The movie takes place in the 60s..by that time Ruth was already retired for close to 30 years and dead for close to 15.
So why would a bunch of 12 year olds be so obsessed with him? Yeah he's the best ball player ever but why not love Mickey Mantle or Willie Mays? Or atleast someone who played for the Dodgers?
when i was a kid in LA during the late 80s, early 90s playing baseball, we talked about babe ruth quite a bit, I imagine kids today still do - he's quite possibly still the greatest player to ever play the game. That's what you do when you're a kid, idolize the greatest; playing football we knew who Jim Brown was, etc.
shareEveryone on this thread saying Babe Ruth is the best without explaining why sounds like the kids in the movie.
Grant discovered raptor eggs in Jurassic Park
He wasn't just the best, as every era of every sport has someone considered the best. It's that he was the best by an exponential degree. There were seasons where by himself he had more homers than entire other teams combined. To put it in perspective, in 1920 Ruth led the American League with 54 home runs. By comparison, Cy Williams led the National League with 15. That's pretty lopsided.
And his success hitting home runs made changed the way the game was played since they weren't really a big part of the game before he came along. That was a big change both on the field in terms of winning games, as well as making baseball a more successful sport since everyone loves seeing them.
Most big time home run hitters may have a decent batting average, but Ruth's was insane (he had 8 seasons where he led the league in homers AND batted over 0.350). Mike Schmidt led the league 8 times in homers and only batted over 0.300 once. Mark McGwire led the league 4 times in home runs and his highest average was barely over 0.300.
Ruth was arguably the first sports superstar. There were plenty of great athletes before Ruth, but none were considered bigger than their own sport. There may have been a few others in boxing in the early 20th century with a similar status, but even they didn't compare to Ruth.
Everyone on this thread saying Babe Ruth is the best without explaining why sounds like the kids in the movie
Babe Ruth came along at a time when sports superstars were almost virtually unheard of.
shareWhen somebody is the greatest of all time in a given sport, and you take part in the sport, they'll come up.
Golf fans will talk about Nicklaus (retired 11 years ago)
Basketball fans will talk about Jordan (retired 13 years ago)
Hockey fans will talk about Gretzky (retired 17 years ago)
Soccer fans will talk about Pele (retired 39 years ago)
Cricket fans will talk about Bradman (retired 67 years ago)
I suspect the problem is that you have too many paperclips up your nose
You make an excellent point (although perhaps inadvertently, as I'll explain).
You say "Golf fans will talk about Nicklaus...Basketball fans will talk about Jordan...."
A fan of an individual team will always have their favorites, even if those players are not necessarily well-known universally. But a fan of that sport has respect and reverence for the greatest players in that arena. I root for the Mets, so I shouldn't care about the accomplishments of other National League teams, but I'm more than that. I'm a baseball fan who roots for the Mets, so I am grateful for Derek Jeter, Cal Ripken, Jr., Ozzie Smith, and yes, even Chipper Jones, even though he always killed the Mets. Because I'm a fan of baseball who happens to root for the Mets. Anyone who gives me good baseball will always get my respect and admiration.
Those Sandlot kids were fans of the game first and foremost. The narrator even says so. Baseball was more than a game for them; it was life. And Ruth was bigger than life.
I was a kid playing baseball in the '60s, and Babe Ruth was still the most famous and most frequently mentioned baseball player, even though he'd been retired for thirty years and dead for over fifteen. All the kids knew about him, almost as if he was still playing. He was the overarching iconic representative of all of baseball.
shareI was the same age as the kids in the movie, but during the 90's. Little League players even then still knew about Babe Ruth. He is one of those larger than life figures. Lou Gehrig, Joe Dimaggio, and Mickey Mantle (pretty much the Yankee greats) were also known and I lived in California! I didn't know about Hank Aaron or Roger Maris, despite them being more recent players, until I purchased a Guinness Book of World Records and was surprised to not find Babe Ruth's name for the home run records.
This is no different than current kids knowing all about Michael Jordan, but not necessarily the other great players of his era. I have a feeling that Jordan will be talked about for many generations to come, while others will fade from memory. Even players who play today.