Babe Ruth Home Run Award Explained

Babe Ruth Home Run Award
Description:Home run leader in Major League Baseball
Presenter:Sullivan Artworks
Year:1998
Year2:2009

The Babe Ruth Home Run Award was an annual award presented to the previous season's leading home run hitter in Major League Baseball (MLB).[1] The award was named after the legendary Babe Ruth, who led the American League in homers 12 times.[2] It was first awarded to Mark McGwire after his record-setting 1998 season. The award was a 21lb, 20adj=midNaNadj=mid bronze statue of Ruth based on a 1920 photo of him following through on a tremendous swing.[3] [4]

The Babe Ruth Home Run Award was developed by brothers Jim and Brian Sullivan. Jim was the sculptor, while Brian focused on the marketing of the award. The Sullivans originally wanted to create a life-size statue of Ruth as a tourist attraction similar to the Michael Jordan statue. Unable to secure a sponsor, they created the award to honor Ruth.[2] [3] [4] The trophy was estimated to cost around $4,000 as of 2006, and it was funded by the Sullivans and given on behalf of their company, Sullivan Artworks based in Weymouth, Massachusetts.[2] MLB was not interested in sponsoring the award; the American League already honored its home run champion with a nameless award, and the National League offered the Mel Ott Award. Both the awards received little publicity. The Babe Ruth Home Run Award was usually presented to the recipient by Ruth's daughter, Julia Ruth Stevens, or her son, Tom Stevens.[5] [6] [7]

Key

YearYear the award was earned. The award is presented the following season.
Player Name of winner
TeamThe player's team when he won the award
HRNumber of home runs
^Indicates multiple award winners in the same year

List of winners

YearPlayerTeamscope'"col"HR[8] class=unsortable scope="col"Ref
St. Louis Cardinals70
Chicago Cubs50[9]
San Francisco Giants73
Texas Rangers57[10]
^Texas Rangers47
Philadelphia Phillies47[11]
Los Angeles Dodgers48[12]
Atlanta Braves51[13]
Philadelphia Phillies58
New York Yankees54[14]
Philadelphia Phillies48[15]
St. Louis Cardinals47[16]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Lelinwalla . Mark . A-Rod gets award from Babe Ruth's family at Stadium . June 21, 2008 . . https://web.archive.org/web/20120730123340/http://articles.nydailynews.com/2008-06-21/sports/17899410_1_babe-ruth-ruth-family-julia-ruth-stevens . July 30, 2012 . live .
  2. At the following webpage, scroll down to "The Babe Ruth Homerun Award" (including photograph of the award trophy and list of recipients through the 2007 season). Web site: 06 Fan Stories: Ultimate Babe Ruth Fans . BabeRuthCentral.com . Babe Ruth Central . https://web.archive.org/web/20110915121619/http://baberuthcentral.com/Fan%20Stories/#HomeRun . 2011-09-15 . dead . 2011-11-09 .
  3. News: Adams . Steve . South Shore brothers honor Babe Ruth . May 1, 1999 . SouthCoastToday.com . Patriot Ledger News Service . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304022928/http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F19990501%2FNEWS%2F305019975 . March 4, 2016 . live . July 13, 2017 .
  4. News: Harber . Paul . A statue fit for a home run king . July 22, 2001 . . sec. South Weekly, p. 12. Newspapers.com. March 23, 2023 . Brian Sullivan of Weymouth and Jim Sullivan of Braintree were in fine company last weekend. .
  5. News: Shlimbaum . Gus . A-Rod receives third Babe Ruth Award . July 4, 2008 . . https://web.archive.org/web/20121106220944/http://www.patriotledger.com/sports/x875596501/A-Rod-recieves-third-Babe-Ruth-Award . November 6, 2012 . live .
  6. News: Wedge . Dave . Yes we can... borrow slogans . October 25, 2009 . . https://web.archive.org/web/20091029093024/http://bostonherald.com/news/politics/view/20091025yes_we_can_borrow_slogans_a_vote_for_originality . October 29, 2009 . The award is usually given by Ruth's grandson or daughter..
  7. News: Logan . Bob . Could McGriff be in Baylor's lineup tonight? . July 16, 2001 . . section 2, page 3 . Stephens also presented Sosa with the Babe Ruth Home Run Award for leading both leagues with 50 homers last season..
  8. Web site: Yearly League Leaders & Records for Home Runs. baseball-reference.com. November 9, 2011.
  9. News: MacMullan . Jackie . A bronze homage to Babe . October 17, 2002 . . E3 . Newspapers.com. March 22, 2023. By 2001, they were paying their own way to present Sammy Sosa with his Babe Ruth Award..
  10. News: Sanchez . Jesse . Notes: Strength in the message . May 23, 2003 . MLB.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20121114070315/http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20030523&content_id=334171&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=null . November 14, 2012 . dead .
  11. Web site: Edward. de la Fuente. Byrd sees progress as he tries to work his way out of slump. June 20, 2004. The News Journal. D7. Newspapers.com. March 21, 2023.
  12. Web site: Ron. Griffitts. Adrian Beltre: Consistency proves to be greatness. August 12, 2017. The Daily Advocate. 8. Newspapers.com. March 21, 2023.
  13. News: Barry mows 'em down. July 9, 2006. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. B4. Newspapers.com. March 23, 2023. Before Saturday's game, Jones received the Babe Ruth Award for leading the major with 51 homers in 2005..
  14. News: Giese Error Leads To Four-Run Seventh As Reds Blank Yanks . June 21, 2008 . . . https://archive.today/20111108215938/http://www.wpxi.com/mlb/16674416/detail.html . November 8, 2011 . dead .
  15. This Week at Citizens Bank Park (August 28 – September 3) . August 27, 2009 . . https://web.archive.org/web/20140421081730/http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20090827&content_id=6650780&vkey=pr_phi&fext=.jsp&c_id=phi . April 21, 2014 . dead .
  16. News: Leach . Matthew . Freese expects to return by spring . September 17, 2010 . stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com . MLB Advanced Media . https://web.archive.org/web/20120201225800/http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100917&content_id=14772020&notebook_id=14772026&vkey=notebook_stl&c_id=stl . February 1, 2012 . dead .

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