BABE RUTH OUR NEIGHBORHOOD

As a youngster growing up on West Fifth Street in Southie I was subjected to a lot of stories about our neighborhood by the older boys. One story in particular stuck with me even as an adult. The story involved Babe Ruth. He supposedly once lived in our neighborhood and that his wife was buried in the cemetery surrounding the St. Augustine Chapel on West Sixth Street. Babe Ruth was the most revered baseball player of his era and because I thought I could play professional baseball, he was a major idol in my young life.

When I retired some 22 years ago I had time on my hands so I thought I would chase down this story. Many books have been written about the Babe, some factual, others were fiction. One book confirmed that his wife was buried in the Chapel cemetery. Had the Author done some serious research he would have learned that it was not true. Here are the facts.

Babe Ruth did live in our neighborhood. When he played for the Red Sox he fell in

love with Helen Woodford from West Fourth St. He moved to Silver St. to be near her. They married and lived for a while above Joes Spa on West Broadway and then later to the Eaton Hotel on Emerson St. When he played for the Yankees he became “the toast of the town” and their marriage unraveled. Helen moved back to Southie with their daughter Dorothy. Although separated, they never divorced.

Helen eventually moved in with a dentist in Watertown and tragically died there in a fire caused by frayed electrical wiring. She was waked out of her home on West Fourth St. Babe Ruth attended the wake and the funeral at Mount Cavalry Cemetery in Roslindale where she was buried. So at least part of the story was true. Babe at the Cemetery. Helen's Tombstone. With Helen and Dorothy