Total Baseball (1994 Edition)/Total_Baseball_1994_Edition_Creative_Multimedia_1994.iso/dp/0002/00023.txt

Text File | 1994-01-04 | 59KB | 906 lines

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$Title{The 100 Greatest Players:  Lajoie-Ryan}
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$Subject{100 Greatest Players hundred best infielders outfielders first second
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Total Baseball:  The Players


The 100 Greatest Players:  Lajoie-Ryan

Michael Gershman


NAPOLEON "LARRY" LAJOIE
     Second Baseman. Born Sept. 5, 1875 Woonsocket, R.I. Died Feb. 7, 1959
Daytona Beach, Fla. Holds AL record for highest season batting average,
(.426), 1901. Napoleon Lajoie was the complete package. No other second
baseman has ever shone so brilliantly in so many ways offensively and
defensively for so long (twenty-one years).
     In addition to leading ALrs in every fielding category in two different
seasons, Lajoie won a Triple Crown and four batting titles, compiled 3,242
career hits and a lifetime batting average of .338. At one time or another,
he led both leagues in RBIs, slugging average, and fielding percentage, and
was so well-loved that his team adopted his nickname as its own.
     Originally signed by the Phillies, Lajoie hit .361 in 1897 and won the
slugging championship (.569). By 1900 he had gathered five straight .300 plus
seasons but was earning only $2,400, the NL maximum. When Connie Mack offered
him $4,000, he jumped to the new AL and won the Triple Crown in 1901, hitting
.426 (still an AL record) with 14 home runs and 125 RBIs; it is a measure of
his versatility that he also led in runs scored (145), hits (232), doubles
(48) and slugging percentage (.643), putouts (395) and fielding percentage
(.960).
     The Phils sued Mack, and eventually the Pennsylvania Supreme Court
enjoined Lajoie from playing with the Athletics. AL president Ban Johnson
ordered that Lajoie be transferred to Cleveland where he could avoid
Pennsylvania's jurisdiction but could still play in the AL; for the first few
years, Lajoie always remained behind when the Bronchos (Indians) traveled to
Philadelphia.
     He won batting titles in 1903 (.344) and 1904 (.376) and was named
Cleveland's player-manager in 1905; the team was renamed the Naps in his
honor. Although the Naps improved, they never won a pennant under Lajoie, who
resigned during the 1909 season to concentrate on playing.
     Nap won a fourth, albeit tainted batting championship when he got seven
bunt singles on the last day of the 1910 season, all because of the opposing
manager's hatred for Ty Cobb, who was four points ahead. In retaliation,
sportswriter Hugh Fullerton changed his ruling on a Cobb smash that he had
ruled an error earlier in the season, helping to give Cobb a single extra hit
and the championship. Seven decades later the controversy erupted anew as it
was discovered that Cobb had been the beneficiary of a double entry of a game
in which he had gone 2-for-3; Larry had the higher batting average in 1910,
after all.
     Lajoie was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1937.

JOHN HENRY "POP" LLOYD
     Shortstop. Born Apr. 25, 1884 Palatka, Fla. Died Mar. 19, 1965 Atlantic
City, N.J. At age forty-four, hit .564 and led the Negro NL in home runs.
Pop Lloyd was frequently called "the Black Honus Wagner."  There is no record
that Wagner was ever called "the white Pop Lloyd," but to have done so would
have been high compliment indeed.
     Wagner once commented about Lloyd, "After I saw him play, I felt honored
that they should name such a great ballplayer after me."  Connie Mack added,
"You could put Wagner and Lloyd in a bag together and whichever one you pulled
out, you couldn't go wrong."
     Lloyd may have been the single greatest black player of all time. A
lefthanded line drive hitter, he was a gifted base runner and base stealer in
both the United States and Cuba, where he played for twelve years and was an
idol to fans and youngsters. They called him "El Cuchara"--"the Shovel," and
writers talk of him scooping ground balls with dirt, twigs, and anything else
that populated the primitive infields.
     Born in Florida, he played semipro ball in Georgia with the Macon Acmes
and moved on to the Cuban-X Giants. In Cuba he played against Ty Cobb in an
exhibition game, tagging him out three times on attempted steals with catcher
Bruce Petway delivering the ball. Lloyd also outhit Cobb, .500 to .369, and
Cobb was so embarrassed that he vowed never to play against blacks again.
     Perhaps the highlight of Lloyd's playing career came from 1914 to 1917
when he played for Rube Foster's Chicago American Giants and batted cleanup on
a team that included Oscar Charleston, Bingo DeMoss, Smokey Joe Williams, and
Cannonball Dick Redding.
     As Lloyd's legs began to go, he switched to first base and signed on with
the Brooklyn Royal Giants as player-manager for three seasons. From 1921 to
1928, he played with the Columbus Buckeyes, Hilldale, the Bacharach Giants,
and the New York Lincoln Giants. At age forty-four he hit .564 and led the
league in home runs.
     When announcer Graham McNamee asked Babe Ruth to name the greatest player
of all time, Ruth said, "You mean major leaguers?"  "No," replied McNamee,
"the greatest player anywhere."  "In that case," said Ruth, "I'd pick John
Henry Lloyd."  Lloyd was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1977.

MICKEY MANTLE
     Center Field. Born Oct. 20, 1931 Spavinaw, Okla. AL MVP 1956, 1957,
1962. Despite a chronic bone infection in his legs and operations on both
knees, Mickey Mantle became baseball's most powerful switch hitter, hitting
536 home runs in the regular season and setting a World Series record with 18
more.
     Named for Mickey Cochrane, his father's favorite player, Mantle learned
to switch hit at age five and starred in high school baseball and football,
developing osteomyelitis after bruising a leg in a football game. After a
short (and error-filled) career as a minor league shortstop, he became the
Yankees' regular right fielder before his twentieth birthday. He suffered his
first serious injury during the 1951 Series when he tripped on a drain at
Yankee Stadium and required surgery for torn knee cartilage.
     Joe DiMaggio retired that fall, and Mantle moved to center field, hitting
.311 in 142 games. He led the league in home runs (37) in 1955 and, a year
later, won the Triple Crown, hitting 52 homers, knocking in 130 runs, and
batting .353. The only player besides Jimmie Foxx to hit 50 homers and win a
batting title, Mantle won the MVP award and shone in the World Series, hitting
three homers as the Yanks beat Brooklyn in seven games.
     In 1957 he was chosen MVP again as he hit .365. He won home run crowns
again in 1958 (42) and 1960 (40), finishing second to Roger Maris' 61 homers
in 1961 with 54. Mantle was named MVP a third time in 1962 when he hit .321.
On June 5, 1963, he broke his left foot in Baltimore, ending a season in which
he had 15 home runs in 172 at-bats, although he returned in time to hit a home
run in the World Series.
     His personal choice for most memorable homer was his ninth-inning shot
off Cardinal Barney Schultz in 1964, which broke Babe Ruth's record for
lifetime Series home runs and won Game Three. Mickey went on to hit two more
in that Series, his last, and wound up his tenth Series with 18 homers, 42
runs scored, 123 total bases, and 40 RBIs--all records.
     Despite his injuries, Mantle holds the Yankee record for games
played--2,401. He retired during spring training in 1969, and, on June 8,
received a ten-minute standing ovation at Yankee Stadium. He was named to the
Hall of Fame in 1974.

