Baseball legends were remembered in this piece of Yankee Stadium real estate, a tradition continued today in the ballpark’s namesake.
by Rich Watson
Yankees manager Miller Huggins died of a form of blood poisoning on September 25, 1929 at age fifty. The former Red and Cardinal led Babe Ruth’s squad to three championships. The American League cancelled its schedule the day of his funeral and the World Series observed a moment of silence for him.
Three years later, in his honor, the Yankees built a granite slab with his image and accomplishments inscribed on it in bronze. They placed it in front of the center field flagpole at Yankee Stadium for all to see and remember. Its inscription calls him “a splendid character who made priceless contributions to baseball.”
When Ruth and Lou Gehrig died in the forties, similar markers joined the one for Huggins. They formed the foundation of a memorial unique in all of sports, one that could only have come from the House that Ruth built.
