By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2026-08-04 18:11:37 | Updated at 2026-08-04 23:29:18
6 hours ago
Chicago Cubs centerfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong has become the latest sports figure to entertain a bizarre conspiracy theory.
Years after Kyrie Irving's flat earth claims and Red Sox slugger Carl Everett's insistence that dinosaur fossils were fake, Crow has now posited that baseball legend Babe Ruth never actually existed.
'This is gonna be crazy,' Crow-Armstrong told podcaster Kristin Cavallari. 'Babe Ruth never existed … I heard some pitcher with the Mariners, [Tayler] Saucedo, he did some podcast on Zoom when he was like going down the rabbit hole on how Babe Ruth never existed, and I was like 'wow!'
Of course, Ruth did exist from 1895 to 1948, during which time he grew from an unwanted and neglected child into one of the most famous figures of the 20th century. Even in 1934 Japan, where the local government was actively resisting foreign influence ahead of World War II, Ruth was mobbed in the streets by thousands of adoring baseball fans as he embarked on a barnstorming tour of the country.
And while Ruth's last surviving teammate passed away in 2009 at the age of 100, countless others have since spoken on the record about the thrill of seeing the Bambino.
But like Seattle's Tayler Saucedo before him, Crow-Armstrong doesn't think the visual evidence of Ruth is very compelling.
Cubs centerfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong has become the latest sports figure to entertain a bizarre conspiracy theory. According to the Gold Glove winner, Babe Ruth didn't exist
Upon his arrival in Boston in 1914, Ruth became baseball's most irrepressible force, both as a hitter and a pitcher. He once went 29 postseason innings without surrendering a run
Babe Ruth is seen swinging warmup bats during an Army-Navy benefit in the 1930s
'It's like, we always talk about how the game's evolving. And people might as well have been like underhanding the ball to that guy and he's regarded still as one of the best players ever,' Crow-Armstrong said. 'You might as well dive further into it and be like 'well, maybe he just never existed.'
The child of Hollywood actors Matthew John Armstrong and Ashley Crow, Crow-Armstrong isn't on firm ground with this argument.
The few public figures capable of competing with Ruth's celebrity during his lifetime were mostly world leaders, all of whom gained notoriety through their bloodlines rather than any specific talent.
Nicknamed 'The Bambino' and 'The Sultan of Swat,' George Herman 'Babe' Ruth wasn't baseball's first icon. Among others, Detroit's Ty Cobb and Pittsburgh's Honus Wagner had captured the country's imagination long before Ruth ever played a Major League game.
Ruth signs a baseball for Prince Kaya of Japan and his wife before a game at Yankees Stadium
During the 1934 tour of Japan, Babe Ruth poses for a photo with young Japanese players
Upon his arrival with the Boston Red Sox in 1914, Ruth became baseball's most irrepressible force, both as a hitter and a pitcher. Ruth actually led the American League in earned-run average in 1916 and set a record by pitching 29 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings in the World Series - a mark that stood until 1961.
His pitching career ended when he was famously sold to the Yankees before the 1920 season, but he remained a revolutionary force in the batter's box, where he rewrote the record books.
Before Ruth, Chicago White Stockings infielder Ned Williamson's 1884 mark of 27 home runs in a single season had stood for 35 years. But in 1919, Ruth topped it with 29. Then, after moving to New York, he had 54 in 1920 and 59 in 1921 before setting a record with 60 home runs in 1927 that stood for 34 years.
He would retire with an MLB-record 714 home runs, which still ranks third all time behind Hank Aaron (755) and Barry Bonds (762).
