Babe Ruth acknowledges the crowd during his final Yankee Stadium appearance, 1948. Ruth became the first Yankee to have his number retired that day.
The transcript from his short speech:
“Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. You know how bad my voice sounds—well, it feels just as bad. You know this baseball game of ours comes up from the youth. You’ve got to start from way down at the bottom, when you’re 6 or 7 years of age. You can’t wait until you’re 15 or 16. You’ve got to let it grow up with you, and if you’re successful and you try hard enough, you’re bound to come out on top, just like these boys have come to the top now. I’ve seen them all, all the great ones, and I hope some of you young fellas out there will be up there someday, too. Thank you.”