This Day in Hockey History – January 7, 1916 – You Can Call Me Babe

On January 7, 1916, Walter Peter “Babe” Pratt was born in Stony Mountain, Manitoba, Canada.  He began playing hockey as a youngster playing most of his minor hockey in Winnipeg with the Atlantic Avenue Rink, with whom he would win the Winnipeg Playground Championship at the age of 10, in the under-12 division.

But hockey was not his only sporting love, he also played baseball and showed talent at a young age, earning him the nickname Babe, after baseball great Babe Ruth. The call of the ice however was stronger than that of the diamond and Babe ultimately decided on a hockey career.

In 1933, he played for several teams. Perhaps he had a magic touch, because each of the five teams he played with went on to win a championship. At 17 he moved on to play for the Kenora Thistles, a junior team.  In his second season with the Thistles he topped the league with 46 points in 20 games. That year the Thistles came within a game of winning the Memorial Cup, losing to the Winnipeg Monarchs.

When a scout called Babe one of the best prospects he had ever seen, Babe was signed to the New York Rangers farm team, the Philadelphia Ramblers in 1935.  Once again, he proved himself on the ice and in the middle of his first season with the Ramblers, the New York Rangers called him up to the NHL.

During the 1937-38 season he scored the most goals by a defenseman during the playoffs and had the most playoff points by a defenseman.  During the 1939-40 season, Babe teamed with fellow defenseman with Ott Heller.  The duo was one of the best defense team ups in the league, allowing only 17 goals during regular season play, and were instrumental in the New York Rangers winning the Stanley Cup the same year.

In November of 1942, Babe was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs, where he played for four seasons.  His best season was the 1943-44.  In 50 games played he had 17 goals, 40 assists and 57 points.  His 57 points was the best by any defensemen, a record he held for 21 years.  In 1944 he was awarded the Hart Memorial Trophy, an honor rarely given to a defenseman.  The following season he scored the winning goal during the final game of the playoffs winning Toronto the Stanley Cup.

Babe’s career was in jeopardy for a time when he was caught gambling and suspended from play on January 29, 1946.

“Announcement of Pratt’s expulsion—two years ago he was the league’s most valuable player—came late yesterday from league president Mervyn (Red) Dutton in Montreal. He made clear there was no suggestion of scandal in connection with the expelling of Pratt that there was no evidence he wagered against his own team but that Pratt, in gambling, had flouted league rules and there was no other course than to discipline him,” reported the Victoria Daily Times.

He later was reinstated on February 15, 1946, by the NHL, with Babe promising never to gamble again. and returned to Toronto and finished the season. 

“Expressing real pleasure at the news of Babe Pratt’s reinstatement by the board of governors of the National Hockey League, Col. William A. H. MacBrien, Toronto financier and vice-president of Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd., owners of the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team, confirmed the report from New York that Pratt would play for Leafs against Montreal Canadiens tonight,” wrote Victoria Daily Times reporter Pete Sallaway.

“I had a conference with President E. W. Bickle after Pratt had been suspended and we decided that if the N.H.L. decided to reinstate him after investigation of the case, we would automatically do so,” said MacBrien.

MacBrien believed that Pratt would be necessary to assist the Maple Leafs in gaining a playoff position in the 1946 postseason.

In June of 1946 he was traded to the Boston Bruins.  The 1946-47 season was the last season he played for the NHL.  He went on to play for several teams in the AHL and then for the PCHL, retiring from hockey in 1952.

Following his retirement, he spent time as a hockey analyst on CBC Television’s, Hockey Night in Canada.  He later served as Vice President of the Vancouver Canucks.

Babe Pratt was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1966, the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and Museum in 1990 and a honored member of the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame.

Babe Pratt died in December 16, 1988, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at the age of 72.   He is remembered as one of the funniest players in the NHL and considered one of the finest defensemen. To honor him, the Canucks had Babe embroidered on the sleeve of their uniform and wore it for the rest of the season.

“He should have written the book because he was one of the keenest hockey historians that the game has known. He had the knack of understanding different errors and placing players into context of their times,” wrote Archie McDonald of The Vancouver Sun. “General manager Pat Quin, who was here as a player when the Canucks began their NHL lives in 1970, is infinitely correct when he says the Babe has been the star of the Canucks through the years. He made the hockey Hall of Fame, the storytellers Hall of Fame, and the people’s Hall of Fame. You can’t do any better than that.”

Additional Sources:

• Legends of Hockey, Babe Pratt
• NHL.com, Babe Pratt
• “Expulsion of Babe Pratt for Gambling Weakens Toronto in Playoff Drive,” Detroit Times (Detroit, Michigan), Wednesday, January 30, 1946, p. 20.
• “Pratt Appeals Case to N.H.L. Governors,” Victoria Daily Times  (Victoria, British Columbia), Wednesday, January 30, 1946, p. 12.
• Pete Sallaway, “Sports Mirror,” Victoria Daily Times (Victoria, British Columbia), Saturday, February 16, 1946, p.9.
• Archie McDonald, “Hall of Famer Babe Pratt leaves ‘em laughing,” The Vancouver Sun (Vancouver, British Columbia), Saturday, December 17, 1988, p. E3.
• Oscar Fraley, “‘Babe’ Pratt Given Break,” Morning Star (Rockford, Illinois), Saturday, February 16, 1946, p.10.
• Ex-Bruin, NHL Great Babe Pratt Dies, Boston Herald, January 30, 1988, p. 114.