Life That Ruth Built

Marshall Smelser was for many years on the history faculty of the University of Notre Dame. The author of The Winning of Independence (1973) and other books, he was also a musician and dedicated baseball scholar.

"Smelser demonstrates that a good historian can write good sports history and that good sports history makes good history. Of course Smelser had an ideal subject: Babe Ruth, the Sultan of Swat, the Colossus of Clout, the Bambino. But the author made the most of his opportunity."—Eugene Murdock, American Historical Review "Smelser, who possesses that rare combination of training as a professional historian with a technical knowledge of baseball, has produced a well-written, comprehensive, and interpretive account of one of America's greatest popular heroes, based on research that is as thorough as possible."—Harold Seymour, Journal of American History "One of the best sports biographies ever; Smelser beautifully evokes the life of baseball's most wondrous player and the times he lived in."—Donald Honig, author of Baseball When the Grass Was Real "Although many books have appeared about George Herman Ruth in the past half century, in my opinion Marshall Smelser's leads all the rest. Readers . . . will end up knowing the Babe even better than his teammates knew him."—Lawrence S. Ritter, author of The Glory of Their Times: The Story of the Early Days of Baseball Told by the Men Who Played It (1992) "Smelser's book is one of the first serious biographies of a sports figure, and is still one of the best."—Jules Tygiel, author of Baseball's Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy (1983)