September

Okay, so this month it's a no-brainer. No need for clues. Is there any mug more well known in the world of sport than the Babe's?

It's a curiously round face, with a flat nose and thick eyebrows. And (in this picture, at least) reflective eyes, perhaps even a little sad.

Perhaps he just had a bad batch of his favorite dessert: eels and ice cream.

Of course, the stories about Babe Ruth -- on and off the field -- are legion. I won't even begin to recount them here. In describing the Babe, one of his roommates probably summed it up best when he said, "I roomed with his suitcase."

In honor of him appearing on my calendar, I believe I will read Robert Creamer's biography of the Babe sometime this month. Published in 1974, it is considered the authoritative work on the legendary ballplayer's colorful life.

It was a relatively short life, ending at 53 in 1948. But, considering the way he lived, a surprise to nobody.

He was one of the first five to go into the Hall of Fame in 1936, and with a career batting average of .342 (with 714 homers) and a career ERA of 2.28 (with a record of 94-46), he was probably the most versatile player ever to don a major league uniform.

Matty

Christy Mathewson

Yes, that is the third nickname for Christy Mathewson, the legendary proponent of the fadeaway in the early part of last century. Perhaps no other pitcher in the history of the game has such a recognizable name, to fans and non-fans alike.

A little-known fact about Mathewson is that he played professional football briefly for the Pittsburgh Stars in 1902, the only year of the team's existence.

In 1905, he turned in possibly the greatest World Series performance by a pitcher. In the span of just six days, he pitched three complete-game shutouts, allowing only 14 hits, as the Giants defeated the Philadelphia Athletics.

Familiar with jubilant times on the field, off the field Mathewson was also acquainted with grief. He had three brothers, and all died before he did: one died as an infant, Nicholas committed suicide in 1909 at age 19, and Henry died of tuberculosis in 1917.

Christy Mathewson Day is celebrated in his hometown of Factoryville, Pennsylvania, every year on the Saturday closest to his birthday. At Bucknell, his alma mater, the football stadium is named in his honor, as are the baseball fields at Keystone College (in Factoryville) and in Taunton, Massachusetts, where Matty played before joining the Giants.

He has also been widely celebrated in poetry, prose, and song. Ogden Nash wrote in 1943:

M is for Matty,

who carried a charm

in the form of an extra

brain in his arm. 

August

Who is this "Christian gentleman"?

I was born Aug. 12, 1880, in Factoryville, Pennsylvania, and started playing semi-pro baseball when I was 14.

I attended Bucknell University, where I was the Big Man on Campus, playing baseball and football and also serving as class president.

During my 17-year career in the majors (16 with the N.Y. Giants and one with the Reds), I won 373 games (still a National League record), had a career E.R.A. of 2.13, and posted 79 shutouts.

My out pitch was called a "fadeaway," which today we call a screwball. My manager, John McGraw, gave me high praise when he said I knew "as much about hitters as [he did]."

I had three nicknames: "Big Six," "the Christian Gentleman" (I never pitched on Sundays), and ... well, I can't tell you the third because it would give me away.

I retired as a player in 1916 and, two years later, during WWI, I enlisted in the army and was sent overseas. During a training exercise, I was accidentally exposed to poison gas and later developed tuberculosis.

I died on Oct. 7, 1925, in Saranac Lake, New York, at age 45.

I was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1936 as one of the famous "First Five," along with Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, and Walter Johnson. I was the only one of the five not there.

Heinie

Heinie Manush

Today, we might think of this nickname as referring to a person's posterior (i.e., their behind), but in Manush's day it was strictly an ethnic -- though not necessarily a derogatory -- name for someone with German heritage.

When he hit .378 in 1926, he barely edged out Babe Ruth for the American League batting title, going 6-for-9 in a doubleheader on the last day of the season.

Two years later, Manush hit .378 again, but this time he didn't win the batting crown, losing by the slimmest of margins to Goose Goslin, who hit .379.

In 1936, at age 35, he reported to the Red Sox (the fourth of  six teams he would play for in his career), full of confidence.

"I'm going out to right field to loosen up," he said on Opening Day. "I'm gonna have a year to top 'em all this season."

Unfortunately for Heinie, his muscles didn't share his enthusiasm. In one Herculean effort, he pulled his right knee up to his chest ... and promptly fell in a heap. No, he hadn't been shot. He had popped his back out of place!

July

Who is this slugging left fielder?

My first and middle names are Henry Emmett, but I am known by a politically incorrect, ethnic nickname -- not unusual for the era in which I played.

I was born in 1901 in Tuscumbia, Alabama. My parents were German immigrants.

I made my major league debut in 1923 with the Detroit Tigers, hitting .334 and playing in the outfield with Ty Cobb and Harry Heilmann.

My older brother, Frank, was also a big-leaguer, playing third base for the Philadelphia Athletics.

In 1926 I hit .378, but after an "off" year in 1927 (I hit .298), I was traded to the St. Louis Browns. This began the revolving-door aspect of my career, in which I played for a total of six teams (unusual then, commonplace today), finishing with the Pirates in 1939.

In 1934, I set the record (which still stands) for fastest player to reach 100 hits, doing it in my 60th game.

Overall, I had 2,524 hits in my career and my career batting average was .330.

I was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1964.

I died in Sarasota, Florida, on May 12, 1971, at age 69.

Huggins

Miller Huggins

Unusual for a ballplayer in that day, Miller Huggins attended college -- at the University of Cincinnati -- where he eventually earned a degree in law in 1900 while playing shortstop for the Bearcats.

His father, a devout Methodist, certainly did not want his son to play ball on Sundays and probably did not want him to play at all. Strangely, though, one of his law professors -- you may have heard of him, William Howard Taft -- actually advised him to choose baseball for a career rather than law. Huggins took his esteemed professor's advice and, though he was admitted to the bar, he never did practice law.

It was a good choice, of course, though his early days as manager of the Yankees may have given him cause for second guessing. That cause went by the name of Babe Ruth. Ruth resisted Huggins' discipline, as he did all discipline, and did not respect the manager because of his small stature and soft-spoken ways. Everything Huggins tried by way of reigning in his superstar failed.

Until 1925. On Aug. 29 of that year, he suspended Ruth indefinitely, citing off-field misconduct, and fined him $5,000, a whopping sum at the time. Ruth wasn't worried; he assumed Yankees owner Jake Ruppert would side with him, as he had in the past. This time, however, Ruth was wrong. Ruppert backed his manager to the hilt, and the suspension and fine stood.

Ruth eventually gave him, apologizing to both Huggins and Ruppert, was reinstated on Sept. 5, and never challenged Huggins' authority again.

June

Who is this "mighty" manager?

I was born on March 27, 1878, in Cincinnati, Ohio.

I played second base for my hometown Reds from 1904 to 1909 before being traded to the Cardinals, where I was both player and manager.

I was known as the "Mighty Mite," due to my small, 5'6" stature.

In 1918, J.G. Taylor Spink, famed publisher of The Sporting News, recommended me to Jacob Ruppert for the Yankees' managerial position. Ruppert took one look at my short and boyish appearance and immediately called Spink.

"What did you send me, Taylor," he yelled in the receiver, "the damned bat boy!"

Ol' Jake hired me despite his not-so favorable first impression, and I ended up leading the Yankees to six pennants and three World Series titles over the next decade.

All told, I won 1,413 games as a manager (23rd all-time), including 110 during the memorable 1927 season with the "Murderers' Row," arguably the best team in baseball history.

I became gravely ill with influenza late in the 1929 season. On Sept. 20 I was admitted to the hospital and died there five days later.

In 1964, I was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee.