Ladies man Babe Ruth gives some "hands on" coaching advice to a ladies baseball team, his wife Julia watching him like a hawk:
• Video Link
First half filmed in 1931 at old Wrigley Field in south Los Angeles, home of the Cub's minor league farm team the Angels. In this era, the Cubs also did their spring training on Catalina Island which Cubs owner and chewing gum magnate Bill Wrigley owned, and had a mansion overlooking Avalon. The expansion major league Angels played their first year (1961) at the same Wrigley Field. TV series "Home Run Derby" was also filmed here in the late 1950s and early 1960s. L.A.'s Wrigley Field was torn down in the late 1960s, but the one in Chicago survives and is now along with Fenway Park in Boston the oldest major league venue in baseball.
The game in the second half of the film appears to be at a park or school playing field on the west side of L.A. from the look of the Santa Monica Mountains on the horizon. Maybe someone will recognize the location from the large Fox MovieTheater and the gym or field house (?) that appears in some of the shots in the backround. Confident that one of the sleuths from the "Noirish L.A." blog can pinpoint it.
Ruth hit his famous "called shot" home run at Wrigley in Chicago in 1932, a year after this film short was made, when the Yankees and Cubs faced each other in the World Series. The Yankees won the series in 1932 mostly due to Ruth's slugging. When asked why he was paid more than President Hoover, Ruth said "I had a better year than he did". Ruth was a lifelong Democrat and backed Al Smith when he ran against Hoover in '28, and FDR when he ran against (and trounced) Hoover in '32. Ruth was a Roman Catholic, went to Mass regularly, and was an active Knights of Columbus member.
It is a pity Ruth never got a chance to manage a baseball team. He was briefly a player-coach-"vice president" of the Boston Braves after he was cut lose by the Yankees in 1935, and even more briefly a coach for the Brooklyn Dodgers later. But these executive positions were just for show and to sell more tickets, and Ruth had no real executive decision making power. As shown in the film, he had great knowledge of all aspects of baseball, and was a good teacher. But his "extracurricular activities" made the owners think that "a man who couldn't manage himself couldn't possibly manage other players". In fact, Ruth settled down after he married Julia. In a way, she was his "manager" as Ruth humorously called her in the film. Ruth died young in 1948 of throat and sinus cancer, perhaps caused by his cigar smoking. The cigar smoking, and drinking, may also have given him his distinctive gravelly voice heard in the film.
The Babe is almost universally regarded as perhaps the greatest, most talented and most rounded player in baseball history, not only because of his legendary power hitting and high batting average, but because he was a great pitcher as well. He could also steal bases, and was a capable outfielder. Ruth also loved golf, and was very good at it, playing almost at professional level. He also loved bowling, and usually averaged better than 200. Fishing and hunting were other sports he enjoyed.