--- title: Read Babe Ruth's Obituary From August 1948 description: Babe Ruth "was unforgettable, even when he struck out," TIME observed after the baseball legend's Aug. 16, 1948, death from cancer. canonical: https://time.com/5250916/babe-ruth-anniversary/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-08-16T13:00:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:57:54.133Z article:section: History og:title: Read Babe Ruth's 1948 Obituary: 'He Was Unforgettable, Even When He Struck Out' og:description: "He was color itself—a fellow built on heroic, swaggering lines, an enormous head on a barrel of a body" og:url: https://time.com/5250916/babe-ruth-anniversary/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltba39d82199dc1303/69892e6b7cdbac77c5d5caa3/ruth.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Babe Ruth og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read Babe Ruth's 1948 Obituary: 'He Was Unforgettable, Even When He Struck Out' twitter:description: "He was color itself—a fellow built on heroic, swaggering lines, an enormous head on a barrel of a body" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltba39d82199dc1303/69892e6b7cdbac77c5d5caa3/ruth.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read Babe Ruth's 1948 Obituary: 'He Was Unforgettable, Even When He Struck Out'  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Aug 16, 2018 1:00 PM UTC  An ailing Babe Ruth thanking crowd during Babe Ruth Day at Yankee Stadium in 1947 An ailing Babe Ruth thanking crowd during Babe Ruth Day at Yankee Stadium in 1947Ralph Morse—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Aug 16, 2018 1:00 PM UTC When Babe Ruth was [honored](http://time.com/vault/issue/1947-05-05/page/49/) in 1947 with a special day for “fans, players and the management of the game … to unite in a salute and join in a prayer for his early recovery,” as MLB commissioner Happy Chandler [put it,](https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1947/03/09/99334103.html?action=click&contentCollection=Archives&module=ArticleEndCTA®ion=ArchiveBody&pgtype=article&pageNumber=154) the baseball legend was [dying of cancer](https://www.popsci.com/babe-ruth-cancer-treatment) and [hadn’t played professionally since 1935.](http://time.com/3896371/babe-ruth-1935-retirement/) Still, his grip on baseball was firm enough that [nearly 60,000 people](https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0427.html#article) turned out for Babe Ruth Day at Yankee Stadium in New York City, and countless more around the country. The day was dedicated to appreciating the man whose name remains synonymous with his sport to this day. Addressing the crowd, Ruth spoke of what made baseball special — the fact that it took serious training to develop the necessary skills, for one — and expressed his gratitude for the event. “There’s been so many lovely things said about me,” Ruth [told](https://books.google.com/books?id=sF-IffVplwEC&pg=PT88&lpg=PT88&dq=%22There%27s+been+so+many+lovely+things+said+about+me,+I%27m+glad+I+had+the+opportunity+to+thank+everybody.+Thank+you.%22&source=bl&ots=Dg5DJGWsHZ&sig=UM6KwjShjoMD23EkExE1N8LBn3k&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj%5F%5FsuwhdHaAhUyhuAKHVadAmgQ6AEIKTAA#v=onepage&q=%22There%27s%20been%20so%20many%20lovely%20things%20said%20about%20me%2C%20I%27m%20glad%20I%20had%20the%20opportunity%20to%20thank%20everybody.%20Thank%20you.%22&f=false) the crowd. “I’m glad I had the opportunity to thank everybody.” But Ruth couldn’t hide that he was sick. His voice sounded bad and it felt bad too, he admitted. “He wasn’t the Babe Ruth everyone remembers,” photographer Ralph Morse [would tell LIFE.com](http://time.com/3878589/babe-ruth-color-photos-of-the-yankees-legend-late-in-his-career/) of that day. “He put a brave face on it, but he was ravaged.” When he died on Aug. 16, 1948, just a little more than a year after that Babe Ruth Day and a few months after his [farewell to Yankee Stadium](http://100photos.time.com/photos/nat-fein-babe-ruth), TIME’s obituary noted how surprising it was that Ruth was even able to make it to that celebration of his life, months after “sports editors everywhere prepared obituaries.” As the remembrance explained, that stamina shouldn’t have been surprising: --- > “” --- ### Babe Ruth: Color Photos of an Ailing Legend  Not published in LIFE. Babe Ruth in the locker room at Yankee Stadium, June 13, 1948, the day his number was retired. Ralph Morse—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Babe Ruth waits to address the Yankee Stadium crowd, June 13, 1948. Ralph Morse—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Babe Ruth — ravaged by cancer, he would die two months later — and two unidentified men in the locker room at Yankee Stadium, June 13, 1948. Ralph Morse—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  An obviously ailing Babe Ruth thanks the crowd at Yankee Stadium on Babe Ruth Day, April 27, 1947. Ralph Morse—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Yankee Stadium, April 27, 1947 -- Babe Ruth Day. Ralph Morse—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Babe Ruth and his wife, Claire, in the stands at Yankee Stadium on Babe Ruth Day, April 27, 1947. Ralph Morse—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Babe Ruth waits to speak at Yankee Stadium, June 13, 1948, the day the Bombers retired his number. Ralph Morse—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Babe Ruth thanks the crowd during his final public appearance in pinstripes, June 13, 1948. Ralph Morse—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Leaning on a bat for support, Babe Ruth waits to speak at Yankee Stadium, June 13, 1948, the day the Bombers retired his famous No. 3. Ralph Morse—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images Maybe that feeling of intimacy was why so many people had trouble believing he was really gone. “Newspaper switchboards lit up within minutes after the radio bulletin, and were jammed for hours,” TIME [reported](http://time.com/vault/issue/1948-08-30/page/48/) the following week. “At Memorial Hospital five extra operators were put on, to repeat over & over that Ruth had died.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5250916/babe-ruth-anniversary/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5250916/babe-ruth-anniversary/"},"headline":"Read Babe Ruth's 1948 Obituary: 'He Was Unforgettable, Even When He Struck Out'","datePublished":"2018-08-16T13:00:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:57:54.133Z","description":"\"He was color itself—a fellow built on heroic, swaggering lines, an enormous head on a barrel of a body\"","url":"https://time.com/5250916/babe-ruth-anniversary/","keywords":["Sports","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltba39d82199dc1303/69892e6b7cdbac77c5d5caa3/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/bltba39d82199dc1303/69892e6b7cdbac77c5d5caa3/ruth.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Babe Ruth","caption":"Babe Ruth","creditText":"Ralph Morse—The LIFE Picture Collection/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/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5250916/babe-ruth-anniversary/","name":"Read Babe Ruth's 1948 Obituary: 'He Was Unforgettable, Even When He Struck Out'"}}]}] ```