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In 1928, Babe Ruth led the New York Yankees to a World Series win with a .625 batting average against the St. Louis Cardinals. But just a few months later, he faced a difficult loss. His first wife, Helen, with whom he had shared 15 years of marriage, passed away unexpectedly in January 1929.
According to RetroSimba, the two had been living apart, but the news of her death deeply shocked Ruth. Helen died in a fire that was investigated for possible foul play. She was only 31 years old.
“My wife and I have not lived together for the last three years,” Ruth told reporters in January 1929. “During that time, I have seldom met her. I have done all that I can to comply with her wishes. Her death is a great shock to me.” (H/T RetroSimba)
Three months after making his MLB debut on Oct. 17, 1914, Ruth and Helen were married at a Catholic Church in Ellicott City, Maryland. At the time Ruth was 19 and Helen was 16.
Even though the two had drifted apart, Babe Ruth was described by RetroSimba as emotional, with "red-rimmed eyes" following the news. No foul play was determined, and the fire was reportedly caused by overloaded electrical wires and traces of amateur repair work, as per the fire inspector.
The Boston Globe reported at the time:
“There was no indication of violence and the condition of the body was consistent with a theory of death from suffocation in a fire."
Babe Ruth's marriages and personal life
Although Babe Ruth and his first wife, Helen, were separated at the time of her passing, he remarried shortly thereafter to Claire Merritt Ruth. They remained together from 1929 until Ruth's death in 1948 at the age of 53. Ruth had retired from baseball in 1935 and did not marry again.
Regarding his children, Ruth and Helen adopted a daughter they named Dorothy in 1921. Ruth's second daughter, Julia, was Claire's child from before the marriage, as per Babe Ruth Central.
