Sports History On This Day: June 2

June 2, 1935 – All good things must come to an end, in fact even the great careers of athletes. It occurred on this day that future Baseball Hall of Fame legend Babe Ruth announced his retirement as a player at 40 years of age. Ruth, most famously of the New York Yankees, started his career as a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox from 1914 through 1919.

He was then famously traded to the Yankees and batted himself into immortality of the pinstriped team as he played in New York for 15 years. Few people realize that he in fact spent his final partial season as a player back in Boston in the NL as a member of the Boston Braves in 1935 before issuing this retirement notice.

He finished his career as the MLB’s leading Home Run hitter with 714, and that record lasted for almost 50 years until a future Braves player named Hank Aaron broke it.