Biography
Samuel Dewey Byrd (October 15, 1906 - May 11, 1981) enjoyed an 8 year major league career spanning 1929-1936.
Byrd was born in Bremen, Georgia but grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. He played for the New York Yankees and Cincinnati Reds. Byrd's nickname was "Babe Ruth's Legs", a reference to the fact that he often would appear as a pinch runner for the Babe at the end of games toward the latter part of Ruth's career. He was also Babe Ruth's
roommate.
When Ruth left the Yankees in 1935, so did Byrd when on December 19, 1934, he was purchased by the Cincinnati Reds. Despite being famous for filling in for Babe Ruth in the field and as a pinch runner, Byrd had some decent seasons with the bat. In his rookie campaign in 1929, Byrd batted .312 in 170 AB and in 1932, he batted .297 with 8 HR in 209 AB. In 1935, finally getting a shot to play full-time, he smacked a career high 25 doubles, 9 HR, 52 RBI and scored 51 runs while batting .262. Over his career, he hit .274.
In 1936, Byrd quit baseball to pursue a career in professional golf. He won six events on the PGA Tour between 1942 and 1946 including the 1944 Greater New Orleans Open Invitational, shooting a 285 (-3). He lost the final of the 1945 PGA Championship to Byron Nelson, 4&3, in match play. So far, he's the only person to collect a World Series championship ring and finish as high as second in a PGA major.
Byrd was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1974. He died in Mesa, Arizona in 1981 at the age of 74.
