Combs, Earle B.
Baseball
b. May 14, 1899, Pebworth, KY
Overshadowed by his power-hitting teammates Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, Combs was an outstanding hitter and leadoff man who scored 113 or more runs for 8 straight seasons with the New York Yankees.
A fine defensive centerfielder who threw right-handed and batted left-handed, Combs graduated from Eastern Kentucky State Teachers College in 1921 and was an elementary school teacher before entering professional baseball in 1923.
The Yankees bought his contract for $50,000 in 1924 and Combs had a .400 average in 24 games before suffering a broken ankle and missing the rest of the season. He came back to hit .342 in 1925. After slipping to .299 in 1926, he batted over .300 for the next 8 seasons. Combs led the AL in hits with 231 in 1927 and in triples three times, with 23 in 1927, 21 in 1928, and 22 in 1929.
Combs had a fine record in the World Series. He hit .357 in New York's seven-game loss to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1926 and .313 in the 1927 Series, when he scored 6 runs in a four-game sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates. A broken finger forced him to the bench in 1928, but he came to bat once as a pinch-hitter and drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. In the Yankees' four-game sweep of the Chicago Cubs in 1932, Combs batted .375, scored 8 runs, and had 4 RBI.
Midway through the 1934 season, Combs suffered a fractured skull when he crashed into a fence while chasing a long drive. He was in a coma for hours and underwent brain surgery. He returned to the Yankees in 1935 but retired after batting .282 in just 89 games that season.