Before Boston, Babe Ruth Was a Big Hit in Providence

Since their founding, the Boston Red Sox have had some legendary players but perhaps none as consequential as "The Babe."

It took many years for Red Sox Nation to shake Babe Ruth's hold on the team and its fans' collective psyche.

George Herman "Babe" Ruth was born on February 6, 1895, in Pigtown, Baltimore, Maryland. Ruth, also known as "The Bambino" and "The Sultan of Swat," played Major League Baseball for 22 seasons from 1914 to 1935.

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Ruth began his professional baseball career as a left-handed pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, but his time slamming the ball as an outfielder for the New York Yankees is what "The Babe" is best remembered for.

Ruth was a career .342 hitter with 2,873 hits and 714 home runs.

Ruth played for the Boston Red Sox from 1914 through 1919. After the 1919 season, the Red Sox owner, Harry Frazee, sold Ruth's contract to the New York Yankees, launching the 86-year "Curse of the Bambino" that haunted Red Sox Nation until being reversed in 2004.

Ruth retired in 1935 as a member of the Boston Braves.

In 1914, the Boston Red Sox acquired a young left-handed pitcher in a multi-player deal with the Baltimore Orioles. That pitcher was George Herman Ruth. With no room on the roster for Ruth, the Red Sox sent him to play for another new acquisition, the International League's Providence Grays in Providence, Rhode Island, Boston's minor league team.

The Providence Journal reports, "Ruth had pitched just twice for the Red Sox before he was sent to Providence, including a seven-inning outing the same July day he'd arrived after an overnight train ride from Baltimore."

Ruth was just 19 at the time.

Ruth, who won his first three World Series titles with the Red Sox, helped the Providence Grays win the International League pennant in 1914. It didn't take long before Babe Ruth was "shipping up to Boston."

Ruth died of cancer in New York on August 16, 1948. He was 53.