The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth

the big bam review: drew 4/6

The book I read was entitled The Big Bam. It was written by the author Leigh Montville. The book was about the story of the life of George Herman Ruth. In the beginning, Ruth was orphan at St. Mary¿s Industrial School for Boys. There, he was noticed by Minor League manager Jack Dunn who recruited Babe as a late teen. From there he went to the Red Sox, then the Yankees where he spent most of his career. With them he smashed records and went to multiple World Series. Later on he was duped into playing the final season of his career with the Braves at 39 years old. Along the way he met and married Helen Ruth, their child Dorothy, and then when Helen died he remarried to Claire Hodgson. They lived as a family with Babe, Claire, Dorothy, Julia 'Claire¿s daughter' and some other relatives from Claire¿s side. Babe Ruth died in his sleep on August 16, 1948 at the age of 53. His cause of death was cancer he had a tumor in the nasopharnxy, part of the air passage behind the nose. From my perspective the author of this story was a fan of the Babe. The author was truthful about Babe¿s life even when it came to its lowest lows. In general, the author of this book seemed to show a sense of respect and had admired the Babe for him and what he¿d accomplished. In my opinion I felt this was a great book. It was very well written and included plenty of facts and inside thing of which I never knew about Ruth. It is hard to depict the life of such a great man, but I believe it was successfully portrayed in this novel. It is no wonder that this book was written by a ¿best selling¿ author.

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good not great

I decent read. A little sketchy on the details of the man George Ruth but interesting on the legend of Babe Ruth. Seemed to get more interesting at the end of the Babe's amazing life. Was both sad and powerful in final stages of his life.

Nothing New Here

While Montville has always been an entertaining writer, this biography not only adds nothing new to the Ruth story, but he repeats some widely discredited falsehoods, most prominently Ruth's African-American hertitage and Dan Shaughnessy's hoary old curse. One would expect more from a writer of Montville's accomplishments. For all its faults, Robert Creamer's Ruth bio is still the standard.

Babe Ruth lives

When I saw this book I though. Ohh, another book about Babe Ruth. I've read Creamer biography, and I passed this book by. The next day I saw it again, and as I had some time to waste, I opened it up, and read a couple sentence, then a couple paragraphs. I was hooked, and bought it. No all the questions aren't answered. They never will be as all the people are now long gone. But what a story. What a life Babe Ruth had. What a Parade he led. If you read one book this year, read this book.

Excellent!!!

I really enjoyed reading this book. Gives you a new understanding of the Babe. I highly recommend for any baseball fan!!

Interesting but hollow

Montville's book on Ted Williams was superb because the reader actually got to know Williams the man. His study of Ruth is fine when discussing the phenomenon of Ruth and his times, but we learn little about Ruth the man who remains a loud apparition throughout the book. Fascinating discussion of people, especially reporters, around Ruth, but the man himself remains a mystery.

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