Slide, Babe, Slide (1932) User Reviews

Some Nice Tips

[boblipton · 6/10 · 24 November 2023]

When the train he is on stops in the middle of nowhere, Babe Ruth notices some kids playing baseball and goes to take part in the game. They don't believe who he is, at first.

It's directed with good humor and works based on the public image of Ruth as a childlike character, who loved kids. As with all carefully managed public figures, the reality was a bit darker, but it's still a lot of fun to see him here, offering useful baseball tips in one of several shorts he made in this period. It's directed by Benjamin Stoloff, who started out directing short comedies during the silent era, and graduated to westerns with sound.

Babe Ruth teaches stealing!

[hte-trasme · 5/10 · 3 September 2009]

An amusing curiosity. Babe Ruth can't help but get off his train to play baseball with some kids, who won't believe he is who he says he is. Baseball fans like me will enjoy the old sandlot footage and seeing the Babe in action.

This seems to have been part of a weekly series of one-reelers in which Ruth would teach one or two more baseball fundamentals while goofing around in each installment. Here he instructs us on the fadeaway slide and how not to "step in the bucket" when hitting. Watching Ruth slide in slow motion while wearing slacks and a tie is a memorable sight.

The short ends on a suspicious note as Babe Ruth encourages kids to run onto the railway track by dropping his bag of extra baseballs on it.

If you have the "Love of the Game" DVD, why not check out the Easter egg?

Nice Surprise

[playerazzi · 16 June 2004]

Like the previous poster, I discovered this on the "For Love of the Game" DVD. It was not listed on the DVD at all, I just snooped around, right-clicked on Title 6, Chapter 2, and voila.

The acting was atrocious, reminded me of Our Gang, but who cares? It was very cute, we got to see America of the 30's: Steam locomotives, sandlot baseball with those tiny "gloves" they used, rocks for bases, a mattress for the catcher's chest guard, a tiny umpire with attitude, and a rural way of life. Babe, originally rejected to play by the 10-year-old manager, gets in the game when the runner at first is called home by Mom to finish choppin' the wood. And Babe looked great, as he was only about 37 years old at the time. Took a lot of nerve sliding on a field with all those rocks and thorns.

Fun Short with Ruth

[Michael_Elliott · 21 September 2017]

Slide, Babe, Slide (1932)

*** (out of 4)

Babe Ruth is on a train and when it comes to a stop he notices a group of kids playing baseball. He decides to go over and teach them a thing but they don't believe that he's really Babe Ruth. For the most part this here is a highly entertaining short, although it's hard to believe that these kids wouldn't know who Ruth was. With that said, this was a fun short because it actually did a good job at showing off Ruth's child-like nature and I thought he was quite good here. He certainly kept you interested in what was going on and there's no doubt that he managed to be charming with the kids. This here was basically set up like an Our Gang short but of course the main draw was Ruth giving pointers.