Lloyd Warner was the youngest and smallest of Waner, the duo of brothers better hitter than ever seen in this sport. Lloyd had a career that lasted 18 years; his older brother, Paul played 20 seasons in the majors. For 13 of those years played alongside each other in the gardens of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Together they dispatched 5,611 hits, 517 more than the three Alou brothers; 753 DiMaggios more than three and more than 1,394 five Delahantys. The Warner were the second set of brothers to be elected to the Hall of Fame, after George and Henry Wright pioneers.

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They were born almost three years apart in Harrah, Oklahoma, the Warner guys were close together. They spent as much time as they could play baseball, learning to bat corncobs with broomsticks. His father, a exprofesional the bésibol, encouraged them. On one occasion, Paul said, however: "Our sister, Alma, was the best hitter of the family."

Paul was the first hitting coach Lloyd, and instructed him how to hit the ball down and connecting lines, rather than fly balls to power. That was good advice, because neither surpassed the 5 feet 9 inches, and weighed over 150 pounds. Although Paul produced more extra-base hits (including four times the number of runs) that his brother during their careers in the majors, hitting both had similar styles, and kept the bat resting on the shoulder until the pitcher began his release.

The success of Lloyd hitter was due in part to its exceptional view. It has the record for fewest strikeouts in a major league outfielder with more than 500 at-bats and only 8 in 1933! In 1941 Lloyd not struck for 77 consecutive games. He struck out only 20 times after his rookie year, and only 18 seasons failed 173 times. Their share of a punch every 44.9 at-bats is the second best in the history of baseball. Waner also preferred to hit the ball with the bat, instead of taking walked; he never received more than 40 bases in a season.

Lloyd Waner was one of the first fast men in baseball. After arrival, listeners began to pay more attention to the leg speed as before. Its speed also became a center fielder surprising. It topped the list four times removed, inclñuyendo 1931, when he captured high 515 hits, the number ten in history. Its 18 retired on a double set of 1935 still constitute a record.

When he signed a contract with the San Francisco League of the Pacific Coast, the youngest Waner was sitting on the bench during the 1925 season and saw his brother Paul connected to .401. Lloyd was upset because the team had backed the verbal comprimised a bonus of US $ 1,500 for the firm, and on the advice of a "scout" Pirates, requested his release in 1926. The Seals season pass, and suhermano the recommendation of Paul, Pirates hired young Waner. He hit .345 for the Columbia, South Carolina, and was named the MVP of the league.

While Lloyd was raging in the South Atlantic League, Paul made his presentation in the major leagues, batting .336 with lead in triples with 22 in 1926. The gardens of Buc seemed complete with brother Paul, Kiki Cuyler's fast and Clyde Barnhart slugger. However, the latter was presented with a grotesque excess weight. Not even all the steam of Paso Robles, California, could take it to a reasonable weight, and therefore the position of torn Lloyd won.

Lloyd's first year was one to remember. He set the major league record for a rookie with 223 hits; 198 of them were simple, which it equated with brand Wee Willie Keeler dating from the nineteenth century. Waner hit .335 and lead my salespeople league in runs scored with 133. The older brother, Paul, was the first in the league with .330 average, 131 RBIs, 18 triples and 237 hits. The two Waner combined 460 hits and 247 runs, and on September 4 homered in the same inning.

During an exceptionally productive period for both the summer in Brooklyn, a bulky guy of Italian descent he was heard shouting the accent on the city: "Every time I look, is that` venenito' third and 'grande' poison first". So they had baptized the Waners in newspapers: "Venenito" and "Poison".

In 1927, the Bucs outscored the Cardinals in the National League title. It is said that before the World Series, Lloyd and Paul were watching batting practice from Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. The youngest told the mayor: "Wow! They're a great guy, right?. " The Cardinals were swept overwhelmed by the powerful Yankees.

However, Lloyd said later, that story was not true, and denied that hubierna heat even seen the Yankees. He added: "I do not think Paul has never seen anything in the battlefield that would have scared". The facts confirm. The Pirates were not crushed by the Yankees in the World Series. And even though the Yankees won the Sertie in four games, two of them were decided by one run, and lost the final game in the ninth inning for a "wild pitch". In addition, the two hyphae Poisons exceeded Ruth and Gehrig .367 by .357. Lloyd batted .400; and six hits incluiyeron a double and a triple.

