Photo taken on the corner of Chene and Trombly in the spring of 1925, in front of the Paulus Barber Shop in Detroit. In the back row on the right are Harry Heilmann and Babe Ruth, holding up Joe Paulus on their shoulders.
In celebration of Babe Ruth’s 125th birthday and the 100th Anniversary of him joining the New York Yankees, the 33nd annual Babe Ruth Birthday Bash hosted by Tom Derry will take place at Nemo’s Bar in Corktown on Saturday February 1st from 7:14 PM to 2 AM.
As special guests, the Babe’s grandson, Tom Stevens and great-grandson Brent Stevens will join the celebration. Tom’s mother was Julia Ruth Stevens, who at age 13 was adopted by Ruth in 1929 when the “Sultan of Swat” married her mother, actress Claire Hodgson. (Julia passed away in 2019 at age 102.) In addition, Jerry Amernic, the author of Babe Ruth: A Superstar’s Legacy, will be selling and signing his book. (Wordcraft Communications, 2018). (Earlier in the day, Amernic will be speaking about his book at the meeting of the Detroit Chapter of the Society of American Baseball Researchers at noon at the Detroit Public Library’s Friends conference room at 5201 Woodward Ave. in Detroit.)
As usual Nemo’s will be completely decked out in Babe Ruth photographs, famous quotations, and other memorabilia. In honor of the Babe, the beer will flow and there will be plenty of free hot dogs, peanuts, Cracker Jack, Baby Ruth candy bars, and a birthday cake. (no cover charge)
“This is my fifth or sixth time coming to the party and it is always so much fun,” says Brent Stevens. “Tom Derry has put a lot of heart and soul into the party and I am really happy to represent my great grandfather there with my dad. What I have enjoyed the most is meeting the nice people there over the years who I otherwise never would have met.”
One hundred years ago this past January 6th, the baseball world was rocked when it was announced that Red Sox owner Harry Frazee had sold Ruth to the Yankees for $100,000. For the 1920 season the “Great Bambino” belted an astonishing 54 home runs setting a new single season home run record set a year earlier when he hit 29 for Boston. The home run leader runner up in 1920 was George Sisler who hit just 19. (Just two years earlier in what was considered the “Deadball Era”, Ruth tied with Tilly Walker (who?) for the home run title with 11 round trippers)
Two of the Babe’s most famous home runs were hit at Navin Field at Michigan and Trumbull. On June 8, 1926 he hit what is believed to be the longest home run-in major-league history, officially measured at 626 feet and in his final season with the Yankees, Ruth hit his 700th career home run off of Tommy Bridges on July 13, 1934.
“Babe Ruth loved Detroit and had good friends here like Tiger slugger Harry Heilmann,” says Tom Derry. “No one roared louder during the 1920s than the Babe, so we’ll kick off the new Roaring Twenties by raising the roof at Nemo’s Bar.”
Nemo’s Bar, once ranked the number 3 sports bar in America by Sports Illustrated is located at 1384 Michigan Avenue, just a block east of the Tiger Stadium site.