CINCINNATI

One of the really famous sports figures from Cincinnati is a guy named Huggins.  No, not Bob the basketball coach...he came from West Virginia.  This Huggins, no relative, was named Miller.  He is an esteemed graduate of the University of Cincinnati who grew up here in the last part of the 19th century and lived here most of his life.  

This Huggins got a law degree from UC while playing middle infield and captaining the baseball team.  He graduated about 1900 with a law degree and, though he was accepted to the Bar, he went straight into baseball - never practicing law.  

Miller was a man of small stature - some estimate 5'2" and 125 lbs.  His size did not deter him from a good major league career as a baseball player.  Right out of college he went to the minor leagues.  He made it to the Reds in 1904 and played second base here through the 1909 season.  He was traded to the St. Louis Cards where he played until 1916.  He was a player-manager of the Cardinals for the last four years of his contract.  

Money lured him to the New York Yankees in 1918 where he managed through 1929.  If you know your baseball, you now know that he managed what many (outside of Cincinnati) consider the greatest baseball team of all time; the 1927 Yankees   His players included Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Tony Lazzeri, Herb Pennock, Earle Combs and Wait Hoyt;  "Hall of Famers" one and all.  Under Huggins, they won six American League Championships and three World Series.  

Miller died of what was probably cancer at the age of 51.  One of the monuments in Monument Park in Yankee Stadium belongs to Miller Huggins.  He was posthumously inducted into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in 1964.  A diminutive but shining star from Cincinnati.  

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