M. Huggins Mouth

This entry catalogs the T206 White Border "M. Huggins Mouth" variation — the pose in which Miller James Huggins is shown with his mouth slightly open, distinguished from the closed-mouth portrait that runs as the more common version. The player is Huggins (1878–1929), the diminutive switch-hitting second baseman who broke in with Cincinnati in 1904 and was, at the time of this card, the regular keystone man of the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League. He stood under 5'7" and barely cleared 140 pounds, getting on base by drawing walks at a then-extreme rate. He went on to manage the Cardinals from 1913 and was hired by the Yankees in 1918, where he steered the Babe Ruth–Lou Gehrig clubs to six pennants and three World Series titles between 1921 and 1928. He threw right-handed. Huggins died September 25, 1929 in New York, of erysipelas, while still managing the Yankees, and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1964 by the Veterans Committee.