I suspect and imagine that we all are aware of the term “a labor of love”. I think we’ve all engaged in one or two along the way and we understand the concept. Frankly I find the idea of using the word labor and love in the same sentence a bit oxymoronish (is that a word) but I digress. I guess it means that if you love what you are doing than it simply is not labor. That said, I am fortunate in that regard.

I know of another who is equally as fortunate and she has embarked on a journey that will soon come to fruition and you can actually help! Curious? I bet you are….at least a little.

Her name is Linda and her project is The Universal Babe.

That’s right, that Babe…..Give a click here and take 90 seconds and let her tell you about the project.    http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1004781951/universal-babe

Linda never knew her Grandpa as he passed away before she arrived, but she learned of him first at the hand of her mom, Dorothy Ruth Pirone.

Dorothy and Dad

Tales in the home led to a search for books and periodicals and finally to many who knew Babe and conveyed to her first hand knowledge of his thoughts, words and deeds. She came to learn things about the man that had long since left the passages of history, if they appeared at all.

Among them was Theodore Roosevelt “Double Duty” Radcliffe who regaled her with stories of Grandpa Babe and his support of the Negro Leagues.

Negro League star, “Double Duty” got his nickname because he often would pitch the first game of a doubleheader and catch the second.

 Others told her things about Babe’s exploits to the Far East and his vision for the game of baseball as in the 1930s he became baseball’s leading ambassador while traveling through Japan.

Babe and the boys.

His love and generosity for and to children is well documented but not as well-known is that Babe stood up and spoke out against the Holocaust, at a time when, sad to say, not many were doing so, especially in the sports world!

“If you think you know Babe, this will surprise you” she wrote and we are now weeks away from the unveiling of The Universal Babe.

It was 64 years ago August that Babe left us, it was 98 years ago July that he played his first major league game; and he still beckons to us, he still enamors us, he still calls to us. And now through the labor of love of his loved one, we will come to know him again.

And in ways never known before…..

And so it is on this day in Fenway Park history, July 19, 2012.