Farewell Speech Lyrics
Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. You know how bad my voice sounds. Well, it feels just as bad.
You know, this baseball game of ours comes up from the youth. That means the boys. And after you're a boy and grow up to play ball, then you come to the boys you see representing clubs today in your national pastime. The only real game in the world, I think, is baseball. As a rule, people think that if you give boys a football or a baseball or something like that, they naturally become athletes right away. But you can't do that in baseball. You got to start from way down, at the bottom, when the boys are six or seven years of age. You can't wait until they're 15 or 16. You got to let it grow up with you, if you're the boy. And if you try hard enough, you're bound to come out on top, just as these boys here have come to the top now.
There have been so many lovely things said about me today that I'm glad to have had the opportunity to thank everybody. Thank you.
You know, this baseball game of ours comes up from the youth. That means the boys. And after you're a boy and grow up to play ball, then you come to the boys you see representing clubs today in your national pastime. The only real game in the world, I think, is baseball. As a rule, people think that if you give boys a football or a baseball or something like that, they naturally become athletes right away. But you can't do that in baseball. You got to start from way down, at the bottom, when the boys are six or seven years of age. You can't wait until they're 15 or 16. You got to let it grow up with you, if you're the boy. And if you try hard enough, you're bound to come out on top, just as these boys here have come to the top now.
There have been so many lovely things said about me today that I'm glad to have had the opportunity to thank everybody. Thank you.
About
Genius Annotation
On June 2nd, 1935, Babe Ruth announced his retirement from baseball. Over his 22 year career, the perennial slugger amassed a .342 average, 714 HR, 2214 RBI, and a 1.164 OPS.
The Yankees honored the Sultan of Swat with “Babe Ruth Day” on April 27th, 1947 at the original Yankee Stadium, where he delivered this speech. Ruth was suffering from throat cancer at the time, and would pass away a year later.
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