Historical Tales

I’m a huge baseball fan, so I had to feature this one: Babe Ruth’s former suburban home outside of Boston, in Sudbury, Massachusetts just hit the market with a $1,650,000 asking price.  Christened “Home Plate Farm” by The Bambino himself, the house was apparently built circa 1800, replacing another old house on the site (circa 1700) that had recently burned down.  Ruth lived in the house from 1922 until 1926, a span during which Ruth slugged nearly 200 home runs & won his only MVP award (1923). 

According to an article in the Boston Herald, there are apparently still burn marks in the wood floors of the living room from The Babe’s cigar ashes that dropped on the floor.  Not surprisingly, the current owners have hosted many visitors at the house, including Ruth’s own daughter, Dorothy Ruth Pirone.  There is a “Babe Ruth Room” in the upstairs, featuring photos & memorabilia of the legend. But perhaps the most interesting — and oddest — story associated with the house is that the current owner’s son, Lee Gavin, was struck in the face by a Manny Ramirez foul ball in 2004, doing some severe damage — including a punctured lip and his front teeth being knocked out.  After he was taken away in an ambulance, word got out that the injured kid lived in Babe Ruth’s old house.  This immediately spawned speculation that the famous “Curse of the Bambino” may have been broken (see one newspaper story here).  Was he a “sacrificial lamb?”  If you don’t follow baseball, the Red Sox did, indeed, break the curse that year — winning their first World Series since Babe Ruth was traded away.

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I’ve included links at the bottom for more information (including 30 pics) about the house, but some quick facts: the house is located at 558 Dutton Road, in Sudbury, Mass.  It features 5,124 sqft of living space (wow), and has 5 BRs and 4 BAs.  Looking at the pictures, it seems the house has been highly-renovated & remodeled, but it may still have a little bit of the “old stuff” (like the wood floors with cigar burns).  Sitting on 2 acres, the property also has a “huge” barn (which looks exceptionally nice).  Some pics:

Front left:

Great Room:

Kitchen:

Third-story Bedroom:

Babe Ruth memorabilia room:

Barn:

Recreation loft:

Check out these other sources of information about the old Babe Ruth house:

* Listing agent Scott Adamson’s site at Coldwell Banker here.

* Realtor.com listing here.

* Ira Kantor’s great article in the Boston Herald here.