BABE RUTH: His Life and Legend

The time is soon approaching when biographies of Ruth will outnumber the legion of nicknames which so aptly described him -- the Sultan of Swat, the Wizard of Wham, the Bazoo of Bang, the Colossus of Clout, etc., etc. With material factually comparable to that in Creamer's Babe (KR, p. 607), Wagenheim (Clemente!) traces the unique lifestyle of a South Baltimore street urchin who became a ""mauling mastodon"" as a Bronx Bomber. The author rightfully contends that ""America was ripe for a hero like the Babe"" -- ""Ruth's joining the Yankees in the spring of 1920 was a perfect marriage of personality and circumstance. Here was the champion slugger of all time, in all his uncouth splendor, walking onstage precisely at the outset of America's most flamboyant decade. Surely only a Paul Bunyanesque figure like the Prince of Pounders -- his bat was every bit as Promethean as his gustatory excesses -- can still merit such a Ruthian amount of ink. Solid footing on familiar territory -- certainly no Behemoth of Bust.