Legend of Baseball : Babe Ruth

George Herman Ruth, Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948), best known as "Babe" Ruth and nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Sultan of Swat", was an American Major League baseball player from 1914–1935. Ruth originally broke into the major leagues with the Boston Red Sox as a starting pitcher, but after he was sold to the New York Yankees in 1919, he converted to a full-time right fielder and subsequently became one of the league's most prolific hitters. Ruth was a mainstay in the Yankees' lineup that won seven pennants and four World Series titles during his tenure with the team. After a short stint with the Boston Braves in 1935, Ruth retired. In 1936, Ruth became one of the first five players elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Ruth has since become regarded as one of the greatest sports heroes in American culture.[1] He has been named the greatest baseball player in history in various surveys and rankings, and his home run hitting prowess and charismatic personality made him a larger than life figure in the "Roaring Twenties".[2] Off the field he was famous for his charity, but also was noted for his often reckless lifestyle. Ruth is credited with changing baseball itself. The popularity of the game exploded in the 1920s, largely due to his influence. Ruth ushered in the "live-ball era", as his big swing led to escalating home run totals that not only excited fans, but helped baseball evolve from a low-scoring, speed-dominated game to a high-scoring power game.

Babe Ruth in 1921.

Legend of Baseball : Mickey Cochrane

Gordon Stanley "Mickey" Cochrane (April 6, 1903 – June 28, 1962) was a professional baseball player and manager.[1] He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher for the Philadelphia Athletics and Detroit Tigers. Cochrane was considered one of the best catchers in baseball history and is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Cochrane was born in Bridgewater, Massachusetts to Northern Irish immigrant John Cochrane, whose father had immigrated to Ulster from Scotland and Scottish immigrant Sadie Campbell. He was also known as "Black Mike", because of his fiery, competitive nature.Cochrane was educated at Boston University where he played five sports, excelling at football and basketball. Although he considered himself better as a football player than as a baseball player, professional football wasn't as established as Major League Baseball at the time so, Cochrane signed a contract to play for the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League in 1924.

After just one season in the minor leagues, Cochrane was promoted to the major leagues, making his debut with the Philadelphia Athletics on April 14, 1925 at the age of 22. He made an immediate impact by earning the starting catcher's assignment over Cy Perkins, who was considered one of the best catchers in the major leagues at the time. A left-handed batter, Cochrane ran well enough that manager Connie Mack would occasionally insert him into the leadoff spot in the batting order. Most frequently, Cochrane would bat third, but wherever he hit, his primary job was to get on base so that hard-hitting Al Simmons and Jimmie Foxx could drive him in. In May, he tied a major league record by hitting three home runs in a game.[8] He ended his rookie season with a .331 batting average and a .397 on base percentage, helping the Athletics to a second place finish.

Cochrane compiled a .320 batting average while hitting 119 home runs over a 13 year playing career. His .320 batting average was the highest career total for catchers until being surpassed by Joe Mauer in 2009. His .419 on-base percentage is among the best in baseball history, and is the highest all-time among catchers. In 1932, Cochrane became the first catcher in Major League Baseball history to score 100 runs and have 100 RBI in the same season. He hit for the cycle twice in his career, on July 22, 1932 and on August 2, 1933. In his first 11 years, he never caught fewer than 110 games. Cochrane led American League catchers six times in putouts, and twice each in double plays, assists and fielding percentage.

Legend of Baseball : Rogers Hornsby

Rogers Hornsby, Sr. (April 27, 1896 – January 5, 1963) was an American Major League Baseball infielder, manager, and coach. Nicknamed "The Rajah", he played 23 seasons for the St. Louis Cardinals (1915–1926, 1933), New York Giants (1927), Boston Braves (1928), Chicago Cubs (1929–1932), and St. Louis Browns (1933–1937). Hornsby accumulated 2,930 hits, 301 home runs, and a .358 batting average during his career, was named the National League's Most Valuable Player (MVP) two times, and was a member of one World Series championship team.
Hornsby's major league career started when the St. Louis Cardinals signed him in 1915. He remained with the Cardinals until 1926, and he won a World Series with the team that year. After the season, he was traded to the New York Giants. He spent one season with them before getting traded to the Boston Braves, and he spent one season with the Braves before getting traded to the Chicago Cubs. He played with the Cubs until they released him in 1932. He then re-signed with the Cardinals in 1933, but he was claimed off waivers by the St. Louis Browns during the season. He remained with the Browns until his final season in 1937. Hornsby managed each of these teams all or part of the time that he played for them, and he also managed the Browns and the Cincinnati Reds in the 1950s after his career had ended.

