Babe Herman

As the lefthanded-batting Herman put it, “I wasn’t the world’s greatest fielder, as a lot of stories will attest, but I was always a pretty fair country hitter.” Having led the NL in errors in consecutive seasons (at first base in 1927, outfield in 1928), Herman often had to deny having once been hit on the head by a fly ball.

Only he and Bob Meusel have hit for the cycle three times. The .393 batting average (second to Bill Terry’s .401), 416 total bases, 241 hits, and 143 runs he amassed in 1930 still stand as Dodger records. He also reached a high of 35 HR in 1930, and, with the Reds in 1932, led the NL with 19 triples. On July 10, 1935 at Cincinnati, he hit the first home run in a night game. The “headless horseman of Ebbets Field,” as Dazzy Vance called Herman, once “tripled” into a double play (Herman got a double on the play), as three Dodgers wound up on third base, leading to the greatest of all the “Daffiness Boys” quips: “The Dodgers have three men on base.” “Oh yeah, which base?