Babe Ruth Day at Yankee Stadium

April 27, 1947, was declared Babe Ruth Day across every ballpark in organized baseball. The ceremony centered on Yankee Stadium, where 58,339 fans gathered to honor Ruth, who was visibly ill with the nasopharyngeal cancer that would kill him nearly sixteen months later.

Ruth's voice, once booming, came out as a rasp through the stadium microphone. "The only real game, I think, in the world, baseball," he told the crowd, his voice faltering. The speech was brief. Photographs from the day show Ruth in his familiar camel-hair coat, his body a fraction of what it had been during his playing years.

Every major league park held a simultaneous ceremony. Radio carried Ruth's speech nationally. It was the first time baseball had honored a living player with this kind of coordinated, league-wide tribute.