Babe Ruth was a baseball player.
George Herman `` Babe '' Ruth Jr. ( February 6 , 1895 -- August 16 , 1948 ) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball ( MLB ) spanned 22 seasons , from 1914 through 1935 . Nicknamed `` The Bambino '' and `` The Sultan of Swat '' , he began his MLB career as a stellar left-handed pitcher for the Boston Red Sox , but achieved his greatest fame as a slugging outfielder for the New York Yankees . Ruth is regarded as one of the greatest sports heroes in American culture and is considered by many to be the greatest baseball player of all time . With regular playing time , he broke the MLB single-season home run record in 1919 . His big swing led to escalating home run totals that not only drew fans to the ballpark and boosted the sport 's popularity but also helped usher in the live-ball era of baseball , in which it evolved from a low-scoring game of strategy to a sport where the home run was a major factor .