Both brothers participated in a national theater tour at the end of the World Series, and won US $ 2,000 per week. Paul supposedly played saxophone and fiddle simulated Lloyd ("Every cuendo were playing the same note as the orchestra" she recalls Paul.) And told jokes related to baseball. Fans worshiped and offered an additional tour of 10 weeks, however the brothers realized that their future was in the field, not on stage, and separated to begin training for next season.

Lloyd hit more than 220 hits in each of the following seasons, and led the league with 20 triples in 1929, achieving the third consecutive year that a player with the surname Waner was the leader of the National League triples. On June 9, 1929, the Waner siblings homered in the same amusement. Six days later, Lloyd had six hits in a comoptencia of 14 entries. "Venenito" missed the majority of the 1930 season for an infected appendix, but still batted .362. In 1931 he returned with an average of .314 and leading the league with 214 hits.

During the six years that followed, while the Pirates were between the second and fifth, lloyd average twice dropped below .285. However, from 1935 he batted .309 or more for four consecutive years, including a demonstration of 313 in 1938, the year in which the Pirates lost the pennant toward the end of the season by the renowned homer Gabby Harnett known as " The homer of Twilight. " Lloyd had this season a run of 22 consecutive game hitting (the best streak of his career was 23 games in 1935), and September 15, the Waner brothers homered in the same inning.

In 1939, the administration of Buc space were searching for some talents of budding gardens, particularly Maurice Van Robays and Johnny Rizzo. Waner played only 92 games in the outfield this year and 42 the next. He was traded to the Boston Braves, then to Cincinnati a month later, and batted .292 that season. When the Reds released him, he was with the Phillies, but when sold to Brooklyn after the 1942 season, he decided to hang the "spikes".

Were the years of the war. At 37, Lloyd had to find work at a military plant or risk being recruited. Branch Rickey requesting that he join the Dodgers in 1944, and he did, and hit .286 in 15 games. Later in the season, he rejoined the Pirates, with whom he finished his career in 1945.

He retired with 2,459 hits and .316 batting average. They then set about locating prospects for the Pirates over the next four years and for Baltimore in 1955. In 1967, 15 years after his brother Paul had been elected to the Hall of Fame, Lloyd Waner was included in the pantheon of the famous. He died in 1982.

In 1904 Jack Chesbro assembled the greatest season any pitcher of the twentieth century, but when it was over, all I remember was either a single launch. The October 10, 1904, Chesbro, took the mound for the New York Highlanders, the future Yankees in the first game of a double win or die game against the Boston Pilgrims. New York had led to LA through most of the season, but Boston came in the final phase to be placed in the front by a game and a half.

To win the championship, the Highlanders needed to win both games. The second set seemed Available to the highest bidder, but the 30,000 fans in New York were confident of victory in the first game. Chesbro, the best pitcher in baseball in 1904, fought against Bill Dinnen Boston won 20 games, but not a Chesbro.

 

Both men threw a baseball scoreless until the fifth inning when New York scored a pair of runs. Chesbro fielded a simple little finger Dinneen and turned around to score the second run. In the seventh inning, Boston tied the game with two unearned runs for a couple of errors by the second baseman in New York, Jimmy Williams.

With the score couple in the ninth inning, Boston catcher Lou Criger a .217 hitter, slow to move, hit a grounder to shortstop New York, Norman "Kid" Elberfeld. Dinneen Criger sacrificed to second. When Kip Selbach hit the ground, Criger went to third base. Freddy Parent, a dangerous .296 hitter, came to the plate.

Chesbro worked to bring the count to a ball and two strikes. Then a ball out of his hand and went over the head of catcher Red Kleinow, allowing career advancement Criger jogging. New York failed to score during the end of the entry, so the championship was to the Pilgrims of Boston. New York came back to win the auction, 1-0, in 10 innings, but it meant nothing.

Chesbro was born in Massachusetts in 1874. His pleasant disposition earned him the nickname of "Happy Jack" while working as a nurse in the mental hospital in Middletown, New York, and pitched for the hospital staff. In 1895 he turned professional with Albany of the League of New York State.

The first years seemed to be full of bad luck, while bent leagues around. The Atlantic League finally remained operational enough to Chesbro achieves a couple of good seasons with Richmond and attract some attention. When Pittsburg bought it in mid-1899, he had a disappointing 6-9.

