Masters week special: Babe Ruth, golf legend

You know about Babe's exploits on the diamond, but did you know he could drive the ball 300-plus yards off the tee?

Ruth loved golf almost as much as baseball and, as legend has it, was pretty good on the links. The Bambino held a 5 handicap, scored a 220-yard hole-in-one at Long Island's Country Club of St. Albans and, after tremendous first and second shots, nabbed a double-eagle on a 515-yard par 5 in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Ruth also squared off against super-athlete Babe Didrickson Zaharias in front of 12,000 spectators and routinely paired it up with World Golf Hall of Famer Walter Hagen. But his most legendary matchup must've been the three-round trash-talking extravaganza against Ty Cobb. Cobb, who once cut off President Eisenhower on the course, won the heated tournament and said Ruth looked like "an egg standing on toothpicks." Ruth originally invited Cobb to the match by saying the former Tigers outfielder would "get [his] brains knocked out."

Golf has always been a passion for ballplayers (not basketball players) and continues to be so today. But Ruth, whose numerous golf trophies are included in his Cooperstown shrine, probably did it bigger, and with more of a "Ruthian" flare, than anyone ever will.