Ruth’s Legend Hasn’t Been Passed

Barry Bonds may have passed Babe Ruth’s home run total of 714 last week, but the achievement has done little to dampen the Bambino’s legendary status and may even enhance his baseball legacy, according to some fans.

The increased media attention on the Babe during Bonds’ pursuit also has inspired a new fundraising campaign at the museum of his birthplace in Baltimore, which this week launched a program to bring in $1.5 million for renovations by the close of the season in October, with nearly half the money to come from worldwide admirers of George Herman “Babe” Ruth.

Swamped by hundreds of radio, television and newspaper interviews in recent months as Bonds neared the magic number, Mike Gibbons, the museum’s executive director, outlined plans last week to augment the $800,000 already provided by city and state authorities.

“With the number 714 so much in the national news, we thought it would be a good idea to raise $714,000,” he said, explaining how fans were being invited to donate $7.14, $71.40, or even $714 toward the grand total.

The restoration fund will pay for ramps and a new elevator to improve disabled access to the museum -- a row of four brick town houses on historic downtown Baltimore’s leafy Emory Street where the Babe was born -- and also will add two new balconies in major display rooms.

As a Boston Red Sox rookie in 1915, Ruth reportedly hit one home run nearly 500 feet. Pickles Bar is about that distance from the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum, and over pints of traditional Yuengling beer -- barred by prohibition during much of the Ruth’s career -- before one evening’s game at nearby Camden Yards, comparisons between Ruth and Bonds were a common topic.

“We have to give the Babe more credit, he was on cigarettes, hot dogs and beers, all of which are better than what Bonds has taken,” said Steve Collins, a stockbroker celebrating his 27th birthday, in reference to persistent rumors of steroid abuse faced by the Giants outfielder.

A friend, Josh Powell, 26, was more understated, adding that, “Bonds is one of the best players of all time, but he has this asterisk by his name.”

Back at the Babe’s birthplace museum, chief financial officer Ed Meerholtz -- on his way to play a game for the museum’s softball team -- said Bonds’ achievements would not affect Babe’s reputation at all, and had improved his profile.

“In that era he played, [Ruth] was larger than life,” Meerholtz said, adding that Bonds’ passing Ruth has “aided [the museum] in making progress.”

Some older fans watching the game at Camden Yards Wednesday evening between the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Baltimore Orioles (where Ruth spent the first five months of his professional career and earned his nickname as a 19-year-old protege of Orioles’ owner and manager Jack Dunn), were more aware of Ruth’s historical legacy in Baltimore.

Bill Calvert, 63, a smiling stadium steward who attended the same St. Mary’s school as Ruth, “just a few blocks away,” pointed to a spot in center field where a tavern owned by Ruth’s father once stood.

“This place was a slum when I was growing up,” he said.

Melvin Paul, 74, grew up in Baltimore and could remember watching games at the old Baltimore stadium as a teenager, before the “O’s” returned to the major leagues in 1954.

As the crowd cheered a drive to center field by the Orioles’ Jeff Conine that went uncaught in the fifth inning, Paul shouted through the noise that Bonds’ passing Ruth was “inevitable, but he just doesn’t compare.”