That winter, franchises Louisville and Pittsburgh would be cast as part of the reorganization of the LN, the owner of Louisville, Barney Dreyfuss taking over the Pirates. Pittsburgh Dryfuss wanted to bring their best players, such as Honus Wagner, Fred Clarke, Deacon Phillippe, and Rube Waddell. But other LN owners wanted a chance with players from Louisville and protested. So, just before the merger, he changed Dryfuss Wagner and other stars from Louisville to Pittsburgh by Chesbro and five other players who nobody cared. When the merger was made official, there were no players of value in the register of Louisville. Chesbro was back in Pittsburgh without ever actually out of there.

He became a useful pitcher in 1900, finishing 15-13 and further improved in 1901, being 21 to 10 and led the league with a .677 winning percentage and six shutouts. He started throwing balls in 1902, and the new release helped him register as a league-best 28 wins. His winning percentage of .824 and six shutouts was also the best in the league.
 

Chesbro was an absolute star in a star-studded team. With players like Wagner, Clarke, ginger Beaumont and Tommy Leach behind him, he was very gentle. Pirates hardly had to sweat to win championships in 1901 and 1902.

The LA self-proclaimed major league in 1901 and attempted to try to terminate the LN some of the best players. The money offered by the new league was attractive, and Jack Chesbro was one of many players who jumped. He signed with New York and won 20 games for the third consecutive season in 1903.

In 1904 he completed 48 of 51 starts and pitched in relief in four games. In 454 2/3 innings allowed just 338 hits. His earned run average was 1.82 tremendous, and his season was a phenomenal 41-12. From May 14 to July 4 he won fourteen consecutive games. Since his last eight innings on June 26 over his first six innings on July 16, he threw 40 consecutive innings without scoring. It lead my salespeople to LA wins, winning percentage, games pitched, complete games and innings pitched. Had it not been for that wild final release, their season would have been almost perfect.

Chesbro could never duplicate his 41 victories, but neither could anyone else do. It dropped to 19 wins in 1905, won 23 in 1906, and then faded, finishing with just 198 career wins. Many observers attributed the collapse to the heavy workload in 1904. Others blamed it on his fatal fall release to the wild.

After retiring as a player in 1909, Chesbro trained at Amherst College for a year, then wrapped the direction of a sawmill and in raising chickens. Clark Griffith, who had been leader of Chesbro in 1904, brought him back as a coach with the Washington Senators in 1924, but was soon released because of a budget cut.

The wild pitch Chesbro tormented the rest of his life. New friends always asked about it. Whenever a wild pitch lost a game, it was sure someone remembered the shot Chesbro. His friends tried to get the official score on the launch to change a passed ball to bail out the pitcher, but were unsuccessful.

Chesbro died in 1931 and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1946. His only board erroneously credited with 192 victories; mercifully, does not refer to wild pitch.

Henry Benjamin Greenberg was born in an Orthodox Jewish family on January 1, 1911 and died on September 4, 1986. Born in New York, in the Bronx and measured 1.88mts 96 kilograms. He attended James Monroe in the Bronx and it dies in Beverly Hills, California.

It was a complete athlete and played soccer football and basketball, but his favorite was always the Baseball, the national pastime of Americans without any doubt. He chose as his first base position and was right to kick and hit and although the Yankees offered him a contract, at that time the immortal idol Lou Gerigh first base occupied, Hank spent a year at the University of New York and signed contract with the Detroit Tigers. He spent three years in the minors working hard and improving his fielding and batting, was named MVP - that is the most valuable in the Texas League- and in 1933 for bateó.301 Tigers and 87 RBIs.

In 1934, Detroit's big question was, "Should I play Hank Greenberg day of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur?”
 

With the Tigers involved in a fierce competition with the Yankees for the pennant, the Jewish gunboat sought spiritual guidance. After due deliberation, Rabbi Leo Franklin decided that Greenberg had to play during Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, a festive occasion; He did and homered in the tenth inning to win the game. However, Rabbi Franklin said the slugger should pray, without play, on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Greenberg accepted. The poet Edgar Guest said:

We might miss him in the infield

and miss his bat,

but he's true to his religion?

And I congratulate you for that.
 

The Tigers won the pennant, and Greenberg homered in the World Series, as it did in all four series in which he played. A year later, he shot 36 homers and drove in 170 runs deserving the MVP award, but lost the last four games of the series with a broken wrist. Greenberg had zero years in 1936 with 67 shifts a tree; however, in 1937, he drove a stunning amount of 183 runs in 1938 and stayed just behind Babe Ruth's home run record with 58.

