User Reviews

During his legendary major league baseball career, Babe Ruth, aka George Herman Ruth, one of Baltimore's greatest sons, hit 714 home runs. Well, he just hit another one out of the ball park! And, this one fits a popular phrase from automobile mega-sales gal, Krystal Koons, "We're gonna to WOW ya!"

A riveting documentary on the Babe, inducted in the Hall of Fame, in 1936, has just been released. It paints his fabulous sports career, and his life as a global celebrity, on a huge canvas with a wide brush. Using Greek mythological tones, writ large, its title is "American Hercules: Babe Ruth." It also spotlights his flaws.

On Thursday evening, September 8, 2016, a private screening of the compelling documentary was shown at the Charles Theatre in Baltimore. Michael Gibbons, Executive Director of the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum, did a fine job hosting the program. He set the stage for the viewing of the film before a near capacity audience.

The special viewing, contributions required, benefited the "Babe Ruth Birthplace Foundation."

Ably assisting Gibbons in the program were Nick Trotta, an official with Major League Baseball (MLB), and Charles Poe (no relation to our beloved Edgar), from the Smithsonian. The MLB and the Smithsonian are the film's co-producers. The DVD is available online. The Smithsonian will be broadcasting the documentary on its cable channel. Trotta was the brainchild for the project.

The producers wisely picked actor Martin Sheen (and not bad boy Charley) to narrate the film. Martin is a real pro and his voice is just right to capture all the magic and heroics that was the Babe's. He lived 53 years on the planet and died in New York City, in 1948.

The Babe had a rough childhood. He was born and reared, until age seven, in Southwest Baltimore, and baptized at St. Peter the Apostle RC Church, (now closed), His mom was an alcoholic and his father had emotionally abandoned him. He spent his formative years, from age 7 to 19, at St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys, (where Cardinal Gibbons HS is located today), under the mentorship of the wise and caring Brother Matthias of the Xaverian Order.

Baseball was the Babe's way out of his personal Hell. After a stint with the minor league Baltimore Orioles, Babe started his major league career; first with the Boston Red Sox, and then moved onto the New York Yankees. He played from 1914-35 in the big leagues.

When the Babe arrived on the major league baseball scene, it was still recovering from the "Black Sox Scandal." It was also an era of the "dead ball," where home runs were few and far between. The Babe's mighty swing for the fences would transfix the sport, and bring millions of new fans into the seats at ball parks across the country. One of the Babe's nicknames was "The King of Swat."

This documentary, with its archival material, is not for everyone. You won't see and hear that pompous Neocon pundit, George Will, pontificating on baseball insider trivia. Lord, I'm so happy for his exclusion. Think more Joseph Campbell!

It is, however, a brilliant study on how the Babe and his saga, patterned after the exploits and struggles of the Greek's Hercules, impacted, on a mythical level, not only baseball, but America and the world at large. And, the wonder of it all is how the Babe, (like another sports' hero, Muhammed Ali), has become part of our collective psyches. Indeed, the colossal, timeless figure of the superhero Babe, continues to persist and grow.

The first sports legend was created in the 1920's in Yankee Stadium with the 1895 birth of the abandoned seven year old child George Herman (the Babe/Bambino) Ruth. (Some may argue that the only more widely known sports celebrity of this modern day 21st century would be the living legend Muhammad Ali.)

The documentary American Hercules: Babe Ruth, draws from Greek mythology the actual parallels that do exist between Babe Ruth and the mythical Hercules who both overcame their early child abandonment to do great things for mankind. In Babe Ruth's case he was a natural athlete who developed his skills in a boys reformatory in Baltimore, St. Mary's Industrial School For Boys where he grew from a lonely boy at age 7 to a young man until the age of 19 when he signed his first professional baseball contract as a minor league pitcher with the Baltimore Orioles.

The documentary deliberately downplays the baseball statistics that Babe Ruth the legend accumulated, as well as his many commercial endorsements, and friendships with other well know celebrities from politicians, to actors to sports icons like Boxing champ Jack Dempsey. Instead the documentary focuses more on how a single baseball player named Babe Ruth was able to capture the hearts of not only all Americans but of people all over the world. Babe Ruth was the first modern mega sport celebrity to hire himself an agent and develop a personal brand that everyone wanted to eat, drink, smoke and wear what Babe was wearing. The Babe was the first celebrity to fully avail himself of all marketing and public relations tools that the medias of the time provided such as with newspapers, radios, commercial advertisements and mass media.

Even more enjoyable than the 60 minute documentary were the extras provided on the DVD release which provides more insight in to the man, the myth, who was Babe (The Bambino) Ruth. We get a glimpse into the 1936 opening of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown and the Babe's competition for the Major League Baseball's batting championships with his younger fellow team mate Lou Gehrig.

Anyone who is a fan of baseball and wants to learn more about the 1920's era of baseball and those championship years of the New York Yankees you will not be disappointed in American Hercules. Babe Ruth was abandoned as a delinquent 7 year old boy and sent to live and grow to become a young man at the St. Mary's Industrial School For Boys in Baltimore. To become baseball's first sports icon we learn that the Babe always remained a fun loving immature man who over ate, drank to excess, loved women and said whatever was on his mind.

The DVD extras must also be seen to understand what made the Babe tick. It is sad to know that he died at a very young age of 53, but that is the legend of the Bambino. I give this documentary a perfect 10 out of 10 rating.