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Babe Ruth Mosaic

Rich Cronin has been a major New York Yankee fan for as long as he can remember. Growing up, he was also an artist and had aspirations of being a cartoonist until the reality of making a living took its hold. However, he always maintained his artwork but did not combine art and sports until he became involved in fundraising for autism education.

His son David was diagnosed with autism at the very early age of 18 months. The costs and time needed to bring a non existent education for him into the household placed memorabilia collecting and artwork the furthest from his mind. Unfortunately, he lost his son in Sep of 2002. Since then, he has made significant efforts to raise money and awareness for autism as well as the need to build effective schools and treatment programs. Suddenly, his art and memorabilia became the perfect medium to start raising funds. He started making shadow boxes for signed baseballs and bats, making paintings and finally the mosaics for fundraisers. They all received their praise, however, the mosaic of Babe Ruth captured everyone’s attention.

After a few years, the mosaics ran their course and I retired them from the fundraisers while entering other pieces of Ruth Pop art. However, everyone’s interest in the mosaic’s still remained and people started to convince me to bring them to the public. The combination of this piece of artwork and Babe Ruth Central became a perfect match.

BRC Q1: "Can you tell us some of your baseball memories growing up as a kid?"

Being a part of a family that is primarily from the Boston area, it doesn’t come without its price. When I was young, I remember listening to the Yankee games on the radio or secretly watching them on TV and always running out to collect the next group of baseball cards that contained the worlds worst gum; then throwing out any card that wasn’t a New York Yankee. The mystique and heritage of the Yankees just captured me for some reason. Growing up in an era when the Yankees weren’t doing very well, the comic books always pointed to the great heroics of Mantle, Gehrig, and of course Ruth. This is where my interest and the love of the ”Babe” became firmly established.

BRC Q2: "Are you an artist by trade or is this a hobby for you?"

I am not an artist by trade but I am an artist at heart. My aspirations of being an artist slowly withered away at a young age when the reality of earning income came into play. It is very difficult to become an artist and maintain a livelihood. I have always maintained keeping up with my paintings, drawing, sports creations, etc. but I kept this up purely as a hobby.

When my son was diagnosed with autism, any and all creativity ceased as the cost of an education for a child with autism is astronomical. It has become ironic that after my son’s passing, that the art that could not be done is now helping schools to educate their children.

BRC Q3: "How did you get started making Mosaics?"

I started creating mosaics as a challenge from my oldest son. We would see a painting, or a sports themed shadowbox or something similar and would always say, “Can you do that for an autism auction?”. We had a large collection of Topps Micro Baseball cards as we had been collecting sports related material for some time. His challenge for me was to create an iconic player out of them.

BRC Q4: "What was your first Mosaic?"

My first mosaic was that of Mickey Mantle. Very quickly there after, I started creating several other baseball greats including Lou Gehrig, Ted Williams, Derek Jeter, and then ultimately Babe Ruth. They can all be considered the original series that I still have in storage. Some worked out well, and others you really needed to make significantly larger to understand the detail and identify the athlete.

BRC Q5: "Why did you decide to start creating a Mosaic of Babe Ruth?"

Creating and then maintaining the production of the Babe Ruth mosaic was simply a “no brainer” for me. He is the single most identifiable person in baseball, making the mosaic identifiable to everyone who sees it. There have been several baseball players throughout history that have special meaning in people's hearts; Gehrig, Mantle, and several others can easily be contenders as one of the greatest players of all time.

In my humble opinion, Babe Ruth actually transcends baseball. He is far more than the greatest player of all time, more so he is an American icon that is identifiable to everyone. There are so few people in American culture that have been the masters of their craft and a definition of the American way of life. Babe was a pioneer in this respect. (interview continued below...)

Check out the creation of one of Rich's Babe Ruth masterpieces!:

BRC Q6: "You create Mosaics for a special charity, correct? Can you tell us a little more about that event and how you got involved? "

I have been creating sports and music memorabilia related products for several years now. I have been doing so in support of autism education and awareness charities within New York and New Jersey . My son David was diagnosed with autism at the early age of 18 months. This was a very difficult time in our lives to say the least. We gave everything we had for his education that was quickly rising to over $65,000 a year. Although we have lost our battle with autism in September of 2002, I recognize that so many people around us still continue to have the same financial struggles in their lives as we had in ours.

I host, as well as help coordinate many autism charity events in the New York and New Jersey areas to support fundraising for autism education so that the burden of the cost of education to a family with autism can be addressed. The mosaic was simply one piece in a line of sports memorabilia and art that I provided for an auction. It met with astounding reviews and raised a lot of money for the school who had held the event.

