Sports and Games
James Naismith , 1861-1939, American athletic director, inventor (1891) of basketball, b. Almonte, Ontario. While an instructor of physical education at the International YMCA Training School (now Springfield College) at Springfield, Mass., he originated basketball as a gymnasium sport. The game was originally played with a soccer ball and two peach bushel baskets, from which the game took its name. Twelve of the thirteen rules Naismith created are still basic to the game. Naismith was later (1898-1937) director of physical education at the Univ. of Kansas. Bibliography: See biography by B. L. Webb (1973).
Babe Ruth (George Herman Ruth), 1895-1948, American baseball player, considered by many the greatest of all baseball players, b. Baltimore. Early Life When he was seven years old his parents placed him in St. Mary's Industrial School (Baltimore), an institution for underprivileged boys. His days at St. Mary's were spent learning the tailor's trade and practicing baseball in his spare time. He began to play semiprofessional ball in Pennsylvania and was signed by the Baltimore Orioles (International League) in 1914. That same year he was sold as a pitcher to the Boston Red Sox of the American League. Major-League Career Ruth, a left hander, proved to be (1914-19) a formidable pitcher for the Red Sox and one of the most successful in major-league baseball, winning 87 and losing 44 games and winning three World Series games (one in 1916, two in 1918). However, because pitchers do not play in every game, in 1919 Ruth was shifted to the outfield, where his hitting prowess could be used consistently. The following year he was sold to the New York Yankees of the American League, and because of his batting feats and attractive public personality he greatly helped to salvage baseball's popularity, weakened by revelations that gamblers and players, in the so-called Black Sox scandal, had successfully conspired to influence the results of the 1919 World Series. Ruth hit the most home runs per season for several years (1919-21, 1923-24, 1926-30), tied for the home run lead in 1918...