Was Babe Ruth Black?

Woodcut of Babe Ruth.

There’s a story told by the legendary sportswriter Fred Lieb about Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth from the 1920s. The stars were scheduled to share a cabin on a Georgia hunting trip. Cobb refused. When asked why he said, “I’ve never bedded down with a n — — — and I’m not going to start now.”

Ruth, the most renowned baseball player of the 20th century, the embodiment of a time when only white athletes played pro sports, may have been…