BRC Q7: "What are your feelings regarding the Babe as a player and a person?"

Babe was a controversial person in his day, there is no doubt about that. There was just as much bad press about him as there was good press. But the one thing that he did that I feel that defines him as true “ Americana ” was that he unified baseball and the love that people had for the sport.

He was an athlete during a very troubled time in baseball history as well as a financially difficult time for America . In an age where mass media was not as dominant as it is today, he got out there to befriend the public, spend time with young aspiring children who wanted nothing more then to be Lou Gehrig, Ted William, Ruth and the like.

BRC Q8: "What do you think Babe’s impact is today on Baseball, as well as general American Culture?"

This is obvious, especially with today’s controversies of steroid abuse.

In Babe’s day, the controversy that tarnished baseball was the “Black Sox” scandal in which several baseball players of the Chicago White Sox, including “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, were indicted for throwing the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds. Baseball was seemingly tarnished forever as it lost its faith in the American public.

With Babe joining the Yankees in 1920 from a trade with the Boston Red Sox, a new story in baseball was about to begin. His home run feats were driving people back into the stands. His efforts as a player could not be challenged or scrutinized as was done the year prior.

More so, Babe saw the importance of getting out to the public and instilling the love of the game back into the hearts of the young aspiring children of the day, by handing out memorabilia, signed baseball and the like and meeting people on the street.

We don’t see that today. With the steroid scandal dominating the press today, we don’t have a player that is standing out in the crowd, drawing the people in with confidence. This however, is a bit harder to do and perhaps not a fair comparison as anyone can be scrutinized for taking performance enhancing drugs. Nowadays they seem to be guilty before proven innocent.

In 1920, Babe clearly defined by his actions and feats, that he, nor the New York Yankees subscribed to cheating. That winning through ability was going to be the cornerstone of the New York Yankee tradition.

If you're interested in purchasing a Babe Ruth Mosaic, please visit the BRGoods store.

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Babe Ruth Comes "Alive"

Ron Bolin is an Education Ambassador for the National Baseball Hall of Fame, appearing as Babe Ruth at a wide variety of events and for audiences of all ages. After many years of working in museum education in Connecticut, Ron decided to put his passion for baseball and museum education to work by developing an educational outreach program on the life of Babe Ruth.

He has presented the program at the Baseball Hall of Fame and at numerous schools and community organizations throughout New England. Ron is the founder and Director of "Baseball History Alive", a non-profit baseball education outreach group, which recently raised funds to place a memorial plaque on the site of a 19th century National League ball field in Hartford, Connecticut. A lifelong Chicago Cubs fan now living in Connecticut, Ron's passion for baseball and talent as a storyteller will continue to work together to spread the goodwill of baseball and keep the spirit and legend of Babe Ruth alive.

Here's a description of the Babe Ruth Ambassador Series:

"Take a journey back in time to the heyday of baseball with actor and educator Ron Bolin to experience the colorful career of the "Sultan of Swat," Babe Ruth. From his Baltimore childhood to his 60th homerun to his "Farewell to Baseball" speech and final appearance at Yankee Stadium in 1948, this comprehensive and touching account of the Babe’s life encourages audience participation with the use of realistic artifacts and lively role-play. Ron’s engaging education program is fully endorsed by members of the Ruth family and the Babe Ruth Estate."

Now here's our interview with Ron:

BRC Q1: "How did you get involved in becoming Babe Ruth?"

I have worked in museum education in Connecticut since 1999. I have a great love for American history as well as baseball history. Having presented countless living history/costumed portrayals over the years, I thought it would be great to tell the stories of baseball history in the same way, particularly that of Babe Ruth.

I had met Linda Ruth Tosetti, one of Babe's granddaughters, in 2003 and I approached her with the idea and she loved it. She was grateful that I was willing to work so hard to teach and preserve the legend of her grandfather. I approached the Baseball Hall of Fame and offered my program to them, they invited me to do an appearance there in March 2007 and after that day I became an Education Ambassador for the Hall of Fame and the official Babe Ruth.

BRC Q2: "Can you tell us a little bit about 'Baseball History Alive'?"

"Baseball History Alive" was formed in Jan. 2004 as a resource for my program information. My affiliation with the Hall of Fame has helped me to establish credibility and create opportunities to appear as the Babe and teach a new generation of children of his greatness.

BRC Q3: "What are your feelings regarding the Babe as a player and a person?"