After shooting 33 homers and drive in 112 runs 1939, he was forced to lower his salary of $ 10,000 if he stayed at first base. On the contrary, he moved to the gardens, making room for good hitter, though not fielder Rudy York, and received an increase of US $ 10,000. He was selected MVP again in 1940 when the Tigers lost the series in seven games against Cincinnati.
 

In May 1941, Greenberg was called by the Army and returned in July 1945, winning the pennant for the Tigers on the last day of the season with a home run with the bases loaded in the bottom of the tenth inning. In 1947 he had his last adventure with the Pirates, shooting 25 homers and driving 75 runs in his only season in the National League. When he retired in the fall, had led the league in RBIs four times, he got absolutely titles homers four times and tied once in the lead, and shot 331 homers in his career, although he had missed four seasons and half by war and injuries.

World War in 1945 and just 34 years back to Detroit and plays homers in his return this year and leads Tigers win another World Series perplexing and strangers and in the final league game achieves grand slam that definitely gets into the hearts of people and recognition to its few detractors.

He played two more seasons and retired and were the first Jewish owner and manager in baseball joining in 1954 at the Cleveland Indians that won 111 games in the season setting a record and then with Bill Veeck buys the White Sox and 1961 sold all I had in baseball and continued with a successful career on Wall Street.

In 1954 was the first Jew to be elected to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown and thus came after Sandy Koufax and Al Rosen and Bud Selig.

Numbers:

• 5 times chosen for All-Star Game in 1937, 38, 39, 40 and 1945.
• Won two World Series in 1935 and 1945.
• American League MVP in 1935 and 1940.
• He lost 19 games in the 1941 season, following three seasons and part of 1945 by the world war and besides his broken wrist.
• It would have reached 500 or 600 home runs without interruptions almost 2000 RBIs and played 1394 games.
• His career average was 331 homeruns from 313 and managed 1276 runs and drove.
• It was acquired by Pittsburgh in 1937 and 1938 for a payment of $ 75,000.
• It debuted in 1930 and his last appearance in September 1947.

It is (Hammerin Hank) Greenberg Benjamin Henry certainly full professional baseball MOS Jewish history and through his life showed the qualities of every human being should have for our neighbor, his love for his country, showing that between Jews at that time could also highlight because he lived at the time of the Great Depression, two world wars and passed out on.

Hopefully many readers discuss the life and work of this man with their families, children and young people is growing because of the winners is learned, they are listened to and respected.

Rule 8.02 of the Official Rules of Baseball pitcher specifically prohibits a misshapen ball or you apply any foreign substance. The "E" section states that "the arbitrator shall be the sole judge as to whether any of these rules has been violated." In other words: do not get caught.

Gaylord Perry boasted openly violating this rule for most of his career and was rarely surprised. Although the ball saliva was banned in 1920, and legally last pitched in 1934 for pitcher Burleigh Grimes whom he was allowed to make this launch to retirement, Perry might have been the most successful in the use of ball saliva in baseball history.

He grew up in a small rented farm in eastern North Carolina. His father was a successful semi-professional pitcher Gaylord and teaches him and his older brother, Jim, the intricacies of the art of pitching. Both boys were excellent pitchers and basketball players in the Williamson High School, and both rejected scholarship offers to play college basketball league for professional baseball. Gaylord signed with the New York Giants to a team record of US $ 73.500 in 1958.

Although an old friend of his father taught him to Perry like throwing a ball hard when the boy was still in high school, the illegal pitch still not part of his repertoire, and defended himself with a good fastball, curve and change. Like his brother Jim, Gaylord Perry moved quickly through the minor leagues. After leading the Pacific League with 16 wins for the Tacoma in 1961, he was called to the Giants, who had moved to San Francisco in 1959. Perry then went back and forth between San Francisco and Tacoma for a few seasons, throwing for several seasons, and threw well in AAA, but it was vapulaeado at the top level.

All that changed in 1964. Disappointed with performances and impatient with the development of its "slider" Perry saw the veteran pitcher Bob Shaw make a curious release that fell to the thigh and ankles broke violently into the batter. Perry asked Shaw to teach him launch. It was the ball of saliva, which Perry delinquency ensured.

Although Perry took several seasons to learn to control the release effectively represented an immediate difference, and made his way to the rotation of the giants in 1964. The regulations were so easy to get away with the use of ball saliva. Pitchers were allowed to put their fingers in their mouths when they were on the mound. It is assumed that the dried, but a ghost to dry finger movement was also easy to learn. Since then, some have claimed that at least 25 percent of major league pitchers used that 1os launch in mid-sixties.

