STL All Sports

Baseball will never tire of Babe Herman stories. They are priceless in the lore of the national pastime. The Brooklyn Babe and his antics weren't fable out of fiction. Floyd Cave Herman was real-the daffiest Brooklyn Dodger of them all.

Once, the Babe cornered a baseball reporter and pleaded with the newspaper scribe to stop painting him in print as a clown.
"I know you fellas make a living writing pieces for the paper about ballplayers, but why don't you stop harping on me? I ain't no different from other players. Baseball is my bread and butter-I've got a family to support and all these crazy stories about me hurt my reputation."

Brooklyn Babe was so convincing in his little talk that the baseball reporter began to feel pangs of guilt. As the ballplayer and scribe were about to part, Babe Herman fished out a cigar butt from his vest pocket, stuck it into his mouth, and took a few vigorous puffs at it.

"Want a match to light it?" the reporter inquired.

"Naw, never mind," said the Babe walking away. "It's lit."