The Babe and Race

Much was made of the racial animus that Hank Aaron faced when he was chasing Babe Ruth's 714 career homerun total in 1974 and '75. A black man superseding a white man in one of baseball's most cherished records. Aaron thought that Ruth never had to face this kind of racial hate. But actually, he did.
Many people thought that Ruth had a mixed racial heritage, that he was a mulatto. That his legal father was not his biological father. The truth will never be known, not likely to be true, but the truth that is known is that Ruth faced racial taunting all of his life with the insinuation that he was half black.
Yankee management frequently called him that "big baboon." Southern cracker Ty Cobb rode him mercilessly. The Babe once charged into the locker room of the NY Giants and John McGraw to attack a Giant player who had yelled racial epithets throughout a just concluded game. Ruth was thought to be "not very bright," and this was the reason.
Eventually Ruth was run out of the game, and this was one of the reasons. Jane Leavy's biography is Americana.