The book was published in 1974. Yet chances are if you go to a book store, you still will be able to find Robert Creamer’s Babe: The Legend Comes to Life.

Talk about setting the standard. Creamer’s biography was the Babe Ruth of sports books.

In tribute to Creamer, who died Thursday at the age of 90, I thought it would be fitting to recall his most famous work.

The book touched on all facets of Ruth’s incredible life, including his huge appetite for sex. It was well-known to most insiders, but Creamer brought it out in the open.

Creamer writes:

There is a story, probably apocryphal, about a time he and (Bob Meusel) were barnstorming together. They shared a hotel suite. Meusel was half asleep when Ruth came in with a girl, went into his room and made love to her in his usual noisy fashion. Afterwards, he came out to the living room of the suite, lit a cigar and sat in a chair by the window, smoking contemplatively…

In the morning, Meusel asked, “How many times did you lay that girl last night?” Ruth glanced at the ashtray and so did Meusel. There were seven butts in the tray.

“Count the cigars,” said Ruth.

Obviously, though, it was baseball that made Ruth a legend. Here’s Creamer on Ruth’s famous “Called Shot” homer at Wrigley Field:

Now. What about the legend ? What about the story, often affirmed, often denied, that Babe pointed to a spot in center field and then hit the ball precisely to that spot ? It is an argument over nothing, and the fact that Ruth did not point to center field before his home run does not diminish in the least what he did. He did challenge the Cubs before 50,000 people, did indicate he was going to hit a home run and did hit a home run. What more could you ask?

Later he writes:

Ford Frick, who was not at the game, tried to pin Ruth down on the subject when the two were talking about the Series some time later.

“Did you really point to the bleachers?” Frick asked.

Ruth, always honest, shrugged. “It’s in the papers, isn’t it?” he said.

“Yeah,” Frick said. “It’s in the papers. But did you really point to the stands ?”

“Why don’t you read the papers? It’s all right there in the papers.”

Which, Frick said, means he never said he did and he never said he didn’t.