I think the Babe is the greatest ball player of all time, hands down. I am amazed that a kid out of a home for boys, without great physical size or knowledge of baseball beyond the sandlots, could rise to become the greatest ever. I feel he is still the home-run king both single season and of all time. Maris needed 50 more at-bats in 1961 and Aaron needed 3,000 more at-bats over his career to break the Babe's marks. I don't even count the steroid era as a serious challenge to any of his records. In his day, the world loved Babe Ruth and still does.

The more I learn about him the more I admire him, he must have been a great guy.

BRC Q4: "What do you think Babe's impact is today on Baseball as well as general American Culture?"

He is still an icon, maybe more-so now because he did not cheat to achieve greatness. But still, most people, especially kids, know very little about him. That is where my program "The Life & Legend of 'Babe' Ruth" comes in. I am also writing a childrens book to use in my classroom presentations, it is called " I wasn't alway the Great Bambino", its an inspring story for kids about how he overcame a rough start and achieved greatness.

He was always very generous and a favorite of kids and I try to keep that spirit alive by giving away baseballs to kids and t-shirts and even a bat and glove here and there during my programs. As an Education Ambassador for the Hall of Fame, my job is to spread the goodwill of baseball and life, as the Babe did.

BRC Q5: "How often have people mentioned to you that you look like Babe Ruth?"

Quite often, but mostly in spirit and stature. The Babe had a classic face that is hard to duplicate, but like the Babe, I am 6'2" and heavy-set. I do pay strict attention to my uniforms and equipment, everything must be a perfect period reproduction, no polyester jerseys or Nike shoes. The period reproduction uniforms and equipment are hard to find and expensive, but every detail must be correct to make my portrayal as authentic as possible.

BRC Q6: "Do you have any upcoming events where you will portray the Babe?"

My next appearance will be at the final Hall of Fame game in Cooperstown on June 16th. I will be marching in the parade, greeting fans during the Home Run Derby and re-enacting "The 1932 Called Shot" on Doubleday Field during a break in the game with the Cubs and Padres. I hope my re-enactment makes it on ESPN. It should be quite a historic event for the Hall of Fame and a great time for fans. If I can bring the Babe alive for a brief moment and make a few people smile, then that's what it's all about.

To learn more about Hall of Fame "Education Ambassador Series" click here.

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The Babe Ruth Homerun Award

You may have never heard of the Babe Ruth Homerun Award. It is not an award that has been sponsored by a big corporation. It is not an award that has the endorsement of the baseball powers that be.

It is an award and a concept that was created out of the passion that two ultimate fans had for their sports hero. It is the most professional and passionate of unofficial awards.

The concept of the Babe Ruth Homerun Award was developed by brothers Jim and Brian Sullivan, both big baseball fans from the Boston area. Jim was the sculptor, while Brian focused on the marketing concept of turning this great bronze statue of the Babe into the annual Babe Ruth Homerun Award, given to the baseball player who hits the most homeruns in the Major Leagues in a season.

This is the story of how the statue and the award came to be, in Brian Sullivan's own words:

"My brother and I are big art collectors. And, my brother Jimmy is a very, very talented artist himself who had delved into a lot of different art mediums, but it turns out that he never sculpted anything in his life. So at one point, we took a course in foundry and he started out in clay, using dental tools and popsicle sticks. Then, he got some proper tools and it took him eight months to complete his first piece - which ended up being this great statue of Babe Ruth. He hadn't done anything before or since, but it turned out to be quite a work of art.

Jimmy had decided he wanted to do a statue of the Babe and I said 'Okay, well why don't you finish it and then we'll shop it around New York to see who would be interested in funding a life-size version.' I tried for 2 years with no luck. So when that didn't work out, I started working on some other ideas.

I considered licensing it and selling it as a piece of artwork, but then I thought, 'Major League Baseball should recognize Babe more than they do. Baseball survived after the 1919 Black Sox Scandal because of the Babe. He put people back in the seats and, everything he did, he did for baseball.' So the more I thought about it, I thought this piece should become a trophy for Major League Baseball and it should be given out to the Major League's homerun leader. Babe Ruth led the league in homeruns 12 times, so I thought the idea made a lot of sense.

So we spent a good deal of time coming up with a great idea and, then the first year we tried to promote it (1999 for the 1998 season), it happened to coincide with the year that Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were going at it and Mark McGwire won the homerun race. So we contacted McGwire's agent who was open to the idea of the award and we got in touch with Julia Ruth Stevens, Babe's daughter, who agreed to come to St. Louis to present the Award. And except for the 1999 league leader, where we didn't have enough money to fund it, we've been presenting it, along with the Babe Ruth Family, ever year since."

