George Herman Ruth will get to call his shot in court.
Federal authorities charged a 69-year-old Tennessee resident with the same name as Babe Ruth with mail fraud, identity theft, and 91 total charges on Aug. 12, alleging he used the names of hundreds of deceased or former MLB players to make false claims for payouts in class action lawsuits.
The counts include aggravated identity theft, fraudulent use of Social Security numbers, mail fraud, money laundering, making false statements to his probation officer, and possession of firearms after previous convictions.
Ruth previously pled guilty in Indiana federal court to a scheme to commit Social Security fraud and was sentenced to prison in 2020. He was on probation from October 2023 to July 2025.
Authorities allege from January 2023 to July 2025, Ruth ran a nationwide scheme where he submitted hundreds of fraudulent claims for class-action lawsuit payments using the names and Social Security numbers of former MLB players.
The indictment does not name the players whose identities were stolen, but lists the teams several played for. Some of the players were dead and had played for old teams like the Brooklyn Superbas, Kansas City Packers, and Chicago Colts among others while others were living players who had played for organizations including the Padres, Orioles, and Mets.
To pull off the hoax, Ruth opened multiple post office boxes around Tennessee and created a fake LLC to launder more than a half-million dollars through, the indictment alleges.
Ruth is facing up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted. The case is set to go to trial on January 27, 2026.
