BALTIMORE — For 50 years, Baltimore has served as the keeper of Babe Ruth’s legacy, and the museum, which bears his name has added another touch unveiling a street named in his honor.
“Babe Ruth is Baltimore’s,” said the museum’s executive director, Shawn Herne, “He was born here. He learned baseball here. He was discovered by our Baltimore Orioles, and the world needs to know that.”
Back in the 1960s, there was talk of tearing down the Babe’s birthplace right here in a modest row house on Emory Street that was owned by his grandparents.
An outcry and donations from around the world followed, and Babe’s grandson, Tom Stevens, says the Bambino’s widow, his grandmother, went to bat to help save it.
“She was quite thrilled when she heard that there was an effort that was taking place and then eventually that a museum was going to be going in its place as well,” said Stevens, “She was just blown away.”
In the decades, which followed, the museum acquired the definitive collection of Babe Ruth’s artifacts, and his family embraced the city and its culture.
“I think it was about 1967 when I first came here and the first thing I fell in love with even before baseball was crab cakes and developed the worst case of hives that I’ve ever had, never since, maybe I just got it out of my system,” recalled Stevens.
“Maybe that’s why Babe stuck with the hotdogs?” we asked.
“It might be,” he laughed.
And now, while the legend is remembered around the world, the rightful place for Babe’s legacy remains secure right here in Baltimore.
“He became a Yankee and that’s how he became most famous, but Baltimore had never been forgotten in this whole thing,” said Stevens, “That’s where it all started.”
