Ruth Cleveland (October 3, 1891 – January 7, 1904), popularly known as Baby Ruth, was the eldest of five children born to
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
President
Grover Cleveland
Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...
and
First Lady Frances Cleveland. Her birth between Cleveland's two terms of office caused a national sensation. Interest in her continued even after her father's second presidential term was over. A sickly child, Ruth Cleveland contracted
diphtheria
Diphtheria is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Corynebacterium diphtheriae''. Most infections are asymptomatic or have a mild clinical course, but in some outbreaks more than 10% of those diagnosed with the disease may die. Signs and s ...
on January 2, 1904. Doctors thought her case was mild, but she died five days after her diagnosis. She is buried in
Princeton Cemetery.
In popular culture
The
Curtiss Candy Company asserted that the "
Baby Ruth" candy bar (formerly known as Kandy Kake from 1900–1920) was named after Ruth Cleveland. The renaming of the candy bar took place in 1921, thirty years after Ruth Cleveland's birth and seventeen years after her death. That same year, legendary baseball player George Herman Ruth, better known by the nickname
Babe Ruth
George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Su ...
, was nearing the top of his popularity, having just broken the single-season home run record.
As
Richard Sandomir of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' pointed out, "For 85 years, Babe Ruth, the slugger, and B