Babe Ruth was a person.
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 . Although Ruth twice won 23 games in a season as a pitcher and was a member of three World Series championship teams with Boston , he wanted to play every day and was allowed to convert to an outfielder . With regular playing time , he broke the MLB single-season home run record in 1919 .