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.
To find more great daily sports history make sure to check out the Sports Jersey Dispatch and Pigskin Dispatch.
More From Sports History Network
Sports History On This Day: August 16
August 16, 1920 – It was a truly tragic day in MLB history. A pitch
Fantasy Football? When Halas Played Rockne (Great Lakes vs. Notre Dame 1918)
With electronic, board, and online fantasy games extremely popular for both football and baseball
Sports History On This Day: August 15
August 15, 1971 – It wasn’t exactly the easiest and most rewarding way to win
Sports History On This Day: August 14
August 14, 1936 – If I gave you a final sports score of 19-8 what
Sports History On This Day: August 13
August 13, 1910 – A mirror image on the baseball diamond? The Brooklyn Superbas and the
Sports History On This Day: August 12
August 12, 1948 – This really had to be a fun game to witness. Amazingly the Cleveland
Sports History On This Day: August 11
August 11, 1984 – World-class sprinter Carl Lewis earned the title of the fastest man on
Sports History On This Day: August 10
August 10, 1944 – Bucky Walters of the Cincinnati Reds pitched a whale of a