Babe Ruth Trademarks

“Babe” Ruth, nicknamed “The Bambino,” is known as the greatest baseball player of all time. He is a hero of American sports history and was selected as one of the “first five” inaugural members of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

The famed baseball player was born George Herman Ruth Jr. He was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1895 and was of German ancestry. In fact, he spoke German as a child growing up. When he was seven years old, he was enrolled at St. Mary’s Industrial School for Boys, where his mentor happened to be a baseball player. While he was there, he learned skills in sewing and carpentry and he also learned to play third base and shortstop.

In 1914, when he was nineteen years old, he signed with Jack Dunn and the minor-league Baltimore Orioles. His first professional game was in March where he played shortstop and pitched at the end of the game. Dunn sold Ruth’s contract to the American League’s (AL)
Boston Red Sox. He developed as a star playing for the Boston Red Sox from 1914 through 1919. His contract was sold to the New York Yankees at the end of 1919. Ruth became a true superstar and cemented himself as the greatest of all time playing for the Yankees from 1920 until 1934. He played his final season for the Boston Braves.

In his baseball career, Ruth played four positions: left field, right field, first base and pitcher. He established and broke many records. He was the first player to hit fifty home runs in one season, 60 homers in one season and 500 homers in a career. He was an All-Star twice, a seven-time World Series Champion, twelve-time AL home run champion, six-time AL RBI champion, 1923 AL MVP, the AL batting champion and the AL ERA champion. Ruth was also named to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team and the Major League Baseball All-Time Team and was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936.

Ruth was married twice, to Helen Woodford from 1914 until 1926 and to Claire Merritt Hodgson from 1929 until his death. He adopted a daughter with his first wife and then adopted his second wife’s daughter as well. He died of cancer in August of 1948 and more than 75,000 people stood outside his funeral. He is buried in Hawthorne, New York.

There are multiple registered trademarks that are associated with Babe Ruth’s name and they are owned by two different entities.

Linda Ruth Tosetti obtained a federal trademark registration for the name Babe Ruth in 2012 for use on athletic apparel. Tosetti is Ruth’s granddaughter.

The other entity that owns trademarks related to Babe Ruth is the Babe Ruth League, Inc. The Babe Ruth League, Inc. is a nonprofit organization founded in Hamilton Township, New Jersey in 1951. Ruth’s widow Claire gave the organization permission to use his name in 1954. The organization obtained a trademark registration for the name “Babe Ruth League” for the purpose of organizing baseball teams in 2020.

The purpose of the organization is to develop youth in a positive way through teaching them the sport of baseball. Originally founded by a group of ten men, the organization is now governed by a seventeen-member international board. The program administers multiple programs as well as generally overseeing and organizing a youth baseball league made up of more than a million players on over 50,000 teams.

There are five divisions of baseball and softball in the Babe Ruth League, each dealing with a different age group and two for softball.

Cal Ripken Baseball is a division of the Babe Ruth League that is for boys between the ages of four years old and twelve years old. The Babe Ruth League, Inc. registered a trademark for Babe Ruth Baseball in 2020. Babe Ruth Baseball is a division within the league for boys ages thirteen to eighteen.

The Babe Ruth League Inc. also registered a trademark for Babe Ruth Softball in 2013 for use in organizing softball teams and leagues. Babe Ruth Softball was introduced in 1984 and encourages girls ages six through eighteen to participate in the sport. The organization also registered a trademark for the name Xtreme Fastpitch. Xtreme Fastpitch is a high-performance softball division for girls that aims to help to get players ready for the next level of competition.

The Babe Ruth League Inc. filed a trademark application for “Bambino Buddy-Ball” in 2004. Bambino Buddy-Ball is a program that matches buddies with players who are physically and/or mentally challenged to play together.

The organization also filed trademark registration for the names “Babe Ruth National Umpires Association” and “Babe Ruth Softball National Umpires Association” to establish divisions that could help local leagues affiliated with the program to educate umpires.