WALTER "RABBIT" MARANVILLE
     Shortstop. Born Nov. 11, 1891 Springfield, Mass. Died Jan. 5, 1954 New
York, N.Y. Holds major league shortstop record for most years leading league
in putouts (6) and lifetime putouts (5,133). If you thought Jimmy Blake was,
in the words of Casey at the Bat "much-despised," consider Walter James
Vincent "Rabbit" Maranville.
     Every time suggestions are made to "prune" the Hall of Fame of its many
undeserving members, Maranville's name is invariably suggested, mostly due to
his limitations with the bat. The possessor of just 28 career home runs in
more than 10,000 at bats, "Rabbit" bettered .300 just once in seventeen
seasons as a regular, and never led the league in an offensive category.
     Yet, in 1914 and again in 1919, Maranville led the league in both
Fielding Runs and Total Player Rating. He saved 50 runs more than an average
shortstop in 1914 and personally accounted for more wins than any player in
the league. Casey Stengel, who later managed Maranville, said of him,
"Shortstops who stay around more than twenty years are not clowns."
     Maranville finished a close second to fellow Miracle Brave Johnny Evers
in the voting for the Chalmers (MVP) Award. There was no MVP voting for the
NL in 1919, but Maranville was third in 1913 and finished in the top twenty in
MVP voting no less than seven times.
     The colorful Maranville invented the "basket catch," but many of his
antics were inspired by alcohol. He jumped into a water fountain fully
clothed; dangled a teammate out of a twelfth-story hotel window; and, named
manager of the Cubs in 1925, celebrated by pouring ice water on all his
sleeping teammates. Waived to the Brooklyn Robins, Maranville was demoted to
Rochester of the International League.
     That's when he resolved to quit drinking. He said, "There is much less
drinking now than there was before 1927, because I quit drinking on May 24,
1927."
     He joined the Cardinals Iater that year, started for the pennant-winning
1928 team, and hit .308 in the World Series. Back with the Braves in 1929, he
started playing more second base; in 1932, at the age of forty-one, he led the
league at that position in putouts and fielding. He still holds the major
league record for career putouts by a shortstop and was elected to the Hall of
Fame shortly after his death in 1954.

EDDIE MATHEWS
     Third Baseman. Born Oct. 13, 1931 Texarkana, Tex. Holds NL record, most
consecutive years with 30 or more home runs (nine). Eddie Mathews played a
game-within-the-game. He said, "I'd take on the other third baseman . . . I
wanted to beat him in every department--fielding, hitting, running the bases.
I played that game all my life, and it kept me on my toes."
     It did indeed. Mathews was a seven-time All-Star. He hit 30 or more
homers for nine straight seasons and 512 lifetime, led the NL's third basemen
three times in assists, and teamed with Henry Aaron to form the greatest
one-two home run punch in baseball history; as Braves teammates, they
accounted for 863 homers.
     The only Brave to play in Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta, Mathews could
have had his choice of teams. He was scouted by nine, but because Boston had
the oldest third baseman (Bob Elliott), Mathews became a Brave at 12:01 a.m.
the day following his high school graduation in 1949 and was sent to Atlanta,
where Dixie Walker was the manager. Walker helped Mathews deal with
lefthanded pitchers and Billy Jurges polished his fielding. By the fall of
1951, Ty Cobb said, "I've seen three or four perfect swings in my time. This
lad has one of them."
     In April 1952 Elliott was traded to the Giants, and Steady Eddie got his
job. He became the first rookie to homer three times in a game, hit 25
homers, and proved there was no sophomore jinx by winning the home run title
the following year with 47 round-trippers, finishing second only to Roy
Campanella in the MVP voting.
     Mathews starred in the 1957 World Series although the Yankees walked him
eight times. He won Game Four with a tenth-inning homer, scored the only run
in Game Five, and doubled in the first two runs of Game Seven; with the bases
loaded and two out in the bottom of the ninth, he made a lunging stop on Bill
Skowron's shot down the line and stepped on third to give the Milwaukee Braves
their only championship.
     In 1959 Mathews won his second home run crown. He was traded to the
Astros on New Year's Eve, 1967, moved on to the Tigers, and played in his
final World Series in 1968. He managed the Braves from 1972 to 1974 and
entered the Hall of Fame in 1978.

CHRISTY MATHEWSON
     Pitcher. Born Aug. 12, 1880 Factoryville, Pa. Died Oct. 7, 1925 Saranac
Lake, N.Y. Holds NL record for most years winning 20 or more games (12). If
Mattel had made Barbie dolls in 1903, Christy Mathewson might have been the
model for Ken.
     Handsome, clean-cut, intelligent, clean-living, and heroic, Mathewson was
one of the first players to attract women and children to the ballpark. An
All-America college football player for Bucknell, he was nationally known as a
checkers expert, too. Oh yes. He won 373 games in his major league career
even though he didn't normally pitch on Sundays. (His mother had wanted him
to become a minister.)
     One of the "Five Immortals" elected when the Hall of Fame was established
in 1936, Mathewson was called "Big Six" because his fastball reminded
reporters of a famous New York fire engine. Nevertheless, it was his fadeaway
(screwball) that drove National Leaguers crazy. He won 30 or more games four
times, finished 434 of the 551 games he started, and completed 10 of 11 World
Series games while posting an ERA of 1.15. A control whiz, he pitched 68
consecutive innings in 1913 without walking a batter.
     Born to well-to-do parents in Factoryville, Pennsylvania, Mathewson
studied forestry at Bucknell, headed two literary societies, was elected class
president, and was the kicker on Walter Camp's 1900 All-America team. He
became a Giant that fall, won 20 games in 1901, and became baseball's dominant
pitcher starting in 1903, the first of three straight years when he won 30
games or more.
     In the 1905 World Series, Mathewson became a household name; in a Series
decided entirely by shutouts, Matty contributed three--in five days. He
four-hit Connie Mack's A's in the opener and, two days after Chief Bender
blanked the Giants, four-hit the Mackmen again. Two days later Matty wound up
the Series, giving up six hits this time, but nevertheless pitching his third
shutout in six days. In 27 innings, Mathewson walked one man and stuck out
18.
     Over the next ten years, Mathewson won at least 20 games a season. When
the fadeaway began to fade, Mathewson's manager and best friend, John McGraw,
arranged a trade to Cincinnati so he could take the helm of the Reds. Joining
a chemical warfare unit in France during World War I, he was accidentally
exposed to poison gas that weakened his lungs; he later contracted
tuberculosis, which ultimately proved fatal. He had served as general manager
of the Braves despite his poor health but died on the opening day of the 1925
World Series.

