BABE RUTH RETOLD PART 4

The Woodford family had a complete hatred for Babe Ruth which is understandable. After all he had abandoned his wife Helen (Woodford) Ruth and daughter Dorothy to live with his girl friend in New York. After Helen’s untimely death he took Dorothy from them. He didn’t have the decency to wait a respectable time before remarrying. He married Claire Hodgson barely 3 months after burying Helen.

Many in the family felt he had a direct hand in causing Helen’s death even labeling him a murderer. Babe Ruth was a known womanizer, drinker and may have been lacking in moral character, but he was no murderer. Helen died in a fire of smoke inhalation and burns. The Fire Marshal found no evidence of arson and 2 separate Medical Examiners found no evidence of foul play. Think about it. At the time of her death in 1929 Babe Ruth was probably the most well known celebrity of the time. To believe he could get to Helen's apartment in Watertown unnoticed made no sense. There was no gas can or traces of flammable fluid found. What was found were frayed electrical wires which the Fire Marshal believed caused the fire.

Most people who read the newspapers at the time were surprised that Babe Ruth and Helen were still husband and wife. As devout Catholics they felt they could not divorce.

Next post what happened to Dorothy and Julia.

 

BABE RUTH RETOLD PART3

Babe Ruth returned to South Boston in 1929 to attend the wake and funeral of his wife. Helen after years of estrangement from her husband put their daughter Dorothy in a boarding school run by the Catholic Church then proceeded to live with a Dentist in Watertown, Ma. It was there that her life was cut short tragically by a fire that consumed her apartment.

By 1929, Ruth had become quite famous. A crowd of several hundred had gathered at West Fourth St. where Helen was waked at her Woodford family home. Ruth came at midnight hoping to avoid them but to no avail. He was said to have cried uncontrollably at her bier.

The Woodford family protested the release of Dorothy to Ruth. But a judge after hearing evidence that in no way implicated him in Helen’s death discharged her to his care. Dorothy barely remembered her father. She returned to New York with him and within 3 months of Helen’s death, Ruth married his long time companion Claire Hodgson. Eighteen months later he adopted Claire’s daughter Julia has his own and now made his family complete. Picture of Babe Ruth and Claire on his wedding day.

More on the Babe on the next post

 

BABE RUTH RETOLD PART 2

As Babe Ruth became more famous with the NY Yankees he began to enjoy the good life in Manhattan that fame and fortune bring. Having been brought up in poverty he now began spending money with complete abandon. The parties he threw are now part of his legend. Even at his home on the farm in Sudbury Ma. Stories of his shenanigans are retold. Once in a drunken stupor he and his friends allegedly took a piano onto the middle of a frozen pond where it eventually sunk to the bottom.

His absence during the baseball season and his new lifestyle did not sit well with his wife Helen. Eventually she moved to New York to be with her husband but that didn’t change his “Bon Vivant” way of living. The marriage disintegrated and Helen returned to Boston with their daughter Dorothy. Ruth eventually met up with a divorced woman Claire Hodgson who had a daughter named Julie. Claire was a strong willed person who soon “tamed the tiger” of the Babe.

Helen and Ruth never divorced.

As an aside..my father also lived on Silver St. and told me of Babe Ruth living further down the same street. Ironically he worked at Joe’s Spa and in 1945 became part owner. A really small world isn’t it.

More on the Babe on the next Post

BABE RUTH RETOLD

Babe Ruth was the most famous athletic celebrity of his era. When he retired in 1935 he had a lifetime batting average of .342, had 2,783 hits, 2,213 RBI’s, and hit 714 home runs. As a pitcher for the Red Sox he had a win/loss record of 94-46 and an ERA of 2.28. I mention Babe not because of his celebrity status but because of his close ties with South Boston.

When he arrived in Boston to play for the Boston Red Sox he met and fell in love with Helen Woodford of West Fourth St. He moved to Silver St. to be near his girlfriend and within the year they married. As a young married couple they rented an apartment over Joe’ Spa (over the part now known as the Amsterdam Café) and then later to the Eaton Hotel on Emerson St….now luxury apartments.

They adopted a girl named Dorothy (rumor has it that the child was Babe’s born out of wedlock). When he was traded to the NY Yankees for the 1920 season Babe Ruth move his family to a farm in Sudbury Ma.