The homerun leaders since the inception of the Babe Ruth Homerun Award, and its recipients, have been as follows:

1998 season:

• Mark McGwire, St. Louis Cardinals (70)
• Award presented in a 1999 pre-game ceremony at Busch Stadium

• Mark McGwire, St. Louis Cardinals (65)
• Award not presented due to lack of funding

• Sammy Sosa, Chicago Cubs (63)
• Award presented in a 2001 pre-game ceremony at Wrigley Field.

• Barry Bonds, San Francisco Giants (73)
• Award presented in a 2002 pre-game ceremony at Pac Bell Park.

• Alex Rodriguez, Texas Rangers (57)
• Award presented in a 2003 pre-game ceremony at Ameriquest Field.

• Alex Rodriguez, Texas Rangers* & Jim Thome, Philadelphia Phillies (tied for 47)
• Award presented in 2004 pre-game ceremonies to Alex Rodriguez at Yankee Stadium and to Jim Thome at Citizens Bank Park.

• Adrian Beltre, Los Angeles Dodgers* (48)
• Award presented in a 2005 pre-game ceremony at Safeco Field.

• Andruw Jones, Atlanta Braves (51)
• Award presented in a 2006 pre-game ceremony at Turner Field.

• Ryan Howard, Philadelphia Phillies (58)
• Award presented in a 2007 pre-game ceremony at Citizens Bank Park.

• Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees (54)
• Award presented in a 2008 pre-game ceremony at Yankee Stadium

Babe Ruth Homerun Award Slideshow

2008 Babe Ruth Homerun Award: Alex Rodriguez

2007 Babe Ruth Homerun Award: Ryan Howard

Before the pre-game ceremony for Andruw Jones in 2006, BRC had a chance to sit down with Brian Sullivan to ask a few questions about the Sullivans' Award and the passion that they have for the Babe:

BRC Q1: "So why is the Babe so important to you?"

BS A1: "My brother Jimmy doesn't remember his first memory about the Babe. My first memories of the Babe go back to those scholastic books that they used to have in school and I always remember a black and white photo of the Babe. I was always a bit infatuated with him.

I think I always loved him because of the way he was with kids. He was an exceptional athlete and an exceptional individual. He was the first superstar in America and he was someone that everyone could take a liking to and not a lot of athletes are like that today. He was a very giving person and always gave back to the kids and thought of them first. A pretty admirable person I would say."

BRC Q2: "What has been his impact on the game of baseball?"

BS A2: "His name still carries on, still rings true. You hear it everywhere - I heard 'Ruthian feats' on TV just the other day. He was easily the greatest ballplayer that ever played. He left a lot of records for people to strive for and he's highly regarded throughout the sport. A lot of players would love to be like him and everyone else could shoot for him, but I don't think there will ever be another Babe Ruth."

BRC Q3: "What has been your favorite Award ceremony thus far?"

BS A3: "Believe it or not, the guy who was the nicest and seemed to enjoy the award the most, was Barry Bonds. It turned out that, at the time that we were planning to present the award in 2002, Bonds had just broken the 600 homerun mark about a week before. So what happened was the Giants merged their ceremony for Bond's 600th homerun with our ceremony. It was pretty exciting.

Little did I know, they had us, myself and Tom Stevens, Babe's grandson on the field with Larry Behr, CEO of the Giants. They had John Miller, who does ESPN Baseball on Sunday nights and broadcasts for the Giants, emceeing that night. Also, it turned out that they had invited Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Frank Robinson to come speak and, of course, they had Barry Bonds. It was just a first class event from start to finish. Everyone in the stands couldn't say enough about how great it was."

BRC Q4: "Are you still looking for a sponsor for the Award?"

BS A4: "My own belief is that anyone that could have the opportunity would want to associate their name with Babe Ruth and the homerun. It's the biggest individual accomplishment in sports. Whether it be the most goals scored in hockey, being the scoring champ in the NBA or the most touchdowns in football, the most recognizable athlete is the guy that hits the most homeruns. Every night, whether it be ESPN or Fox Network, that's all they show. It would be crazy if someone didn't want to associate their name with the Babe.

We're hoping at some point, someone will be interested in creating a charitable foundation to support the Award, but at this point we've had no such luck. It's been a ton of work and, if it wasn't Babe Ruth, I probably would have packed it in a long time ago. But this is the right thing to do. I mean it's a real work of art and everybody loves it. The players love getting it. I remember Alex Rodriguez's response when he got it and all he said was, 'Wow!' It's been a lot of fun and it's great presenting it with the Ruth family."

It should be noted that the Sullivans continue to personally fund the trophy. Each statue requires about a month and a half of time, as well as 12 people's efforts to make, and costs about $4,000. The value of the trophy has been estimated at $50,000 by an art appraiser.