Unlike the fastball, which is released with a backward rotation, the release in question does forward, by making a sudden and sharp drop as it approaches the plate. Saliva in the first two fingers of launch allows the pitcher "tighten" the ball at the time of release and impart a rotation forward.

Perry melted all in 1966. With his ball of saliva and a "slider" under control, it was almost impossible to hit and became an overnight sensation in his eighth year in professional baseball. He won 21 games and was the winning pitcher in the All-Star. On July 22, he struck out 15 batters in a game against the Phillies. He finished the season with 201 strikeouts and walked only 40.

He pitched even better in 1967, and lowered his ERA from 2.99 to 2.61. In a streak he threw 40 consecutive scoreless innings. But he lost ten decisions by a race and finished the season with a record of 15 -17. Suddenly the ball saliva became a hot topic. 

While the pitcher will not be very effective with it, few complained. But the success of Perry was unusual. Before the 1968 season, Rule 8.02 was amended to prohibit the pitcher take his hands to his mouth.

Perry was adapted. All winter he practiced making similar pitches with fat instead of saliva. He stood before a mirror and practiced a clever transfer of fat from your belt or other parts of uniform into his hands. In his few outings in the spring, Perry was bombed, but he mastered the new release just before the season started and returned to his winning ways.

Everyone knew he was throwing that ball, but no one could imagine how prepared. Perry became a teacher to throw to the batter and the use of its release, as a psychological weapon. His throwing hand would cap and neck; adjusted the belt, he wiped his hand on his shirt; He caps again; and he seemed to be giving a speech before finally throwing the ball. Since then the batter was more anxious account or convinced that Perry was throwing a ball "ready".

When he was asked about his success, Perry just smiled and gave credit to his "super-slider". Nobody believed, but could not catch him. Perry threw a no-hitter against San Luis and Bob Gibson on 17 September 1968. The next day, the Cardinals pitcher Ray Washburn left the Giants hitless.

In 1970, Perry won 23 games and finished second in the CY Young voting that was at the hands of Gibson. His brother Jim won 24 games for the Twins and won the Cy Young Award in the American League. They are the first two brothers who won 20 games in the same season.
 

Perry moved to San Francisco to Cleveland in 1972 and responded with the best season of his career, winning the CY Young with a sparkling 1.92 ERA and leading the AL with 24 wins. The change set a pattern for the rest of his career. After several successful seasons, it would be traded to a team that he believed his presence or help them win the championship or the fans would be the stadium. The club, usually, was not up to the performances of Perry and the pattern was repeated.

The Perry brothers joined in Cleveland in 1974 and the first half of 1975. Gaylord won 21 games, including 15 in succession, one short of the record. Jim, meanwhile, added 17 victories in 1974. But the May 20, 1975, he was traded to the Athletics for Blue Monn Odom. Less than a month later, Gaylord was traded to Texas by Jim Bibby, Jackie Brown, Rick Waits and $ 100,000.

After winning 15 games in 1976 and in 1977, the Rangers moved to Perry to San Diego in January 1978. He won 21 games for the Padres this season and his second Cy Young Award. It remains the only pitcher to win a CY Young in each league.

Perry then signed with the Texas again, and the Rangers traded him in mid-season the Yankees. He played with Atlanta in 1981, Seattle in 1982 and Kansas City in 1983.

Perry won his 300th game with Seattle in 1982 and retired after the 1983 season with 314 victories. 529 victories Perry brothers are second, just behind the 539 of Niekro. One of the few negative signs Gaylord Perry's careers is that he never went to the World Series in 22 years of work in the majors. Only Phil Niekro longer played 24 seasons without which appeared in the Fall Classic.

Perry issued a highly entertaining biography, me and the Spitter (I and ball saliva) in 1974. After his retirement, Perry returned to North Carolina and became a farmer. 

He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1991

Frank Baker was conceived on March 13, 1886, to Franklin Adams Baker and Mary Catherine (nee Fitzhugh) on their homestead in Trappe, Maryland. The Bakers, who were of English plummet, had been agriculturists in Trappe for six eras. His mom, of Scottish plummet, was accounted for to be a far off relative of Robert E. Lee. 

