Babe Ruth

Dykes Potter once faced down the greatest slugger in baseball, yet he had a major league career so fleeting it left only the briefest mark in the record book. At 88, sitting in the living room of his daughter's home in northeastern Kentucky, Potter describes his victory in a 1934 exhibition game against the New York Yankees and the mighty Babe Ruth. Ruth popped up after Lou Gehrig hit into a double play off Potter, the old pitcher says. That one inning has made him a celebrity of sorts nowadays, a living piece of baseball history.

Only five years remain before they start playing ball in 2000, when, looking back, some will ask one thing about our times: Who were the greatest American athletes of the 20th Century? To this hour, Babe Ruth is first and Muhammad Ali second, I'd say--after watching most of the good ones for most of the century. It's a subject that came up recently in a different context. A guy in a locker room was wondering if Deion Sanders is in anybody's top 10. Well, he's in mine.

A true 'slugger' Pujols has led the National League in slugging percentage three times, and his career mark places him in heady company on Major League Baseball's all-time list: Rk.; Name; Years; Hits; 2B; 3B; HR; Slugging % 1.; Babe Ruth; 22; 2,873; 506; 136; 714; .690 2.; Ted Williams; 19; 2,654; 525; 71; 521; .634 3.; Lou Gehrig; 17; 2,721; 534; 163; 493; .632 4.; Albert Pujols; 11; 2,073; 455; 15; 445; .617...

Remember way back when the All-Star game was first played in Orange County? Dave Sommers remembers. He was one of 46,309 fans nestled comfortably in their seats at the nearly new Anaheim Stadium on July 11, 1967, when the Big A marquee stood right behind the outfield fence and when there was no permanent seating behind center field. Chris Clair remembers. He was there too. He even has a memento of the game, a program that sold for 50 cents at the gate. This year's All-Star program costs $5.

Hofstra University, better known for its scholarly conferences on presidents, recently convened one to celebrate the life a baseball player who once gloated about making more money than a U.S. President. He was born George Herman Ruth 100 years ago in Baltimore, but as Babe Ruth he was, and still is, perhaps the game's most compelling figure.

Careful examination of an old photograph and a street map determined this had to be the spot -- or at least near the spot. It's all tract homes now, the memories buried beneath cul-de-sacs just downslope from the intersection of Brea Boulevard and Lambert Road, but something special happened here a long time ago. Did anyone know? A man, on a Saturday, was washing his car on St. Crispen Avenue when a reporter approached and posed the question, half expecting a "what-the-?" response.

Break out the balloons and put up the streamers. Decorate the joint with flappers and fat cats. Bake a cake, a big one with a giant candle planted right in the middle of it, maybe in the shape of a great, big baseball bat. Hey, this is no ordinary party. Monday is Babe Ruth's 100th birthday. Just imagine the shindig he would have thrown for himself. There would have been wine, women and song--and plenty of each. He'd have all his Yankees teammates there--Gehrig, Meusel, Lazzeri, the whole gang.

Most career multiple-home run games (through Thursday): Babe Ruth...72 Mark McGwire...67 Barry Bonds *...65 Sammy Sosa *...65 Willie Mays...63 Hank Aaron...62 Jimmie Foxx...55 Frank Robinson...54 * active

George Selkirk, a lifetime .290 hitter who succeeded Babe Ruth in right field for the New York Yankees, died in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., after a long illness. He was 79.