Hall of Fame
Major League Baseball Hall-of-Famer Earle Combs came to Richmond when he reached his 17th birthday and decided to continue his education at Eastern Kentucky State Normal School. Finally, through persuasion of his friends and the students who saw him hit two home runs against the faculty in a practice game, he decided to go out for the Eastern team. He immediately became a member of the team and a hero to the students, slamming at least one home run in every game he played and compiling a .596 batting average that first year.
He later played for teams in High Splint and Lexington before joining the American Association’s Louisville Colonels in 1922. While at Louisville for two seasons he collected 678 doubles, 33 triples, 189 home runs, 200 runs batted in and batting averages of .344 and .380.
He played for the New York Yankees of the American League from 1924-35, compiling a lifetime batting average of .325 and career fielding average of .973. He was leadoff hitter for the great “murderer’s Row” Yankee teams and had, perhaps, his greatest year in 1927 when he collected 231 hits, batted .356, scored 137 runs and totaled 36 doubles, 23 triples, six home runs and 64 runs batted in.
Combs, who batted lefthanded and threw right, collected more than 200 hits in a season three times during his career. He scored more than 100 runs eight straight years, from 1925 through 1932, and bated .300 or better eight times with a high of .356 on that outstanding 1927 club.
He served as a coach with the Yankees (1936-44), the St. Louis Browns (1947), the Boston Red Sox (1948-54) and the Philadelphia Phillies (1955).
Combs was inducted into the Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, N.Y., July 26, 1970, and is a member of the Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame. Combs also served as Chairman of EKU’s Board of Regents.
