George Herman "Babe" Ruth was born February 6, 1895 at 216 Emory Street, a Baltimore row house that is now just a long fly ball from Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The property was leased by Babe’s grandfather, Pius Schamberger, who made his living as an upholsterer.

By the late 1960s the property and adjoining three row-house structures had fallen into disrepair and were scheduled for demolition. Hirsh Goldberg, press secretary for Baltimore’s Mayor Theodore McKeldin, launched a successful campaign to save and restore the Birthplace, which opened to the public as a national shrine in 1974. The not-for-profit Babe Ruth Birthplace Foundation, Inc. was formed to govern the operation. Exhibits depicting the Historic House and the life and times of Babe Ruth were installed with the help of Babe’s widow, Claire; his two daughters, Dorothy and Julia; and his sister, Mamie, who was also born at 216 Emory Street.

In 1983 the operation expanded to become the official museum of the Baltimore Orioles, the team that signed Ruth to his first professional contract. At that time, the Foundation began formally operating as the Babe Ruth Museum. In 1985 the Mayor of Baltimore, William Donald Schaefer, designated the Museum as the official archives of the Baltimore Colts, who had departed the previous year for Indianapolis.

Museum attendance soared to over 60,000 annually with the opening of Oriole Park at Camden Yards in 1992, and Museum officials knew that the tiny Birthplace facility could not sufficiently house the large numbers of visitors or the increased number of displays it needed to interpret its multiple sports themes.

Over the course of its 30-year history, the Babe Ruth Museum’s mission has evolved to not only feature the greatest baseball player ever, but also to present the rich and storied histories of Baltimore’s Orioles and Colts. Upon the opening of Sports Legends at Camden Yards on May 14, 2005, those artifacts moved into a new and larger home at Camden Station. Meanwhile, the Birthplace has reverted to its original mission to feature exhibits on the life and times of George Herman "Babe" Ruth.

Sports Legends at Camden Yard

Opened in 1856, Camden Station served as the grand passenger terminus for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the county’s first commercial railroad. For a period of time it dominated Baltimore’s skyline as the city’s tallest building, as it was designed to be taller than the Washington Monument.

Camden Station itself is an historic artifact, as the first blood of the Civil War was shed outside the station’s northern portals on Pratt Street. Union troops, on foot from the President Street station to Camden Station, clashed with angry southern sympathizers, leading to the first Civil War battle. Abraham Lincoln also passed through the building on several occasions, once on his way to Gettysburg.

Additions were added to the building throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was stabilized between the World Wars, and then began to contract. In 1971, the B&O vacated what by then was America’s oldest big city train terminal in continuous use, and Camden Station was sold to the Maryland Stadium Authority. Determined to integrate the historic structure into the new Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the MSA commissioned the firm of Cho, Wilks and Benn to restore the facade to its 1867 appearance, although the Authority had no definite plans for the use of Camden Station.

Camden Station Reborn

Unused since the 1980s, Camden Station was in serious danger of suffering substantial structural damage, and steps needed to be taken to preserve its core and shell. In the same way the birthplace of George Herman “Babe” Ruth was saved from destruction, Camden Station was saved by the Babe Ruth Museum before reaching the point of dilapidation.

The Museum occupies the basement and first floor of the Station with 22,000 square feet of artifacts and interactive exhibits, transforming Camden Station into one of the most spectacular sports museums in America.

Camden Station renovation for Sports Legends at Camden Yards completed by J. Vinton Shafer & Sons Inc. Exhibit design by Chermayeff, Sollogub and Poole, Inc. Exhibit fabrication by Maltbie, Inc.

Sports Legends at Camden Yards opened to the public on May 14, 2005.

Visit the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum and Sports Legends at Camden Yards website at www.baberuthmuseum.com