Earle Combs

Earle Bryan Combs (May 14, 1899 – July 21, 1976) was an American professional baseball player who spent his entire career with the New York Yankees from 1924 to 1935. Born in Pebworth, Owsley County, Kentucky, he played childhood games using tree limbs for bats and balls fashioned from string and old shoe material. In 1917 he left Pebworth to attend Eastern Kentucky State Normal School.

Combs batted leadoff and played center field, anchoring the top of the order for the Yankees' 1927 club known as Murderers' Row. He led the league in triples three times and ranked among the top ten in that category in several other seasons. In 1934 he fractured his skull and suffered other injuries crashing into an outfield wall, and he retired following another injury the next year.

Known as "the Kentucky Colonel," Combs was regarded as a gentleman on and off the field. After retiring as a player he remained in the game as a coach for many years. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, one of six members of the 1927 Yankees so honored, alongside Waite Hoyt, Herb Pennock, Tony Lazzeri, Lou Gehrig, and Babe Ruth.