WILLIE MAYS
     Center Field. Born May 6, 1931 Westfield, Ala. NL Rookie of the Year
1951, MVP 1954, 1965. In 1951 Willie Mays chased a 457-foot shot to dead
center in Forbes Field, hit the warning track, saw the ball hook right, and,
with no time to reach across his body, made the catch bare-handed. Pirates
general manager Branch Rickey, in his forty-eighth year of baseball, sent
Mays a note:  "That was the finest catch I have ever seen and the finest catch
I ever hope to see."
     Mays started with the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro AL and, after
hitting .477 in the opening months of the 1951 season with the Minneapolis
Millers, was promoted to the Giants. When Mays had trouble hitting big league
pitching, manager Leo Durocher assured him that center field was his--whether
he hit or not. Mays responded by leading the Giants to the pennant and was
named Rookie of the Year.
     He spent most of 1952 and all of 1953 in the service, returning in 1954
to win his only batting title (.345) and to belt 41 homers. The Giants won
another pennant and Mays collected his first MVP award. In Game One of the
Wold Series, Mays made one of baseball's most famous catches, snaring Vic
Wertz's drive to deep center over his shoulder to keep the game tied, 3-3; the
Giants swept the Indians, and Mays won the Hickok Belt as Pro Athlete of the
Year.
     The "Say Hey Kid" only got better, winning the first of four home run
titles in 1955 and becoming the complete player in 1957--winning a Gold Glove,
stealing a league-leading 38 bases, and hitting 26 doubles, 20 triples, and 35
homers. He hit four home runs in a game on April 30, 1961, and hit 49 homers
in 1962 to lead the league and drive the Giants to another pennant.
     Voted the All-Star MVP in 1963 and 1968, he holds the All-Star Game
record for career hits (23) and stolen bases (6) and says the best catch he
ever made was one that robbed Ted Williams of a home run in the 1955 game at
Milwaukee's County Stadium.
     Willie earned eleven Gold Gloves, set records for career putouts and
total chances, was the first man to hit 300 home runs and steal 300 bases, had
660 lifetime homers, and sported a lifetime batting average of .302. He has
considerable support as the best ever to play the game. He was elected to the
Hall of Fame in 1979, his first year of eligibility.

BILL MAZEROSKI
     Second Baseman. Born Sept. 5, 1936 Wheeling, West Va. Holds major
league record for lifetime double plays by a second baseman (1,706). Bill
Mazeroski, remembered best for his Series-winning home run in 1960, may have
been baseball's best fielder. In Baseball Ratings, Charles Faber awards
points for percentage, assists, chances, and range factor to all players with
ten years' experience; Mazeroski leads every player from every era, regardless
of position.
     He set records for second basemen by leading his league the most years in
assists (9) and double plays (8) and holds the record for career double plays
by a second baseman (1706). Only three first basemen took part in more double
plays; Lou Gehrig, for instance, played in one game more than Maz and figured
in 136 fewer double plays.
     Mazeroski won the first of eight Gold Gloves in 1956 and became an
All-Star for the first of seven times in 1958. After hitting 19 home runs
that year, he tried to pull everything and wound up with just seven homers and
thirty-four-point drop in his batting average. When the slump continued into
1960, George Sisler made him stand deeper in the box to hit curveballs after
they broke. Hitting .237 on August 3, Mazeroski ended the regular season at
.273 as the Pirates won their first pennant in thirty-three years.
     He started a double play in the first inning of Game One, hit a two-run
homer in the fourth inning (the margin of victory in a 6-4 Pirate win), and
turned his third double play in the ninth inning to end the game. With the
Yanks and Pirates even in the Series, in the seventh game the Pirates went
ahead, 9-7, in the eighth inning. The Yankees tied it in the top of the
ninth, but, leading off in the bottom, Mazeroski hit Ralph Terry's second
pitch over the left field wall to win the Series. Maz set an NL record for
double plays by a second baseman (144) in 1961 and smashed Gerry Priddy's AL
record of 150 double plays in 1966; that year, he (161) and Gene Alley (128)
recorded the most double plays for a shortstop and a second baseman in a
season. A utility man in 1971, he retired in 1972. He later became an
infield instructor for the Expos, and the Pirates retired his number 9 in
1987.

WILLIE "STRETCH" McCOVEY
     First Baseman. Born Jan. 10, 1938 Mobile, Ala. Holds National League
record for most lifetime home runs by a lefthanded batter (521). NL Rookie of
the Year 1959, MVP 1969. The man who left his heart in San Francisco wasn't
Tony Bennett but Willie McCovey. After three seasons in San Diego and 11
games in Oakland, McCovey returned on Opening Day in 1977 and received a
standing ovation that moved him to tears. He responded to the fans by hitting
28 homers at age thirty-nine and was named Comeback Player of the Year.
     The love affair began on July 30, 1959, when McCovey made a spectacular
debut. Called up from Phoenix, where he'd been tutored by Ted Williams,
McCovey went 4-for-4 against Robin Roberts with two singles and two triples.
But there was a problem. The Giants already had a first baseman, Orlando
Cepeda, who had been named Rookie of the Year the year before. McCovey won
the same honor in 1959, hitting .354, and the two see-sawed back and forth
between first and the outfield; Cepeda got the first base job until he was
injured in 1965, then was traded to the Cardinals.
     By then McCovey was a star, having led the league with 44 homers in 1963.
When he returned to first base full time, Willie led the league in 1968 with
36 homers, 105 RBIs, and a .545 slugging average. For an encore, he headed
the same categories in 1969 with even better numbers--45 homers, 126 RBIs and
a .656 slugging average.
     NL pitchers, rather than pitch to McCovey in 1970, decided to walk him
instead--a league-leading 137 times, including a record 45 intentional walks.
"Stretch" (for his ability to keep one foot on the bag and reach off-the-mark
throws) still hit 39 homers and led the league in slugging for the third
straight year.
     A series of injuries plagued him in the 1970s, and when he did play,
pitchers continued to pitch around him. The Giants traded him and he played
for three teams without leaving California. When he hung up his spikes in
1980, McCovey had played in four decades and hit 521 homers to tie Ted
Williams, his idol and former mentor, for ninth on the all-time list. He also
set the NL career record for grand slams (18), second only to Lou Gehrig's 23.
He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1985.

