Well, let me tell you ’bout this fella, Babe Ruth. Big name, he was. Everybody knew him, even folks like me who don’t know a baseball from a watermelon. But the thing is, even big fellas like him, they ain’t immune to nothin’. Sickness comes for everyone, just like the tax man.
So, what did this Babe Ruth die of? Cancer, they say. Throat cancer, to be exact. Started with a pain, right over his eye, it did. Poor fella couldn’t swallow right neither. Imagine that, not bein’ able to enjoy a good piece of cornbread. Makes you think, don’t it?
They took him to the doctors in the big city, them fancy fellas with all their tools and whatnot. But even them smarty pants couldn’t do much. This cancer, it was a mean one. Spread all over, it did. Like a weed in the garden, you pull one out, and two more pop up.
- They say he got sick in 1946.
- Doctors tried all sorts of things, but nothin’ worked.
- He even went back to that Yankee Stadium, big place where he used to play, to retire his number. Big send-off, it was.
But cancer don’t care about no numbers or big send-offs. It just keeps on comin’. And on August 16, 1948, in New York City, Babe Ruth, he passed on. Died right there in the city, not out in the country where the air is clean. Makes you wonder if all that city livin’ had somethin’ to do with it.
They say a whole bunch of folks came to see him afore they buried him. Seventy-five thousand, they say! That’s more people than I’ve seen in my whole life, I reckon. They put his body right there at the entrance of that Yankee Stadium, so folks could pay their respects. Musta been somethin’ to see, all them folks comin’ to say goodbye to a baseball fella.
He was only 53 years old, that Babe Ruth. Younger than my oldest grandson, bless his heart. Makes you think about how precious life is, and how you gotta enjoy it while you can. ‘Cause you never know when somethin’ like this cancer is gonna come along and snatch you away.
They had a big funeral for him too, at some big church in the city. St. Patrick’s, they called it. Folks inside and outside, all payin’ their respects. He was a big deal, that Babe Ruth. Even though I didn’t know him from Adam, I can appreciate a fella who made folks happy. And from what I hear, he made a lot of folks happy with his baseball playin’.
So, that’s the story of how Babe Ruth died. Throat cancer, it was. A mean, nasty disease that took him too soon. But even though he’s gone, folks still remember him. His name lives on, just like them old stories my grandma used to tell. And that, I reckon, is somethin’ special.
It’s a sad story, no doubt about it. But it’s a reminder too. A reminder to appreciate what you got, to take care of yourself, and to enjoy every day like it’s your last. ‘Cause you never know when your time is gonna come, whether you’re a big baseball fella or just a simple country woman like me.
This whole thing with Babe Ruth, it just goes to show ya, money and fame ain’t everything. When sickness comes callin’, it don’t care who you are or what you done. It just takes you, plain and simple. So, be good to folks, enjoy your life, and don’t forget to say your prayers. That’s all you can really do in this world.
Tags: [Babe Ruth, Death, Cancer, Illness, Baseball, 1948, Yankee Stadium, Throat Cancer]