More on Babe Ruth in the next post.

 

SOUTH BOSTON CHIPPEWAS

Before the New England Patriots captured the hearts of New Englanders they were known as the Boston Patriots. Most of the games were played at Fenway Park with temporary stands erected against the “Green Monster.”I was fortunate to have season tickets on the fifty yard line. There were no seats, just long benches. The ticket takers were known to let in anyone with a sawbuck secretly palmed in a handshake. Since there were no seat assignments I saw most of the games squashed like a sardine.

That was not the first Professional Football team. In the mid forties we had a professional football team known as the Boston Yanks. They only lasted a few years and they were not very good. I managed to see one of those games. At the same time there was the Boston Park League that featured teams made up from the local neighborhoods. Our team in Southie was known as the Chippewas. They played at Columbus Park and you could see them for nothing. They did pass the hat after the games but I was only 10 so I was forgiven for not donating.

As I remember they had an awesome team made up from players that mostly came from past Southie High School teams. They played mostly on the weekends so I saw most of their games. One year in particular…1949 they ended up playing St. Paul’s from Dorchester for the championship. They were so good that they won by a lopsided score of 32 to nothing. No wonder the Boston Yanks left Town early. How could they compete with teams like the Chippewas.

ALBANIAN PIES

 

Today when women and men wish to make pies and deserts with phyllo dough they go to their nearest Greek store and buy it ready made. My mother made it from scratch. After mixing the proper ingredients she would put a large lump of dough on a clean sheet and begin rolling it out into thinner and thinner layers with a long thin rolling pin known as an (okalia) phonetically spelled. Depending on what part of Albania you came from the pies were known as either “Berek” or “Lacrod. “The process of rolling would start at 8:00 AM and wouldn’t be completed until noon. The resulting phyllo dough was near transparent. As a young boy I was transfixed with the constant rolling. As an aside I should add that when I misbehaved which was often, my mother chased me around the house with that same rolling pin. I often wonder now that if she caught me would she have used it.

Inside these pies ingredients such as lamb, onions, tomatoes, sauerkraut etc. were added. My favorite of all was spinach mixed with feta cheese. These pies were made and kept in the refrigerator for the weeks’ meals. Just writing about them these many years later make my mouth water. When you bit in them you could hear the crunch of the dough. No ready mixed phyllo dough compared to my mothers’ hand rolled product.

I am leaving the best part for last. This same hand rolled phyllo dough was the basis for my mothers’ baklava. Made with walnuts, almonds and honey as the basic ingredients… were worth pound for pound the equivalent of a bar of gold. For many years I have tried baklava in the best of Greek restaurants but none come close to my mothers. I wonder if I ever told her how much I enjoyed her Albanian pies and dessert. If I didn’t I should have.

 

 

THE FINAL CHAPTER

I left South Boston after 32 years when I married. Since my father lived there in his own home until he was 101 I visited him often especially to drive him to his medical appointments. He lived in City Point close to the “L’ St. Bath House and spent most of his retirement years there. He was close enough to walk and used a cane although he didn’t need one. I asked him why and he said that the traffic on Day Blvd. will always stop for someone with a cane. On his 100^th Birthday the L St. Brownies decided to throw him a big bash. They invited City Officials and they came. My favorite, “ Dapper” O’Neil showed up. They read letters from the President and other Congressional leaders, made speeches and showered him with numerous gifts. My father was quite pleased.

The last year and a half of his life he spent at the Chelsea Soldiers Home Nursing Facility. Organizations like the VFW and American Legion often gathered the veterans and returned them to their halls for food and entertainment. When I visited my father would tell me of the wonderful meals served and of the music he heard. He was quite happy there.

My wife and I were on vacation in Paris when we got the call from my son that he had passed. I had made all the arrangements down to the detail of the casket with the Funeral Home long before, so I wasn’t worried on that score. We returned in plenty of time for the Wake and Funeral and the traditional memorial dinner at Anthony’s Pier 4. As a senior St George Parishioner he was waked at the St. George Cathedral on East Broadway. Members of the “L” St. Bath House and other Southie residents came to pay their respect. We were lucky to have him for almost 103 years.

My father was born in the 19^th century, lived in the 20^th and wanted to make it into the 21^st. He died in 1999, one year short. It may have been the only goal he didn’t make in his lifetime.