Hot Springs is officially the home of the third bronze statue of Babe Ruth after the 8-foot statue was unveiled in a ceremony at Majestic Park Monday morning.
The ceremony was held on what would be the legendary slugger's 128th birthday where he once played and trained during his time with the Boston Red Sox. The statue was created by Pennsylvania sculptor Chad Fisher of Fisher Sculpture, and it stands at the entrance to the park.
Ruth is shown in the familiar New York Yankees pinstripes in mid-swing watching a home run ball fly over the outfield fence. The other two bronzes of the Bambino are located at Baltimore's Camden Yards and in Japan, and while another sculpture of him and fellow Yankee Lou Gehrig is shown sitting on a bench in Waco, Texas, it does not feature the slugger on his own.
Tim Reid, a nationally-recognized baseball historian from Boca Raton, Florida, who helped document the Spa City as the birthplace of spring training, was on hand at the unveiling of the statue.
"What a glorious day for baseball history," he said. "It is such an honor and joy to be here, right here where Babe Ruth himself was 100 years ago this month, on his seventh visit to the Springs -- in the year he led the Yankees to their first World Championship, which was also the inaugural year of Yankee Stadium, The House That Ruth Built."
Reid, who along with Bill Jenkinson, Don Duren, Mark Blaeuer and the late Mike Dugan, was involved in the filming of the award-winning documentary film "The First Boys of Spring," which documents the start of spring training in Hot Springs and is narrated by Billy Bob Thornton.
"Babe was so enormously popular in 1923 -- the most famous man in America -- that Damon Runyon himself also came to town that year, reporting on everything from what Babe had for breakfast -- ham and eggs at the Majestic Hotel -- to how he dressed when he took the baths. Babe was 'Hercules in Pinstripes,' 'The Colossus of Clout,' America's superhero, both superhuman and a supremely human man and humanitarian. There will never be another man like him.
"The city and citizens of Hot Springs are heroes themselves and have made history in their own right by building this Majestic Park and commemorating this majestic baseball immortal."
Tom Stevens, Ruth's grandson, was also on hand for the unveiling of the statue.
"The Ruth family was thrilled to be invited back to Hot Springs for the unveiling of Chad Fisher's latest masterpiece," he said.
Stevens and his family were in the Spa City on March 17, 2018, for the 100th anniversary of Ruth's legendary 573-foot home run, which was hit out of the Whittington Park ball field, across Whittington Avenue and into a pond at Arkansas Alligator Farm.
Dr. Robert Muldoon and the family of the late Daniel B. Hamby Jr., who along with Lee Beasley donated the entirety of the funds for the sculpture, were also on hand for the unveiling.
"These three donors have enabled us to create an artwork that will stand as an object of pride for our city and also as a guiding light for the kids of Hot Springs who will benefit for years to come from the healthy recreational opportunity Majestic Park will provide for them and future generations," Minnie Lenox, a board member of The Friends of Majestic Park, said. "All Hot Springs residents are grateful to them for their generosity and for their affection for their hometown as shown by their support of this project."
The private nonprofit organization that provides support for the complex and led the drive for the funding of the statue, was the idea of Dugan, one of the country's leading baseball historians who also led the effort to establish Hot Springs as The Birthplace of Major League Baseball Spring Training. Dugan passed away in early 2021.
Steve Arrison, the CEO of Visit Hot Springs, said the statue is expected to become a tourist attraction in its own right.
"Baseball fans from everywhere will come to see this monument to the most famous man who ever played the game," he said. "It will outlast all of us and stand tall in front of Majestic Park for future generations to remind them of the history of the site and our community."