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The Annual Babe Birthday Bash

Tom Derry, of Redford, MI, is as diehard a Babe Ruth fan as they come. His Michigan license plate reads, "RUTH714." His house is surrounded with Babe Ruth photos, trinkets and souvenirs. He is also the host of what is probably the biggest annual party commemorating Babe's birth, aside from the Babe Ruth Museum's yearly event in Baltimore.

Tom shares his thoughts and sentiments on his appreciation for baseball and the Babe in his own words:

"I remember when I was young going to Tigers Stadium and really loving it. I always had an interest in the game and its history and the Detroit Tigers have a lot of good baseball history. Then I remember in the second or third grade, I got my first book on Babe Ruth. I always loved the old-time game most and I knew that Babe Ruth was the greatest, simply because of how dominant a pitcher he was in addition to a dominant hitter. I mean, if he had continued to pitch, it's quite possible that the Cy Young Award could have been named the Babe Ruth Award.

There's no doubt that he's the greatest homerun hitter who ever lived. I know he would have hit over a thousand homeruns, if he had as many at-bats as Hank Aaron did and he hadn't started out as a pitcher. But I like the fact that he hit less homeruns and also was such a dominating pitcher for 4 or 5 years. It just shows what a complete player he was. He had a great arm. He could run the bases. He did everything really well - just a natural. He had that power, right when he walked out of the doors of St. Mary's.

He is the greatest figure in the history of the game. Everyone always says that he saved the game of baseball after the Black Sox Scandal and he probably did. There are a lot of players that get a lot of hype for a few years, but then they die down… but the Babe lives on. Like that New York newspaper said in the 1920's, 'The Ruth is mighty and shall prevail,' and he does. Maris can hit his 60 homers and Bonds can hit 70 or 80. It doesn't matter; Ruth will live on. He will always be recognized as the greatest slugger in the game.

He's always known for his love for children. Baseball has always been a game about kids. Today, the game focuses more on money and maybe we should go back to thinking more about the kids. There are all those stories of Babe going out and playing ball with kids in sandlots across the country and there are no players who would ever do that today."

BRC had the chance to catch up with Tom in Detroit recently:

BRC Q1: "So, you have this annual Babe Ruth Birthday Bash in Detroit each year?"

TS A1: "The party started in 1988. There's this old bar in Detroit that my friends and I used to go to and always played this birthday song that annoyed the old lady that ran the bar. I used to come in with all these pictures of old-time ballplayers and I used to always know who's birthday it was and I would say, 'Hey, it's Ty Cobb's birthday' or 'It's Jackie Robinson's birthday' or 'It's Walter Johnson's birthday'. So we'd all look forward to the next birthday coming up and we'd celebrate at the bar. Then we got to February and we realized that Babe Ruth's birthday was coming up and we said to ourselves, 'Now that calls for a real party' - because Babe was all about partying, living big and enjoying life. Babe Ruth and a party just went together.

So we started the first year by sending out 15 or 20 invites. About 10 or 12 people came and it was a lot of fun. Then the next year we had about 40 people, then the next year 75, then a 100, 150, 200… and now we have about 300 people coming to the party each year. Even though it's always been a word-of-mouth party, we have people coming in from all over the United States. We've had people fly in from Alabama, Utah, New York, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Ohio - all over the U.S. The same people come every year.

We also have a lot of the stuff that Babe enjoyed. You know, some of the obvious stuff, like the hotdogs and beer, and the cigars. But we also have Babe Ruth facemasks, buttons and a ton of balloons. We try to come up with different stuff every year.

For many years we started our party at 7:14, but now so many people come we needed to start it earlier."

BRC Q2: "So what do you think it is about the party that really appeals to people?"

TS A2: "I think people just think it's a real neat party. Most people just really like baseball and they think it's a great theme party. Even people that don't particularly care for baseball appreciate the Babe Ruth masks, buttons and balloons that we have. It's just a real festive atmosphere."

BRC Q3: "So where do you host the party?"

TS A3: "The bar we're at now is called, 'Tom's Tavern', and it's been around since the 20's. I like the bar because it looks like a place that the Babe could have gone to while he was in town and it hasn't changed since the 20's. It's got a lot of character. The old man 'Tom Lucas' was born just one year after the Babe and he ran that bar until he died in 1991. But it's the people that really make the party."

BRC Q4: "So will you continue doing the party?"

TS A4: "Oh yeah, the birthday party will definitely go on. I would like to keep it at Tom's Tavern, so I hope it doesn't get too big that we can't handle the crowd. But we'll definitely keep on having it."

Babe Ruth Annual Birthday Bash Slideshow

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