#157 Sam Byrd

This is the final card from the batch of PSA crossovers that I recently received back from SGC; the card was originally a PSA 5 and crossed over at the same grade to an SGC 60. It has a clean surface, but the corners and centering keep it from grading higher. Sam Byrd is pictured as a member of the New York Yankees, in an action pose set against a ballfield background.

Byrd played parts of 8 seasons as an outfielder with the Yankees and the Cincinnati Reds. He was a decent hitter, posting a career .274/.350/.412 line (103 OPS+) in nearly 2000 plate appearances. His best season was 1932, when he hit .297/.385/.478 (127 OPS+) in 243 plate appearances. He saw his only postseason action that year, when he went hitless in his only at-bat in the World Series, in which the Yankees swept the Chicago Cubs.

Byrd has one of the great baseball nicknames - "Babe Ruth's Legs," which he earned for his frequent appearances as a late-inning pinch runner for the aging Ruth.

Byrd's last season in the majors was 1936, after which he became a professional golfer, winning six times on the PGA Tour from 1942-46. He made it to the finals of the 1945 PGA Championship, losing to Byron Nelson in match play and twice finished in the top five at the Masters. According to Wikipedia, he is only person to compete in both the World Series and the Masters. His golf prowess must have been well-known prior to his going pro, as the back of his 1933 Goudey card describes him as "one of the best golfers in professional baseball."