Claire Merritt Hodgson
Encyclopedia
Athens, Georgia
Athens-Clarke County is a consolidated city–county in U.S. state of Georgia, in the northeastern part of the state, comprising the former City of Athens proper and Clarke County. The University of Georgia is located in this college town and is responsible for the initial growth of the city...
, United States, who is most famous for having been the second wife of Babe Ruth
Babe Ruth
George Herman Ruth, Jr. , best known as "Babe" Ruth and nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Sultan of Swat", was an American Major League baseball player from 1914–1935...
.
Claire met Ruth in 1923, a year after her husband Frank Hodgson died, leaving her with a daughter, Julia. Ruth was still married to Helen Woodford, his first wife, at this time. Woodford died in a house fire in January 1929, and Ruth and Hodgson married that April 17, staying together until Ruth's death in 1948. In later years, she indicated her responsibility, in part, for the poor relationship between her husband and teammate Lou Gehrig
Lou Gehrig
Henry Louis "Lou" Gehrig , nicknamed "The Iron Horse" for his durability, was an American Major League Baseball first baseman. He played his entire 17-year baseball career for the New York Yankees . Gehrig set several major league records. He holds the record for most career grand slams...
. According to Claire, Gehrig's mother indicated that the Ruth's adopted daughter, Dorothy
Dorothy Ruth
Dorothy Helen Ruth Pirone was adopted by Babe Ruth and his first wife, Helen...
, was not as well dressed as Claire's natural daughter, Julia; when Ruth was informed of this, he angrily demanded that Gehrig never speak to him off the ballfield again. Ruth and Gehrig would not make up until the day of Gehrig's famous "I'm the luckiest man in the world" speech in 1939. Later, Claire admitted that she had overreacted, apologetically accepting full responsibility for the rift between the two players—which, however, had numerous other causes besides the one indicated by Claire.
Claire lived to see two of Ruth's most famous records broken: his single season record of 60 home runs, superseded by Roger Maris
Roger Maris
Roger Eugene Maris was an American Major League Baseball right fielder. During the 1961 season, he hit a record 61 home runs for the New York Yankees, breaking Babe Ruth's single-season record of 60 home runs...
in 1961; and his career record of 714 home runs, which was broken by Hank Aaron in 1974. In her twilight years, she sometimes attended games that Aaron was playing in, and was supportive of Aaron's effort. The gracious widow Ruth was quoted as saying: "The Babe loved baseball so very much; I know he was pulling for Hank Aaron to break his record." Sportscaster Curt Gowdy
Curt Gowdy
Curtis Edward "Curt" Gowdy was an American sportscaster, well known as the longtime "voice" of the Boston Red Sox and for his coverage of many nationally-televised sporting events, primarily for NBC Sports in the 1960s and 1970s.-Early years:The son of a manager for the Union Pacific railroad,...
of NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
-TV once spotted her in the stands, and the always-effusive Gowdy said, "There's Claire Ruth. She's Hank Aaron's biggest fan." Mrs. Ruth's support for the real-life Aaron is in stark contrast to her depiction in the 2001 TV-movie 61*, in which she was portrayed as not wanting her husband's record of 60 home runs in a season to be broken, whether by Roger Maris
Roger Maris
Roger Eugene Maris was an American Major League Baseball right fielder. During the 1961 season, he hit a record 61 home runs for the New York Yankees, breaking Babe Ruth's single-season record of 60 home runs...
(who went on to hit 61 in 1961) or anyone else.
Mrs. Ruth was portrayed by Claire Trevor
Claire Trevor
Claire Trevor was an Academy Award-winning American actress. She was nicknamed the "Queen of Film Noir" because of her many appearances in "bad girl” roles in film noir and other black-and-white thrillers...
in the 1948 film The Babe Ruth Story
The Babe Ruth Story
The Babe Ruth Story is a 1948 baseball film biography of Babe Ruth, the famed New York Yankees slugger. It stars William Bendix as the ballplayer and Claire Trevor as his wife. It was rush released while Ruth himself was still alive. It makes no mention whatsoever of Ruth's first wife,...
, by Lisa Zane
Lisa Zane
Elizabeth Frances "Lisa" Zane is an American actress and singer who has starred on stage, in film and television.-Personal life:...
in the 1991 TV-movie Babe Ruth
Babe Ruth
George Herman Ruth, Jr. , best known as "Babe" Ruth and nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Sultan of Swat", was an American Major League baseball player from 1914–1935...
, by Kelly McGillis
Kelly McGillis
Kelly Ann McGillis is an American actress. Her films include Top Gun, The Accused, and Witness, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination.-Career:...
in the 1992 film The Babe
The Babe
The Babe is a 1992 biographical film about the life of famed baseball player Babe Ruth, who is portrayed by John Goodman.-Plot:The story begins in 1902 in Baltimore, Maryland, where a young Babe Ruth, troubled and not-so disciplined, is sent to the St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys, a...
, and by Renee Taylor
Renee Taylor
Renée Taylor is an American actress, Academy Award nominated writer and one-time director, best-known for having played Fran Drescher's outspoken mother, Sylvia Fine, on the TV series The Nanny.- Career :...
in 61*.
Gate of Heaven Cemetery
The Gate of Heaven Cemetery, approximately 25 miles north of New York City, was established in 1917 at 10 West Stevens Ave. in Hawthorne, Westchester County, New York, United States, as a Roman Catholic burial site...
in Hawthorne, New York
Hawthorne, New York
Hawthorne is an unincorporated hamlet and census-designated place located in the town of Mount Pleasant in Westchester County, New York. The population was 4,586 at the 2010 census.-History:...
. The inscription on the headstone lists her birth year as 1900, instead of 1897.