For 15 consecutive seasons, baseball legend Babe Ruth visited St. Petersburg for spring training, and now his rental bungalow is on the market.
Located at 346 16th Ave. NE, about a mile and a half from Al Lang Field, the house was built in 1924, and for many seasons served as “The House That Babe Rented” (along with his second wife, Claire, and his stepdaughter Dorothy) according to the St. Petersburg Times.
“Legend has it that the house was the scene of many parties thrown by the Babe for Yankees players, their wives and friends,” wrote the publication, which also noted that that one of the previous owners, oil businessman Harry Woods, claims to have found an ancient quart whiskey bottle under the house he believed belonged to the Great Bambino.
The Babe was a known drinker, but unfortunately it was never verified that the bottle was actually his. Tampa Bay has a long history of Babe Ruth-related stories. He was a regular golfer at Lakewood Country Club, and was known to occasionally hunt for alligators with his wife around St. Petersburg.
Most famously, it was in Tampa where the Sultan of Swat hit his record 587-foot home run at Navin Field in 1919, when he played for the Boston Red Sox. Though some historians say he probably hit an even longer, 624-foot dinger as a Yankee in 1934 at St. Petersburg’s Waterfront Park.
Besides the rental, Babe Ruth also stayed at quite a few local hotels, including the Don Cesar, the Dennis Hotel and the Jungle Country Club Hotel.
Today, the Caliph of Clout’s St. Pete rental is owned by award-winning local preservationist and HGTV’s 2020 Ultimate House Hunt winner Maureen Stafford. The fully restored 1,713-square-foot home now has three bedrooms, three bathrooms and plenty of modern updates, per the listing.
The house that Babe rented is currently asking $1,865,000, and the listing agents are Sharon Kantner and Brian Waechter of Smith & Associates.
A version of this story first appeared in our sibling publication Creative Loafing Tampa Bay.
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