Another no-crop Fan Teaser Friday! Pictured above is the answer to one of the best trivia questions ever. Who’s the only man to win a MLB World Series and play in The Masters? Bonus points for naming the other three men he’s pictured with above.
Meet Sammy Byrd aka “Babe Ruth’s Legs” aka the only man to both win a MLB World Series and play in The Masters.
A native of Georgia, Byrd grew up in Birmingham, AL, where the family home was next to Roebuck Golf Course. That’s where he learned the game of golf. A product of Simpson High School, he was a 2-sport star there, playing both baseball and basketball. It was baseball that afforded Byrd his first taste of professional sport.
He signed with the Birmingham Barons of the Southern Association as a 20-year-old in 1926. A scant year later the New York Yankees and purchased his contract and assigned him to the Albany Senators. By 1929 he was playing for the Yankees alongside Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth. It was with the Yankees in 1932 that he appeared in one World Series Game during the pinstripers’ sweep of the Chicago Cubs.
Speedy and solid defensively in the outfield, near the end of his time with Yankees, Byrd’s role became primarily that of a defensive replacement and/or pinch-runner for the aging Ruth, thus earning the nickname “Babe Ruth’s Legs.” Released by the Yankees following the 1934 season, Byrd signed with the Cincinnati Reds for a pair of seasons before a knee injury following a wall collision in an early night baseball game led to the end of his professional baseball career. His pursuits on the PGA Tour began in 1936 even though he’d turned pro in 1933.
Even while a baseball player, Byrd earned the reputation as the best golfer among the Major Leaguers. He would often play with Ruth and, of course, there was money involved. Later in life, Byrd paraphrased Lee Trevino when he said, “I had to win. Babe could afford to lose $50; I couldn’t.”
Golf legend, Bobby Jones, played with Byrd in 1930 and said of him, “The best man off the tee I’ve ever seen.” In January of 1937 Byrd won a baseball players’ tournament by a whopping 14 shots in Sarasota, FL.
Ultimately, Byrd became the head pro at Pennysylvania’s famed Merion Golf Club (host of the 2026 U.S. Amateur) before moving to Michigan to succeed Jimmy Demaret as the pro Plum Hollow Country Club. All along, he was stacking experience on the Tour, winning the Greater Greensboro Open in 1942 over the likes of Ben Hogan. A year prior, he finished in third place at The Masters behin only winner Craig Wood and Byron Nelson. He and Nelson tangled again in the 1945 PGA Championship, when Nelson bested Byrd 4-and-3 in the match play championship.
All totaled, Byrd won 11 professional golf tournaments including six on the PGA Tour and had the top three finishes at both The Masters and PGA Championship. His best finish in the U.S. Open came in 1939 when he tied for 16th.
After his playing career ended, Byrd became a noted golf instructor and one of his proteges, Jimmy Ballard, became a wildly successful instructor and coach, earning the honor of “PGA Coach of the 1980s.” You’re able to read more about this at this link.
- Extra Credit Answer: For those wondering who the additional fellas are above, on the left that’s Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth. In the photo at right is Byrd and Ben Hogan during a tournament in Portland, OR.
dJust to review, The Fan Teaser was the creation of former Ann Arbor News Sports Editor Geoff Larcom. Longtime friend and fellow Ann Arbor News alum, Pat Schutte, took it to heights previously unknown. We aim to keep it alive here at The Sports Fan Project. The cropped photo and the accompanying clue give you an idea as to who or what the image is of. We invite you to use the Comment option to take a crack at solving the Teaser and, if you’re so inclined, participate in some good-spirited banter with your fellow sports fans. The Fan Teaser will appear each Friday morning with the reveal coming to you Sunday.