Frank Baker appreciated taking a shot at his dad's ranch; however he sought turn into an expert baseball player from the age of ten. In Trappe, the vast majority of the inhabitants went to the neighborhood baseball group's amusements on Saturdays. Plain's more established sibling, Norman, was surely understood in the town for his playing capacity. Norman once went for the Philadelphia Athletics; however he didn't care for that city and quit seeking after a baseball profession. 

Dough puncher pitched for the nearby secondary school baseball group and acted as an assistant at a butcher shop and market claimed by relatives. He marked with a neighborhood semi-proficient baseball group situated in Ridgely, Maryland, in 1905, at 19 years old. The group, which was overseen by Buck Herzog, paid him $5 every week ($132 in current dollar terms) and took care of his boarding expenses. Herzog found that Baker couldn't pitch well, however that he could hit. Baker was not able play the outfield well, however he could move into the infield as a third baseman for Ridgely. 

In 1906, Baker played for Sparrows Point Club in Baltimore, winning $15 every week ($395 in current dollar terms). He got an offer to play for a group in the Class C Texas League in 1907, which he turned down. He rather marked with a free group situated in Cambridge, Maryland.

At the end of the 1910 season, Frank Baker had only hit six homers in 1,133 at-bats. Until then he was known more as a base stealer power hitter who, having stolen 20 or more bases each year and led the league in triples in 1909 with 19.

Baker then hit 11 homers in 1911 to lead the league the first of four consecutive years helping Connie Mack Athletics to win his second consecutive championship. In the World Series, Christy Mathewson Giants won the first game, 2-1. The game number two drew 1-1 in the sixth; Rube Marquard had retired thirteen batters consecutively; but after Eddie Collins doubled, Baker pulled a pitch over the short fence in right field at the Polo Grounds to give the Athletics a 3-1 victory. The next day, the ghost writer Mathewson, John Wheeler, advised that "A Baker have to throw out." Later that same day, in Game number three, Mathewson Baker retired with two harmless shot and high. When Baker went to bat for the fourth time with the Giants ahead 1-0 with one out in the ninth, Mathewson got two strikes, but then Baker pulled an out a pitch that landed in the right field seats; Athletics won 3-1 in the eleventh inning, and Frank Baker suddenly became "Home Run" Baker.

Baker batted fourth behind Eddie Collins, and sports reporters suggested that the antics of Collins on the basis of Baker made a great hitter. Collins laughed. "When it comes to bat," he said, "Carnegie Baker needed help as he needed money."

300 Hitter in six different seasons, the league lead my salespeople twice in RBIs and could have done even more damage if not because he was gone for two full seasons.

When the A's were swept in the Series 1914, Mack decided to punish players with severe pay cuts; Baker declined to play during the season and then was sold to the Yankees. Neither played in 1920, the year his wife died, but helped New York win Pennants in 1921 and 1922 as a player on duty.

In 1961 the sports reporter Joe Williams asked Baker how many runs do today, what Baker said, "I would say 50 anyway The year batted 12, also I gave at the gate left the park. Shibe 38 times; all that could have been home runs with the ball alive.

Earle Combs was an exceptional player in every sense of the word who made key contributions to the mighty Yankees teams of the 1920s and 1930s.
 

Born in Pebworth, Kentucky, in 1899. Hoping to be a teacher, attended the State Normal School in Richmond Western Kentucky, where he played basketball and ran track and field, and starred in the baseball field, batting .591 in his last year.

During the summer teaching in one-room schools, but soon he learned that he could make more money and enjoy more to play semiprofessional baseball. When he hit .444 for the team of Harlan, the Louisville Colonels of the AA signed it.

His first professional game was a total disaster. Installed in the center, soon he made two mistakes with boulders. The Colonels overcame these errors to liderear in the ninth. With two runners based opposition, he Combs another ball bounced and rolled between his legs. Before he could catch and send back to the infield, both runners and the hitter had come happily bases to win the game.

After that, he sat in front of his locker, slightly contemplating his life as a school teacher in Kentucky. The leader of the Colonels and future Hall of Fame manager Joe McCarthy, the rookie walked disconsolately. "Look," he said, "If I had not thought belonged to center on this club, I had not put there. And I will keep you there."

Combs soon became an excellent gardener, trapping high and hard shot. He finished his first season in Louisville with a batting average of .344. In 1923 he raised his average to .380, and the Yankees bought his contract for $ 50,000 and two players.