JOHN "BID" McPHEE
     Second Baseman. Born Nov. 1, 1859 Messina, N.Y. Died Jan. 3, 1943 San
Diego. Holds major league record for putouts by a second baseman (6,545).
John Alexander "Bid" McPhee made more putouts than any other major league
second baseman, ranks fifth in Fielding Wins, ahead of star glove men like
Tris Speaker and Ozzie Smith, stole more bases than Davey Lopes or Luis
Aparicio, and, in Total Player Rating, beats out Hall of Fame second basemen
Frankie Frisch, Bobby Doerr, and Billy Herman.
     So how come you never heard of this guy?
     Sometimes greatness can be boring, and that's certainly the case with
"King Bid," as he was known. As historian Bob Carroll has noted, "In all of
his eighteen years he was never fined. He was never even thrown out of a
game! . . . McPhee showed up every day in shape, stayed sober, did his job,
and went home to a good night's sleep."  About the only thing that made him
colorful was the fact that he was the best defensive second baseman in the
nineteenth century and for fourteen (of his eighteen) seasons he did it
barehanded.
     McPhee, who stood 5'8" and weighed 152 on a good day, was "biddy"--small.
He joined the brand-new Cincinnati Reds of the brand-new American Association
in 1882, leading the league in putouts, double plays, and fielding average, a
habit he never quite broke. He was the double play champ eleven times and led
in fielding nine times.
     As you might expect, McPhee was a pesky hitter (.271 lifetime), speedy
enough to steal 95 bases in 1887 and 568 lifetime. What might surprise is
that little Bid once "cranked out" 8 homers to lead the league in 1886. (Yes,
they were all inside the park.)  The other surprise is that McPhee's on-base
percentage is .354, relatively low for a little guy who walked 981 times.
     When his contemporaries began using mitts, McPhee refused to go along.
Although he toughened his hands every spring, he was no longer leading the
league; however, he began 1896 with a sore finger and finally gave in. The
results were instructive; at age 37, McPhee's fielding average was .978, a
full 10 points above the recognized mark. The record stood until 1925 when
Sparky Adams broke it.
     He retired after the 1899 season, briefly managed the Reds, and scouted
for them in Los Angeles, where he settled.

JOE MORGAN
     Second Baseman. Born Sept. 19, 1943 Bonham, Tex. Holds major league
record for seasons by a second baseman (22). NL MVP 1975, 1976. When the Big
Red Machine was operating in the 1970s, Joe Morgan was its generator. He got
on base 41 percent of the time and, on a team with Johnny Bench and Pete Rose,
was named MVP in both 1975 and 1976.
     From 1972 through 1977, he averaged 60 stolen bases, scored more than 100
runs each year, and averaged 21 homers and 84 RBIs with a .301 batting
average. Moreover, Little Joe won Gold Gloves in 1973-1977. Over twenty-two
years, he helped his teammates win six divisional titles, four pennants and
two world championships.
     Born in Bonham, Texas, Morgan signed with the Astros and was named NL
Rookie of the Year in 1965 by The Sporting News. Traded to Cincinnati before
the 1972 season, he topped NL second basemen in putouts and fielding and led
the league in walks (115) and runs scored (122).
     In 1975 he hit .327, led all second basemen in fielding percentage, and
stole 67 bases to be named MVP(he added six steals in the postseason). Morgan
won Game Three of the World Series with a single in the bottom of the tenth
and Game Seven with a single in the top of the ninth to give the Reds their
first championship in thirty-five years.
     The Reds repeated in 1976 and Morgan became the first back-to-back MVP
since Ernie Banks. Little Joe won the slugging title (.576) and was runner-up
in RBIs (111), runs scored (113), and steals (60). Morgan set a record for
second basemen in 1977, making just five errors, but tailed off offensively in
1978 and 1979. He helped the Astros win their division in 1980 and went on to
two solid years with the San Francisco Giants. Reunited with Pete Rose and
Tony Perez in Philadelphia for 1983, he hit 16 homers to help the Phillies win
the pennant and homered twice in the World Series.
     He made his 1984 farewell with Oakland memorable by replacing Rogers
Hornsby as the most prolific home-run hitting second baseman of all time
(268). A first-year selection to the Hall of Fame in 1990, Morgan has also
been successful as a broadcaster for ESPN.

DALE MURPHY
     Center Field. Born Mar. 12, 1956 Portland, Ore. NL MVP 1982, 1983.
Dale Murphy hit 20 or more homers in twelve seasons, played in at least
154 games from 1982 to 1990, and became in 1983 the youngest player to be
chosen MVP in two consecutive seasons.
     He was the Braves' first-round draft choice two months after Hank Aaron
set the record for career home runs. A catcher at the time, Murphy had
impressed Atlanta management with his home run swing and rifle arm and was
touted as "the next Johnny Bench."  For a while, he wasn't even the next Biff
Pocoroba. Shortly after being brought up to Atlanta, he developed a
mysterious mental block about throwing to second base, and even tossing back
to the pitcher.
     Rather than let him languish behind Pocoroba and Bruce Benedict, manager
Bobby Cox moved Murphy to first base, and he hit 23 homers in 1978. Moved
again, to center field in 1980, Murphy became a superstar, hitting 33 homers
and, two years later, leading the Braves to the Western Division championship.
Murph finished second that year in homers (36 to Dave Kingman's 37), tied Al
Oliver for the RBI lead with 109, won his first of five Gold Gloves, and was
named MVP. Nolan Ryan said, "I can't imagine Joe DiMaggio was a better
all-around player than Dale Murphy."
     Five weeks later, he was working on his hitting; new manager Joe Torre
was convinced that Murphy could become an even better hitter with two strikes.
In 1983 he hit 36 home runs again, added 21 points to his batting average, and
struck out 24 fewer times. He also stole 30 bases to become only the sixth
30-30 man in major league history. He was named MVP again at age
twenty-seven--joining Ernie Banks, Joe Morgan, and Mike Schmidt as the only
NLrs to be named MVP in back-to-back seasons.
     In 1984 Murphy hit 36 home runs yet again to tie Mike Schmidt for the
league lead; a year later, he led the league in walks (90), runs scored (118),
and home runs (37). After perhaps his best all-around season in 1987, when he
hit 44 homers and achieved personal bests in slugging (.580) and on base
percentage (.420), Murphy had calamitous declines in 1988-1990. In August
1990 he was traded to Philadelphia.
     Dealt to the expansion Rockies in 1993, Murphy concluded his career with
398 lifetime homers to rank him twenty-fourth on the all-time list.

