|
|
Please be patient while the photos download... they really are worth the wait !!!
If it was not for baseball there would never have been a Babe Ruth. And if not for the Babe, there may never have been baseball as we know it.
Baseball was all that George Herman Ruth could do right. While he had a heart of gold, it was always tarnished by his personal demons. Life was unkind to the Babe; he was labelled early in life as incorrigible and was shuffled off to a reform school in Baltimore where he learned the game from Jesuit priests.
At 19 he was drafted by the Red Sox as a pitcher. He took the Sox to the World Series in 1919, and still holds some obscure World Series pitching records. He was later sold to the Yankees, and the rest is all history. In the end, baseball could not give the Babe what he wanted the most... to manage the Yankees, and he returned to Boston and labored with the Braves as a worn out workhorse... But he was, still, and always will be the Babe, the one little boys in all of us want to be the most.
Satchel Paige
While Jackie Robinson will always be credited for breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball, it was without a doubt Satchel that first brought true color to the game.
For more than 40 years he would take his wild windmill pitching style to the mound and playfully taunt opposing hitters with yells like "OK boy, here comes my two hump blooper pitch. Just watch it; ya ain't gonna hit it". More often than not, he was right.
He had a moving change-up pitch that he called "little Tom" and a medium fastball that he called "long Tom", but his most devasting pitch was his "stop and cough" where he would momentarily stop his 6'3" frame for a hesitation, and then deliver the ball at a hitters dream speed yet the hitter was unable to time the swing. Satchel was one of the most frustrating pitchers to ever throw the ball.
Satchel finally made it to the Major Leagues at the age of 44.
Ty Cobb
This was the most feared son of a bitch to ever play the game. When opposing teams took batting practice, Mr. Cobb would watch from the dugout, sharpening his spikes with a file glaring at the suddenly nervous opposing infielders.
He was a warrior playing a game and thinking it was all out war. He was outrageous with his passion to win at all costs, and he still holds over 80 records (some that will never be broken because life just does not produce the kind of bitter angry drive that drove the Georgia Peach).
Years after he retired he was interviewed and was asked how he would fare with modern pitching. He replied that he would hit for 300 or maybe 315. The radio interviwer was amazed and remarked that since he was a 400 plus lifetime hitter, why would he only hit in the 300's? Mr. Cobb replied "Hell, son, I am 72 years old." Yes, I do believe Ty would have hit for 300 at 72.
Stan "the man" Musiel
Few players have ever matched the consistency and accomplishments of Stan Musial, and in my opinion, none have ever matched his popularity throughout all the ball parks of baseball as this Polish smiling hero from a steelmill town in Pennsylvania.
Originally drafted as a pitcher, he started his baseball career in The South Atlantic League, playing for the Williamson West Virginia Mountaineers. There, he was labeled by a scout as wild and inconsistent, and despite a recommended release, he was sent to Daytona Beach to play in the Florida State league, coached by White Sox Great Dickie Kerr.
While pitching in the Florida State League, he dove for a fast moving high line drive, landing on his shoulder and tearing it up and thus ending a questionable pitching career.
He was encouraged to try playing the outfield, where he hit for a .426 average before being called up to St. Louis in 1946. The rest is history and this true blue collar boy went on to be known throughout basebal simply as "The Man".
Honus Wagner
Wagner today, is probably known more for his baseball card worth close to a half million dollars, than for his abilities as a player.
He was signed by scout Ed Barrow, who was in the coal mining Pennsylvania town to actually scout Honus's brother. Barrows saw the younger of Mrs. Wagners' children flinging rocks across the Monongahela River and signed him on the spot.
Honus Wagner was the first player to have his signature burned into his Louiseville slugger bats and was like an octapus playing short stop. He was considered a true gentleman, but had his moments when he could rise to the occasion of hostility. In the 1907 World Series, he was confronted with Ty Cobb on first base. Cobb yelled to him that he was gonna steal 2nd, and that he had better keep his kraut ass out of the way. When Cobb slid into second, spikes first, Wagner jumped into the air and slapped Cobb in the face with glove, ball, and all his force not only putting the Georgia Peach out, but knocking him out as well as breaking his nose and putting him in need of 8 stiches. And for that, I will tip my hat to Mr. Wagner any day.
Jackie Robinson
In my humble and pithy opinion, Jackie is and will always be the most historical ball player ever. When he broke the Major League's color barrier,he was treated with such hostility, that it makes me ashamed to be a white man. But with the class and grace with which he responded to it all, it makes me proud to belong to the same human race as Mr. Robinson.
Jackie, was a truly great ball player; but he is also owned by the history of the game. He was the man that was required to break the most vile of all barriers the game has ever known.
More of Pondering the Greats... Pg. 2
My Personal Favorites
The South Atlantic League
click here if you are a 
Yogi's World
Casey at the bat
You are visitor number 
to this page since November 1999.