--- description: The Great Bambino announced his retirement on June 2, 1935 title: Babe Ruth Retires: The Disappointing Reason He Left Baseball image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltebc452878d6781ed/6988519d8e060130a1460a7d/ruth.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Baseball](/tag/baseball/) ## Baseball Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The Disappointing Reason Babe Ruth Left Baseball  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jun 2, 2015 11:00 AM CUT  Babe Ruth wearing his New York Yankees uniform and cap, circa 1935 Babe Ruth wearing his New York Yankees uniform and cap, circa 1935Hulton Archive / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jun 2, 2015 11:00 AM CUT Every baseball fan—[well, except for that kid from _The Sandlot_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H52N9ojcJAY "undefined")—knows that Babe Ruth was one of the sport’s all-time greats. But at a time when beloved players embark on season-long [farewell tours](http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/derek-jeter-the-longest-goodbye-20140924 "undefined") to mark their departure from the sport, Ruth’s retirement—exactly 80 years ago, on June 2, 1935—came not with a great bang-bino, but rather with a whimper. Shortly before that year’s season began, Ruth had accepted an [offer](http://time.com/vault/issue/1935-03-11/page/44 "undefined") from the Boston Braves to leave the New York Yankees. In addition to playing for Boston, Ruth would serve as a vice president and assistant manager of the organization, and would also take home a percentage of profits on top of a $25,000 salary. But things quickly soured once Ruth arrived in Beantown. On June 2, about half-way through the season, he announced that he was done for good. As TIME [reported](http://time.com/vault/issue/1935-06-10/page/38 "undefined") the following week: --- > “” --- Ruth never again played professional baseball. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3896371/babe-ruth-1935-retirement/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3896371/babe-ruth-1935-retirement/"},"headline":"The Disappointing Reason Babe Ruth Left Baseball","datePublished":"2015-06-02T11:00:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T07:37:33.431Z","description":"The Great Bambino announced his retirement on June 2, 1935","url":"https://time.com/3896371/babe-ruth-1935-retirement/","keywords":["Baseball"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltebc452878d6781ed/6988519d8e060130a1460a7d/ruth.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltebc452878d6781ed/6988519d8e060130a1460a7d/ruth.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Babe Ruth","caption":"Babe","creditText":"Hulton Archive / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/baseball/","name":"Baseball"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3896371/babe-ruth-1935-retirement/","name":"The Disappointing Reason Babe Ruth Left Baseball"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Long and Winding Road to Paying College Players","description":"The man who helped win free agency for NFL and NBA players is seeking the same for college athletes","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/aHlzfYUV/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-10-06T16:37:37.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/aHlzfYUV.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3896371/babe-ruth-1935-retirement/","duration":"PT3M33S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3896371/babe-ruth-1935-retirement/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```