STAN "THE MAN" MUSIAL
     Left Field. Born Nov. 21, 1920 Donora, Pa. Holds modern NL record for
most years (seventeen) and consecutive years (sixteen) hitting .300 or better.
NL MVP 1943, 1946, 1948. In the bottom of the twelfth inning of the 1955
All-Star Game, Yogi Berra complained, "My feet are killing me."  Stan Musial
said, "Relax, I'll have you home in a minute."  He hit a home run on the next
pitch to win the game.
     Musial's magic lit up twenty-four All-Star Games, and he holds the record
for most All-Star homers (6), extra-base hits (8), and total bases (40).
During the regular season he hit .300 or better in 17 of his 21 full years,
won seven batting titles, and had a lifetime average of .331, with 475 homers
and 1,951 RBIs.
     His bat and glove helped the Cardinals reign over the NL in the 1940s as
St. Louis won the pennant in 1943 and the World Series in 1942, 1944, and
1946. Musial was named MVP in 1942, 1946, and 1948 and won three straight
batting titles from 1950 to 1952, around the time a Dodger fan nicknamed him
by saying, "Uh, oh. Here comes that man again."
     Musial's splendid hitting redeemed a promising pitching career that was
ended by a shoulder injury. In 1940, Musial was 18-5 in the Florida State
League when he fell on his arm and it went numb. Branch Rickey converted him
to the outfield, and Musial's hitting got him to the big leagues in time to
hit .426 in 12 games in 1941.
     In twenty-two seasons as a Cardinal, he led the National League in runs
scored five times, sharing the record with Rogers Hornsby and George Burns,
and led the major leagues in total bases six times. At his retirement, he
held major league records for most extra-base hits and total bases and the NL
records for runs, hits, doubles, and RBIs.
     Musial said his hitting secret was memory. "I consciously memorized the
speed at which every pitcher in the league threw his fastball, curve, and
slider; then, I'd pick up the speed of the ball in the first thirty feet of
its flight and knew how it would move once it had crossed the plate."
     When he retired, he became a Cardinal VP. The club honored him with a
statue outside Busch Memorial Stadium in 1968, and he entered the Hall of Fame
in 1969. Fully ten years later, when consumers were asked whose endorsement
they would trust, Stan the Man still ranked first among athletes.

CHARLES "KID" NICHOLS
     Pitcher. Born Sep. 14, 1869 Madison, Wis. Died Apr. 11, 1953 Kansas
City, Mo. Won 30 games or more in seven of eight straight years (1891-1898)
Little recalled today, Kid Nichols won 361 games, completed 531 (as many as
Walter Johnson), and finished behind only Johnson and Cy Young in Adjusted
Pitching Runs, a measurement of how many runs a pitcher saved his team, beyond
what an average pitcher would have done in his stead.
     No pitcher has had more 30-win seasons than Nichols (seven), who pitched
with no wind-up and, scorning the curveball, changed speeds with surpassing
skill. The righthander led the Boston Beaneaters to five pre-1900 pennants
and became the youngest pitcher to win 300 games, marking the anniversary
before his thirty-first birthday.
     He made his debut with Kansas City in 1887, when that city was in the
Western League, and made his mark two years later with Omaha of the Western
Association, winning 36 games. When his manager, Frank Selee, went to Boston
to manage the Beaneaters, Nichols went along and was an immediate sensation,
winning 27 games his rookie year.
     Called "Kid" for his slight build and baby face, Nichols soon became the
workhorse of his era. He pitched more than 400 innings in each of his first
five years, 300 or more in his first ten, and holds the record for most
seasons with 300 innings pitched (twelve). He was relieved in only 24 of the
501 starts he made for Boston. Late in 1892, a year in which he finished at
35-16 in 453 innings, he pitched complete game wins three days in a row.
     Named "Nervy Nick" for beating the Orioles twice in three days to win the
1897 pennant, Nichols held out for more than $2,400, the maximum allowable at
the time, and was given a $285 bonus for winning the 1898 pennant.
Nevertheless, he left the majors to buy a piece of the Kansas City team and
returned after a two-year hiatus as player-manager of the Cardinals. Fading
from the big leagues after the 1906 campaign, he returned to Kansas City and
coached amateur clubs, one of which had a player named Charles Dillon "Casey"
Stengel.
     A vigorous man, he won the Kansas City bowling championship at age
sixty-four and bowled competitively into his seventies. Elected to the Hall
of Fame in 1949, he died in Kansas City four years later at the age of
eighty-three.

LEROY "SATCHEL" PAIGE
     Pitcher. Born July 7, 1905 Mobile, Ala. Died June 8, 1982 Kansas City,
Mo. Pitched professionally from 1924 to 1959. When the Cleveland Indians
signed Satchel Paige to a contract in 1948, J.G. Taylor Spink, publisher of
The Sporting News, wrote, "To bring in a pitching rookie of Paige's age is to
demean the standards of baseball."  Two days later, Paige demeaned the White
Sox, holding them scoreless in two innings of relief. He pitched a shutout in
his second start and finished his first big league season 6-1; since the
Indians wound up in a tie with the Red Sox, they literally could not have won
the pennant without him.
     Satchel Paige had made it to the majors, but not when he was the best
pitcher in baseball. In 1930 he struck out 22 big leaguers, including Hack
Wilson and Babe Herman, in an exhibition game. A year later he joined the
Pittsburgh Crawfords, who advertised--truthfully--that "Josh Gibson will hit
two home runs and Satchel Paige will strike out the first nine batters."
     As a member of the Crawfords in 1933 he was 31-4, winning 21 games in a
row and once racking up 62 straight scoreless innings. In 1938 a sore arm
threatened to put him out of baseball, but he learned to throw curves, and
gradually his arm came back. He pitched the Kansas City Monarchs to five
pennants, and, when one of his teammates, Jackie Robinson, made it to the
majors, Paige figured rightly that his time had come.
     After his sensational start with the Indians, Paige had a subpar season
in 1949 and, following owner Bill Veeck's departure, was released. He
rejoined Veeck as a member of the lowly Browns and, incredibly, became the
AL's leading reliever in 1952 at age 46, winning 12 games and saving 10.
     When the team moved to Baltimore, Satch pitched in the minors for seven
more years. He came back at 59 to pitch three scoreless innings for the
Kansas City A's in 1965. He was signed as a pitching coach in 1968 by the
Braves to qualify for his pension. Fittingly, he was the first man elected to
the Hall of Fame by the Committee on Negro Leagues formed in 1971.

