Cancer Type – Throat
Bio – The American Baseball hero lost his battle to throat cancer at the age of 53, partially brought on by his fondness for tobacco and liquor.
Short Story – Nicknamed the “Bambino,” this Major League Baseball star played from 1914 – 1935, 22 seasons. Considered by many to be the greatest player of all time, achieving his greatest fame as a slugging outfielder for the New York Yankees.
Babe Ruth was a larger-than-life legend in the Roaring Twenties. Yet, it wasn’t until after his career in 1946, that he was diagnosed with a malignant tumor in his neck. Experiencing severe pain in his left eye, doctors removed a mass that had encircled his left carotid artery in November 1946. He received post-op radiation therapy and left the hospital 80 pounds lighter, 4 months later (February 1947).
Ruth suffered from nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPCA), a rare tumor located at the back of the nose near the eustachian tube.
He underwent experimental treatment, not knowing it was for cancer. His case was one of the first to use the methotrexate drug.
Babe Ruth passed in 1948, believing he was “The Luckiest Man” in the world.
Image Credits – By Irwin, La Broad, & Pudlin. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
| Born | February 6, 1895, Baltimore, Maryland |
| Died | August 16, 1948 (aged 53), Manhattan, New York |
| Batted: Left | Threw: Left |
| MLB debut | |
| July 11, 1914, for the Boston Red Sox | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| May 30, 1935, for the Boston Braves | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .342 |
| Hits | 2,873 |
| Home runs | 714 |
| Runs batted in | 2,213 |
| Win–loss record | 94–46 |
| Earned run average | 2.28 |
| Teams | |
| Boston Red Sox (1914–1919) | |
| New York Yankees (1920–1934) | |
| Boston Braves (1935) | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| 2× All-Star (1933, 1934) | |
| 7× World Series champion (1915, 1916, 1918, 1923, 1927, 1928, 1932) | |
| AL MVP (1923) | |
| AL batting champion (1924) | |
| 12× AL home run leader (1918–1921, 1923, 1924, 1926–1931) | |
| 6× AL RBI leader (1919–1921, 1923, 1926, 1928) | |
| AL ERA leader (1916) | |
| New York Yankees No. 3 retired | |
| Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame | |
| Major League Baseball All-Century Team | |
| Major League Baseball All-Time Team | |
| Other career achievements and records | |
| Member of the National | |
| Baseball Hall of Fame | |
| Inducted | 1936 |
| Vote | 95.13% |
