Captivating Babe Ruth Quotes From the Great Bambino

Babe Ruth is often considered to be one of the best baseball players that ever lived. The Babe Ruth quotes below discuss his upbringing, humor, and love of baseball. 

What makes Babe Ruth a great baseball player? 

Babe Ruth (born George Herman Ruth, Jr.) was born in 1895 in Baltimore, Maryland. His love of baseball began in childhood. He played for an all-boys reformatory: St. Mary’s Industrial School for Boys.

Ruth played for different teams in the MLB including the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, and the Boston Braves.

In his 22-season career, he was a seven-time World Series champion, two-time All-Star, and the home-run leader for twelve seasons. Ruth was also a part of the inaugural class of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936. 

Enjoy the quotes from the Colossus of Clout below! 

Don’t forget to also check out these baseball quotes for the inner child in you.

Powerful Babe Ruth quotes

1. “Who is richer? The man who is seen, but cannot see? Or the man who is not being seen, but can see?” – Babe Ruth

2. “The old dogs are going to do a lot of barking. But they’ve barked before. And you know—a barking dog seldom bites.” – Babe Ruth

3. “A man who works for another is not going to be paid any more than he is worth; you can bet on that. A man ought to get what he can earn. Don’t make any difference whether it’s running a farm, running a bank or running a show; a man who knows he’s making money for other people ought to get some of the profits he brings in. It’s business, I tell you.” – Babe Ruth

4. “My recent illness proved to me that I’ve reached the place now where I’ve got to take particularly good care of myself. A lot of the boys have been kidding me because they said that illness “scared me to death.” Frankly, it did scare me and I’m still scared. I hope to stay scared to the point where I never forget that taking care of myself is the most important thing in my life from now on.” – Babe Ruth

5. “Don’t be afraid to take advice. There’s always something new to learn.” – Babe Ruth

6. “You can bother me to autograph anything you want. When you quit bothering me to sign autographs, then I’ll know I’m through. Slip me the old apple and a pen. And tell ’em to keep on bothering me.” – Babe Ruth

7. “They can boo and hoot me all they want. That doesn’t matter to me. But when a fan calls insulting names from the grandstand and becomes abusive I don’t intend to stand for it.” – Babe Ruth

8. “If it wasn’t for baseball, I’d be in either the penitentiary or the cemetery.” – Babe Ruth

9. “A part of control is learning to correct your weaknesses.” – Babe Ruth

Babe Ruth quotes about baseball

10. “You just can’t beat the person who never gives up.” – Babe Ruth

11. “The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime.” – Babe Ruth

12. “All ballplayers should quit when it starts to feel as if all the baselines run uphill.” – Babe Ruth

13. “It’s the old Babe on the old job—a ballplayer. It has been the only job I ever knew.” – Babe Ruth

14. “My idea of a real ballplayer is the fellow who can take the bad breaks with a grin and come up fighting.” – Babe Ruth

15. “Hack Wilson must have great wrist action, for no short, stocky guy is going to hit that many home runs without a lot of it.” – Babe Ruth

16. “I copied (Joe) Jackson’s style because I thought he was the greatest hitter I had ever seen, the greatest natural hitter I ever saw. He’s the guy who made me a hitter.” – Babe Ruth

17. “I had only one superstition. I made sure to touch all the bases when I hit a home run.” – Babe Ruth

18. “Baseball was, is and always will be to me the best game in the world.” – Babe Ruth

19. “The only real game, I think, in the world is baseball.” – Babe Ruth

20. “I decided to pick out the greatest hitter to watch and study, and (Joe) Jackson was good enough for me. I liked the way he kept his right foot forward, being a left-handed hitter, and his left foot back. That gave him more body and shoulder power than the average hitter has.” – Babe Ruth

21. “I’d give a year of my life if I could hit a home run on opening day of this great new park.” – Babe Ruth

22. “I’m glad that I’ve played every position on the team, because I feel that I know more about the game and what to expect of the other fellows. It’s a pity some of our critics hadn’t learned the game from every position.” – Babe Ruth

23. “Cobb is a prick. But he sure can hit. God Almighty, that man can hit.” – Babe Ruth

24. “I won’t be happy until we have every boy in America between the ages of six and sixteen wearing a glove and swinging a bat.” – Babe Ruth

25. “You know this baseball game of ours comes up from the youth – that means the boys. And after you’ve been a boy, and grow up to know how to play ball, then you come to the boys you see representing themselves today in our national pastime.” – Babe Ruth

26. “A good player never stops until he’s actually out, running as hard for first base on the almost-certain-to-be-caught fly or grounder as he would if he were sprinting the 100-yard dash.” – Babe Ruth

