1925: Babe Ruth Nearly Dies After First Spring Training in St. Pete

1925 was the first ‒ and nearly the last ‒ year that Babe Ruth was in St. Petersburg for spring training. He was in poor health for most of the spring and collapsed on the train ride back to New York. He was hospitalized and London newspapers pronounced him dead. 

Some writers speculate that the 1925 illness was due to an unhealthy lifestyle and possibly some tainted bootleg gin he drank in a St. Petersburg speakeasy. Might that speakeasy have been the new nightclub in the Jungle – the Gangplank? 

 Brooklyn Standard Union, April 9, 1925

Ruth had experienced fever and gastric distress for several months while training in St. Petersburg that year. En route to New York, he collapsed on the train, recovered for a time, and then collapsed again. He was taken by wheelchair from Pennsylvania station in Manhattan to St. Vincent's Hospital where he underwent surgery for an intestinal abscess. He remained hospitalized for over a month.

Ruth recovered, but did not play the full season. Babe – and the Yankee team – had a sub par year. Maybe the Gangplank was responsible for the Yankees' surprisingly poor performance in 1925.

Brooklyn Standard Union, April 9, 1925

After the 1925 season, Ruth began to take his health seriously and golf became an important part of his preseason conditioning program. During most of his spring training years in St. Petersburg – from 1925 to 1935 – he would arrive in Florida a month prior to the start of spring training to play 36 holes of golf every day while wearing a rubber shirt – usually on the Jungle County Club course. Photographs of Babe Ruth on the Jungle course were printed in newspapers across the country, bringing fame to the Jungle Country Club.

Many sportswriters considered Ruth's career to be in serious decline in 1925. But he made a comeback and remained productive for another decade, thanks in large part to the Jungle golf course where he found an effective preseason conditioning routine.

Babe Ruth with other patients on hospital roof. He is holding his daughter, Dorothy.
Credit: worthpoint.com, colorized by photomyne.com.

Babe Ruth's Home Runs by Season

Boston Red Sox

1914 0     Pitcher - did not bat every day
1915 4
1916 3
1917 2
1918 11
1919 29    Began playing outfield mid-season

Yankees
1920 54    
1921 59
1922 35
1923 41
1924 46
1925 25     First year in St. Petersburg, missed part of season
1926 47
1927 60     Career high
1928 54
1929 46
1930 49
1931 46
1932 41
1933 34
1934 22

Boston Braves
1935 6      Retired June 2

Total
22 Yrs 714 home runs