Who is Claire Merritt Ruth?
Claire Merritt Ruth, whose real name was Clara Mae Merritt, was an American native of Athens, Georgia. She is best known for being the second wife of Babe Ruth an American professional baseball player. He is widely regarded as one of America’s greatest sports heroes and as the best baseball player of all time by fans of the game.
Claire Merritt Ruth: Bio Summary
Full name | Claire Merritt Ruth |
Date of birth | September 11, 1897 |
Age | Age, 79 ( 1897 – 1976) |
Place of birth | Athens, Georgia, United States |
Sex | Female |
Dead | October 25, 1976, New York, New York, United States |
Movie | Fancy Curves |
Place of burial | Gate Of Heaven, New York, United States |
Famous as | Babe Ruth’s second wife |
Spouse | Babe Ruth (m. 1929–1948), Frank Hodgson (m. ?–1922) |
Children | Julia Ruth Stevens |
Biography
Claire Merritt Ruth was born on (September 11, 1897 – October 25, 1976), in Athens, Georgia, United States. She was a native of Athens, Georgia, in the United States, and was best known for being Babe Ruth’s second wife. Babe Ruth was a professional baseball player in the United States. He played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball between the years 1914 and 1935.
ALSO, READ: Julia Ruth Stevens: Babe Ruth’s daughter dies at 102
Age
Claire Merritt Ruth was born in ,(1897-1976), Age 79
Career
Claire Merritt Ruth’s professional career is unknown. However, talking about her famous husband Babe Ruth’s professional career:
Babe Ruth was born on February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948. He was an American professional baseball player.
His greatest reputation came as a slugging outfielder for the New York Yankees, but he began his Major League Baseball career as a standout left-handed pitcher with the Boston Red Sox. Many people believe Ruth to be the greatest baseball player of all time, making him one of the most revered sports figures in American society. Ruth was one of the “first five” original members of the Baseball Hall of Fame when it was established in 1936.
From 1914 until 1935, he played professionally in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 22 seasons.
When he was seven years old, Brother Matthias Boutlier of the Xaverian Brothers, the school’s disciplinarian, and a skilled baseball player, sent Ruth to St. Mary’s Industrial School for Boys, a reformatory. While there, Brother Matthias Boutlier served as a mentor for Ruth. Ruth signed a contract with the Baltimore Orioles in 1914 to play Minor League baseball, but he was quickly traded to the Red Sox.
He had established a reputation by 1916 for being a great pitcher who occasionally hit long home runs, an accomplishment unheard of for any player during the dead-ball era. Ruth was able to change to an outfielder because he wanted to play every day despite twice winning 23 games in a season as a pitcher and being a part of three Red Sox World Series championship teams.
Ruth spent 15 years with the Yankees, during which time the team won four World Series titles and seven American League (AL) pennants. After a brief time with the Boston Braves, he announced his retirement from the sport the following year. Twelve times during his career, he had the most home runs in the American League.
For his baseball prowess and off-field propensities for drinking and womanizing, Ruth attracted a lot of press attention and general public attention throughout his career. He was not given the chance to manage a major league club when he retired as a player, most likely due to his bad behavior at various points in his playing career.
Ruth appeared frequently in public during his later years, particularly to promote American efforts in World War II. He was diagnosed with nasopharyngeal cancer in 1946 and passed away from it two years later. Ruth is still adored in American culture.
ALSO, READ: Helen Ruth died in a house fire: All to know about Babe Ruth’s wife
Marriage
On February 16, 1921, Claire Merritt Ruth’s first husband, Frank Hodgson, passed away, leaving her with a daughter named Julia. In 1923, she first met Ruth. At this time, Ruth was still wed to his first wife, Helen Woodford. Sadly Ruth Woodford died in a house fire on January 11, 1929. Ruth and Claire got married and remained together till Ruth passed away.
Years later, she admitted that she was partially to blame for the strained bond between her husband and comrade Lou Gehrig. Claire claims that Ruth’s mother told Gehrig that Dorothy, the Ruths’ adoptive daughter, was not as stylishly dressed as Julia, Claire’s real daughter; when Ruth was told this, he angrily ordered that Gehrig never talk to him off the field again.
Until the day of Gehrig’s widely recognized “I’m the luckiest man on the face of this earth” speech in 1939, Ruth and Gehrig were not seen together. Later, Claire acknowledged that she had overreacted and apologized profusely for being entirely to blame for the conflict between the two players, which, despite Claire’s assertion, was not the only reason for it.
Place of death
At the Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York, Claire Merritt Ruth is buried next to her husband. Instead of 1897, her birth year is listed as 1900 on the tombstone.