>Nicknamed "The Sultan of Swat," George Herman Ruth, Jr., who became world famous as "Babe Ruth," is considered one of the great American sports heroes. He broke into the major leagues as a pitcher with the Boston Red Sox in 1914 and, after he was traded to the New York Yankees in 1919, his prolific prowess as a hitter led that team to four World Series titles. The Babe's larger than life personality and fame made him an ideal subject for the movies and he actually appeared in several shorts and features beginning with the 1920 silent film, Headin' Home, directed by Lawrence C. Windom, in which he played himself. He also appeared in several baseball shorts including Babe Comes Home (1927), Slide, Babe, Slide (1932) and Home Run on the Keys (1937). Other cameo appearances on the big screen include the Lou Gehrig biopic, The Pride of the Yankees (1942), with Gary Cooper, and, of course, Speedy (1928) with Harold Lloyd.

>Babe Ruth set a number of baseball records in his time, although most of them have been beaten by other ball players since then. Below is a list of a few of them, according to the statistics on www.baberuth.com

>Babe Ruth's career mark of 714 home runs stood as the all-time record for 39 years, until Hank Aaron hit his 715th on Opening Day of the 1974 season.

>Babe Ruth is the only player ever to hit three home runs in a World Series game on two separate occasions: Game 4 of the 1926 Series and Game 4 of the 1928 Series.

>Babe Ruth reached the 500 home run plateau in 5801 at-bats-the second fewest number in history.

>Babe Ruth holds the record for the longest complete game victory in World Series history. In 1916, as a member of the Boston Red Sox, Ruth pitched 14 innings to defeat the Brooklyn Robins. He only allowed one run in the first inning, then settled down to shut out the Robins for the next 13 innings for the 2-1 win. The Red Sox would go on to win the Series in 5 games.

>Babe Ruth led the American League in home runs 12 times (1918-1921, 1923, 1924, 1926-1931.) In 1927, Babe Ruth's 60 home runs accounted for 14% of all home runs in the American League that year. To put that figure in modern perspective, a player would need to hit over 340 home runs in a season to account for 14% of the American League's total homerun output.