JIM PALMER
     Pitcher. Born Oct. 15, 1945 New York. AL Cy Young Award 1973, 1975,
1976. The best pitchers win the big ones. Jim Palmer clinched the first four
pennants in Baltimore's post-1900 history and had a record of 8-3 and an ERA
of 2.61 in postseason play. In 1983 he became the only pitcher to win a World
Series game in three different decades.
     Over eighteen years, Palmer won the Cy Young Award three times (1973,
1975, and 1976) and set Oriole records for career wins (268), shutouts (53),
and complete games (211). He is, along with Walter Johnson and Lefty Grove,
the only AL pitcher to win 20 games in eight or more seasons, and his ERA
(2.86) ranks fifth among pitchers with 3,000 innings or more.
     Palmer averaged 288 innings for nine straight years and led the league in
that department four times. Despite this durability, he was frequently
injured and acquired a reputation as a hypochondriac. When Oriole pitcher
Steve Stone saw Palmer reading Doctor Zhivago, he quipped, "It must be about
an elbow specialist."
     Palmer led the Orioles in wins with 15 in 1966 and, before his
twenty-first birthday, beat the Dodgers and Sandy Koufax in the southpaw's
last game, 6-0, to become the youngest pitcher to throw a World Series
shutout. The game was an apt symbol to divide the old and new orders of
pitchers, but Palmer suffered a sore arm and was out of the majors for nearly
two years.
     He won 20 games eight out of nine years, from 1970 to 1973 and from 1975
to 1978. Numerous arm injuries slowed him down, and, when he sported an ERA
of 7.44 in May 1982, it looked as though that might be his last year; however,
Palmer recovered and won 11 in a row, nearly leading the Orioles to another
pennant. When the O's won in 1983, Palmer pitched only once, winning Game
Three as a relief pitcher.
     After starting the 1984 season 0-3, Palmer pitched his last game on May
12. Although his plan to make a comeback in 1991--one year after he was
inducted into the Hall of Fame!--never materialized, he remains in the public
eye as a TV talk show host and corporate spokesman.

CAL RIPKEN, JR.

Shortstop. Born Aug. 24, 1960 Havre De Grace, Md. AL Rookie of the
Year 1982, American League MVP 1983.
     Cal Ripken, Jr., has played more consecutive games at one position than
any major leaguer (1,708) and hasn't been out of the Orioles' starting lineup
since May 29, 1982, when he started at short in the second game of a
doubleheader. His consecutive game streak (he started at third base) was at
1,897 at the end of the 1992 season; if he keeps playing, he will, barring
injury, break Lou Gehrig's record of 2,130 consecutive games played some time
in June 1995.
     Ripken has taken criticism for keeping the streak alive, when he might
not have been healthy enough to play effectively. Nevertheless, the streak has
pushed Ripken beyond ordinary physical limits, sometimes with gratifying
results. In 1983, he hurt his hand sliding on artificial turf in Seattle and
was unable to grip the bat at first;  he somehow gritted his teeth and got
five hits that night, two of them home runs, and thirteen total bases to tie
an Oriole club record.
     At 6' 4", he is the tallest regular shortstop in major league history and
one of the most powerful. In 1986, Ripken became the only shortstop besides
Ernie Banks to hit 20 or more homers in six straight seasons. (His streak of
ten straight seasons was finally broken in 1992.)  The first AL shortstop to
start more than three straight All-Star Games (seven in all), he has also led
the league four times in putouts and double plays, six times in assists, and
set a new AL assist record (534) in 1983.
     Although Ripken played 44 errorless games at third base and homered in
his first at-bat in 1982, he suffered a deep batting slump (7-for-60). Reggie
Jackson told him, "You look like you're fighting yourself ... stick with what
got you here."  Moved to shortstop on July 1 to fill Mark Belanger's shoes for
good, he wound up with 28 homers and 93 RBIs to be named Rookie of the Year.
     In 1983, Ripken led the majors in hits and doubles and the league in
runs, extra base hits, assists, total chances, and double plays. He was named
MVP and led Baltimore to a division title. He played errorless ball as the O's
beat the White Sox in the playoffs and Philadelphia in the World Series.

BROOKS "HOOVER" ROBINSON
     Third Baseman. Born May 18, 1937 Little Rock, Ark. Holds major league
third baseman records for highest fielding average (.971), putouts (2,697),
assists (6,205), and double plays (618). AL MVP 1964. Brooks Calbert
Robinson, Jr. wasn't nicknamed "Hoover" for his resemblance to Herbert or J.
Edgar but rather for his ability to suck up everything hit towards third base.
     He won Gold Gloves every year from 1960 to 1975, led AL third basemen
eleven times in fielding and eight times each in putouts and assists, and made
more putouts, assists, chances, and double plays than any third baseman in
history. He also spent a record twenty-three years with one team, the
Orioles. Sportswriter Gordon Beard said, "He never asked anyone to name a
candy bar after him. In Baltimore people name their children after him."
     Robinson made his debut as an Oriole in 1955 and collected 2,848 hits in
the regular season; however, no amount of work could make up for his basic
lack of speed; he grounded into more double plays than any other ALr (297) and
stole only 28 bases in his entire career.
     He won the MVP award in 1964, hitting .317 with 28 homers and shone in
postseason play. In 39 playoff and World Series games, he hit 5 homers and
went 44-for-145, a .303 average. He hit an even .500 in the 1969 playoffs and
.583 in 1970 as the O's crushed the Twins.
     The 1970 World Series was the Brooks Robinson Show. In the opener he
backhanded Lee May's bullet to keep the go-ahead run off base in the sixth
inning and, with the score tied 3-3 in the seventh, homered over the left
field fence to give the Birds a 4-3 win; In Game Two he knocked in the
game-winner in a 6-5 squeaker. All that was prologue to Game Three when
Robinson did for fielding what Esther Williams did for swimsuits. He made
sparkling plays on Tony Perez's shot down the line in the first, Tommy Helms'
slow roller in the second, Johnny Bench's line drive in the sixth. He went
4-for-4 in Game Four and was named MVP when the Orioles won Game Five and the
Series. The ultimate accolade came from Johnny Bench:  "I will become a
lefthanded hitter to keep the ball away from that guy."  When he retired in
1977, the Orioles gave credit where it was due by holding Thanks Brooks Day on
September 18. The occasion drew the largest regular season crowd in Memorial
Stadium's history. He entered the Hall of Fame in 1983.

