Okay, so, I’ve been digging into this whole Babe Ruth cigarette thing, and let me tell you, it’s been a wild ride. I mean, we all know Babe Ruth, the baseball legend, the “Sultan of Swat,” right? But the guy was also known for his love of cigars, apparently!
First thing I did was to try to find out what’s up with Babe Ruth and cigars. Started with some casual searching. I saw some interesting stuff about him having his own cigar brand back in the 1920s. That’s so old-timey, man! He actually manufactured and promoted them himself. Imagine a famous guy doing that today!
Then I started looking into some old ads. I found that he was in some of these Camel cigarette ads too. These old ads were pretty funny, though. It’s like they were really pushing the idea that smoking was no big deal. I saw one that was like, “Now Medical Science offers PROOF POSITIVE” that it’s good or something. Proof positive of what? Who knows?
I also found out that every major league baseball team back then had a cigarette sponsor. Crazy, right? Guys like Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams were all in these ads, too. There was even something about Lou Gehrig saying he could smoke as many Camels as he wanted and that they “don’t get your wind.” That’s a crazy slogan, right?
Next, I wanted to know more about Babe Ruth’s actual smoking habits. It is said that he was smoking cigars until he was “blue in the face”. I mean, it’s crazy to think about now, but back then, it was just a normal thing, I guess. But then I started to understand more on his life story when I dug deeper.
Becoming Babe Ruth
- When I found that he was 19 years old and his guardian had to sign him up for baseball, I thought that that was some story.
- He is rambunctious and his guardian has to keep an eye on him.
- Apparently, chewing tobacco was a big thing on the field back then.
- They even had these smokeless tobacco products, like dip and snus.
I started putting things together. Babe Ruth, baseball, cigars, cigarettes, old ads, and the whole history of it. It’s like this whole other world back then. So, yeah, that’s what I’ve been up to. Trying to piece together this story of Babe Ruth and his cigarettes. It’s been a pretty interesting journey, to say the least. It’s like, you think you know a guy from his baseball stats, but then you find out he’s also a big part of this whole other story with tobacco and advertising back in the day. Kinda makes you think, huh?
