Earle Combs (1899-1976), American baseball player, who was the lead off batter for the legendary New York Yankees teams of the 1920s and 1930s. Combs was a perennial .300 hitter who frequently reached base. He would thereby set the table for the section of the Yankee batting order nicknamed Murderers’ Row because it included home run sluggers Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Bob Meusel, who were murder on pitchers. Combs collected at least 190 hits in a season five times, topped the American League (AL) in triples three times, and led the league in hits once, en route to a .325 career batting average.

Born in Pebworth, Kentucky, Combs sharpened his baseball skills as a youth by pitching stones at chipmunks on his family’s farm. After attending Eastern Kentucky State Normal School, he supplemented his $60-a-month teaching salary by playing semiprofessional baseball. Realizing that a career on the diamond held more monetary promise than one in the classroom, he signed with the Louisville Colonels of the American Association in 1922. After three stellar seasons, the New York Yankees acquired him in 1924.

The Yankees won three World Series championships with Combs in the lead off spot in 1927, 1928, and 1932. He hit a career-high .356 and collected a league-best 231 hits and 23 triples for the 1927 Yankees, considered by many to be the greatest team in major league history.

On July 24, 1934, Combs slammed into the center-field fence at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis while chasing a flyball. He sustained a fractured skull, shoulder and knee injuries. He retired in 1935 after playing 89 games and turned to coaching, working for four major league clubs from 1936 to 1954. Combs was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1978.