Larger than Large

In one of those eerie coincidinces of time across the eras, arguably the two biggest 20th-century American icons of the sports and entertainment worlds both died on this day, August 16th.

George Herman "Babe" Ruth died 58 years ago today, August 16th, 1948. He was 53 years old - the cause was cancer. Ruth hadn't played baseball since his swan song season in 1935 with the Boston Braves. Ever since he'd spent his time drinking, playing golf, and trying to land a job as a manager in the bigs, an opportunity that never came along. The closest he ever came was a stint as a first base coach with the Dodgers in 1938. Ruth's overall impact on professional sports in America is incalculable. When I was a toddler, my Grampa Noyes used to tell me a story about getting the Babe's autograph at Yankee Stadium. To hear him talk, you'd think he'd seen God in the flesh.

On August 16th, 1977, the world was stunned by the news that Elvis Presley had died of a heart attack while on the toilet in his Graceland mansion. He was only 42. And so began the King's fall from grace in the public eye, from mama-lovin' God-fearin' good ole boy to pill-poppin' lardass who lived for peanut butter, karate and nowhere-near legal pussy. With everything that's been written about him since his death, everything we've learned about the bizarre reclusive nightmare of his later life, it's difficult to focus on an image of the young Elvis in our minds, the young Elvis who was really more a panther than a man. As with Ruth, it's impossible to assess Presely's impact on the American landscape, but I think Lester Bangs came close when he wrote this of the King's influence on pop culture - "He changed "How much is that doggie in the window?" to "Let's fuck."

That, my friends, is some heavy shit.