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45 free Babe Ruth trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Babe Ruth pitched the Red Sox to three World Series titles, then went to New York and hit more home runs than most teams. This Babe Ruth trivia quiz has 45 free questions with answers covering the whole story: the boy sent to St. Mary's Industrial School at seven, the Baltimore Orioles rookie nicknamed by his teammates, the left-hander with 29 scoreless World Series innings, the sale that started the Curse of the Bambino, and the Yankee who hit 54, 59 and then 60. It also covers the parts casual fans skip: the called shot, the bellyache heard round the world, why he made more than President Hoover, why nobody would let him manage, the three-homer farewell at Forbes Field, his family, his illness and his funeral at Yankee Stadium. Questions climb from the basics to details that will test lifelong baseball readers. Every answer was checked against Ruth's Wikipedia biography, a featured article built on the standard Creamer, Montville and Stout biographies, and each question links to the page that establishes it.
30 of 45 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which city was Babe Ruth born in 1895?
Baltimore
Ruth was born in Baltimore on February 6, 1895; the Emory Street rowhouse where he was born opened as the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum in 1974.
Q 02At what age was Ruth sent to St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys, a reformatory and orphanage?
Seven
Ruth was seven when his parents sent him to St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys in June 1902; the school recorded him as incorrigible.
Q 03Which St. Mary's staff member did Ruth credit with making him a hitter?
Brother Matthias
Ruth said he was 'born as a hitter' the first day he saw Brother Matthias hit a baseball; in 1926 he thanked him with a Cadillac, and bought another after the first was wrecked.
Q 04Why did the Orioles have to sell Ruth to the Red Sox in July 1914?
A rival Federal League team ruined attendance
Paid attendance fell as low as 150 despite the Orioles being in first place, so Dunn sold his best players to raise money.
Q 05Ruth began his major league career at which position?
Left-handed pitcher
Ruth broke in as a left-handed pitcher for the Red Sox, winning 23 games in 1916 and 24 in 1917, plus three World Series titles, before his move to the outfield.
Q 06Where did Ruth marry his first wife, Helen Woodford, after the 1914 season?
Ellicott City, Maryland
Ruth married Helen Woodford, a Boston waitress, in October 1914 at St. Paul's Catholic Church in Ellicott City, Maryland, days after his first Red Sox season ended.
Q 07Which pitcher tied Ruth's 1916 AL record of nine shutouts by a left-hander in 1978?
Ron Guidry
Ron Guidry threw nine shutouts for the 1978 Yankees, matching the American League mark for a left-hander that Ruth set in 1916, when he went 23-12 with a 1.75 ERA.
Q 08Ruth's 14-inning win in Game 2 of the 1916 World Series set what record?
Longest complete-game win in postseason history
Ruth pitched all 14 innings of Boston's 2-1 win in Game 2 of the 1916 World Series, the longest complete game in postseason history; no World Series game went longer until 2005.
Q 09After Ruth was ejected for punching an umpire in 1917, what did reliever Ernie Shore do?
Retired all 26 batters he faced
After Ruth walked Ray Morgan and was ejected, Ernie Shore retired all 26 batters he faced (Morgan was caught stealing); Ruth drew a ten-day suspension and a $100 fine.
Q 10Which Red Sox teammate persuaded Ed Barrow to let Ruth play outfield on non-pitching days?
Harry Hooper
Hooper's argument was that crowds were bigger when Ruth hit; Ruth promptly homered in four straight games.
Q 11How many consecutive scoreless World Series innings did Babe Ruth pitch, a record until Whitey Ford broke it in 1961?
29 2/3
Ruth's 29 2/3 consecutive scoreless World Series innings, spanning Game 2 of 1916 and Games 1 and 4 of 1918, stood until Whitey Ford passed the mark in 1961.
Q 12Which Red Sox owner sold Ruth to the Yankees after the 1919 season?
Harry Frazee
A New York theatrical promoter, Frazee still owed as much as $125,000 on his purchase of the club.
Q 13For how much did the Yankees buy Ruth's contract, then the largest sum ever paid for a player?
