A Babe in a Brewery

No outsider was admitted to Col. Jake Ruppert's office in his big red brick brewery, but Manhattan newshawks knew what went on inside. Most specific was Reporter Rud Rennie in the Herald Tribune:

"Well, Babe," said the Colonel, ''what do you want?"

"Well, Colonel." replied the Babe, sparring, ''what do you say?''

''Twenty thousand dollars," snapped the Colonel.

"No," said the Babe, "I couldn't sign for that."

"Well, what do you want? What do you want?"

''I'd like to get $35,000," said the Babe.

"Will you sign for $35,000?"

"Yes."

"All right," said the Colonel. "I'll give you $35,000. That's settled."

That story made news last week because: 1) it was extraordinary for George

Herman ("Babe") Ruth to sign his yearly contract with the New York Yankees without weeks & weeks of ballyhooed haggling over his salary; 2) it was a $17,000 cut from last year, a $45,000 cut from his 1931 high; 3) most sportswriters agreed it was the last player-contract 39-year-old Babe Ruth would ever sign.

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