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Babe and Helen eventually separated. When Helen died in a house fire in 1929, Dorothy went to live with her father. Later that year, Babe married actress and model Claire Hodgson the day before the Yankees' opening game against the Boston Red Sox. Babe hit a homer in Yankee Stadium for his new bride on his first at-bat the next day.

Babe broke records in the 1918 World Series, pitching 29 consecutive scoreless innings, a record that stood for 43 years. Perhaps the most famous moment of Babe's career came during the 1932 World Series against the Chicago Cubs, in the fifth inning of Game 3, Babe had already hit one home run and was at bat, with two balls and two strikes. Before the next pitch and in front of a heckling crowd, Babe stepped out of the box and pointed to the center field bleachers. Then he swatted the ball, the longest home run ever to be hit out of Wrigley Field, directly above the spot where he had pointed. His team, the Yankees, went on to win the World Series. Ruth hit 714 homers during his career, a record unbroken until Henry Aaron of the Atlanta Braves hit 715 homers in 1974.

The Yankees released Ruth after the 1934 season, and he ended his playing career in 1935 with the Boston Braves. In 1936, he was among the first five players elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Babe Ruth, the Sultan of Swat, died in 1948, his name inseparably linked with baseball.