 Other visitors of note during the hotel's heyday were Sarah Bernhardt, Clara Barton, Stephen Crane, the Prince of Wales, Winston Churchill, Ignacy Paderewski.Babe Ruth was also a guest of the hotel during its latter days, and signed his first baseball contract in the Grand Dining Room.In 1919, Ruth hit his longest home run (and possibly the longest ever hit in official competition) during a spring training game at Plant Field, adjacent to the hotel.