[Ads-l] Babe Ruth Quote (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Stephen Goranson]

________________________________________
From: American Dialect Society ... on behalf of Mullins, Bill CIV (US) ...
Sent: Monday, November 10, 2014 12:25 PM
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Subject: Re: [ADS-L] Babe Ruth Quote (UNCLASSIFIED)



11/29/1947 _Jamestown [NY] Post-Journal_ p. 13 col 2
"Finally he earned $80,000, more than the President of the United States. When a cut was proposed in 1932, and that comparison was made, he said, "What the hell has Hoover got to do with this Anyway, I had a better year than he did." "
[From a review of Tom Meany's new book, _Babe Ruth_.  So I'd suspect Meany was the origin of the quote.  He was a NYC sportswriter who had covered Ruth, so the quote may be accurate.  Or maybe not.  As Wilson says, youneverknow]
***

>From page 139 of Babe Ruth by Tom Meany (NY: A.S. Barnes and Company, 1947):

....Those writers who were closest to Ruth attempted to convince the slugger that this was no time to hold out, with millions unemployed and thousands on the point of actual starvation. how much did Babe want, anyway?
"Just what I've been getting for the last two seasons," explained Ruth with what he thought was a great show of patience, "$80,000."
"$80,000 a year! In these times!" expostulated one of the writers. "Don't be silly , Babe. Why that's more than Hoover gets for being president of the United States."
"What the hell has Hoover got to do with this?" demanded the Babe. "Anyway, I had a better year than he did."....

Stephen Goranson
http://people.duke.edu/~goranson/




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