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?
You have to remember, Mickey Mantle was a NY Yankee hero. Willie Mays was a NY Giant hero. Babe Ruth was a universal baseball legend. Babe Ruth was larger than life. These kids grew up in LA. The other guys played in NY (the Giant's didn't move to SF until '58). These kids' parents grew up hearing stories of Babe Ruth, probably listening to the games he played in.
The other thing is that for people who aren't necessarily baseball fans probably know very little about "the Mick" or "the Say Hey kid", but they all know of the greatness of "the Babe". And the movie makes this point in the dream Benny has about Babe Ruth, he states "heroes get remembered, but legends never die".
Understand that Babe Ruth was a big legend. Legends never die, according to the film. Also, Benny makes a statement about Ruth being the best player that ever lived so they sort of felt awed by him. It is like filmmakers saying that Scorcese and Spielberg are geniuses, but Welles topped them all.
people are still talking about Babe Ruth and he's now been dead 70 or so years. That's just how good Babe Ruth was.
When you consider how good he was compared to those he played against, and when you consider how his numbers stack up even today, and when you consider the sorts of things he did on a baseball field, he was far and away the greatest player who'll ever play.
In 2001 when barry Bonds hit 73 homeruns, the furthest he hit was something like 465 feet. In 1921 alone, Babe Ruth hit 10 balls over 500 feet. And Mickey Mantle, Duke Snider, Willie Mays, or anybody never hit a called shot homerun.
Even today when people think of baseball, they think of Babe Ruth
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The movie made a big point of heroes vs. legends. "Heroes get remembered but legends never die." I think the boys were probably fans of players from their time (Benny had a Hank Aaron baseball card in his dream) but revered Babe Ruth as a legend.
I live in Edmonton and a lot of kids here seem to be fans of Wayne Gretzky. He hasn't played hockey in 14 years (and in Edmonton for 25 years) so I think, to them, he's part of a legendary past: A Golden Age when the Oilers were amazing and had the best player of all time in his prime playing for them.
I just came her to say that it would be like if a kids ice hockey movie (a la The Mighty Ducks) was made today and Wayne Gretzky (the greatest and most famous ice hockey player to ever live) was continuously brought up even though Gretzky has been retired from the NHL since 1999 (now, over 20 years ago).
shareWhy are you under the impression that they were obsessed with Babe Ruth over 60's contemporaries? Ruth is the greatest that ever played so naturally any baseball fan knows him well. That being said, it just so happens that they played with a ball that was signed by Babe Ruth. They lost an heirloom and thats what they had to get back. Thats the only reason Babe Ruth was in the movie. Nowhere in the movie does it indicate that each kid had a Babe Ruth poster on their wall and werent big fans of current day players.
I <3 Emily Blunt
The heavy kid made numerous references to the Babe before they played with the ball.
Everyone of em knew one of his nicknames too.
... yeah, and? lol
When I was a kid, I knew more about Ruth and Gehrig than I did about modern day players and that was like 25 years after these kids.
Babe Ruth was the greatest baseball player of all time. Its perfectly natural for any kid to consider him their favorite player. But nowhere in the movie does it hint that these kids didnt also have favorite modern day players as well.
I <3 Emily Blunt
The biggest record in sports, especially in the 1960s, is arguably the all time home run record. Ruth not only held it at the time, nobody in the early '60s was even close. Ruth would have been a legend by then.
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly."
The biggest record in sports, especially in the 1960s, is arguably the all time home run record. Ruth not only held it at the time, [u]nobody in the early '60s was even close[/u]. Ruth would have been a legend by then.
You're right. I thought about Maris and his single season record. I was talking about the career record that's what I mean when I said no one was close.
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly."
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