FRANK ROBINSON
     Right Field. Born Aug. 31, 1935 Beaumont, Tex. NL Rookie of the Year
1956, MVP 1961. Won AL MVP and Triple Crown 1966. Frank Robinson was in a
class by himself as a two-league player.
     He's the only man to be chosen MVP in both leagues, to hit All-Star Game
homers for both, to hit 200 or more home runs in both, and to become the first
black manager in both, piloting Cleveland from 1975 to 1977 and San Francisco
from 1981 to 1984. In 1989, while managing Baltimore, he matched the Manager
of the Year award he'd won in 1982 with the Giants.
     Robinson also holds the record for hitting home runs in the most
ballparks and, while his 586 homers place him fourth on the all-time list,
Robinson also ranks in the top ten in career runs, RBIs, and total bases. The
complete player, he stole 20 bases or more three times, and even led the
majors in intentional walks in four straight years (1961-1964).
     Like all professionals, he produced under pressure. Robby made a
dramatic debut as a player-manager, homering in his first at bat for the
Indians. Similarly, he won the hearts of Baltimore fans shortly after joining
the Orioles by hitting the first home run--a 540-foot shot--out of Memorial
Stadium.
     Robinson broke in with Cincinnati in 1956, tied Wally Berger's rookie
record by hitting 38 homers, and was named Rookie of the Year. The first MVP
award came in 1961, when he hit .323 with 37 homers, and stole 22 bases. In
1966 he hit 49 homers, knocked in 122 runs, and hit .316 to win the Triple
Crown; that year he led Baltimore to a pennant and earned his second MVP
award. Robby's home run off Don Drysdale in the World Series provided the
only run in Game Four of an Oriole sweep, and he was named MVP of the Series
as well.
     He played in six All-Star Games for the NL and five for the AL. Yet, he
will probably always be remembered as an Oriole. When he was traded to the
Dodgers, number 20 became the first Baltimore uniform to be retired, and it's
the one he wears in his 1982 Hall of Fame portrait.

JACKIE ROBINSON
     Infielder/Outfielder. Born Jan. 31, 1919 Cairo, Ga. Died Oct. 24, 1972
Stamford, Conn. First black player in twentieth-century major leagues. NL
Rookie of the Year 1947, MVP 1949. If all Jackie Robinson did was to
integrate baseball, that alone would have ensured his place in the game's
history. For the story of his valiant effort and his role not only in
baseball's history but that of our nation as well, see the two pieces by Jules
Tygiel (one of them with John Thorn) in this volume.
     But Jackie Robinson did so much more than make baseball truly the
national pastime. It is easy to overlook what a fabulous baseball player he
was. He led the Brooklyn Dodgers to six pennants in ten years (plus their
only world championship) and was named Rookie of the Year in 1947 and MVP in
1949.
     While the Dodgers also had Hall of Famers Duke Snider, Pee Wee Reese, and
Roy Campanella, Robinson forced them, by his example, to elevate their game,
as he did all his other teammates. Cardinal second baseman Red Schoendienst
once said, "If it wasn't for him, the Dodgers would be in the second
division."
     Driven by history and temperament, Robinson rattled pitchers by dancing
off first base and had enough speed to steal home 19 times, 5 times in one
season. He bettered .300 for six straight seasons, and retired with a .311
average. He was a regular at first, second, and third base and left field and
led the league's second basemen in double plays four straight years
(1949-1952).
     UCLA's first four-letter man (baseball, basketball, football, and track),
he went on to join the Army's Officer Candidate School. There he was court
martialed, then acquitted, for refusing to sit in the back of a bus. After
stints with the Kansas City Monarchs and the Dodgers' Montreal Royals farm
club, he made his major league debut with the Dodgers in 1947 at the advanced
age of twenty-eight; Robby hit .297, scored 125 runs, and led them to a
pennant. That fall he finished second in a poll only to Bing Crosby as the
most popular man in America.
     Robinson, in just his second year, became the Dodgers' team leader. He
started on the All-Star team for the first of five times (four as a second
baseman) in 1949, led the league in hitting, was named MVP, and led the
Dodgers to another pennant.
     On the last day of the 1951 season, with Brooklyn needing to win to force
a playoff with the Giants, Robinson made a spectacular, game-saving grab of
Eddie Waitkus' liner to send the game into extra innings, then won it with a
homer in the fourteenth. The Dodgers fell short of the pennant that year
thanks to Bobby Thomson, but recaptured the flag in four of Robinson's final
five seasons.
     Fifteen years after he'd integrated baseball, Robinson integrated the
Baseball Hall of Fame.

PETE ROSE
     Infielder/Outfielder. Born Apr. 14, 1941 Cincinnati, Oh. NL Rookie of
the Year 1963, MVP 1973. Holds major league records for games played (3,562);
most seasons, 200 or more hits (10); most lifetime hits (4,256). In 1989
Commissioner Bart Giamatti suspended Pete Rose from baseball for life for
gambling. In 1990 Rose served five months in prison for tax evasion. It all
seemed a long way since spring training in 1963, when Rose ran out a walk and
Whitey Ford dubbed him "Charlie Hustle."
     Sadly, Rose is ineligible to be voted into the Hall of Fame, an honor he
deserves for his accomplishments on the field. Rose was named Player of the
Decade (1970-1979) by The Sporting News, played in sixteen All-Star Games, and
holds the record for starting at most different positions (five)--first,
second, and third bases, and left and right fields. He also played on three
championship teams in six years--the 1975 and 1976 Reds and the 1980 Phillies.
Rose holds playoff records for most hits (45) and batted .381 in 118 playoff
at bats.
     He grew up in Cincinnati and credited his father Harry, a former semipro
football player, with influencing him to become an athlete. "He wanted me to
share his love of sports and I did. One time Mom sent him to the store to buy
a pair of shoes for my sister. Instead, he came back with a pair of boxing
gloves for me."
     In 1963 Rose hustled his way onto the Reds and turned out to be the
sparkplug of the developing Big Red Machine. In 1970 Rose led the league in
hits (205) for the third time. He repeated in 1972 and, in 1975 and 1976, he
led the league in doubles and runs scored both times. In each of those years
the Reds won the pennant.
     In December 1978, the man who once said, "I'd go through hell in a
gasoline suit to keep playing baseball," signed a four-year 3.2 million
contract with the Phils to become the highest-paid player in team sports. Six
years later, after playing briefly with the Expos, he returned to Cincinnati
where he became a player-manager, breaking Ty Cobb's record for career hits.
He retired as a player after the 1986 season and in six years as manager
brought the Reds home second three times without winning a division title.