$100,000
The Yankees paid $100,000 for Ruth's contract in December 1919, then a record for a player; the Yankees' owner also lent Frazee money secured by a mortgage on Fenway Park.
Q 21What did sportswriter W. O. McGeehan dub Ruth's 1925 illness?
The bellyache heard 'round the world
Sportswriter W. O. McGeehan called Ruth's 1925 collapse 'the bellyache heard 'round the world', blaming hot dogs and soda pop; London papers even printed a premature obituary.
Q 22What did Ruth do in Game Four of the 1926 World Series that had never been done in a Series game?
Hit three home runs
Ruth hit three home runs in Game 4 of the 1926 World Series at St. Louis on October 6, the first three-homer game in Series history; he did it again in Game 4 of 1928.
Q 23Ruth famously promised a home run to which hospitalized 11-year-old boy during the 1926 World Series?
Q 14Which Broadway musical is often, and inaccurately, said to have been financed by the Ruth sale?
No, No, Nanette
No, No, Nanette did not reach Broadway until 1925, two years after Frazee sold the Red Sox, though it was adapted from his 1919 play My Lady Friends.
Q 15How long did the Red Sox go without a World Series title after selling Ruth?
86 years
The drought, blamed on the Curse of the Bambino, ended in 2004; they did not even win a pennant until 1946.
Q 16How many home runs did Ruth hit in 1920, his first season with the Yankees?
54
Ruth hit 54 home runs in 1920, nearly doubling the record he had set the year before, and led the American League with 158 runs scored.
Q 17Whose career home run record of 138 did Ruth break in 1921?
Roger Connor
Roger Connor's 138 career home runs, a 19th-century mark, fell when Ruth passed it in 1921; Ruth hit 59 that season and slugged .846.
Q 18Why did Commissioner Landis suspend Ruth for the start of the 1922 season?
He went barnstorming after the World Series against the rules
Ruth and two teammates were also fined their 1921 World Series checks; the rule was relaxed that August.
Q 19What was Ruth's career-high batting average, set in 1923?
0.393
Ruth hit .393 in 1923, his career high, yet lost the batting title to Harry Heilmann's .403; he also reached base 379 times that season, a major-league record.
Q 20How many American League batting titles did Ruth win?
One
He hit .378 in 1924 with a league-leading 46 home runs, the only time he led the league in average.
Johnny Sylvester
Johnny Sylvester, an 11-year-old New Jersey boy injured in a fall from a horse, received an autographed ball and Ruth's promise; Ruth homered three times in Game 4, and the press said it saved his life.
Q 24What was the 1927 Yankees lineup nicknamed?
Murderers' Row
Murderers' Row, the 1927 Yankees' lineup of Combs, Koenig, Ruth, Gehrig, Meusel and Lazzeri, drove a 110-win season, then an American League record, and a sweep of the Pirates.
Q 25Off which pitcher did Ruth hit his 60th home run of 1927?
Tom Zachary
Ruth hit number 60 off Washington left-hander Tom Zachary on September 30, 1927, an eighth-inning shot that broke a 2-2 tie at Yankee Stadium.
Q 26Which teammate briefly led Ruth in the 1927 home run race, 45 to 44, in early September?
Lou Gehrig
Lou Gehrig edged ahead 45-44 in early September 1927, but Ruth's record 17 home runs that month carried him to 60 while Gehrig finished with 47.
Q 27Why did Ruth wear the uniform number 3?
He batted third in the order
The 1929 Yankees assigned uniform numbers by batting order, and Ruth batted third, so he wore 3; Gehrig, batting cleanup, wore 4.
Q 28What did Ruth reportedly say when asked about out-earning President Hoover in 1930?
"I had a better year than he did"
Asked in 1930 why he deserved $80,000 when President Hoover made $75,000, Ruth reportedly replied, 'I had a better year than he did.'
Q 29Ruth's "called shot" came in the 1932 World Series against which team?
Chicago Cubs
He homered off the Cubs' starter at Wrigley Field after some kind of gesture; surviving teammate Charlie Devens said in 1999 he did not think Ruth was pointing.
Q 30Off which pitcher did Ruth hit the called shot?
Charlie Root
Ruth had already hit a three-run homer off Root in the first inning of that game.