Biographie

Billy Crystal co-wrote his eulogy.

Hit a home run completely out of Griffith Stadium in Washington. DC in 1953 that was measured by tape at 565 feet. Hit a home run completely out of Detroit's Tiger Stadium in 1960 that landed in a lumberyard across the street whose distance was calculated at 643 feet using the Pythagorean theorem. Also hit four home runs into the left centerfield bleachers (Death Valley) at Yankee Stadium over the course of his career and several to straightaway center.

Was afraid he wouldn't live past the age of 40 because of the prevalence of Hodgkin's disease in his family.

Arguably the greatest all-around centerfielder of the 1950s.

Hit his 536 home runs in 18 years mostly injured and sometimes half-drunk.

If I had known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself.

I had it all and blew it.

(About hitting a home run hungover) If you thought hitting that home run was hard, you should have seen me trying to run the bases!

During my 18 years I came to bat almost 10,000 times. I struck out about 1,700 times and walked maybe 1,800 times. You figure a ballplayer will average about 500 at-bats a season. That means I played 7 years without ever hitting the ball.

You don't realize how easy this game is until you get up in that broadcasting booth.