By spring, however, he refused to report to training camp in New York. The Colonels had promised a percentage of the purchase price, but received nothing. "I'm not a stupid animal to abuse me with a whip, harassment, coercion or carried like cattle to do anything that does not make right," he announced. The Colonels was paid.

Combs had been a very good base stealer in the minor leagues Louisville fans called him "E". Although when he became the leadoff New York Yankees, the manager Miller Huggins explained that times had changed, with sluggers like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Bob Meusel in the lineup, the Yankees did not need much help score runs. The steal bases no sense when the next to hit would give a drive into the seats. "Up here," Huggins said, "we'll call the waiter".

As a result, Combs never stole more than 16 bases in a major league season. Having played for any other team could have doubled or tripled that figure. However, his scoring record shows the wisdom of the strategy Huggins. Although most of three seasons have been lost due to injury, the waiter scored more than 100 runs in eight of his 12 seasons for a total of 1,186 runs, an average of 99 per season.

Considered the greatest leadoff hitter of the LA, Combs collected no less than 190 hits five times on his way to a vocation batting normal of .325. While Ruth, Gehrig and others were hitting home runs, specialty Combs left-handed hitter was batting line around the grounds, though he collected enough extra-base hits. When one of his line drives fell among gardeners, it had a good chance of ending in third. It lead my salespeople to LA in triples three times and finished with a career total of 154, averaging more than tripled for every 10 games he played.
 

Combs also touches deftly put and were especially good at getting walks, the last thing he wanted a pitcher before facing Ruth or Gehrig. His career on-base percentage was .397.
 

The speedy player 6 feet, 185 lbs. he soon adjusted to the Yankees in 1924, batting .400 in his first 24 games before breaking his ankle and misses the rest of the season. Comb injury you probably cost him the championship Yankees. After winning pennants in 1921, 1922 and 1923, New finished second against Washington for two games.

In 1925 Combs, fully recovered, showed his great start last year was not a water hole. It gave 203 hits, batted .342 and scored 117 runs. But Ruth was out of the lineup for most of the year, and several other players had disappointing seasons. The Yankees fell to seventh place chopped.

In 1926, Ruth returned in shape, Gehrig flourished at first base; second baseman Tony Lazzeri included another powerful batting lineup. The Yankees caught the championship with a victory in St. Louis.

The next day clowning through a double game with the Hapless Browns. Among other antics, Combs played a burlesque struck. Maybe he should have played with more commitment; He finished the year with 299 batting average, the only time could not hit 300 until his last major league season.
 

The energizing 1926 World Series was highlighted by Pete Alexander struck Tony Lazzeri with the bases stacked in the final game. The St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Yankees in seven. The following year the club had in New York, many experts considers the best team of all time, the Yankees 1927. With Murderers Row bats behind them, the Bronx Bombers moved nimbly to the championship and demolished Pirates in four straight games in the series. During the regular season, Ruth established his at that point record 60 homers, and Combs set a club record with 231 hits. In 1986 Don Mattingly Combs surpassed the mark of 238.

Gehrig was a favorite of Yankees fans, and Ruth was, of course, the most powerful figure baseball. But Combs was also among the favorites of the fans and reporters. As a sign of appreciation for his good 1927 season, fans right field at Yankee Stadium took up an accumulation and purchased a gold watch. In 1931 sportswriter Fred Lieb wrote, "I believe that if a vote is cast among sports writers about who is the most popular player in New York, I think Combs win."

The Yankees won another championship and swept another World Series in 1928 but were short Durantes the next three seasons. In 1929 the leader Miller Huggins, having chosen as favorites and Combs Gehrig, died suddenly. In 1931 Joe McCarthy, the unique pioneer of Combs in St. Louisville, the pioneer of the Yankees became. The following year, New York was back in the series, knocking the Chicago Cubs in four games.

Combs never played in another Series. The July 24, 1934, crashed against the wall center Sportsman Park in St. Louis while chasing a high, he suffered a skull fracture in addition to injuries of the knee and shoulder.

In 1935 he appeared in 89 games as a player-coach before retiring as a player to train full time. His initially drilling task was to instruct a youthful prospect named Joe DiMaggio, the intricacies of playing center field at Yankee Stadium.

Combs trained with the Yankees and several other teams through 1954 and then retired to his farm of 400 hectares in Kentucky. He was named to the Hall of Fame in 1970, six years before his demise. "I thought the Hall of Fame was for whizzes,"," said the modest gardener, "not for average players as I was."