Babe Ruth

  
 

Jimmie Foxx,

  
 

Mel Ott

  
 

Ted Williams

  
 

Willie Mays,

  
 

Mickey Mantle

  
 

Eddie Mathews

  
 

Hank Aaron

  
 

Ernie Banks

  
 

Harmon Killebrew

  
 

Frank Robinson

  
 

Willie McCovey

  
 

Reggie Jackson

  
 

Mike Schmidt

  
 

Eddie Murray

  
 

Mark McGwire

  
 

Barry Bonds

  
 

Sammy Sosa

  
 

Rafael Palmeiro

  
 

Ken Griffey Jr.

  

 

 

 

 

Houston Astros

 

Edwin Lee Mathews

 
 

Edwin Lee Mathews was born on October 13, 1931 in Texarkana, Texas. When Eddie was six, his family moved to Santa Barbara, California where he developed into a star high school player. Signed by the Boston Braves in 1949, he continued to shine as a left-handed power-hitting third baseman who hit towering home runs. Brought up to the major leagues, in his 1952 rookie season with the Braves, Eddie Mathews hit 25 home runs, including three in one game, breaking the record for rookies. In his second year the franchise moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin where he batted for a .302 season average, hit 47 home runs, and drove in 135 runs.

  
 

For nine straight seasons he hit 30 home runs or more including leading the National League twice. As one of 1954's superstars in American sports, Eddie Mathews was chosen for the cover of the first ever issue of Sports Illustrated magazine. His team won the 1957 National League championship then, helped by Mathews game-winning home run in the tenth inning of game four, they defeated the New York Yankees to win the World Series. In 1967, Eddie Mathews became only the seventh player to hit 500 career home runs, and is a member of the 500 home run club. Over his seventeen-year Major League career, he was named to the All-Star team nine times, hit 512 home runs, played in three World Series, and drove in 100 or more runs five times.

  

 

Edwin Lee Mathews

As the one-two punch for the Milwaukee Braves, from 1954 to 1966 he and teammate Hank Aaron hit 863 homers (Aaron 442, Mathews 421), moving ahead of the duo of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig of the New York Yankees as the all-time leaders in Major League Baseball history. The Braves won pennants in 1957 and 1958, with Mathews and Aaron forming the most feared 1-2 punch in baseball. Aaron usually batted third, Mathews fourth, and he later said he benefitted from hitting behind Aaron. "If the pitcher got him out, he was so tired from the effort he might make a mistake with me." In 1978 Eddie Mathews was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame and today still ranks second all-time among third basemen in home runs, RBI, slugging percentage and total bases. He is the only man to play for the Braves team in all three cities they called home: Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta. Mathews retired as a player after the 1968 season but came back to manage the Atlanta Braves from 1972 to 1974. In 2,391 games, Mathews had 2,315 hits, including 354 doubles, 72 triples, and 512 home runs.

He had 1,453 RBI and scored 1,509 runs. During their years as teammates, Mathews and Aaron combined for a record 1,267 home runs, 60 more than Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig hit together. Eddie Mathews passed away from complications of pneumonia on February 18, 2001 in La Jolla, California.