Podcast Posting: The House That Built Ruth

A Catholic school in Baltimore that traces its roots to Yankees slugger Babe Ruth recently closed, the victim of declining enrollment and tough economic times.

Ruth spent the better part of 12 years at St. Mary’s Industrial School for Boys until 1914, when he left at age 19 to sign with the Baltimore Orioles of the International League. After he joined the Yankees in 1920, he took the St. Mary’s band to major league ballparks to raise money to replace the main school building destroyed in a fire.

St. Mary’s closed in 1950, and for 48 years it has been the site of the all-boys Cardinal Gibbons School. During the Spring, the Archdiocese of Baltimore said that Gibbons and 12 other schools would close in June because of falling enrollment, rising costs and financial problems exacerbated by the recession.

The school board has resisted the decision. There were protests. There was even a radio campaign to try to save the school and the adjacent field where the Babe played as a youth..

We speak with Michael L. Gibbons, the executive director of the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum in Baltimore about what happened and what a historical loss that the demise the school and its field would mean locally and to baseball fans worldwide.

At: http://conversationsontheroad.podbus.com/?p=475