AMOS RUSIE
     Pitcher. Born May 31, 1871 Indianapolis, Ind. Died Dec. 6, 1942
Seattle, Wash. When Walter Johnson came along in 1907, writers seeking to
compliment the young fireballer called him "another Rusie."
     Baseball paid Rusie the ultimate compliment in 1893 when it changed the
rules because of him. The mound was moved back from 50 feet to 60 feet, 6
inches, and several authorities claim the change was intended to make Rusie's
heat less intimidating. (Rusie's first catcher, Dick Buckley, padded his
glove with a thin sheet of lead to help absorb the impact of Rusie's hummer.)
The Indianan led the league in strikeouts five years out of six and won 30
games or more four years in a row.
     The stocky righthander (6'1", 200) beat Boston and Washington in
exhibition games before joining Indianapolis of the NL in 1889; when the
franchise folded, Rusie and seven other players became Giants for $60,000. He
arrived as a star in 1890, striking out 341 batters to lead the league. The
media hero of his day, "the Hoosier Thunderbolt" was mentioned in a Mr. Dooley
story as well as a Weber and Fields vaudeville skit; Lillian Russell, the sex
symbol of that era, begged for an introduction to Rusie and got it.
     At the end of the 1892 season the Giants, hoping to save half a month's
pay, released him under a "gentlemen's agreement" that no club would sign
him . . . but the White Stockings did, for $6,250 plus a $2,000 bonus. The
Giants eventually bought the contract back, then tried to count the bonus as
part of Rusie's salary. Rusie prevailed but in crossing swords with Giant
boss Andrew Freedman he had bought a heap of trouble. Rusie later was fined
for missing curfew and for thumbing his nose at Freedman in public, who
withheld $200 from his last paycheck of 1895. Rusie pioneered the holdout,
missing the entire 1896 season. He sued for damages and, just before the 1897
season, the NL owners pooled $5,000 to settle the suit. Rusie picked up where
he'd left off and went 28-10. He won 20 in 1898; however, he hurt his arm
making a pickoff throw, and 1898 was his last full season. He stayed home in
Washington State to tend to ailing wife and was disciplined by the Giants yet
again. After sitting out a two-year suspension, he was traded to the Reds for
Christy Mathewson. Matty at this point had no major league wins behind him
but 373 ahead; Rusie had 245 in his pocket but, alas, none ahead. He started
just two games, was blasted as he had never been in his prime, and retired.
He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1977.

GEORGE HERMAN "BABE" RUTH
     Right Field. Born Feb. 6, 1895 Baltimore. Died Aug. 16, 1948 New York,
N.Y. Holds major league records for highest slugging percentage, season
(.847, 1920) and lifetime (.690), most home runs by lefthanded batter (714),
most years leading league in home runs (twelve) Babe Ruth was one of
baseball's best pitchers, its greatest player, greatest public figure, and the
greatest hero in American sports.
     When he was seven, George Herman Ruth was committed to Baltimore's St.
Mary's Industrial School for repeated theft. Father Gilbert of St. Mary's
later released him to pitch for the International League Baltimore Orioles and
persuaded Orioles' owner-manager, Jack Dunn, to become Ruth's guardian, making
Ruth his "Babe."
     In 1914 Ruth was bought by the Red Sox, farmed out to Providence, and
brought back to Boston after winning 22 games. He won 18 games for the big
club in 1915, followed up with 23 wins in 1916, and pitched the longest
complete game victory in World Series history that fall, a fourteen-inning 2-1
win over the Dodgers. The Babe became primarily an outfielder in 1918 (though
he still pitched enough to go 13-7 in 1918 and 9-5 the following year). He
left the mound in 1919 (not counting five cameo appearances over the next
fourteen years, each of which he won) as the only man to have pitched more
than 1,000 innings and have a lifetime batting average over .300 (.304).
     In 1918 Ruth he led the league in home runs (with 11) for the first of a
record twelve times. Harry Frazee, Red Sox owner and a theatrical producer
deep in debt, was forced to sell him to the Yankees that December. Now
playing his home games in the friendly Polo Grounds, which the Yanks shared
with the Giants, Ruth changed the game by hitting 54 homers; the rest of the
American League had only 315. His slugging average of .847 has never been
approached, except by the Babe himself the following year, when he produced a
mark of .846.
     Fans rushed to see him in his first year in New York, producing the first
million-plus attendance in baseball history and spurring the Yankees to erect
a superstadium in 1923, "The House That Ruth Built."  That year he hit .393 to
lead the Yankees to their third straight pennant and first World Series their
first of twenty-two World Series titles. He dominated the 1923 Series,
hitting three home runs and batting .368.
     From 1926 to 1930, he led the league in home runs every year and tied Lou
Gehrig for the lead in 1931. Three years later, Ruth asked to manage the
Yankees and was chagrined when owner Jacob Ruppert offered him New York's top
farm club instead. He signed with the Braves and had a final moment of glory
on May 25, 1935, hitting 3 home runs in a game, one of them a prodigious over
the right-field roof at Pittsburgh's Forbes Field. The Babe retired a few
weeks later with 714 home runs, a lifetime average of .342, and the highest
slugging percentage in history (.690). In the inaugural ballot for the Hall
of Fame the following year, he became one of the Founding Five members.

NOLAN RYAN
     Pitcher. Born Jan. 31, 1947 Refugio, Tex. Holds major league record for
no-hitters (7) and lifetime strikeouts (5,714). Add up the lifetime
strikeouts of Vida Blue (2,175), Hal Newhouser (1,796), and Carl Hubbell
(1,677), and you still have 66 fewer than Nolan Ryan had all by himself.
     The career of baseball's strikeout king parallels that of Sandy
Koufax--the great fastball and overpowering curve, the control problems, early
failure, final success--with Ryan's longevity being the obvious difference.
Koufax retired at thirty-two, an age at which Ryan was leading the league in
strikeouts for the sixth of twelve times.
     Lynn Nolan Ryan was selected by the Mets on the eighth round of the
free-agent draft in June 1965, when Tom Seaver was graduating from USC. In
1969 Seaver was the toast of the baseball world after winning 25 games in the
regular season; Ryan was, by contrast, 6-3 as a relief pitcher although he
saved Game Three of the World Series.
     Traded to the Angels for Jim Fregosi, Ryan blossomed all at once, just as
Koufax had a decade earlier. From 1972 to 1974, Ryan had a record of 62-48,
with 1,079 strikeouts in 943 innings. In an eight-day period in 1972 he
fanned 15 Rangers, 16 Red Sox, and 16 A's, on his way to winning 19 games, 9
of them shutouts. In 1973 he was even better, no-hitting the Royals and the
Tigers. Despite a torn calf muscle, he fanned Rich Reese for his 383rd and
final K of the season, breaking Koufax's record for strikeouts in a season.
     On August 12, 1974, he struck out 19 Red Sox to tie the record held by
former teammate Tom Seaver and Steve Carlton. One month later he notched his
third no-hitter, against the Twins. He tied Koufax with number four on June
1, 1975, beating the Orioles, 1-0. In 1979 Ryan signed with the Astros as a
free agent.
     Back in the NL, he eclipsed Koufax's record for no-hitters by beating the
Dodgers, 5-0, at the Astrodome on September 26, 1981 and he led NL pitchers in
that strike-shortened year with a 1.69 ERA. In 1983 he broke Walter
Johnson's record for career strikeouts. Signing with the Texas Rangers after
the 1988 season for what was anticipated to be his fading farewell tour, Ryan
instead turned up the heat. He added a sixth no-hitter in 1990 on the road
against the A's and a seventh at home against the Blue Jays.