Babe Ruth

George Herman “Babe” Ruth Jr. was the defining figure of American baseball’s first golden age — a pitcher turned slugger whose 1927 season of 60 home runs made him the most famous athlete alive. He really did preach swinging for the fences and accepting the strikeouts that came with it: in his own 1928 book he described the “swing hitters” who bust the fences as “the fellows who do most of the striking out too.” That authentic philosophy is why this polished modern one-liner sticks to him so easily — it sounds exactly like something he would have said, which is not the same as something he did say.