Famous Baseball Heroes The history of Baseball in America is rich with tradition. We honor these Heroes in the game of Baseball for contributions to American Baseball history and American culture.   Yogi Berra Lawrence Peter “Yogi” Berra, born May 12, 1925, was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972 after playing most of his career as a catcher for the New York Yankees. One of the most popular players in major league history, a fan favorite and baseball card legend, not only was Berra a talented catcher and hitter, but at age 81, he is still famous for his “Yogi-isms”, those beloved, sometimes nonsensical sayings that became famous right along with him. The baseball greatest hall hero player, Berra’s career featured 14 pennants and 10 World Series Championships, which at the time of his induction was a record. Babe Ruth Even people who don’t know baseball know Babe Ruth, born February 6, 1895, or at least know he was one of the all-time baseball greats. Inducted into the baseball hall of fame in 1936, George Herman “Babe” Ruth was among one of the first five players to be so honored and is probably the most famous baseball player ever. Playing for the Red Sox and mostly for the Yankees, the “Sultan of Swat” baseball card legend finished with 714 home runs and multiple American League Pennants and World Series titles. The Bambino’s Hall of Fame plaque states that he was the biggest drawing card in all of baseball history. You can see this and other Baseball Hall of Fame plaques here. http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/ The only player to hit 3 home runs twice in a World Series game, baseball greatest hall hero player Ruth’s famous Louisville Slugger bat was reportedly auctioned off at Sotheby’s in 2004 for 1.26 million dollars. Only Honus Wagner’s 1909 baseball card has surpassed Ruth’s bat in baseball memorabilia value and only by five thousand dollars. If the music died the day Buddy Holly did, baseball sure took a beating when we lost the Bambino who died from cancer at the age of 53 on August 16, 1948. Baseball hero hometown fans reiterated that sentiment in September of 2006 when Ruth was voted one of the “Hometown Heroes” on the show with the same name produced by Major League Baseball Productions. Lou Gehrig People who don’t follow baseball remember Lou Gehrig, who was born June 19, 1903 and who died much too young and far too tragically just 17 days shy of this 38th birthday on June 2, 1941. Some still hear of him for the first time today because of the disease that carries his name. The first player to have his uniform number retired, Henry Louis “Lou” Gehrig played for the Yankees for 16 years, arriving 3 years after Babe Ruth’s famous sale to the team. Dubbed “The Iron Horse” for his endurance and persistence no matter how much pain he was in, especially with his decades-lasting record of most consecutive games played, baseball greatest hall hero player Lou Gehrig played 13 consecutive seasons with both 100 runs scored and 100 RBI. He still holds the record for the most RBI; 184 in a single season in the American League. He kept the record for most consecutive games played, 2,130 until 1995 when it was broken by Cal Ripken, Jr. Nolan Ryan A Texas legend according to his Baseball Hall of Fame Plaque and several million fans, Lynn Nolan Ryan, Jr., elected to the hall of fame in 1999, had a pitching career like no one before him or since; a career that spanned four decades, lasted 27 years and struck out over 1100 different players. Interestingly enough, those strike-outs included 27 Baseball Hall of Fame members. Born January 31, 1947, this baseball card legend was also the oldest member the Texas Rangers ever had, and he pitched his last game at the age of 46. Still holding that strike-out record, Nolan Ryan, AKA “The Ryan Express”, will always be remembered as one of baseball’s greats, most notably for his fastball. Ryan was one of the “Hometown Heroes” Major League Baseball Productions announced in September of 2006 on its Hometown Heroes program. The fans have spoken. In fact, they spoke more than once. Ryan was nominated and won the baseball hero hometown award not only from Rangers fans, but baseball hero hometown Astros fans named him their hero as well. You can see all of the Hometown Heroes by clicking on this link. http://www.dhl-usa.com/mlb/hth.asp Alex Rodriguez Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez or A-Rod as he is affectionately known, has the enviable distinguishment of being the highest paid player not only in baseball but in sports history, having signed a $252 million, 10 year contract with the New York Yankees. Born July 27, 1975, A-Rod is arguably the favorite current baseball player in the Major Leagues, having set his share of records. At the age of 30, Rodriguez became the youngest baseball player in history to have hit 450 home runs. That hit was also his 2000th hit and came just 6 days shy of his 31st birthday. Although he’s received his share of criticism, A-Rod has already proven himself to be one of baseball’s greats.

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