On June 13, 1948, a dying man put on his old uniform one last time, used his bat as a cane to stand up, and broke the heart of every baseball fan in America.
It was Yankee Stadium's 25th anniversary, "The House That Ruth Built." Babe Ruth was there to have his No. 3 retired, only the second number the Yankees ever retired after Lou Gehrig. But everyone in the crowd of nearly 50,000 could see it. The Babe was wasting away from throat cancer. He was thin, frail, and wrapped in a heavy wool overcoat in June because he was always cold now.
He walked out into the roar leaning on a bat like an old man's cane. When he spoke, the booming voice was gone, reduced to a painful rasp. But he stood. He tipped his cap. He soaked in the love one final time.
A photographer named Nat Fein didn't shoot the usual photo from the front. He moved behind Ruth and captured the Babe from the back, number 3, shoulders stooped, facing the crowd and the field he ruled. He titled it "The Babe Bows Out." It won the Pulitzer Prize, the first sports photo ever to do so.
Two months later Ruth was dead at 53.
78 years ago today, the greatest to ever play it said goodbye.