27. “Baseball changes through the years. It gets milder.” – Babe Ruth

28. “What I am, what I have, what I am going to leave behind me – all this I owe to the game of baseball.” – Babe Ruth

Babe Ruth quotes about pitching and swinging

29. “I’m afraid that someday I’ll kill some pitcher. It is one thing I’ve always dreaded…A couple of pitchers have asked me not to hit the ball back at them, and I always try not to. Why should I try to hurt any ballplayers? We are all out there trying to make a living, and no man worthwhile would deliberately try to injure another.” – Babe Ruth

30. “How to hit home runs: I swing as hard as I can, and I try to swing right through the ball… The harder you grip the bat, the more you can swing it through the ball, and the farther the ball will go. I swing big, with everything I’ve got. I hit big or I miss big. I like to live as big as I can.” – Babe Ruth

31. “Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.” – Babe Ruth

32. “Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.” – Babe Ruth

33. “Reading isn’t good for a ballplayer. Not good for his eyes. If my eyes went bad even a little bit I couldn’t hit home runs. So I gave up reading.” – Babe Ruth

34. “As soon as I got out there I felt a strange relationship with the pitcher’s mound. It was as if I’d been born out there. Pitching just felt like the most natural thing in the world. Striking out batters was easy.” – Babe Ruth

35. “I always swing at the ball with all my might. I hit or miss big and when I miss I know it long before the umpire calls a strike on me, for every muscle in my back, shoulders and arms is groaning.”  – Babe Ruth

36. “In pitching, control is the main thing—one thing you’ve got to have. Few pitchers have it. In batting, it is timing—waiting on the ball, not hurrying the swing—just as it is in golf. Most hitters in baseball swing too quickly. They can’t wait on the pitch.” – Babe Ruth

Funny Babe Ruth quotes

37. “Don’t ever forget two things I’m going to tell you. One, don’t believe everything that’s written about you. Two, don’t pick up too many checks.” – Babe Ruth

38. “I’ve never heard a crowd boo a homer, but I’ve heard plenty of boos after a strikeout.” – Babe Ruth

39. “Watch my dust.” – Babe Ruth

40. “Paris ain’t much of a town.” – Babe Ruth

41. “You’re an awful little guy to be such a big thief.” – Babe Ruth

42. “I’ll promise to go easier on drinking and to get to bed earlier, but not for you, fifty thousand dollars, or two-hundred and fifty thousand dollars will I give up women. They’re too much fun.” – Babe Ruth

43. “All I can tell them is pick a good one and sock it. I get back to the dugout and they ask me what it was I hit and I tell them I don’t know except it looked good.” – Babe Ruth

44. “Gee, it’s lonesome in the outfield. It’s hard to keep awake with nothing to do.” – Babe Ruth

45. “I didn’t mean to hit the umpire with the dirt, but I did mean to hit that bastard in the stands.” – Babe Ruth

46. “Let me show you how it’s done… Loser!” – Babe Ruth

Babe Ruth quotes about upbringing 

47. “I was a bad kid. I say this without pride but with a feeling that it is better to say it.” – Babe Ruth

48. “It was at St. Mary’s that I met and learned to love the greatest man I’ve ever known. His name was Brother Matthias. He was the father I needed. He taught me to read and write — and he taught me the difference between right and wrong.” – Babe Ruth

49. “I think my mother hated me.” – Babe Ruth

50. “I learned early to drink beer, wine and whiskey. And I think I was about 5 when I first chewed tobacco.” – Babe Ruth

You might also like these Hank Aaron quotes that speak to his love of baseball.

More Babe Ruth quotes

51. “Yesterday’s home runs don’t win today’s games.” – Babe Ruth

52. “Heroes get remembered, but legends never die.” – Babe Ruth

53. “Well, the good Lord and good luck must have been with me because I did exactly what I said I was going to do.” – Babe Ruth

54. “You should always go to other people funerals, or they won’t go to yours.” – George Herman Ruth

55. “I’d give a year of my life if I could hit a home run on opening day of this great new park.” – Babe Ruth

Do you always give 100% effort? 

When I’m pursuing my goals, I strive to think like Babe Ruth and give 100% effort. Even if I fail, I know that I tried my hardest. But when I’m giving my all, there’s a higher chance that I’ll reach the places that I want to go in life. 

I challenge you to take Babe Ruth’s strategy on your goals. Go big or go home. If you go forth with all your might, you’ll never wonder, “What if?” 

Which of these Babe Ruth quotes and sayings is your favorite? What athlete should we feature next on Everyday Power? Let us know your thoughts!