No One Told Babe Ruth He Had Cancer, but His Death Changed the Way We Fight It

Great all-round baseball player, Babe Ruth (George Herman Ruth, 1895 - 1948) shakes hands with the 29th President of the USA, Warren Harding. After the handshake Babe Ruth hit a home run to help his team, the New York Yankees win the third game of the series with the Wash. Keystone/Getty Images

Eleanor Cummins

George Herman Ruth was sick. It had all started with a deep, searing pain behind his left eye. Now, he could hardly swallow. And the pain seemed to be seeping down his body, like an invisible weight tugging at his hips and legs. Soon, he’d have to use his bat as a cane.

But he was no ordinary patient. He was the Babe, the greatest baseball player who had ever lived. And his medical team at what is now Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan, just a short train ride south from Yankee Stadium, intended to treat him as such.