Ruth, who had transformed baseball with his prodigious home runs and larger-than-life persona, spent his final weeks weak and gaunt, a stark contrast to the barrel-chested icon fans remembered. Over 75,000 people filed past his casket at Yankee Stadium, and tens of thousands more lined the streets of New York for his funeral procession, a testament to his enduring hold on the American public.
Babe Ruth had been diagnosed with a rare form of throat cancer in 1946, and by the time of his death two years later, the disease had ravaged the man once nicknamed 'The Sultan of Swat.' His voice had become a hoarse whisper, and photographs from his last public appearance at Yankee Stadium in June 1948—leaning on a bat for support, cap in hand—shocked fans who remembered his robust, barrel-chested swagger.
He died at Memorial Hospital in New York City, with his family at his side. The news hit America hard; Ruth wasn't just a ballplayer but a cultural institution who had single-handedly popularized the home run and rescued baseball's reputation after the 1919 Black Sox scandal.
His body lay in repose at the entrance to Yankee Stadium, the ballpark forever associated with 'the House That Ruth Built.' More than 75,000 mourners passed by in two days. When he was buried at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York, teammates and rivals alike understood they were burying not just a man but an era.
Key people: Babe Ruth