Mom's HOF Ball Part 2 - Earle Combs

The next Hall of Famer on the baseball Mom gave me is Earle Combs.

Combs (b. 1899 - d. 1976) played in the majors from 1924 to 1935 for the Yankees.  He had 1,866 hits, 58 home runs and a .325 batting average.  He led the league in triples in 1927, 1928 and 1930.  He batted .300 or better in 8 seasons, 4 of which he batted .340 or better.  He won the World Series with the Yankees in 1927, 1928 and 1932.  In his World Series appearances, he batted .350 (4 series, includes a 1926 loss to the Cardinals) with 1 home run.  His best MVP finish was 6th, in 1928.

Combs was elected to the Hall  of Fame in 1970 via the Veterans Committee.  He had appeared on 15 Hall of Fame ballots between 1937 and 1962, but didn't received more than 16% of the vote.  His career WAR, if anyone cares, 43.9; he had 7 seasons of 4.0 WAR or better, which is pretty good, even though I still don't understand the stat.  Regardless, for a veteran of 9 full and 3 partial seasons, Combs has some really good stats.

Earle Combs is my 149th Hall of Famer on a baseball.

Fun fact, of all of my baseball player autographs in my collection, Combs is my first to have played on the legendary 1927 Yankees.