer, he
nonetheless attended the 25th anniversary celebration of the opening of Yankee
Stadium in 1948. He was reunited with old teammates from the 1923 Yankee team
and posed for photographs.
Nathaniel Fein’s photo
of Ruth taken from behind, showing Ruth leaning on his baseball bat as a cane,
standing apart from the other players and facing "Ruthville" (right
field) became one of baseball's most famous and widely circulated photographs.
The celebration also
honoured Ruth by retiring his Number 3 to the Bseball Hall of Fame in New York,
that number not to be used again by the Yankees. His speech and bow to the crowd was not only
a farewell to baseball, but a farewell to life.
The fans watched and cheered as Ruth slowly made his
way onto the field. Fifty thousand had
attended to pay their respects to one of baseball’s greats.
Two months after the photograph was taken he was dead.
Nat Fein was a photographer of people. He liked to work out the best viewpoints, the
best angles and the most interesting items to emphasise in photographs. He had Ruth slumped in the dugout, weakened
by illness. According to Fein, "He looked tired, very tired; the power that had
been his in his youth and manhood was slowly ebbing away.”
''When we were in the dressing room, he sat beside his old No. 3 locker
and we made a picture there,'' Mr. Fein wrote in an unpublished memoir. ''Then
he pulled out the belt showing how much thinner he'd got and I wanted to make a
picture then, but they told me he's going to have all he can do to get out
there -- he's a very sick man -- and the least bother here as possible because
there's going to be a ceremony outside.”
Fein took several photographs but was not satisfied with
what he had. He walked to the other side
and was behind Ruth. "I saw Ruth
standing there with his uniform, No. 3, the number that would be retired, and
knew that was the shot. It was a dull day, and most photographers were using
flash bulbs, but I slowed the shutter and took the picture without a
flash."
The photograph was initially published in the Herald
Tribune sports section but was later moved to the front page, eventually
becoming one of America’s best known sports photograph, an icon of an icon.
Fein (1914-2000) worked for the New York
Herald Tribune for 33 years. He won more
press photo awards than any of his contemporaries and was considered to be one
of the greatest human interest photographers in journalism.
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I know little about baseball, but even in N. Ireland I have a little knowledge of Babe Ruth. I watched a movie about him.
ReplyDeleteThanks. John.
I know little about baseball, but even in N. Ireland I have a little knowledge of Babe Ruth. I watched a movie about him.
ReplyDeleteThanks. John.