Hornsby was one of the best batters ever to play major league baseball. His career batting average of .358 is second only to Ty Cobb in major league history. He also won two Triple Crowns, and he batted .400 or more three times during his career. He is the only player to hit 40 home runs and bat .400 in the same year (1922). His batting average for the 1924 season was .424, a mark that no player since has matched. He was elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1942.

Legend of Baseball : Eddie Collins

Hall of Fame Major League Baseball Player. Born in Millerton, New York, at age 19, he joined the Philadelphia Athletics as a second baseman in 1906. From 1910 to 1914, with the A's he won four of five AL pennants and three World Titles, After the 1914 season, he was sold to the Chicago White Sox where he played for the next twelve seasons including the 1919 Word Series Black Sox Scandal. In 1924, he was named player manager of the Sox and guided them to winning records. He was released by Chicago following the 1926 season and rejoined on the A's as a coach and player, mostly as a pinch-hitter. He ended his career with a .333 batting average, 3315 hits, 47 homeruns, 1300 runs batted in and holds the American League record for service, at 25 seasons. In 1939, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame and was inducted into the Columbia University Athletics Hall of Fame in 2005. He died in Boston, Massachusetts.
Edward Trowbridge Collins, Sr. (May 2, 1887 – March 25, 1951), nicknamed "Cocky", was an American Major League Baseball second baseman, manager and executive. He played from 1906 to 1930 for the Philadelphia Athletics and Chicago White Sox.
At the end of his career, he ranked second in major league history in career games (2,826), walks (1,499) and stolen bases (744), third in runs scored (1,821), fourth in hits (3,315) and at bats (9,949), sixth in on base percentage (.424), and eighth in total bases (4,268); he was also fourth in AL history in triples (187). He still holds the major league record of 512 career sacrifice hits, over 100 more than any other player. He was the first major leaguer in modern history to steal 80 bases in a season, and still shares the major league record of six steals in a game, which he accomplished twice in September 1912. He regularly batted over .320, retiring with a career average of .333. He also holds major league records for career games (2,650), assists (7,630) and total chances (14,591) at second base, and ranks second in putouts (6,526). Under the win shares statistical rating system created by baseball historian and analyst Bill James, Collins was the greatest second baseman of all time.

A native of Millerton, New York, Collins was a graduate of Columbia University (where he was a member of Beta Theta Pi Fraternity), at a time when few Major League players had attended college.
As a player, Collins was renowned for his solid batting skills and speed on the basepaths.
He broke into the majors in 1906 with the Philadelphia Athletics and by 1909 was a full-time player. That season, he registered a .347 batting average and 67 steals. The following year, Collins stole a career-high 81 bases and played on the first of his four World Series championship teams.

Legend of Baseball : George Sisler

George Harold Sisler (March 24, 1893 - March 26, 1973), nicknamed "Gentleman George" and "Gorgeous George," was an American professional baseball player for 15 seasons, primarily as first baseman with the St. Louis Browns (now the Baltimore Orioles). From 1920 until 2004, Sisler held the Major League Baseball (MLB) record for most hits in a single season, a mark which stills stands for the 154-game season in which he played.
His 1922 season — during which he batted .420, hit safely in a then-record 41 consecutive games, led the American League in hits (246), stolen bases (51), and triples (18), and was, by general consensus, the best fielding first baseman in the game — is considered by many historians to be among the best individual all-around single-season performances in baseball history.[1]
Sisler was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939.[2] In 1999, he received the eighth-largest number of first base-category votes in fan balloting for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team, and editors at The Sporting News named him 33rd on their list of "Baseball's 100 Greatest Players."



Born in the unincorporated hamlet of Manchester (now part of the city of New Franklin, a suburb of Akron, Ohio[3]) and having played college ball for coach Branch Rickey at the University of Michigan, where he earned a degree in mechanical engineering, Sisler entered the major leagues as a pitcher for the Browns in 1915. He signed as a free agent after the minor league contract he had signed as a minor four years earlier, and which the Pittsburgh Pirates had purchased, was declared void. The following year he switched to first base, to fully utilise his hitting skills. He posted a record of 5-6 with a 2.35 earned run average in 24 career mound appearances, twice defeating Walter Johnson in complete games victories.