A favorite hangout of baseball great Babe Ruth (1895-1948), McKeown’s was located on Route 206 overlooking Culver Lake in Branchville, New Jersey. It was decorated like a hunting lodge with a giant stone fireplace and an oak-lined bar that was known as the ‘men’s room.’

One of America’s greatest sportsmen, George Herman ‘Babe Ruth, Jr. played for the Boston Red Sox (1914-1919), the New York Yankees (1920-1934) and the Boston Braves (1935) and is still regarded as the greatest baseball player of all time.

While he set many records on the pitch, including 714 career home runs, he was also a legendary drinker. It’s been claimed on one occasion players from the Chicago White Sox took him out drinking and kept him up late into the night but despite being hungover the next day, he still dominated the game.

In his time off the pitch, the famous baseball player went hunting, fishing and golfing in this part of New Jersey and he would drop in to McKeown’s for the restaurant’s house specialty – roast duck with apple sauce – washed down with his favorite Dewar’s whisky.

McKeown’s - whose motto was Where duck is King - was sold in 2005, and the owners changed its name to the Blue Ribbon but proudly kept photographs of their famous customer on display at the front door.

From the prices listed for food and drink we believe this menu is from the early 1950s, shortly after the so-called Sultan of Swat died at the age of 53.