26 Facts About Babe Dye

1.

Babe Dye began his professional ice hockey career with the Toronto St Patricks in 1919.

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2.

In 1927, Babe Dye suffered a major leg injury during training camp, and did not return to play until the last 10 games of that season.

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3.

Babe Dye's production dropped significantly as a result of his leg injury, and was reassigned to the Americans' minor league affiliate, the New Haven Eagles in 1929.

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4.

The next year, Babe Dye signed as a free agent with the first professional team he played for, since renamed the Maple Leafs.

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5.

Babe Dye played six games with the Maple Leafs before he retired from the sport.

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6.

Babe Dye won his only Stanley Cup with the St Patricks, in 1922.

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7.

Babe Dye was posthumously inducted as a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1970, eight years after his death.

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8.

Babe Dye was a halfback for the Toronto Argonauts, a Canadian football team.

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9.

Babe Dye credited his goal-scoring abilities to his mother, who had built Babe Dye an outdoor rink, as well as ensuring that he completed his skating and shooting drills.

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10.

Babe Dye played junior hockey from 1916 to 1918 for the Toronto Aura Lee and Toronto De La Salle of the Ontario Hockey Association.

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11.

Babe Dye enlisted in the Canadian military on May 3,1918, joining the 69th Battery of the Canadian Field Artillery; Dye trained at a base in Petawawa, Ontario but did not leave Canada during the war.

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12.

Babe Dye was recalled back to Toronto after one game with Hamilton, as the team needed him to replace the injured Corb Denneny.

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13.

Babe Dye led the St Patricks to Stanley Cup championship in 1922, scoring nine goals in the five-game final series.

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14.

In 1926, Dye was inadvertently responsible for Conn Smythe's dismissal from the New York Rangers, after Smythe disagreed with the Rangers' owner, John S Hammond, about acquiring Dye.

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15.

At training camp before the next season, Babe Dye's leg was broken and he was never the same player again.

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16.

Babe Dye was a professional baseball player, beginning his career with the Toronto Maple Leafs of the International League in 1920.

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17.

Babe Dye was sent to Brantford of the Class B Michigan-Ontario League, popularly known as the Mint League.

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18.

Babe Dye had a strong season with the Bisons in 1923, and was then considered a top prospect for the major leagues.

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19.

In September 1923, Babe Dye announced that he was retiring from hockey to focus on baseball, but when the hockey season started he re-signed with the St Pats.

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20.

Babe Dye again played for the Bisons in 1925, and was sold to the baseball Leafs after the end of the season.

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21.

Babe Dye was released by Toronto in July 1926 and signed by the Baltimore Orioles of the International League, where he finished his baseball career that year.

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22.

Babe Dye's release was so quick that, on occasion, his goals would be in dispute because neither the linesmen, referee or goaltender had seen them enter the net.

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23.

Babe Dye used this stick and his wrist strength to propel the puck at occasionally dangerous speeds, and his "wicked drives" and shots that goalies "could not see" were mentioned many times in game summaries.

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24.

Sprague Cleghorn claimed that Babe Dye was the best shot of anyone he'd ever seen, and Adams rated him as superior in ability to Bryan Hextall, Grindy Forrester, Didier Pitre, Carson "Shovel-Shot" Cooper and even Charlie Conacher: "Dye was the peer of them all".

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25.

Babe Dye said the player was determined to go and there was nothing he could do about it.

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26.

Babe Dye died at the age of 63 in Chicago, where he had been hospitalized for several months following a heart attack.

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